Sitting at the edge of the open side door of his shuttle Davin had a commanding view of the city below. Great towering buildings and open plazas long abandoned rose up to the not-quite-sky of the Dyson sphere, ancient walls freshly scarred by those so eager to claim the secrets inside.
A MACO assault team and an Imperial Klingon strike force stood at the edge of a sort of round alien plaza so common on the sphere, next to the smoldering remains of a Voth mortar. The Klingons raised their disruptors and bat'leths to the sky, and even from his perch Davin could hear their cries of victory. "Plaza secure, Subcommander," the MACO Sargeant reported, his gleaming silver visor turned up to the Romulan command shuttle. "We're standing by for a security team."
"Acknowledged," Davin said into his wrist-comm, "the U.S.S. Samoyed is sending shuttles as we speak. Tell Karrag to regroup, and then both of you move your teams up to grid Kilo-4. The Voth are digging in around an Omega silo, and we can't let them form a full perimeter." He watched for just a moment as the two groups of soldiers readied themselves for their next move, the war outside the sphere forgotten in the face of a shared enemy. Then he ordered his pilot to take them across the city, to help a group of Federation and Republic soldiers calling in for air support.
The city they passed over on the way was nothing short of majestic, making the intensity of the conflict on it's elegantly engineered streets all the more striking. Beams and bursts of all colors of light crossed the causeways and junctions below, shouted orders and screams perhaps a bit too clear over the soft hum of his heavy but nimble Kestrel-class ships engines. The occasional roar of the cannon mounted at the bow drowned out the noise below at least, but it's implications weren't any more pleasant.
His pilot called from his station, a meter or so inside the shuttle. "Subcommander, we're closing on the strike point. I'd advise you get inside, and close the hatch." Davin nodded his silent agreement as he stood, pulling his legs back into the Kestrel. He got one last look at the city before turning his attention to the MACO and Uhlan ahead, and the Voth perched a few dozen meters beyond them atop a muddy slope.
"Let's not waste too much time on this," he said, his voice grim. "Put a torpedo just behind the Voth lines. High yield."
Davin shrugged as he returned to Celeris' ready room, running his fingers through his disheveled hair. His bridge crew didn't ask where he had been, and he was grateful for that as he threw himself onto the hard couch lining one wall of his personal space. "Aithaen," he said, and the computer chirped, "create a new private sub directory . 'Captains log'." Another chirp. "Irrhfaiihr."
The recording focuses on the SubCommander as he runs his fingers through his hair, laying back on his couch and staring up at the ceiling. A few silent moments pass. "I can't believe I hit Dawsons... I mean, I'd do it again in a heartbeat, but still... Perhaps I should try to keep him away from Nethali, or at least keep the pair of them away from alcohol." He chuckles. "Ajoi, I've never seen two humans fight like that. And they say humans are supposed to be level-headed."
Davin sits up, and the camera adjusts it's frame accordingly. "And what is this human obsession with 'matchmaking'? First on Risa, and then last night with Commander Inaenia..." He shakes his head, and gives an exasperated chuckle. "Maybe I'm just taking Nethali too seriously. I mean, she didn't actually throw a fertility idol at me, or anything..." He goes quiet again, hands in his lap, unfocused eyes on the floor.
"Celeris is too tied up in Dyson operations for us to let you take her," Kaol said, shrugging his shoulders. "But since I doubt I can stop you, I've had the Floatilla send the R.R.W. Vailiu to meet you at the transwarp gateway in Tau Dewa."
Davin nodded, his face hard as stone as he looked over the display on Kaols desk. The Ar'kif was one of the first the Republic produced, and it looked as if it had yet to go one mission without being torn to shreds and rebuilt. But as patchwork as it's hull and internal systems were, it's armaments left no doubt in its ability. If Davin couldn't have Celeris, the sheer firepower of this ship was some consolation.
"I am sorry, but Sevaal was a friend. If something happened to him... I just need to know." The Suliban had been looking in on Bajoran militant groups at Davins request when he disappeared, trying to find evidence on Getri Esahr. But Getri was the last thing on his mind right now. He had a week in that tattered warbird the Republic had lent him to find out what happened to Sevaal, and the militants he had been after.
Vailiu. Ascend. The Warbird loomed alongside Deep Space 13, it's hull emblazoned with representations of the Ajoi, the four Elements of Romulan superstition. Davin didn't usually place much faith in the old traditions, but looking out at the hastily repaired ship he figured it could use all the help it can get.
The Starbase was buzzing with rumors about that ships mission, and it didn't help that Davin had thrown aside his Republic uniform for a more civilian outfit. It was obvious his mission was clandestine, and rumor said it was something personal, but aside from that no one had gotten it quite right. Some said Davin was ferrying Tal Shiar defectors to New Romulus, others that he had been sent to acquire Thalaron weapons to use against the Voth. With the push of a button on his PADD he set the record straight.
'GENERAL NOTICE
SubCommander Davin
Tomorrow I will be setting out on a personal mission. It is not sanctioned by the Republic or the Federation. I have been trying to get information on a prisoner here, Mr. Getri Esahr. One of my investigators, a Suliban named Sevaal, has gone missing while trying to contact Getri's associates. I intend to find out what happened to him.
I know some of you want evidence against Getri, evidence interrogation has not been able to uncover. I can't promise that this mission will shed any light on his activities, but if any of you wish to join me in this endeavor for a chance to find the truth I will be glad to have your help. You have until tomorrow afternoon to contact me and board the Vailiu.
"What the hell was I thinking?" The recording opens on Davin, sprawled out on the couch of his ready room, staring up at the ceiling. "That I would just take a ship, fly around Tau Dewa for a few days, find Sevaal, and everything would magically be okay?" It's hard to tell with his face away from the camera how much of that chuckle was humor, and how much bitterness. "Sevaal's alive, at least. And I did stop a band of Bajoran pirates. Probably got enough evidence from Sevaal to put Getri Esahr away for good, too."
The ready room falls silent, the seconds tick by. "Aster was right, though. And Dawsons... I should probably talk to Dawsons..." Another silence falls, and Davin sits up slowly, looking at something off screen. "Maybe I'll see if I can meditate with Areyis some time. I know I've got a dozen reunificationists on this crew that would jump at the chance to try authentic Vulcan meditation." That chuckle was more humor, but only slightly.
"Alright, take it up half a rotation and load the new containment pattern." He spoke more for his team than for Lir. Honestly, his Reman chief engineer was probably done with the singularity harness modifications before Davin had finished talking. Their old core, a stalwart if dated Romulan model, was just a speck of neutronium off Celeris' aft. It's replacement, a white and violet Solanae-inspired system, was just starting to spin up.
Davin wiped his brow, glanced at his assembled engineering team, and smirked. "Alright, I'd say we're about ready for the red matter." A few enthusiastic hoots rose from the engineers, and from the rest of Celeris' crew lining the walls of the great circular chamber.
"Injecting in five," Lir said, more for the crew than the SubCommander. He probably wasn't listening anyway, judging from the last-minute technical information flashing through his mind. For a few moments there was no change, just the great spinning rings of the harness around the shielded core. And then the core lit up, the exterior lights glowing with their collected zero-point energy, the harness rumbling the low B flat monotone of the singularity within. Cheers erupted, first among the engineers, then the rest of the crew, comforted by the engineers glee and the fact that they had not been compressed to a point of near-infinite density by some failure of the magical device that was the heart of their warbird.
Davin just grinned, stepping up to listen to the thrum of the ships new core, watching the great white and violet rings swing around the ivory containment shell.
"Everything's matching the projections," Lir said over the din of the party forming behind her station, the flowery sweetness of kali-fal already gracing the air. "Solanae systems are coming online. Metaphasic shields are go, power is up across the board, and the subspace drive is active."
Davin turned and leaned against the railing behind him, looking out at his crew. "Let's give it a shot, then. Our first subspace fold... How about Risa?"
"Vastam Hwi, aevr!" From the bridge of the Warbird D'Ishae Davin watched a trio of Scorpion fighters swoop up around the ships deflector and take up positions in front of the cruising escort carrier. "Launch systems functioning nominally, and once the deck is clear we'll be ready to launch the second wing." From his tactical console Sevius grinned that big, too-toothy grin he wore when everything ran smoothly. Davin stayed stoic for the moment, though.
Granted, this ship was a vast improvement over his last temporary command, the Vailiu. No missing plates in the floor, no lingering hull damage, the hangar was operational and loaded with fighters. It wasn't Celeris, but he knew he could get used to it.
He would be aboard this ship at least until the Esahr investigation wrapped up, maybe longer if the Republic finally decided to get a good look at the Mirror Universe tech loaded into his Dhelan. Elements, maybe they would just bump Kaeni up to SubCommander and give Celeris to her. Either way, the Floatilla couldn't afford to stick a Davin in another fixer-upper like the Vailiu, and it might be a while before he sets foot aboard his more familiar warship.
"Vastam Kre, aevr!" Three more Scorpions fall into formation ahead of the D'Ishae, forming a line ahead of and slightly above the Warbirds firing lines. He had been told by Centurion... Kel'iae? Kri'iae? The flight deck officer who's name he would need to commit to memory, that the fighters wouldn't get in the way of the ships weapons, but he decided to err on the side of caution.
"Sevius, charge weapons." Davin looked over his shoulder to make sure his order was carried out, half-expecting to hear 'why?' in place of tapping on the console. Sevius was a fine soldier, there was no doubt, but for a Romulan he could be exceptionally dense at times. But his order went unquestioned, and like magic the little Reman fighters bobbed out of the firing arc of D'Ishae's cannons.
"Not bad," Davin whispered with a smirk, followed by a louder "Sevius, lower weapons."
"...Why? Aren't we going to test them?"
Davin, and one or two of the other bridge officers, shrugged.
"Abandon ship! All hands, abandon ship!" Celeris rocked as another bioplasmic torpedo tore into her tattered hull. SubCommander Kaeni noted only distantly that the ships status displays had greyed out half of the starboard wing, her focus held on the control yolks of the dropping warbird, and the cracked viewscreen ahead of her. It was a mess of debris and ships of all shapes and sizes, though her focus was on the hulking Scimitar ahead, it's wings splayed as its thalaron weapon charged in the last-ditch efforts to repel the Undine tides.
"Fourty seconds to impulse engine overload!" Kaeni spared D'Vret a glance as he frantically worked at the one working engineering console.
"Get out of here, Centurion!" she shouted, but it was a token gesture. He and Lo'Nek, manually guiding the aft turrets, wouldn't leave the bridge if it was depressurizing. Not for Davin, and not for her. Admirable, but at the rate Celeris was falling it was a cold comfort.
"Fore cannons are set to cover the escape pods and shuttles, evacuation is at thirty percent," the Reman security officer growled as another burst of energy shook the crippled warbird, and despite Kaeni's efforts Celeris' bow dipped lower, and the ship started listing to starboard. Kaeni stayed silent as she guided the ship as much as it would let her, plowing through the drifting debris field as she closes on the Scimitar.
The thalaron pulse it had been charging finally released, a burst of sickly green light engulfing every vessel in front of it, Undine and Voth alike. The bioships practically disintegrated, while the embattled Voth vessels just began to fall out of the sky, or drift in mindless directions through the battle zone. But as much damage as had been inflicted, as many ships as had been destroyed, the gaps in the line were soon filled by even more of the Undine, now focused on the dreadnaught warbird. Celeris itself was nearly rammed as the swarming bioships rushed into battle, their combined might too much for even the power of a Scimitar. It lingered only as long as it dared to, hopefully picking up survivors, before it turned and fled. And with it went any hope of Celeris making it back to safety.
"Impulse failure in five... four... three... two..." The ship lurched, and the controls in Kaeni's hands fought her with the full force of the falling ship. The bow nosed down, and the landscape below came to dominate the flickering viewscreen.
"SubCommander..." Kaeni turned to D'Vret, who smiled in spite or the cold resignation in his eyes. "...It's been an honor." Ever-stern Lo'Nek simply nodded, stepping away from his console to salute.
The words caught in Kaeni's throat, and her hands tightened on the indomitable controls. "Thank you... Jolan'tru."
