— 2294 —

“CAPTAIN! WE’VE LOST THE EXCALIBUR!” 

Capt. Urshyra Sollace saw the explosion on the lower right edge of the view screen.

That ship simply seemed destined to be cursed. 

First, the M5 computer incident with the Enterprise …. all hands lost … and now this. 

From the bridge of the U.S.S. Thunder Strike, they watched in a split second of silence as debris spread outward in all directions. 

A Romulan warbird veered sharply away from the spreading remains of the Constitution-class, seeming to think twice about cruising through the expanding wreckage as subspace rippled outward from the point of the explosion. 

The enemy had turned to the use of some new form of chronometric-based isolytic subspace weaponry, and it was ripping the Federation assault fleet to shreds. 

“Shift targeting to that warbird,” Urshyra ordered, seeking a bit of payback for the Excalibur. 

As commanded, phaser bolts sliced through the distance to strike the warbird amid ship even. 

It was enough to weaken shields on that quarter enough that a large chunk of debris broke through, smashing into the warbird’s hull. 

And even as the warbird spun on her axis and into a spin, it was not quick enough to stop them from firing their new torpedoes.

The struck secondary hull of the U.S.S. Hiroshima.

Shields seemed not to matter as subspace warped and distorted around one of the most powerful ships in the Federation fleet, ripping through shields and crushing the hull in dramatic fashion. 

In retaliation, another Federation dreadnought in their armada … the U.S.S. Star Empire … caught the warbird from the stern, making use of the opportunity opened up by the Thunder Strike and the Excalibur’s debris. 

But the exploding warbird was but one in a fleet of Romulan ships – a fleet built for invasion. 

Starfleet had hoped a preemptive strike would catch the Romulans off-guard, ending the threat to the Federation before it had truly begun. 

But as good as their intelligence gathering had been, no one had prepared them for the enemy’s new weaponry. 

These were weapons the Federation had yet learn about, let alone see in action. 

So they had no adequate defenses. 

“Helm … Zero-Nine-Three downward angle into Attack Pattern Delta Four,” Urshyra ordered. 

Commander Daenerys sat center chair of the I.R.W. Elessar, watching the devastation their fleet was enacting on the Federation attackers. 

And she was no fool. 

Daenerys knew they were only attacking as a preemptive strike against the Romulan Imperial forces assembled in this place before these forces could begin an invasion of Federation space. 

Thus was the path the new elements controlling the Romulan government had set them on. 

It was an invasion that Daenerys herself did not condone, but one she was ordered to participate in regardless. 

She was a naval officer. NOT Tal Shiar, and like many in the naval forces lived by a strict code of honor … mnhei’sahe.

This attack violated that sense of honor. …. What had they become? 

And she knew there were many within this fleet who felt as she did. 

But who were they to question the will of their government? 

Coming up from astern, the Elessar now had the Federation starship “Red Wolf” in their sights with their finger hovering over the firing button. 

 All it would take was a simple pressing of a single button and their new torpedoes would arc through space, collide with the hull of that ship and cause disruptions in subspace on a temporal level that would rip their enemy apart on a near quantum level. 

Their enemy. … Where these Starfleeters truly their enemy? 

She like many had heard the stories of another Romulan ship commander, one Ael t’Rllailleu, who had taken her ship across the line and sided with Starfleet in a stand against this new Romulan regime. 

She and the crew of the I.R.W. Bloodwing were said to still be out there somewhere acting as rebels. 

Acts of defiance that defended the TRUE honor of the Romulan people. 

Acts of defiance … 

With a sigh, Daenerys reached down and  input commands into the interface built into the chair’s arm. 

She pressed that button. 

[“Weapons fire and spatial disruptions detected in proximity to Borg aperture six-nine-two-five-five.”]

This caused the Borg Queen to look up and turn her head as she hung suspended in air above the queen’s chamber aboard the octahedron-shaped starship. 

Aperture six-nine-two-five-five was a new creation only recently brought online, yet not completely operational. 

There were … as some species would call it … quirks in its operating parameters that had yet to be isolated and corrected. 

It was one of the new set of apertures connected directly to this recently constructed transwarp hub – a hub designed to open up new pathways of assimilation within this newly reached part of the galaxy. 

The Queen had brought her ship here specifically to help her drones directly in isolating the problems that had crept into the operating parameters of this new extension of their network. 

Reaching out her mind, several ships dispatched from the main complex to investigate. 

With a sigh, Daenerys reached down and  input commands into the interface built into the chair’s arm. 

She pressed that button. 

Orders were orders, after all. 

The torpedoes leapt from the warbird’s forward-facing tubes and closed the distance between them and the as yet unaware Red Wolf. 

Acts of Defiance … 

Those same torpedoes missed their mark, passing instead downward and underneath the Federation cruiser. 

It hadn’t helped that the ship’s commander had altered targeting alignment ever-so-slightly. 

It was enough to send the orbs streaking past their target to explode a safe distance from the target – close enough to give that crew an incredible shake and rattle, but not enough to shred their ship. 

Her first officer, sub-commander Maq’betlh, glanced across from his station, caught her eye and gave a slight nod of understanding. 

They’d spent many nights in shared conversation about Ael and the Bloodwing. 

Then all Areinnye broke loose. 

That’s when all Hell broke loose. 

The enemy should have had them dead to rights, but instead the torpedo’s trajectory was too low causing the weapon to pass underneath their hull and explode what should have been a safe distance away. 

However, the … event? … eruption? … Whatever it was that was spilling out from what could best be described as a breach was a shockwave unlike anything previously seen.

“WARP DRIVE!” Urshyra yelled followed by. “ALL DECKS! … BRACE! BRACE! BRACE!” 

It was only because the helmsman was one to have all escape options available at his fingertips should retreat orders ever be given in battles such as this. 

As soon as her captain’s orders left her lips, Lesli’s fingers keyed the drive sending them into warp. 

At least, that’s what should have happened. 

Yes, the ship picked up speed, and it did obtain enough distance to keep them from being at the epicenter of the shockwave … enough to keep them from crumbling under the initial forces but not enough to keep most of the crew from being jarred around and thrown from seats and stations. 

Consoles blew around the bridge as Urshyra crawled back to her chair, fighting what felt like intense gravitational forces. 

Climbing back into her chair, she looked to the viewscreen just in time to see everything in the area … Starfleet, Romulans, ship debris, asteroids … all of it … being sucked into epicenter of the event and away from everything they’d ever known. 

— Out of Story —

And here we have the first part of the story as two fleets suddenly have more to think about than the battle they previously waged.  

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