Captain's Log, Stardate 90753.92: I am still waiting for new orders, while my crew is trapped aboard CONCORDIA with a Starbase - and well-deserved shore leave - just outside of our viewing windows. We have just finished three months of convoy duty in company with the light cruisers USS ARGYLL and USS NARESUAN, escorting loaded freighters from the Celes Sector to Starbase 234, bringing empty freighters back, and then bringing yet another convoy back to the starbase. Fortunately it has been uneventful, though to tell the truth my crew is starting to get a bit restless
Starfleet has certainly made a commitment to supporting the development of New Romulus judging by the number of ships we've brought out here. The merchant captains tell me that only a handful of them unload at the starbase, and most of them eventually go on to the Nimbus Sector Block with another escort group. The Tholians have been making brief raids into this area, trying to stop some of our supplies from reaching New Romulus, but with over a dozen starships patrolling the sector in addition to the heavy escort groups they've had little success.
I'm not sure my heart is in the right place, helping the Romulans. We could never trust them, their arrogance and ruthlessness made them vicious foes, and when there was peace it was only because we tried to ignore their probes and the skirmishes. But it is hard to ignore the empty places left by my classmates who died while at "peace" with the Romulans. However, the Remans have always been oppressed and deserve our help, and I have learned to trust Obisek. If he trusts his new partners, perhaps I should give them a chance.
Captain's Log, Stardate 90755.51: Orders finally! While we're not the only starship in the sector, we're available, and as I'm senior to the other captains who are not otherwise tasked I had first pick for volunteering for this assignment. There are reports from New Romulus of scientists and civilians being abducted, research stations sabotaged, and supplies vanishing into thin air. Depending on which report you read, these are being blamed on Tal Shair agents, rogue Hirogen hunters, and Tholians who have slipped past our patrolling starships. We're to head to the planet, investigate these disturbances, and take "whatever action deemed necessary" to stabilize the situation and provide support to the Romulan leader D'Tan. We'll see what truth is behind this... and in the meantime I can let my crew rotate down to New Romulus for shore leave. It's been a long time since many of them felt real gravity.
Captain's Log, Stardate 90768.39: Be careful what you wish for, you just may get it. Action! Late last night we picked up Tholian signatures on long range scan, and we changed course to intercept. Shortly after 0100 we came across a damaged Orb Weaver with a pair of Mesh Weavers accompanying it. It was an uneven fight from the start, but the Tholians rejected our offer to surrender and opened fire.
We went in slowly. The Mesh Weavers charged towards us and split up to pass down either side. I gave the order to fire phasers at will, and my tactical officer, LCDR Zan, deftly manipulated our phaser beam arrays, forward cannon and the aft turret such that both Mesh Weavers were destroyed in a matter of minutes. Rather than surrender, the Orb Weaver increased speed and headed towards us. Several phaser volleys served to knock down its forward shield, and then a trio of Omega plasma torpedoes from the new launcher we built user Borg technology vaporized its hull.
No casualties, and no damage to our hull. I'm settling down for a brief nap until the morning when we arrive at New Romulus.
Captain’s Log, Stardate 90783.2: Three days on New Romulus and not a sign of Tholians, Hirogen or Tal Shiar. However, CONCORDIA faces a new threat from the planet. The Romulans call them “Epohh”, which means “pest”. Chief Engineer Burket keeps trying to tell me the word translates as “pet”, but “pest” is far more appropriate.
The first group to rotate back onboard from their shift down on the planet brought back several Epohh moppets. Every twenty hours like clock-work the moppets grow into their next stage, then another twenty hours and they grow again. Not only do they grow, but somehow they’ve found a way to breed in the same twenty-hour cycle. Everywhere I go on the ship I come across those creatures. I don’t see them eat, I don’t see them drink, but there are more and more of them. I’ve sent a request to station K-7 for some quadrotriticale to feed them – maybe that will help control the population. The crew has become quite attached to them and my order for Security to start rounding up stray Epohhs to send back to the planet was not very popular, nor was my order prohibiting any more from being brought back onboard. When I beam down to the planet this afternoon I have to find a solution – enough with the Epohhs!
Captain’s Log, Stardate 90789.14: This entry to be forwarded to Starfleet’s Sector Command. While cataloging plant life and geological samples in the Vastam Peak region, one of my scientific away teams led by Ensign Pak received an urgent request from the Romulans at the base station to investigate one of their botanists who had been missing since the previous afternoon. This would not normally have caused much alarm, but apparently he was the seventh scientist who has vanished in the past week. Two hours later, Ensign Pak reported to the Officer of the Watch that they had found the body of the botanist at the bottom of a gulley with plasma burns on his chest. I decided to lead an away team myself to investigate.
We beamed down to the Romulan base station and questioned the scientists there to find out what we could be their dead compatriot. He had left the previous day intending to start mapping one of the mountain passes, so that’s where we headed. Orbital scans from CONCORDIA directed us to the entrance of the pass, but something was jamming the ship’s sensors from searching the pass itself. I called down two additional security officers, and we proceeded into the pass.
Our tricorders were useless due to the jamming, so we proceeded cautiously. Crewman Fuller, on point, signaled us to take cover. Hiding behind several boulders, we saw an armed party of six approaching. Their uniforms clearly identified them: Tal Shiar! We let them get close, and then caught them in a cross-fire from both sides of the pass that eliminated them with the casualties to the away team. My tactical officer, LCDR Zan, attempted to contact the ship but our communications were being jammed as well. We proceeded onward.
Several kilometers further, the pass opened up. The Tal Shiar were setting up a communications station and were in the process of bringing it on-line. There were two engineers, a scientist, two centurions and half a dozen uhlans. We spread out behind the rocks at the exit of the pass, and on my signal – a photon grenade right in the middle of the uhlans – we opened fire. One of the engineers took cover to set up a portable shield generator while the rest of the Tal Shiar charged us. It was a suicide rush, the six survivors of our initial volley came running towards our position without using another cover. It was over in a matter of minutes, and again we sustained no casualties. LCDR Burket downloaded the files from the Romulan communications array, but we were not able to decipher any of the files using her tricorder. They were analyzed later on CONCORDIA, and are being forwarded separately to Starfleet Intelligence. We also found two of the missing Romulan scientists, alive and a little shaken, who had been captured when they wandered too far down the pass.
After ensuring there were no other Romulans in the area, we continued up the mountain pass. Despite the two easy skirmishes with the Tal Shiar, we were alert and spread out so a single grenade would not take out more than one of us. It was very quiet, not even the sound of animal life could be heard, and that should have made me even more cautious. Suddenly criss-crossing beams of blue tetryon came rippling towards us. Our point man Crewman Rot Trikot was killed instantly. Again we took cover behind rocks, and this time our enemy did as well. These were no Tal Shiar, but Hirogen hunters and stalkers. They expected to find easy prey, and I’m glad to say we disappointed them. Leapfrogging up the pass in pairs, one providing covering fire while the other moved forward to take cover again, we were able to flank and eliminate the Hirogen. Seven dead Hirogen for one of our crewman, perhaps good odds in battle but even the loss of one of my crewmen in too many. Note: I need to contact Crewman Rot Trikot’s parents to notify them of their son’s death before they get the coldly informal message from Starfleet.
At the top of the pass we found the source of our trouble. To summarize the engagement, our away team encountered a dozen Hirogen led by an Alpha and another dozen Tal Shiar. We suffered two wounded, Petty Officer Catherine Deneuve and Crewman Yi Munyol, who are both recovering well in Sickbay; all of the Hirogen are dead, as are most of the Romulans although we have taken their leader, a Commander Ruul, and three of his soldiers prisoners. They are biding their time in CONCORDIA’s brig until we can return to starbase and transfer them for further questioning. The commander is pretty arrogant and may not talk easily, but I believe the junior soldiers will provide us some information. We also found the other missing Romulan scientists and freed them.
Information downloaded from the Tal Shiar camp reveals that this Commander Ruul was sent to set up an advanced base on New Romulus from which the Tal Shiar would eventually terrorize and then take over the settlements on the planet. Either Empress Sela or at least on her personal order had established contact with the Hirogen and offered them free hunting within Tal Shiar space in return for support in destabilizing New Romulus. A copy of the complete database has been forwarded separately to both Starfleet Command and Starfleet Intelligence.
Sitting in CONCORDIA’s shuttle bay is an intact and fully-operational Romulan shuttle we seized from the Tal Shiar. Perhaps it will come in useful. With no other disturbances noted on the planet, I have allowed my crew to continue their normal liberty rotation off the ship.
Captain’s Log, Stardate 90789.4: No reply yet from Starfleet Command, but I did receive a subspace message from Captain Four of Ten from USS VICTORY, telling me he has a science officer onboard who has orders to transfer into CONCORDIA. Once we’re done with New Romulus, I’ll request orders to report to Task Force Omega. It has been a while since my crew helped keep the Borg out of the quadrant. Our last battle was when we encountered yet another attempt by the Borg to travel back in time, and with a squadron of starships from TF Omega we destroyed the Borg gateways in the Quadra Sigma system and their base on Vega.
Captain's Log, Stardate 90813.54: Leaving New Romulus behind more than a week ago, we've finally arrived at our rendezvous with Battle Group Omega. After beaming aboard USS VICTORY and reporting to Admiral D'Vak, I have my orders to patrol in the vicinity of the Hotep System in the Cestus Sector. "We are the last bastion to hold the Borg from the Alpha Quadrant," the admiral told me. However, from the classified briefing my senior officers and I received it appears we are part of a porous bastion, never enough ships from either Starfleet or the Klingon Defense Force to adequately patrol the sector yet be close enough to provide mutual support in the event one encounters the Borg. It's fascinating that we and the Klingons can come together again to fight the Borg, but when there's no Borg we fight each other. What we need is a good enemy that will bring us all back together again, as during the Dominion War, and maybe we can keep the peace afterwards.
I received the new Science Officer today. I think it's time I find a wife. I had visions of Seven of Nine, but when my Borg officer reported today HE was anything but. I'm not sure how "liberated" he really is, he looks so much like a drone. I have him working with the gravimetric analysts for now until I can judge where he will best fit in with my crew.
Captain's Log, Stardate 90835.8: This marks the end of our first full week of patrolling the Cestus Sector since detaching from Battle Group Omega near the transwarp gate. We have had some encounters with the Borg, but only a handful of random probes. From reports I've seen sent by other patrol groups, there is not much activity now. Are the Borg planning an offensive and marshaling their forces, or have we hurt them more than we realize?
I received a subspace message this morning from my brother Blaise. He's spent the past month mapping new systems in the Hromi Cluster, and just finished what sounds like a fascinating away team mission on a newly-discovered planet scanning five groups of carnivorous plants. His "big news" is that once this mission is complete, he's to report to Earth Spacedock where he will assume command of the old Intrepid-class science vessel USS RESOLUTE. That's a big step up for my little brother, but if he's anything like Dad he'll be making a name for himself in no time as not only a Science Officer but an Explorer. Me, I'd take the shudder of quantum torpedoes leaving the launch tubes to smash into another starship any day. Speaking of quantum torpedoes, pause log - my First Officer reports several inbound Borg contacts traveling at high warp.
Captain's Log, Stardate 90836.1: I may have been wrong about the Borg. No sooner had I left my ready room and stepped onto the bridge than my First Officer, CDR Will Hamlin, reported two dozen Borg craft, dispersed into several groups, and that he had not only ordered us on an intercept course but had sent out a request for assistance. His initiative paid off - by the time we intercepted the first Borg group, we were joined by the cruisers USS MONTROSE and CANADIAN, and the escorts USS LEGION and TAL'APHA.
The first two groups we encountered were each a handful of probes and spheres, which we quickly made short work off without any ship losing shields. However, the third and fourth groups each consisted of a pair of cubes with three spheres each. Against the fourth group we lost the cruiser MONTROSE after her starboard shields had been beaten done and then she got caught by three plasma torpedoes before she could evade.
Finally, a Borg command ship dropped out of warp. We've faced several of them before, but they're tough, and especially with only three other starships for support. We all went in fast, phasers firing to take out the regeneration probes that hover around the Unimatrix ships and heal them. We took them out quickly, and then I ordered all ships to concentrate on the port side of the Borg to focus on dropping one of its shield facings. We knocked the shields down in less than three minutes, and then started pounding the hull with torpedoes and lancing it with phasers. The Borg launched numerous plasma energy bolts, one of which caught LEGION when she got too close to the Unimatrix vessel and could not turn in time to pull out. Captain Ramor and his crew fought bravely, and are to be commended for their sacrifice. We gave the Borg a final broadside from all phaser banks, followed by a heavy salvo of photon torpedoes from TAL'APHA, and vaporized the Borg's ship. While a great victory, it cost us two starships we could ill afford to lose and two thousand our of finest citizens.
Follow-up: Have tactical run an analysis of the battle. I am still not certain which torpedo launcher I prefer: our old Mark 12 Quantum launcher or the new Borg Omega Plasma launcher. The plasma weapons recharge faster, but the quantum torpedoes pack a larger punch.
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