Red Alert Part II: A Warbird Hello

Posted on Mon Jun 15th, 2026 @ 11:55am by Lieutenant Junior Grade T'lenn & Sub-Lieutenant Osirin Acainus & Lieutenant JG Jezra Siv MD & Lieutenant Commander Xalanth & Commander Maxun Spello & Sub-Commander (erei'Riov) Minatha ir'Ra'tleihfi i'Liorae-sihaer & Civilian Aetan & Major (Aendeh) Toval
Edited on on Mon Jun 15th, 2026 @ 11:56am

2,230 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Peril at the Unification Accords
Location: Near the Petrust Cluster, Barisa Prime System
Timeline: MD 11, 1345 Hours, After Part 1

* * * USS Astrea Main Bridge * * *

"Helm, pursuit course!" Spello said aloud as he watched the warbird attempt to flee. He then glanced over his shoulder as he stood in front of the command chair. "Mister Xalanth! Lock the mega phaser on their engine nacelles and fire! I don't want them getting out of here!"

"Disarming their engines," Xalanth yelled as he brought up the phaser. With the shields down, the ship's phaser bit into the Romulan engines like a warm knife through butter. Power and engine fluids create a blazing light as the engines began to crakle and fail.

"Picking up an odd power surge from the Warbird on sensors." Dante's voice was steady, calm and collected as he called out the information. "I can't quite make sense of it; data is coming in jumbled."

JB found himself on his feet at the aft of the bridge.

"Commander," he called-out to Spello, "recommend we don't get too close until we know what's happening."

"Keep us at a safe distance," Spello said to the young helm officer. He then glanced over his shoulder slightly to speak to tactical. "Reinforce forward shields I don't want anything getting through. Start taking out their weapons and shield generators."



* * * Romulan Warbird Vindex * * *
Minatha grimaced as the Warbird shook from the impact of Astrea's weapons and snapped at the helm officer. "Get us out of range or I am taking the cost of every single hole they blow in my ship out of your hide!" She gripped the arm of her chair tightly for a moment and took a sharp breath as the ship shook again and then pulled open the screen built into her right armrest. She pulled up a view of the scanners, looking for any form of anomaly that might be able to aid them; or perhaps a way to ensure their next attempt at cloaking was successful.

The helmsman initiated evasive maneuvers but moments too late as there was a loud explosion and the ship rocked heavily. The sound and feel of the engines shifted from being smooth to a sort of stutter and the helm console sparked.

Another impact rolled through the Vindex, the sound echoing in the bowels of the old D'deridex like an electrical storm over the Gansym Plains back on old Romulus. The deck lurched beneath them.

Toval steadied himself against the tactical console next to Uvael.

"Damage report," the First Officer called-out.

Sublieutenant Joval, a young officer serving his first assignment with the Tal Shiar as the Vindex's operations officer, swiveled in his chair to face both Minatha and Toval.

"Warp engines are down," he said, unusually calm.

Uvael smashed an impatient fist onto his console. "Emitters have taken heavy damage--our cloak is non-functional, Subcommander."

Toval stepped gingerly down from the side ramp and up onto the command dais, several feet from Minatha.

"The subcommander gave you an order, Centurion," Toval barked to the helm officer.

"Yes, Major. Moving away at full impulse power."

While the bridge crew were occupied with their own damage assessments, the First Officer stopped beside Minatha's chair and bent slightly toward her. His voice was low enough that it occupied only the space between them.

"Subcommander," he began. "We still possess weapons. Why don't we give Astrea something to think about while we find a safe hiding location in this cluster? Aim for their deflector array. It is one of the weakest points on a Galaxy-class vessel. They will be forced to lick their wounds."

Minatha thought for a moment and then nodded. "Weapons; how certain are you that with a single volley we can disable Astrea's shields and forward facing weapons?" While she waited for an answer she ran the calculations in her head, having once been a Weapons Officer onboard a D'deridex herself.

"Nothing is certain," he said evenly. "But we can bias the outcome. Detune the disruptor emitters to a lower-end resonance--just beneath their adaptive shield harmonics--then rake the forward lower quadrant where their field geometry is already under load from thrust vectoring. At the same instant, configure torpedoes for staggered micro-interval release, zero-point-two-five seconds apart, with a predictive lock on their main deflector coupling. The first strike should induce phase lag across their shield grid, forcing their emitters to re-synchronize under stress. The second will exploit that instability, overloading forward reinforcement nodes and collapsing local projection. If the timing holds, the third impact will shear the deflector matrix entirely, leaving their targeting and field modulation blind for several seconds."

Toval threw a stern look over his right shoulder, ensuring Uvael had heard everything. The young tactical officer met his gaze, indicating he had. Satisfied, Toval returned his attention to Minatha.

"Your orders, Subcommander?"

Minatha gave a curt nod. "Centurion; I trust you can program the sequence that the Major gave? Once their shields and weapons are down fire a single disruptor shot across their bow at full power."

Uvael straightened and saluted with fist to chest. "Your will, Subcommander."

Major Toval took several long strides across the bridge and back to the tactical station to assist the centurion with the necessary calibrations.

Minatha turned a glower on the Engineering console even as the primary bridge officer was dragged out of the way and another took his place. "Get my cloak back to operational; when we strike I want to be able to vanish."

"Yes, Subcommander."

Sublieutenant Jopal was frantically attempting to reallocate power from one system to another. His connection with Main Engineering was stable but the engineers aboard the Vindex were stubborn and territorial. He sent the final communiqué through the ship's system with Subcommander Minatha's command insignia attached. Hopefully, this would give it priority and there was no way they would ignore it and risk reprimand.

The response returned almost instantly. They required ten minutes.

"Engineering is reporting ten minutes before our cloak can be reactivated, Subcommander."

"Excellent; tell them they have 6 or they will be the first out an airlock before anybody else on board." As she spoke she pulled up the controls of the cargo doors in the Engineering sector of the Vindex. She expected someone down there to be cocky and was prepared to prove that even in a ship as damaged as the Vindex she was in command.

"Weapons; once your calibrations are complete fire when ready." The order was delivered in a cold, efficient, and calculated manner. She knew the crew would do as they were expected; she knew too that in truth her threats were not necessary. The crew wanted to lose the Vindex less than she did and to do so would end many of their careers; if not their lives outright. The Vindex was a prestigious post... and the Tal Shiar were not kind to those who fail.

Joreel decided that the third hit was enough. He grabbed Aetan, ignoring whatever they had agreed upon for a recovery time. "You'll be safer in your quarters."

Aetan pushed Joreel’s hand away. “I won’t cower in my quarters! Anyway, you know that’s not our assigned place in an emergency! We should be with the Curiosity! We can’t let it fall into enemy hands!”

Minatha, hearing the outburst, turned in her seat and stood; stepping back toward the door to the curiosity chamber at the back of the bridge. “Preceptor; take the curiosity and go to the shuttle.” Her eyes slid to survey Joreel for a moment. “Escort him and then report to the bridge.”

Aetan opened his mouth to say something. Perhaps to protest, but then held his tongue. What he really wanted to do was stay and fight. He had control of the most lethal weapon aboard. Why not use it? He was certain he could get back aboard the Astrea and introduce some chaos.

Then again, perhaps Minatha had the clearer picture on this matter. The Vindex was badly damaged. Maybe the more tactically sound answer was to escape and fight another day. The Vindex could cover their departure and, if necessary, sacrifice herself.

For all their differences, Aetan suddenly felt a tinge of respect for Minatha. She was, in the end, a true Romulan. “Very well,” he said with a smirk.

Seeing that the civilian wasn't going to protest for once, Joreel gave a nod of acknowledgement to Minatha.

As the pair headed off the bridge and to the shuttlebay on board Minatha waited until they were well and truly out of earshot and then stepped closer to Toval. “Once the shuttle is clear of us; open fire and ensure that it... and the Preceptor and his toy is destroyed. I want no evidence left for Astrea to find."

Toval nodded once, not breaking from his superior's steely gaze. "As you wish, Subcommander."




* * * USS Astrea Main Bridge: Science Station * * *

While T'lenn and Osirin worked, combing the sensors for anything that might have caused the breach that now had the Marines sweeping all of the decks, the pair was forced to think outside the box or come close to giving up, and neither was of the mindset to give up, even though the sub-lieutenant wasn't sure why he'd been thought of as an officer who might have skills to assist with this task.

"What if it wasn't a person, but something else?" T'lenn opined. "I have been scanning for signs that there could have been a way for a transporter signal or an energy weapon to breach our shields, but it does not appear that there was any breach for a significant amount of time to allow such an occurrence."

Osirin leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes. He wasn't resting exactly. He was fully recovered from his bout of whatever it was that had sidelined him for a time. Nor was he meditating exactly. He was reflecting. Remembering what he'd seen when the ambassador had gone down. Or more accurately, he'd heard.

A tiny, half-remembered memory, "I think I might have an idea," he said.

He looked over at T'len, "I have an intuition. It's not logical I know, but it might be what we need to solve this. Or start solving this."

He reached to the small of his back and pulled out a weapon. Not a phaser or any Starfleet-issued weapon. It was from Akadia.

"This is a sonic weapon he says. It does the same thing your phaser does, just using a different method. Sound waves."

He handed it over to her. "This wasn't used to kill him. Obviously. But something similar, more powerful, could have been the cause. Or part of it anyway. Maybe we can amplify it. Or, I don't know, I'm not the scientist. Analyze it might be a better term."

He held it out to her.

T'lenn picked up the instrument and examined it, raising an eyebrow at him curiously, wondering if command had given him approval to carry non-Starfleet-commissioned weapons. Though now was not the time for such inquiry, as the Bridge crew prepared for imminent battle behind them.

"We can isolate our sensors to scan for anomalous sonic readings," she suggested, handing the weapon back to him. "I can understand how such a weapon might be useful short range, but can it be isolated to target an individual from long range, or would you expect a widespread effect?" She asked as she began adjusting sensors.

"With this weapon," he replied, 'the longer the range, the more dispersed the effect would be. However, with a
rifle, the range is extended."

"I'm neither a scientist nor an engineer, but my thinking is that someone skilled in those areas could use the base technology and adapt it. I was hoping you could test my hypothesis."

---

Sub-Commander Minatha ir'Ra'tleihfi i'Liorae-sihaer
Commander Officer
PWB Vindex
Tal Shiar
(NPC of Alexandra Blackstone)


Major Toval
Executive Officer
PWB Vindex
Tal Shiar
(NPC of JB Dorsainvil)


Sub-Lieutenant Joreel tr'Rehni
Tal Shiar Officer
PWB Vindex
Tal Shiar
(NPC of Jezra Siv)


Doctor Aetan
Tal Shiar Officer
PWB Vindex
Tal Shiar
(NPC of Sakkar)


Commander Maxun Spello
First Officer
USS Astrea


Lt. Commander Xalanth
Chief Security Officer
USS Astrea


Sub-Lieutenant Osirin Acainus
Mission Advisor
USS Astrea


Lieutenant JG T'lenn
Science Officer
USS Astrea
(NPC of Remy Johansen)


&

Lieutenant Jean-Baptiste Dorsainvil (& also NRCs on Vindex)
Assistant Chief Security Officer
USS Astrea

 

RSS Feed