A simple search and retrieve mission lands Commodore Locutis and the whole crew in the brig of a Romulan Warbird.

Turnabout Deception

Written by

The Crew of the USS Victory

Commodore Locutis, Cmdr. Magellan, Lt. Benjamin Holland, Lt. L’Etal, Counsellor Lisa Stardust, Ens. Annika Harrison, Ens. Alexis, Ens. Bigstuff

Locutis walked purposefully out of his ready room. He had been in there nearly an hour after an urgent communication from Section 47 had arrived earlier. He went straight to his chair and sat.

"I just received our orders. No time for a shakedown cruise we are being reassigned. Ensign Bigstuff set course for the Beta Ilani system. Engage at maximum warp."
"Aye sir." The helmsman replied.
Benjamin Holland, the Victory's tactical officer hit a few keys on the still unfamiliar console of the new Victory and said,

"Sir, that would take us into Romulan space sir."
"I am well aware of our destination Lieutenant. Activate the holo-masking system and make us look like a Romulan D'Deridex class Warbird."
Commander Magellan was at science already looking over information on Beta Ilani, a first officer had to be prepared.

"What are our orders?" he asked.
"This is a black ops mission so everything we do here is not to be discussed with anyone." Locutis looked round the bridge and dismissed the junior officers. Once the senior staff was alone he continued.

"A long range probe sent to monitor Romulan fleet movements has malfunctioned and crashed somewhere in that system. Starfleet believes it is on the third moon of the systems only planet. The moon is M class, and there is a Romulan ground bases there so it will be heavily guarded in space and on the surface. If they find the probe it may lead to war. This is top priority."

The crew nodded expectantly, this was most definitely a job for the USS Victory B. The ship was a state of the art modified Defiant class vessel with unique holo-masking software and an upgraded cloaking device.

Several hours later and after some special drills to keep the crew on their feet. Commander Magellan returned to the bridge to rejoin the bridge crew. Locutis still remained in his seat an air of restrained tension upon his brow.

"Sir we just entered Romulan space" L'Etal at Ops reported.
"Sir, Romulan Warbird T'Peck is welcoming us they are decloaking off our port bow" Holland reported.
"Put the life sign mask on and activate Primary viewscreen" Locutis answered nonchalantly.
"Aye sir" Holland said and hit a few buttons of his new console. The bridge lights began to dim before, in a shower of sparks the holo control console shorted out.

"We're loosing the mask" urged Holland desperately.

The Victory was silent as all eyes fell on Engineer Ensign Harrison who frantically fiddled with the controls trying to get the device working properly. Relatively new to the technology she at first had difficulty in locating its isodine relay. Sweat began to swamp her as her fingers danced through the circuitry re-routing and re-wiring.

"It's on" she shouted shortly
Almost before she had finished the face of a Romulan Sub-Commander appeared
"Can we help you" She asked her eyebrows slightly raised. "This is a restricted area"
Locutis cleared his throat silently preying that the Holo-mask was operating, if not they could all very well be dead shortly.
"No. Its all right, you cannot help us, Please do not detain us we are on a mission for the Tal'shiar"
The mention of the Romulan secret service caused a flash of terror on the sub-commanders face.
"Very well continue" she said, her face disappearing to show the Warbird pulling back out of the Victory's path.
The bridge staff unconsciously let out a collective sigh.
"Continue on Course Ensign Bigstuff" Locutis commanded crossing over to Harrison.
"Well Done" he said tapping her shoulder.
Harrison smiled.
"Sorry sir I need to check the buffers, there seems to be some unusual feedback in the system. I'll need to get to engineering"

"Ok Ensign." Locutis said, hovering beside the console running a hand over its casing. Harrison stood and headed for the turbolift.

As the doors to the lift closed the console began to bleep in an increasingly disturbing way. Locutis frowned and peered at the readouts. Suddenly the console exploded the large Klingon was thrown to the floor.
"Report" demanded Magellan dashing to his Captains side "Medical Team to the bridge"

Locutis slowly stood up. He appeared to have a large cut on his head and almost fell again. Magellan caught him and gave him support.

"Sir, you should get to sickbay." He advised.
"Its okay, I'm fine," Locutis said before all most falling again. "Maybe you're right." He added sheepishly.
Magellan looked to an ensign on the bridge and said, "Get him to sickbay."

Locutis allowed himself to be led from the bridge and down to sickbay.

Magellan looked about him at the assembled crewmembers most of them were new and had only come aboard in the last crew rotation. He realised he had to get them working it was unnerving to be sent on a black ops mission in to Romulan space especially on your first mission.
"Holland" he began "I want you to increase our sensor sweeps, I don't want to be surprised again"
Holland nodded.
"Alexis at present we have no idea where this probe is on the moon, can you modify our sensors to detect it and not raise any alarms"
"I'll have a look" she replied from the science console at the back of the bridge.
" L'Etal go find Harrison and find out what the hell happened with that Holo-Cloaking device, the last thing we want is for us to get stuck out here in plain sight. You have your orders"
He walked back to his seat and let the officers get on with their tasks. Presently his Comm beeped.
"Commander, This is sickbay. The Captain is fine he has a mild concussion, I've ordered him to rest"
Magellan laughed.

"So he's in the holodeck"
"Yes. Combat Training Program Beta 3" the Doctor replied exasperatedly. "He told me to tell you that you have the bridge until the next watch when he will relieve you. Sickbay out."
"Sir" Holland yelled to the XO.

"Yes Lt." Magellan answered.
"Sir, The sensors just failed and all scanners, weapons and secondary systems too, only the Holo-grid is online but Com just failed too."

"Damn," Magellan cursed "Captain to the Bridge"

"Sir, We are losing the Holo-grid" Holland yelled.

"Try and stabilise" Magellan ordered.

The Trill stood and crossed over to join Holland at the console watching the various systems crash one by one.

"All hands to Battle stations" Locutis roared as he pounded on the bridge. His previous wound a memory.
"Holo-grid is fading, and we have an intruder alert." Holland paused "Security reports a Tal-Shiar Spy. He's sabotaged the warp core "

"Well don't just stand there" Locutis growled "Get him!"

Holland raced down the ship to meet up with his security team outside engineering. As he turned the corner he almost ran in to Ensign Zoilip and the rest of his security team.
"Right" He barked "Carstairs, you and Duchek take the gantry, Zoilip and T'San your with me."
Phasers drawn the security team burst in to engineering. Everywhere was still. An engineer lay lifeless by the Comm unit, her neck broken. Chief Engineer Harrison lay a few feet further down, her chest rising reassuringly up and down. Holland motioned for the team to fan out. As they did so a clink from the upper gantry caused them to spin. The head of Carstairs poked out waving at them not to shoot.
With a burst of action a thin form dashed from the side of warp core making a break for the door. Flipping his phaser to heavy stun Holland let off a shot. The orange beam went wide and scorched the doorway. Without missing a beat Holland pounded out in pursuit.

Meanwhile things on the bridge were equally active. Having lost both the conventional cloak and the holo-cloak the Victory was a sitting duck in the middle of Romulan space.
Without warning a Romulan Warbird de-cloaked before them.
"Shields. Weapons." Locutis screamed vainly, knowing that both were offline.
"They are hailing" L'Etal said
"On screen" Locutis growled
The face of the same female Sub-Commander appeared again.
"Captain" she smiled coolly " For invading our space, we are seizing your ship"
Before Locutis could utter a response 8 Romulan Tal'shiar Commandos beamed on to the bridge.

Magellan reached down to his console pulling out a phaser. He spun round and with the setting on kill shot down the nearest Romulan.
With a roar Locutis threw himself at closest two Romulans who went down before him.
A Romulan standing near tactical dodged a second shot from Magellan and returned fire with his disrupter. The blast caught Magellan in the shoulder hurling him to the ground and tossing the phaser wide. L'Etal dived for the fallen weapon but was knocked to the ground.
Locutis rose from the bodies of the two dead Romulans and struck a third, smashing his larynx.
"I've had enough of this," exclaimed the Romulan in charge. Turning his disrupter to wide stun. He fired the weapon and everyone including the surviving commandos slumped to the floor.

Tapping his Comm badge he said.
"T'karl to Rumec. He have secured the bridge. You can begin transporting the rest of my commandos so we can secure the rest of the ship."

Locutis awoke in an unfamiliar room. He was still a bit delirious from the blast; Romulan disrupters weren't built to stun. He slowly got up and realised he was in a prison cell. He walked to the force-field and saw a Romulan standing guard by the door, one at the control terminal, and two on both sides of the force-field. He looked back to inspect his cell and saw Magellan and Holland still unconscious. "Where is the rest of my crew?" he demanded.
The Romulan at the terminal looked up and said,

"Oh, you're awake. Your crew will not be held responsible for the actions of a Captain and his first officer. In intrusion situations like this we only detain command officers. Your crew will be dropped off at the nearest Romulan Starbase for transport back to Federation space."
"If you are only taking command officers, why have you taken a Lieutenant?"
"He was working the weapons console on your vessel."
"So."
"He fired on our operative and killed three men. He is also under arrest."
"I demand to speak to a Federation representative."
"Your request will be taken under advisement."
"Let me talk to your Captain."
"My orders are to escort the three of you to Sub-Commander Rumec when you awaken. I doubt it will be for several hours. Your Klingon physiology is highly resistant to weapon shock. I believe that thing is a Trill and the other a Human. Both are weak species, but anything is better than Klingon scum. Personally, I think we should kill you as examples to this quadrant that our borders are not open."
"If you want to try, I am right here Pe'Tagh." Locutis rumbled.

Several hours later four Romulan guards came in to the brig area,

"Come with us."
Locutis answered, "Where?"
"Unimportant."
All of the guards raised their rifles and the one by the control panel let down the force-field. The three crewmembers were escorted to a transporter pad. Magellan stumbled a little his legs seemingly not wholly beneath him.

"Step on." The guard ordered.
Holland, Magellan, and Locutis walked onto the transporter pad and dematerialised.

Seconds later they re-appeared. Their new location held 10 guards with rifles pointed at them.

"Where are we?" Holland requested eyeing the weapons. If only he could reach one of them, or if there were fewer of them.
"None o..."
Another Romulan interrupted, "The Warbird T'Peck."
The Centurion in charge gave her a harsh look as if she wasn't suppose to say anything, but looked back to the Starfleet officers and said,

"Come with us."
The ten guards escorted them to another room. When they entered they saw it was a larger brig with the rest of the Victory crew. The senior Romulan spoke up, "After your previous escape attempt we are placing you here. 15 guards will watch you at all times and I would advise not touching those force-fields. They will kill even a Klingon. If somehow you do bring down the force-field, without proper authorisation the room will be sealed and flooded with nerve gas. Escape is impossible." The Romulan assured.
When the guards stepped back Locutis searched through the faces of his crew looking for his senior staff finding Ensign Harrison he asked,

"Report."

Harrison looked very tired, her Starfleet tunic unzipped and her usually neat hair in disarray.
"Lieutenant Commander Jameson took a head count three hours ago. Everyone is here except for Lieutenant L'Etal. The Romulans do not appear to know. She may have hidden on the Victory."
"She's not hiding. Klingons don't hide." Locutis frowned.
Ensign Harrison ignored the sour Klingon and turned away from the guards. She pulled out her tricorder that she had carefully hidden on her leg. She then began to scan the brig to see if escape was possible.
" The force-field is very strong. There are no vents or any possible way to get nerve gas in here. That part must have been a bluff." she whispered.

"I might be able to find a way to deflect the force field but it will take time and I will have improvise some for some of the materials."
" We have plenty of time we aren't going anywhere." Captain Locutis replied "Get on it Ensign"

After a few hours of watching Harrison's work Locutis asked, "Any success?"
"Not yet sir, but I have determined that the force-field is tuned to 93.6 terawatts. If we construct a crude weapon and tune it to 96.3KgT we may be able to disrupt it, but we don't have the mat..."
She was cut off when a female Romulan entered and said, "I need the Klingon. Sub Commander Vrekal wishes to speak to him."
Locutis recognised the Centurion it was the Romulan who had told him what ship they were transported to against the orders of her superiors.
The Romulan at the control station said,

"Do you have orders?"
"Yes," the Romulan said as she handed him a PADD.
He read them and said,

"Very well. You two," he said as he pointed to two of the guards, "escort the Klingon to Vrekal."
"Unnecessary," she said, "I have two guards waiting outside."
"Understood," he said as he dropped the force-field, "Get the Klingon."
Two guards grabbed Locutis and put him in handcuffs.

The female Romulan pointed her disrupter at him and pushed him toward the door. As the door closed behind them Locutis elbowed her and grabbed the disrupter.

"I thought you had guards." He exclaimed waving her to one side with the weapon.
The Romulan rolled back her sleeve and she had a device attached to her arm. She pushed a red button and her body seemed to flicker before she became L'Etal.

"I grabbed a holo masking suit before they found me. I beamed over with the rest of the Commandos."
"Nice work." Locutis smiled.

"Sir, The Victory is covered by the Romulans, they have the crew but the ship is still intact"

Lt. L'Etal and Captain Locutis made their way around the Romulan ship with minimal detection. They met one Romulan officer along the way, but were able to stun him before he could alert any one else to their escape.
"Sir, we're deep in Romulan space with no hope for outside assistance. I beamed aboard with Romulan Commandos; there may be too many of them for the two of us to be able to overpower. Our only hope would be to find some ruse to make the Romulan ship go closer to the neutral zone with the Victory..."
Locutis looked closely at his Chief Operations Officer.

"Lieutenant, I think your forehead ridges are showing..."
"L'Etal, how many holo-masking suits did you bring over?"
"I only had time to get the one I'm wearing sir."
"Damn, I need you to go back and get six more. I have a plan, but we need those holo masking suits. It will be hard to get all six here without being noticed, but if you fail we'll all be in a Romulan prison for the rest of our lives. The further we get into Romulan space the smaller the chance we have of making it back to Federation space."
"Aye sir."
"When you get them come back and get me from the cell. Now, you need to escort me back."

"Yes, sir, once another bunch of these Romulan P'taghs beam back over to the Victory, I'll include myself in the group so as not to alert them to an unauthorised transport."
"Make sure you don't wait too long waiting for that transport!" Locutis warned.
Their Klingon ears were alerted to footsteps in a near corridor. They looked around and quietly slipped into the nearest room. There was a familiar whirr of a Romulan disrupter aimed for L'Etal. Locutis was faster, fortunately, and knocked her out of the way. Apparently, they'd found their way into someone's personal quarters. It was sparse and dimly lit, but still held inside of it one very angry looking Romulan.

"Sir, Welcome back" Holland greeted as Locutis was returned by the female Romulan.
"Thankyou Lieutenant" Locutis replied " Gather round" he gestured to the senior staff. "That officer was L'Etal, she is going to bring us 6 holo-masking suits"

The wait for L'Etal seemed to last forever. Some of the crew found themselves getting increasingly more agitated.

Locutis sat with Holland and Magellan discussing in hushed tones what their next move might be.

At one point Ensign Zoilip became hysterical when his claustrophobia became too much for him. Two other security guards were able to restrain him before he hurled himself in to the force-field.
Locutis ordered an area to be cleared of people near the front of the cell where Lisa Stardust the Victory's Counsellor sat trying to reassure the distressed Bolian.
Further back in the cell Bigstuff paced tensely, chatting infrequently with some of the crew. The Chief Engineer, Harrison sat huddled in a corner with her smuggled tricorder, she had tried jack in to the main computer several times but the small device was too small to overcome the internal computer security without raising the alarm.
Magellan rubbed his shoulder the disrupter blast hadn't been particularly strong but the shot had burned though his uniform and broken the skin. Nurse T'Ukal had bandaged it as best she could with the materials she had available and yet his body still seemed to resonate from the blast, he put it down to shock.

Leaving Locutis and Holland discussing tactics Magellan walked back through the cell smiling to the rest of the crew. Trying to keep the morale up and show that there was still hope.
He stood for a moment next to Alexis the ships new Science officer. He had, had very little dealings with her but by all accounts she had a good record and would make a fine addition to the crew. Thats if they ever got out of the cell, every minute took them further from the Federation.
A small stab of pain hit Magellan's gut, and then another, and another. Each time the intensity of the pain became stronger and stronger. He found himself wincing and then doubling up. Fear and confusion coursed through his mind.
Alexis looked at him, concerned.
"Are you ok Sir"
Magellan could hardly speak. He bent over, feeling his legs beginning to buckle. He reached out and grabbed her shoulder trying to keep himself upright. Suddenly with a flash of searing agony, a part of him, a part of who he had been seemed to fade and disappear, the memories of being Toya that he had only just adjusted to blurred and where gone. He was alone. Unable to take anymore his eyes slid back and he collapsed.
"Sir" Alexis shouted.
Locutis looked up just in time to see his first officer hit the floor with a sickening thud.

"What the hell happened to him?" Locutis thundered. He turned to look at the Romulan guard.

"Look, my first officer's just collapsed. We need medical attention!"
The Romulan raised his disrupter and pointed it straight at the Captain. "I don't trust you. Besides, you have your doctors in there. Make do."
The Klingon in Locutis got the better of him as he charged straight into the force-field trying to get at the guard. He lost consciousness as he bounced back, knocking three other crewmen to the ground.

Lisa sat in shock, she had a hyperventilating Bolian, the first officer had collapsed and to top it all of the Captain had set the worst example ever and lost it. The Romulan looked just as shocked and backed off before calling his supervisor.
Lisa spoke quietly to Zoilip,

"Look Zoilip I will be right back, just stay calm and keep breathing in through your nose and out through you mouth."
Lisa made her way over to the captain and pushing her way through all the people. As she knelt beside him he began to open his eyes, his hand immediately went to his head where a burn looked appalling.
"Look just lie still and some one will treat the burn I have to get back to Zoilip."

L'Etal in Romulan disguise walked in she frowned at the prone figures lying on the cell floor. She approached the Brig guard and handed the Romulan at the control station a small metallic box and said,

"From the Sub-Commander."
The Romulan tried to keep his excitement down, but getting any attention from a Sub-Commander of the Tal'shiar was a great honour.

L'Etal left and the Romulan hit a button on the metallic box to open it. A huge explosion engulfed the room that killed the Romulans there. The Starfleet crew was protected by the force-field. L'Etal walked in again with six holo-suits in hand and let down the force-field.
"Benjamin, Anika, Alexis, Lisa, and Bigstuff suit up." Locutis ordered pulling himself to his feet, shaking his head. "I'll take the last suit."

After everyone put on there holo-suits Locutis said,

"Everyone scan one of these Romulans into your suit and project the image."
"Aye sir," the 5 crewmen replied together.
After everyone was done Locutis lead the team into the hall; each person had a Romulan disrupter from the guards.

"Lets try not to attract to much attention. Everyone take a different route to the bridge and meet me there in 10 minutes. Anika, you'll head to engineering, but before you start seal this door. Contact me when you get there with the Romulan Comm system. Let's go...."

Magellan groaned and slowly opened his eyes. The pain was still there but some how he felt somewhat detached as if the significance of the pain wasn't registering in his mind.
He stared for a moment at the slate grey roof tiles, again realising that he could no longer sense Toya. He hadn't liked the joining, at first it had seemed so strange to have the memories of a woman, It had certainly given him a whole new outlook on how to treat women. In the first months after being joined he had experienced severe integration issues, that had left him very technophobic of all things. He had even had an abject fear of Turbolifts. That had all been cured during the Dominion Invasion.
Fearful for Lin, his symbiont he looked about the room. He could no longer see any of the senior staff, either L'Etal had returned or the Romulans had carted them off. Realising he was the most senior officer there he tried to stand. He got to one knee his eyes catching Zoilip who sat huddled in the corner before black enveloped his view again and he slumped back in to unconsciousness.

Everyone made their way to the bridge with little or no resistance or interruption. Judging by the surprised faces that greeted them on the bridge, they were going to be successful in overtaking the Romulan ship. Suddenly, the Sub-Commander hit a button next to his chair,

"Engine room, implement self-destruct!"
To stop the Romulan from ordering anything else, Locutis fired in her general direction, but obviously missed intentionally.
"I hope you realise that anything you do now will be hopeless. This ship will self-destruct in 5 minutes, and you cannot stop it."
Locutis dropped the image of the Romulan.

"We're going to get the Victory back, and you will not stop us either."
Just as the two commanding officers were glaring daggers at each other, Ensign Annika's voice came over the comm.

"Sorry, sir, I was held up by two pointy-eared guards. I caught them before they got a chance to blow the ship to smithereens."
The Romulan then slumped as if defeated, and nodded.

"You may have our ship, but you'll never get out of our space."
"That's what you think," Locutis replied. "Holland, does the rest of this ships crew know we have escaped?"
Holland walked to a console and hit a few keys, "No sir."
"Good," Locutis said as he put a disrupter to the Romulans head,

"Order your engineers to beam to the Victory and repair all systems."
"What are you going to do...shoot me? I know Starfleet won't harm its prisoners," the Romulan said with a smug tone.

"I am a Klingon first" Locutis snarled.
He set the disrupter to its lowest power setting and shot the Romulan in the foot, "Now!"
"Ahhhh...okay," she said.
"Centurion T'Kol to engineering. Beam all engineering crews to the Starfleet vessel. Repair all systems."
Locutis walked to the helm station and initiated a full stop. Holland approached him and said,

"Sir, there are many classified systems on the Victory."
"Do you have a better idea? We need that holo-cloak up to escape Romulan space and Annika can't do it alone. By the way Magellan is still in the Romulan brig. Go back in Romulan disguise with two holo-masking suits and get him up here."
"Aye sir."

Ensign Harrison beamed aboard the Victory with all the Romulan engineers. As she looked around she couldn't believe how dusty and stale it was after only a few days. She immediately went to engineering to see if the ship could still run. To her satisfaction it did, after running scans she realised the holo-cloak system was not in any shape to function. She was disappointed but at least she was surrounded by materials and tools to fix it. Harrison ran other scans and began to give orders to the Romulans about systems to fix. Luckily the Romulan she had scanned into her suit outranked most of the engineers they were all unsuspecting of her giving orders.

Aboard the Romulan ship Locutis tapped his combadge

"Harrison, how are the repairs going?"
"Good sir, but some of the engineering crew here are a little suspicious as to why the Romulan vessel has stopped to repair the Victory"
"What have you told them?"
"Nothing yet sir."
"Understood, report in when the holo-masking system, shields, weapons, and warp are back online."
"Holland. Take a security team in Romulan disguise to the Victory and make sure they don't try anything."
"Aye sir." Holland said as he collected the Holo-suits from the crew on the bridge, before heading to the brig where most of the crew was being held.
"L'Etal, except for the bridge and brig flood this ship with Neurozine gas as soon as Holland and his team beam over to the Victory."
"Yes sir."
"Now we wait."

Just as Holland and his team arrived on the Victory, L'Etal as ordered released the Neurozine Gas throughout the Warbird.
Locutis smiled as he watched the Romulan Crew collapse over the internal cameras.
He suddenly realised that the positions had been reversed. First the Romulans had managed to steal a Starfleet vessel and now he and his crew had captured a Warbird, if he could get it back to Section 47. The intelligence gained from such a vessel could be incredibly useful if the Romulans ever started to cause trouble again.
With all the Romulans unconscious Locutis ordered L'Etal to free the rest of the crew from the brig and replace them with the Romulans.
Magellan was still out for the count, occasionally he regained consciousness but when he did so he made little sense. Lt Stardust had transferred both him and the still somewhat neurotic En. Zoilip back to sickbay on the Victory. She knew however that if the Victory couldn't reach another Starfleet ship with a Doctor then Magellan nor Lin the symbiont would be likely to live

"Harrison to Locutis, repairs to the Victory are complete."
"Locutis to Starfleet crew in engineering, evacuate and set up a force-field around engineering."
A few seconds passed and Lieutenant Mathesons voice came through the combadge,

"Done sir."

Locutis grinned.
"Harrison, order the Romulan engineers to beam to engineering."
Several seconds later L'Etal said,

"They're all in engineering sir."
"Flood it with Neurozine gas."
"Aye sir...Done."
"Locutis to all crew, beam over to the Victory."

After thirty minutes L'Etal announced to the bridge crew,

"We're the only ones left. I can initiate a transport from the bridge if you like."
"Go ahead," Locutis said as he stood up, straightening his uniform.
He, with the rest of the bridge crew, appeared on the Victories Bridge and looked around surprised at what a thorough job the Romulans did repairing the ship.

"Get a tractor beam on that Warbird. Set a course for Starbase 47."
With both ships now under Starfleet Command Locutis ordered Alexis and Holland to take command of the Romulan Warship and prepare to go to warp.
On the Bridge he paced slowly as he waited for Holland to report in.
L'Etal sat at Ops although with Magellan still in sickbay she was technically FO. A bleep on her console caught her attention.
"Sir I am picking up Three Romulan Warbirds on approach"
Locutis stopped and crossed to the young Klingon.
"Time to intercept?"
"Less than an Hour"
"Great" he muttered "Holland are you ready" he asked tapping his Comm-badge
"Yes Sir"
"Good, We've got company. Follow us. Harrison" he continued "Is the Victory ready to go to Warp"
"Not really" came her voice form engineering "But I can reckon I can give you Warp 4"
"Understood. Locutis Out."
The Klingon stalked up to his chair and sat. The race was on.
"Ensign Bigstuff lay in a course for the border, Warp 6"
"Six" she queried
Locutis frowned.
"Yes Ensign. Six. Engage."
"Very good sir"
The Victory shot off on a course for home, the captured Warbird in tow. The flight back to safety was a tense one. The three pursuers managed to make some ground on them but the Victory was able to plough across the border with the captured ship. The Romulans might have attempted to continue their pursuit had Holland's father aboard the USS Exodus not met the two ships.
Dropping out of warp Locutis entered his ready room where he spoke briefly with Admiral Holland. The Admiral carried orders from Section 47. Reading through them carefully he left the ready room to address the crew.
Keying in to the Comm Network he began the address.
"It is my honour to congratulate all the crew in this recent mission. I would like to announce that Lt Holland and En Alexis are both going to be reassigned. The Exodus has agreed to escort the Warbird and them to Starfleet Intelligence, from where they will meet up with their new ships. Given the serious condition of Commander Magellan we have been ordered to rendezvous at the Kanata Outpost where will meet our new Medical Officer and the rest of our new crew. Before continuing to Starbase Assailant for a new mission briefing. Locutis Out"