LOCATION: Aldebaran Sector
MISSION: Distress call response from the Gadian's Pride.
OUTCOME: The Gadian's Pride was found destroyed, and following a confrontation with an Imperial Warbird, hostilities were narrowly avoided.
KEY PERSONNEL:
CAPT A NImitz
NARRATIVE: The Pegasus recived a distress call while on patrol near the Klingon boarder from the GCS Gadian's Pride, a vessel that was carrying Gadian diplomats to New Romulus from the Liyan Cluster. We altered course to respond, however by the time the Pegasus arrived, the Pride had been destroyed. After our arrival, an Imperial Warbird decloaked, after a chat with their commander, we agreed to investigate together what caused the destruction of the Gadian's Pride. It should be noted that it is of the opinion of the reporting officer that the Imperial Warbird was in fact responsible for the destruction of the Pride as weapon signatures matched Romulan disruptors.
The Imperial Warbird refused offers to clear their name after being asked to fire their weapons to scan for a match on the weapons that destroyed the Pride, which lead to a stand off between the Pegasus and the warbird. The situation was not helped with the arrival of the USS Braga also responding to the distress call.
After the Braga's arrival the situation begun to escalate as the Warbird made moves to leave the system without cloaking, realizing that the Warbird was attempting to lead the Pegasus and the Braga into a trap, I ordered the Braga to withdraw and hold position near us. The Warbird then proceeded to leave unchallenged.
RECOMMENDATION: I recommend that Starfleet and the Federation revisit the Liyan Cluster, as the Imperial Romulans seem quite content to ambush and destroy a Gadian vessel carrying diplomats to New Romulus.
OOC: This was an event from Oct 31st, run by Timo, My sincere apologizes for taking so long to post this AAR.
ADDENDUM: This is intended to be just an addition to what Capt. Nimitz wrote in his report. The Braga received the distress call during its year-long assignment inside the Cluster: specifically, we were tasked with patrolling the borders between the Gadians and the Klishnah Kingdom while our diplomats on board tried to mend a previous diplomatic incident between the two political entities. However, due to a momentary pause in negotiations, and with the possibility of studying the passing of Class IV comet near the Federation-Gadian border, I had temporarily moved the ship inside Gadian territory, which made it possible for us to receive the distress signal and come to the rescue.
Unfortunately, as Capt. Nimitz already testified, the Gadian's Pride, one of the flagship of the Gadian fleet that was tasked with escorting Gadian diplomats on Mol'Rihan, had been already destroyed. It is my belief, supported by the evidence from our scans and those of the Pegasus, that the Imperials were responsible for the attack, in an attempt at avoiding or at least delaying negotiations between the Gadians and the Republic for an alliance.
The Imperial warbird Ho'ron, commanded by T'Maek Sirol, was already on the scene, confronting the Pegasus, when we arrived. The informations in our possess said that the Ho'ron was tasked with patrolling the Kirrshan-Gadian-Federation border, so it is plausible that the vessel was actually responding to the distress call, though I find this hypothesis unlikely. It is far more plausible that the Ho'ron was actually responsible for the destruction of the Gadian's Pride.
On a final note, though I understand the reasons that led Capt. Nimitz to keep the situation was escalating, I also believe a stronger stance could have been taken in order to force Commander Sirol to admit his responsibilities and, possibly, to seize the ones responsible for such a massacre.
OOC: This is a further impromptu for whoever would like to investigate more about the 'incident' and its background. Feel free to PM me for planning further inquiries, if you want so.