Heresy 19

Ronnie

The Falcon comes out of warp into the middle of a blaze of weapons fire, disruptor bolts and plasma torps stabbing through the darkness of space.

"Quite a pretty little furball," I say, as the tactical display settles.

"Scans read as IRW Mas'athae, IRW Khopesh - and our old friend the RRW Red Talon," Tallasa says. "Sir, all three ships are firing on each other - three-cornered fight."

*/*factional conflict as predicted---inefficient---assimilate and subsume*/* Oh, be quiet, Two of Twelve, you're not helping.

"All right. Put me on comms, let me be the voice of reason, I can do that."

"Hailing frequencies open," says the comms ensign, while everyone else is still too gobsmacked to comment.

"Romulan vessels. This is the USS Falcon. You are engaged in acts of hostility within Federation space, and you are ordered to stand down." Wow, that actually sounded quite professional. Bit more practice, I could get good at this starship commander lark.

The result is more or less what I expected. All three ships are Mogai warbirds, reliable workhorses - workbirds - whatever - of the Romulan fleets, and three of them could actually give the Falcon a pretty rough time. Except they've been fighting each other, their shields are failing, their hulls scarred and leaking atmosphere and warp plasma... they are in no shape to take on a fresh ship.

So, the guns fall silent... and the comms channels become anything but.

"We were attacked without warning or provocation!" Commander Utia looks even more cross than the last time I saw her. Of course, she's got sound enough reasons.

"We are engaged in legitimate operations against traitors to the Empire!" So that's the Imperial commander, then. He looks very sleek and self-satisfied, or at least he would if his bridge wasn't on fire behind him.

"We will pacify all hostile elements in the name of the Hegemony!" Aha, I think, so the Khopesh is due to update its transponders to read HBW instead of IRW. How many of these are out there? This commander is a tough-looking character, another driven type, all hollow cheeks and smouldering eyes. Obviously he is too busy furthering the Hegemony's cause to bother with eating. His bridge isn't on fire, but he has nasty emission spikes in his ship's drive, I could see his mission of pacification ending in a nacelle burn-out pretty darn soon. */*failure probability 56% rising to 78% over next 100 hours if maintenance is not performed*/*

"OK," I say, "first things first. You don't do any pacifying or legitimate operations in these parts without the Federation's say-so, which you're not getting. So let's have those disruptors powered down, now. Also, two of you are going to yell at me about not recognizing the so-called Romulan Republic - well, the Federation does, so save your breath."

"We cannot render ourselves defenceless against these traitors and renegades!" shouts the Imperial commander.

"I can render you defenceless," I say. "All it'd take is a quick arpeggio on my forward phasers, so back off, Commander. What's your name, anyway? I'm Veronika Grau, call me Ronnie, everyone does." I start typing, unobtrusively I hope, on my command console, below their line of vision so it doesn't show on their screens. I need to give some orders - or at least hints - quickly.

"I am Subcommander T'kralik," the Imperial says, grudgingly.

"Great. Super. And I can introduce you to Commander Utia of the Red Talon, so that just leaves the hero of the Hegemony here. You got a name?" I ask the Hegemony captain. The important thing, right now, is to keep them all talking.

"I am Commander Sardahn," says the Hegemony guy. This Hegemony thing is really starting to bug me, now. "If you think you will dissuade me from carrying out my orders, you are sadly mistaken."

"What are your orders, exactly?" I ask. In my peripheral vision, acknowledgements of my text messages start popping up. This is good. Well, good for me, anyway.

"I do not propose to discuss military secrets on an open channel with my enemies!" Sardahn barks.

"OK, see your point, there. Still, they must be pretty tough orders, right? I mean, do they really mean you've got to take on two-for-one odds? Me, I'd worry about that. I'm one of the old-fashioned types when it comes to tactics - you know the old saw, right? The one about if you're in a fair fight, you're already doing something wrong? If I get into a two-to-one fight, I want to be one of the two. If you see what I mean." */* 2/12, 2ndary adjunct---*/* - oh, that is so not what I mean.

"Federation weakness!" Sardahn spits. T'kralik just looks deeply unimpressed.

"Oh, come on, I was in the first Romulan war, you guys took every sneaky tactical advantage you could, I remember it well. Don't give me that." They both look taken aback by that.

"The first Romulan war?" T'kralik sneers. "Either you are over two hundred and fifty Earth years old, or you are dangerously insane."

"Hey," I say, "I'm versatile, I can do both."

At this point, the first of my surreptitious messages pays off. The Red Talon's nacelles flare, and the Republic ship is suddenly gone, off at maximum warp, leaving nothing but a brief streak of light behind. Result.

"Trickery!" T'kralik howls, and "You have balked me of my prey!" snaps Sardahn.

"Yeah, well, I'm not balked of mine," I say. "So this leaves you two to deal with. What I suggest is, you both take off in different directions and, well, do whatever the heck you want... so long as you settle your differences well outside Federation space. Sound like a plan to you?"

T'kralik looks around, affecting to notice the damage behind him for the first time. "We are in no immediate condition to depart," he says.

"You're not any worse hit than Utia was. Don't try and kid a kidder, Subcommander."

"It seems," Sardahn grinds the words out, "we have no option but to comply with your orders."

"That's about right." I lean back in my command chair, trying to project an air of calm and unflappable superiority. "Let's see some movement, now."

The two remaining warbirds swing around, coming onto new headings. "Commander Sardahn," I say, "not so close to the Red Talon's departure vector, if you don't mind. Heading two two three mark two four should do nicely." This has him pointed about thirty degrees galactic spinward of Utia's line of flight... with enough delay, he will never be able to catch her before she gets back to Republic-controlled space. He knows it, and he looks daggers at me.

"So, that's just about it, gents," I say. Unobtrusively, I reach for my console and tap out a get-ready message to Jhemyl at the tac station. "Have a nice day and all that."

The Romulan ships begin to move. I count down, silently. Three, two, one - "Now!" I snap at Jhemyl.

Roms. They are so predictably treacherous. T'kralik has swung around enough to fire off a plasma torp salvo at both me and Sardahn, while Sardahn picks the same moment to deploy his tractor mines. If I hadn't been expecting it, we'd be in trouble.

As it is, there's a lot of ordnance flying around out there; Jhemyl has her work cut out, nailing each and every torpedo and mine with the phaser arrays. She manages it, though. She's good.

"Let that be a lesson for you, boys," I say over the still open channel. "Play nice, or auntie Ronnie will take your toys away. T'kralik. Your departure vector is six three mark three eight two. In sixty seconds' time, I'm putting a volley of photon torps through the space you're in now, so, y'know, get departing."

"And know this," Sardahn snarls, "it will not save you. I will hunt down both you and the so-called Republic traitor, T'kralik, and then - then - I will deal with this insolent madwoman as she deserves."

I nod to Jhemyl, and another lance of golden light flashes out from our phaser arrays. It's not much, actually - but it's enough to slice through the Khopesh's weakened shields and lick along the ship's starboard nacelle. And, with the damage his engines have already taken... it does the job. I see the sick despair spread across Sardahn's face as he realizes his warp drive is out of commission.

There is another streak of light, and T'kralik's ship is gone. "OK, I won't bother with the photons, then," I say. "Those things cost money. Commander Sardahn, I guess I'll see you around. I know you won't be going anywhere for the next day or two, anyway."

Sardahn snarls. "We will meet again, madwoman. Depend on it." He cuts the channel.

Tallasa is the first to speak. "That... went better than I expected, sir."

"Could have been worse," I say. "I am really starting to wonder about this Hegemony thing, though. Better get in touch with Starfleet Command, see if they know any more than we do...."