401 Sorenal

"You've got a very loud voice - why don't you shout at them?"
- Mariella to Loras Veltr'a on opening communications with the Gorn

Stardate 52561.3

Loras Veltr'a is commanding the Stephenson on rescue mission to assist a Gorn ship which has crashed inside the "New Lhasa sphere" - the space around New Lhasa which Starfleet is permitted to explore. A group of Tholian Hegemony vessels, communicating with the Stephenson via Chakuun Captain Kish'nak'anan, order the Stephenson down and then go on the attack. The Stephenson is forced to fake its destruction and hide beneath the clouds of the same unnamed class K planet where the Gorn ship was lost. Lt Shar ignores his injuries to restart the impulse drives before the ship classes into the surface, earning a commendation from Veltr'a.

Unbeknownst to the crew, the Tholian Hegemony has declared war on the UFP over Lattices of Subspace Ruptures which it has interpreted - inexplicably - as an attack by the UFP.

Over the hours that follow, the engineering crew work on the hull, and try to get a message back, as well as locating the Gorn ship. An unknown vessel hails them, and offers assistance; they feed a message back to the Klingon mercenaries which are protecting New Lhasa. Much to Horah Morash's frustration, First Minister David Heart refuses to let the Klingons mount a rescue mission, claiming he may need them to protect New Lhasa.

When the crew locate the Gorn ship, they land a shuttle nearby and are alarmed to find a mix of Chakuun, Gorn, and Varex. After watching them from a distance, the Gorn detect them ... but our heroes are relieved to discover that the Chakuun are loyal to the rebellion, not the Hegemony. Apparently, the Gorn were escorting a rebellion archeological site - near where they had landed - which the rebellion hoped would yield strategically important information about the Tholians. Scans and investigations by the away team (LV, MT, M, & Kayon) reveal holes in the rebellion story - they claim they sustained injuries when their ship came down, but their injuries were actually consistent with a concentric subspace blast, as delivered by subterranean defensive systems on New Lhasa.

The mystery ship makes contact again, and lands on-planet; it is Romulan, and Mariella is less than happy to meet them and tries to busy herself with an injured Gorn to avoid them, but Lt. Veltr'a is having none of it, and inisists she meet the Gorn party, led by mission specialist Sorenal ...whom she privately recognises as her father.

"Lyranna says that your coffee is getting cold"
- Horah-Morash

Veltr'a asks to go up in the cloaked Romulan ship to communicate with New Lhasa, and after several hours of hesitation and an insistence that they can see the message contents, they agree. He learns from Horah-Morash of the Tholian hostilities and that they're won't be any Klingon rescuers.

"Can we help?"
"Only if one of you is a blood relative"
Romulan MO Dr. Lovok, and a true word spoken in dark jest

Overnight, Sorenal falls ill with a failure of is Hepadine lining, ostensibly from some atmospheric poisoning. It will probably kill him unless he has regular blood transplants from a near relative until he reaches a Romulan medical facility. Her examination confirms it, but she realises that however he developed it, he can't have absorbed it through the atmosphere. Poisoning is far more likely. Mariella's medical ethics force her, much against her fear and hatred of all Romulans, to admit to their blood relationship and offer to stay with them until they reach Romulan space.

The engineers start to look rebuilding warp engines with parts from the Stephenson and the Gorn ship.

The Romulans agree to swap medical officers, but take off with Mariella on board. She is marched from sick bay to the bridge, where she telepathically senses that Captain Ramak is Nakeyah.

In the Romulan Ship, Mariella succeeds in damaging the Romulan Engines so that their path becomes detectable, but the Phobos is still hopelessly outrun, and has to return to New Lhasa. She has the chance to converse with her father, who claims that her mother is still alive. In an attempt to establish that she can trust him, she agrees to a mind meld ...

Guest Star:
Jonny Nexus as Sorenal

Narrator Characters:
L'Rag - Gorn Captain
Kamol - Varex thinker
Zamos - Varex archeologist
Tarak - Rebel Chakuun group leader
Ramek - Romulan Captain
Lovok - Romulan medic

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