Captain's Log - Michael Vontavius Batiatus
Stardate 91924.11
I'm not used to this log system. Normally, I'm speaking in front of my crew if I wanted to keep everyone informed in person. I think, as a leader, the crew that follows him should always be informed first and foremost. Making these verbal reports just seems, too submissive. But since Starfleet requires them in order to keep up-to-date with their fleet, then so be it.
The Shagohod has been the chariot of power and might befitting of the Defiant class warship. We refilled the stock of weapons batteries for Engineering and medpacks for Sickbay. But more improvements may be needed in order to approve it's power.
The crew came to the aid of a Romulan distress call. Apparently it was being attacked by the dogs of the Borg and were being ravaged. Under the protest of Commander Korr, I helped the ship. Little did I know that Korr's concern rang true.
We freed some of the Romulan crew that was held in the ship's brig. 20 drones kept us between the cells and assimilation but the new frequency modulators helped us reap those husks of organ and microchips asunder. Once we freed the Borg of their artificial mortal coils, the Romulans informed us of a Tal Shiar experiment using Borg technology.
Those covert cowards apparently help their prisoners as lab rats. The same lab rats that revolted against the chains that bound them for generations and only to be caught and used to be assimilated as if they were being fed to a pack of wolves. And for what? Tests? I took it upon myself to have them beamed to the Shagohod. It's a tightened fit but they said that anything was better than holding cells.
My team and I confronted the commander on the bridge but encountered wave after wave of Borg garrisons. I wasn't sure about our chances but some quick thinking by my engineer and science officers as well as my bat'leth prowess control the room against both the Borg and the captain.
I held the tip of my bat'leth up to the captain's throat as I confronted her about the experiments they were conducting but of course I was met with denial. As supposed allies, she knew I would run her through had her plot had been revealed. Without moving, I ordered the team to collect any and all Borg technology as well as the records of the tests being conducted. Once it was taken off the ship, I lowered my bat'leth and stood nose to nose with the captain. I still remember the words I said to her.
"If you want a chance to explain yourself and not run like frightened children in the night, you will answer for these crimes. Not by the protocol of Starfleet, but the jurisprudence of a true Centurion."
I beamed off the ship knowing that they were unable to leave due to the damage of the attack. As they worked to extinguish the damage, my officers worked with the victims and they concluded that the Tal Shiar conducted atrocities under the guise of new Romulan alliance. When I contacted the ship, I exposed her plot to both crews.
"Your lies have placed the burden on me to carry out the sentence of Rome," I exclaimed! She tried to deny it and be on her way. But I wasn't having any of it. I then demanded the captain to recite her sacramentum militiae, or military oath, to me on the view screen so that it can be recorded. When she refused, her ego had shown through, typical of the blinded Tal Shiar and their equally blind leader, Sela.
With her defiance, I held her attention as I recited my own Sacramentum that I said during my graduation speech at the academy because it held true in this situation.
"I swear by Jupiter Optimus Maximus and by and any other god that I hold in my heart to be holy, and by the Federation herself, which holds just as much status as any god, to perform my duties with the fire and might that is required of the task my Fleet Imperator should command, follow all laws and principles set forth by the Federation, never to desert, and not to shrink in death on behalf of the United Federation of Planets."
My crew, ever at the ready, said in unison "For the Imperator!" The Romulan captain felt threatened by this but held her ground and dared threaten the sun as her ship's weapons powered up. She told me that I should have just went on my way.
Her arrogance fueled her as two Borg cubes dropped out of transwarp. The battle ensued and nearly destroyed both ships. Then, the Warbird's gunfire became directed at us. Without hesitation, the crew carried out my orders of execution. We proceeded to destroy the Borg technology as ordered and the records retined for further analysis.
I will now focus efforts to investigate the Tal Shiar as their experiments is the biggest threat to not only the 7th Fleet. Not only to the entire Federation. But to the entire Alpha and Beta Quadrants. Their desperation for control will be their undoing.
End log!
