The Romulan Project

Posted on Aug 24, 2017 @ 5:25pm by Lieutenant Jasmine Yu
Edited on on Aug 24, 2017 @ 5:25pm

Mission: The Romulan Way

“The Romulan Project”
(contd from Shawn’s ‘Nobody Sneeze’)

Location: USS PHOENIX
SD: [2.17] 0823.2352
Scene: Transporter Room 1

Jasmine Yu was the last to join the others on the transporter pad, preparing to depart for the strange and mysterious space station, hovering over the planet below them. The Asian woman took her place next to Kane and Von – her purpose in joining the expedition down below was mainly to follow standard security protocol that was ensuring the Captain had protection. But she was also curious about this project, the war hawks had been working on secretly from other Romulans, including the Praetor herself and was also worried over how much danger whatever in the station posed to the Federation.

Quite a shocking chain of events, soon after the Phoenix’s arrival in the Azri Drakara system. In fact, Jasmine had not yet gotten over the shock and was still processing the events that transpired in the last couple of minutes. A space station, generating insane amounts of power, greater than even a star and even though Yu wasn’t a trained engineer, it wasn’t hard for her to understand the enormity of the situation. She remembered hearing Crichton mention a thousand Phoenix warp cores wouldn’t be able to generate such enormous amount of power and that the Federation possessed no such technology. That was worrisome to the security chief – the Romulans in possession of such advanced technology that might be seen as a threat to not just the Federation but the whole galaxy.

Kane turned to Stiles Orion, the transporter chief. “We’re ready. Send us down.”

“Aye, Captain,” Orion complied and soon after that, the group were engulfed by bluish hue energy.

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Location: Space Station, orbiting over Azri Drakara II
Scene: Transporter Room -> Corridor

The group of Romulans and Starfleet officers materialized in the station’s transporter room. They were greeted by Sub-Commander D’Mara, the station’s CO, flanked by two Centurions and from what Jasmine observed, they were armed. Well, so much for a peaceful, diplomatic expedition and now the security chief wished she had at least brought a type 1 phaser but as a show of good faith on Starfleet’s part, she, Von and Kane didn’t bring any weapons. After all, like Nevar pointed out, this was a Romulan internal matter and their presence was to ensure peace was still possible between the Federation and the Empire.

D’Mara stepped forward, her eyes fixed on the leader of the Romulans, “Praetor Radaik, it is my honour to welcome you on this station. My crew and I are very much honoured by your presence…”

“Save the pleasantries, Sub-Commander,” Radaik interrupted in a stern voice. “Show me this project that you all have gone to such great lengths to hide from me.”

Nevar gave her a smile that was cold as ice. “Now, Praetor, there is no need for such hostilities. I understand you’re furious right now for being kept in the dark but I assure you, after the demonstration, you will understand and realize how much this project will benefit the Empire.”

Yu felt a knot forming in her stomach – this project was making her nervous and it was most likely that whatever was considered great for the empire in the war hawks’ view, might not necessarily be good for the Federation. Jasmine had reservations about the demonstration and had a bad feeling she wasn’t going to like it. But the Lieutenant maintained a calm demeanor and was fully alert, ready to take action if necessary.

The Sub-Commander, apparently noticing the presence of the Starfleet officers for the first time, inquired, raising an elegant brow, “Senator Nevar, I wasn’t expecting you to bring Starfleet down here.”

Kane jumped in, before the leader of the war hawk faction opened his mouth. “We are here as per the Praetor’s wishes, Sub-Commander.” While the Irishman’s voice was calm, it was laced with mild irritation.

“It’s true, Sub-Commander,” Nevar said, smiling but his eyes told another story, when they narrowed. “The Praetor didn’t wish to come alone.” Jasmine couldn’t help but spot a little bit of contempt in his voice. Oh politicians and their double talk. Say or act one way but think another. Well, she was glad to have taken a career path in Starfleet as a security officer rather than politics.

The female Commander gave a tiny smile, which didn’t seem sincere, at the three Starfleet officers but when she made eye contact with Cantor Von, her gaze lingered on him longer than the other two. That didn’t go unnoticed by Jasmine, who from Von’s expression, wondered, if they knew each other, after all the Betazoid Ops officer spent substantial amount of time with the Romulans. He and Nevar already met before so it wouldn’t be surprising if it was the case with D’Mara. However, Jasmine chose to say nothing and just focused her attention on the job at hand – protecting the Captain.

“Please follow me, we will escort all of you to the control centre, where you will witness the demonstration.” D’Mara led the way, followed by Radaik, Chevet, Nevar and the Starfleet officers. The two Centurions walked behind the whole group, maintaining a reasonable distance. They moved through a set of double doors into a corridor, dimly lit by greenish hue light, which Jasmine knew, was standard in all Romulan starships and space stations.

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Scene: Control Centre

The trip through the corridor wasn’t long but silent with hardly anyone wanting to say a single word and possibly deep in their own thoughts. Large double doors parted and D’Mara led the group into a viewing room. Jasmine took a quick look at her surroundings, her gaze stopping at a large, round window, providing an excellent view of the beautiful green planet below. The young woman felt a brief pang, thinking of the inhabitants – the indigenous primitive species known as the Baelorn, who were unaware of the events unfolding above them, while they just went on with their lives.

The control centre was divided into two levels and Jasmine noticed, the viewing room was located on the upper deck. She watched Kane move towards a railing, overlooking the lower level, bustling with Romulans diligently manning their stations.

Nevar inquired, addressing the female sub-commander, “Is the project ready for the demonstration?”

“Senator, like I said earlier,” D’Mara answered. “The project is near completion but we still have a problem with sustaining… I’d have preferred if we had the demonstration after we have been able to resolve this issue.”

The war hawk leader stepped closer to the female Romulan, insisting, “Sub-Commander, it is highly important the Praetor see what we have accomplished so far and understand the benefits of our work for the empire. Get everything ready for a full demonstration.”

“As you wish, Senator.” D’Mara nodded as she left to make the necessary preparations.

Nevar turned around to face the group. “If you all just take a seat, the demonstration should begin shortly.” His expression darkened, when Radaik didn’t budge.

The Praetor demanded, glaring at him, “Senator Nevar, while the Sub-Commander and her crew are getting ready, an explanation of the project is in order.”

“Praetor, that isn’t necessary,” Nevar said. “The demonstration should be clear….”

“I want an explanation, Nevar, now,” Radaik cut off his words.

Nevar nodded, his eyes shooting daggers at the Romulan woman. “Very well then. Please, all of you take a seat.” He waited a moment, while everyone sat down. Jasmine took a seat between Kane and Von and turned her attention forward at the only person still standing in the room. Nevar was a sly one, she’d give him that, after all he did pull a wool over them.

The leader of the war hawk faction began, beaming with a sense of pride as he fixed his gaze on Radaik, “Praetor, what you are about to witness will change the face of the galaxy forever. Nothing will be as it is now. A bright future for the empire, where we will have the opportunity to expand beyond our wildest dreams and our civilization will be greater than it is now.”

Jasmine grimaced, not liking the sound of this and from quick glances at Kane and Von, neither did they. The Captain’s expression was hard as he gave Nevar a fixed stare, his fists clenched together. They all shared the same grim thought – the project might not be good news for the Federation. She listened to the Senator in tense silence.

“This project was a long time in the making,” Nevar said. “The station took four years to complete and it was built specifically for this one project.”

Chevet commented, “I have to reluctantly admit being impressed with how you and your allies kept the construction of this gigantic station and the technology used to generate power at such unimaginable levels a secret from the imperial government. I guess the survey mission to this system is all part of this project?”

“Yes, Tribune.” Nevar nodded before he continued, “A new type of technology has been developed that will be better efficient in seeding new worlds – basically transform any planet we want, to make it not only livable for us, but also allow our species to thrive and take this empire to new heights.”

Terraforming, if Jasmine understood right. They developed some technology, which required the construction of a space station generating huge amounts of power and gravitrons. And she wasn’t the only one.

Cantor spoke up, “If I heard correctly, did you mean, terraforming a planet?”

The Senator gave the Betazoid a rather sly smile. “Yes, you are correct, Lieutenant Von.”

That report, the Remans provided them, regarding the survey mission to Azri Drakara II – the one where they suggested eradication of the indigenous lifeforms before any terraforming could take place. This struck Jasmine as very cold. She wasn’t surprised, though – the Romulans didn’t share the same concern for primitive lifeforms, the Federation did – the latter having the Prime Directive. Those peace talks were going to be tricky.

“We had conducted numerous experiments for this project,” Nevar said.

Radaik asked coldly, “And where did you conduct these experiments?”

“Catalin Reach,” the Senator informed, which angered the Praetor even further. “Under Senator Tor’s supervision, of course.”

“You were running a bio-research facility right under my nose?” Praetor asked, anger seeping through her voice.

“Perhaps I could shed some light here,” Kane spoke up for the first time during this discussion.

Radaik asked, “What do you know, Captain?”

Kane answered, briefly glancing at the confused expressions on both his officers, “I recently came across a report from one of my officers, Lieutenant Tomas Vukovic, who visited Catalin Reach with Senator Tor. From his observations, he came to the conclusion the entire place is a bio-research facility.” Michael, however, kept Tomas’ theories on the Romulans’ plans of possibly moving or expanding their reach to himself.

“Care to explain, Senator?” The Romulan woman glared at him.

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~*~
Ranjani S.
Writing for

Lieutenant Jasmine Yu
Chief of Security and Tactical
USS PHOENIX