Posted by Rear Admiral CockRoach (Storyteller) in Main Sim: Bridge
[snip]

”..Attention all hands, this is the Captain, as many of you now know we are going to battle stations, it would seem the Romulan Star Empire isnt content with our treaty we so recently fought and bled for. Their approach of 9 ships into this system though could not have come at a worse time. Starfleet’s forces are spread thing in other sector’s our nearest help is nearly 5 hours away. The local colony here has no real defenses to fight off this force, we....we are their only option from another attack. I know that if in a coming battle you all will serve to the best of your capacity to Earth, to Vulcan, Andoria, Tellar, and the newly formed Federation’s colonies. Whatever the outcome here and though our time so far is short we will protect this colony at all costs..” He said nodding to close ship wide comms.

On scans the 9 ships now within the system on scans picked up and ID’ed as Romulan T’liss Type A warbirds warbirds which were the cream of the crop in the recent Earth/Romulan war now less then a year ago. Their shields were raised and weapons armed, though oddly the power curves on sensors were slightly off though muddled, perhaps showing some kind of sensor masking system to prevent an enemy from detecting their full abilities?

“I don’t think they can cloak, they are using some sort of sensor masking system to hide their abilities. Maybe they can’t cloak.” She reported as she looked at the sensor logs.
“There are nine of them Captain. T’liss type A. We encoutered many of them during the war. They are loaded to bear.”

On Comms an audio message came through =/\= This....is Admiral Verrick, this system is now property of the Romulan Star Empire, leave now or face your destruction..=/\= Came the male voice, which unlike many Romulan male’s heard on audio seemed, much deeper toned and gruff then others had heard in recordings.

“How original” She muttered, taking another look at the sensor logs. Something didn’t seem right, she checked the sensors again, looking for life readings.

Myasnikov looked up as the audio came through and a confused look came over his face. Turning in his chair, he looked at the Captain and said “Uh, Captain? That doesn’t sound very… well… ‘Romulan’. Not just the tone. That’s a really odd word choice for a Romulan. Especially seeing as how Romulans don’t have Admirals. Their equivalent rank they refer to as General. That was a faux pas that occurred during treaty negotiations. I remember reading about it when I was researching my dissertation.”

”..Are you saying these might not be Romulans?” The Captain asked, life scans on the ships were muddled due to the sensor masking present so no clear sign could be given if these were Romulan or not. “..They certainly look like Romulans..” he said.

At this point a trio of warning shots were fired across the Unity’s bow again oddly energy output was not quite up to par with what they had encountered during the war, the power curves were lower then on record for a T’liss warbird. =/\= This is your final warning, leave this system now or face destruction..=/\= The voice of ‘Verrick’ said again.

Myasnikov looked at the incoming energy signatures and listened again to the voice coming through. “I don’t think they are, Captain. There are too many inconsistencies here. One way to be sure, though.” he said and then looked directly at the Captain. “I can talk to them without the translator. I’m not completely fluent, but I’ll be able to tell if it’s a native speaker or someone trying to dupe us. I might even be able to try and put a little ‘spin’ on out current situation if we need it.”

Marinna looked up.” I agree with Mysanikov Captain,” She checked the sensors again. “Those shot were of lower energy levels then what we should expect from their class, either they did that on purpose, or their weapons systems are damaged.”

OOC: Sorry for the delay everone, I think I got over my OCD hump and writer’s block on this. Let’s give it a try!

”..Open a channel then Myasnikov, let’s test your theory while we got the chance!..” He said.

Turning to Marinna then, “..So who could these be then if not Romulans? Any thoughts?” He asked glancing back to the screen as the ships began to slow and hold position in a circular formation around the Unity 10km off all sides.

GM CockRoach

Mysnikov took a breath and then activated the comms. In Romulan, he spoke as they hailed the other vessel. =/\= Unidentified vessel. This is the Federation starship Unity. You have fired on us unprovoked in direct violation of the peace accord. We will give you a single opportunity to explain yourself, ‘Admiral’. Please note we have already sent word to the Romulan delegation currently enroute that you are in this system, and expect them to be in system within the next twelve hours. We are sure that any territorial claim can be settled at that time. We will warn you. If you fire upon us again, we will defend ourselves. Otherwise, you may hold your position and we can… discuss… your assertion that this system is part of the Star Empire. Please respond, Admiral. =/\= and he immediately muted the audio from the Unity side and relayed what he said to the bridge crew. “Sorry for the dramatic license. But I was hoping to at least make them pause for a moment, buy us some time. If this is the Orions or Nausicans that have been on-planet before, they won’t want to make the Romulans angry. If they think the real Romulans are coming, that may give them something else to consider.”

Myasnikov, Helm / Science