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<BR><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana>// <I>Challenger</I> Bridge \\</FONT><BR>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana><BR></FONT><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana><BR></FONT>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana>The emotional levels and tension levels were high on the bridge of the starship <I>Challenger</I>. T'Lara glanced up and around the bridge as the ship began moving directly towards the nebula, and the waiting Romulan fleet. She heard Captain Spearling give her the orders to activate the deflector and set sensors on full foward. "Aye, Captain," she responded crisply. Her fingers moved rapidly over her controls, without missing a beat. "Deflector array is charged, and sensor suite is operating at peak efficiency, full foward."</FONT></DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana><BR></FONT>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana>She could discern the battle readiness her human compatriots were experiencing as they flew ever closer to the Romulan fleet standing inside the nebula ahead. It wasn't her first time in such circumstances. She, given her people's somewhat longer lifespan, had had ample opportunity to experience such a situation in the Vulcans' conflicts with the Andorians, the Etoshans, and several other species over the years. Unlike most officers of comparable rank in the human Starfleet, she was several decades older than they, and therefore had been involved in several different types of assignments.</FONT></DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana><BR></FONT>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana>The ship had a subliminal hum to it as the warp reactor below in Engineering thrummed life and power through the vessel, lending it the force to shoot through the stars towards their objective, the Romulan fleet. Her eyes moved over each officer manning a station on the bridge, and then back to her panel. They were maintaining a typically human level of emotion, but it was controlled, in check. She was pleasantly surprised by the degree of equaniminity they were maintaining. Usually, emotional beings faced with such circumstances would be exhibiting far less control and far more chaos by now.</FONT></DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana><BR></FONT>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana>Glancing upwards from the readings as the ship began its emergence from warp, coordinated with the other ships of the Coalition forces, she notified the captain of her readings. "Romulan ships as expected. Deployment is consistent with ideology of aggressive stance. We should prepare for stringent combat," she said calmly. On the screen, as the colored trails of warp space denigrated back into normal space time, the small pinpoints of light that were the Romulan ships sparkled like distant stars in a tightly packed constellation.</FONT></DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana><BR></FONT><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana><BR></FONT><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana><BR></FONT>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana>// Bridge of the Romulan Warship <I>Darksun</I> \\</FONT></DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana><BR></FONT><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana><BR></FONT>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana>The very ship hummed beneath the booted soles of Commander S'indra t'Maec, the ship's commanding officer. The ship was small, but powerful. One of the most deadly ships in the Empire's arsenal, the Darkun was deployed with numerous other ships at the place the aliens referred to as Cheron, preparing for battle. Her blood sang with the excitement of meeting these strange, inferior beings in the heat of battle in the cold of space. Around her, her officers spoke with pristine efficiency and purpose, prepping for the coming carnage that would be visited on the intruders into their sovereign territory.</FONT></DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana><BR></FONT>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana>At the report of every station being at readiness for battle, her lips curled slightly back from her teeth as she swiveled around to view the screen once more. The aliens would not know how to deal with the onslaught they would endure from the Romulan might that would be visited upon them. This thought pleased her. Her blood, already hot, burned even hotter with the anticipation of battle. Honor would be served by expunging the interlopers from the Empire's realm, and she would be a key instrument of that expulsion. Perhaps the High Command and Senate would reward her handsomely for her part. Perhaps she would ascend to the High Command herself. Perhaps she would be wooed to run for a position in the Senate. In either event, her House would gain prestige and mnhei'sahe, and honor, and would be elevated even further along the social strata.</FONT></DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana><BR></FONT>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana>Commander t'Maec's very body tingled and burned with the desire to do battle, to see the utter defeat of her enemies before her, to see them burn and explode under the disruptor fire of her ship's weapons. Standing, she imperiously stroked her fingers along the butt of her holstered disruptor, caressing it like one might a lover. "Prepare to engage the aliens as soon as they are sighted, but be wary of traps. The aliens are inferior, but who knows what small ingenious tricks they may possess? Though unlikely, we should nonetheless be prepared. Defeat them as the trash they are, but expect the cunning and intelligence of a Romulan, however unlikely it is that another species could be as superior as we, and possess such gifts" her voice carried over the bridge as she strode it as if she were a ruling seat Senator already.</FONT></DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana><BR></FONT>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana>The bridge crew chorused an affirmative to her order, quickly, precisely and briefly with absolute military precision. However, before Commander t'Maec could relish the control she exerted in her position of commanding officer, and the anticipated victory over subintelligent alien trash, an alarm sounded from a console near her. "Commander," voiced the officer manning that console, "the aliens are exiting otherspace at close proximity!"</FONT></DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana><BR></FONT>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana>Commander t'Maec's pointed ears caught every syllable, and the underlying tension and meaning behind it, of the warning, and smiled like a n'rrhr bird hunting its prey. "Sound battle stations and go to full battle alert. It is time!" At her order, the bridge changed abruptly into a darker and more garishly lit place, and the sounds of weapons controls chiming ready rang around the bridge like the shockwaves of a supernova in close proximity to a ship's hull. The fleet was surprised, but Commander t'Maec was smart enough to put nothing past her adversaries, no matter how low her estimation of their abilities may be. The battle was about to be joined.</FONT></DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana><BR></FONT>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana>==================================================</FONT></DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana><BR></FONT>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana>Ensign T'Lara</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana>Chief Science Officer</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana>FCL-04 <I>Challenger</I></FONT></DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana><BR></FONT>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana>NPCs, Romulan NPCs, and more</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=2 face=Verdana>apb Karyn</FONT></DIV><BR></DIV> </div></body>
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