Then an alien ship "appeared" near the home system. Romulan scientists examined the emissions of the vessel, concluding that the ship had not been using any known form of stealth technology, but had actually been travelling at superluminary velocity prior to its sudden appearance. Furthermore, the general layout of the vessel suggested that it was constructed by the hated Vulcans. Fearing that the Vulcans were seeking to bring their "lost brothers" under control, radio silence was strictly enforced until the vessel "dissappeared" again.
The Empire was now faced with a threat the likes of which they could only imagine. Plans were laid to capture one of these mysterious vessels and learn how this technology could be duplicated for the benefit of the Empire. Fast couriers were dispatched to alert nearby systems and radio messages were beamed to the more distant outposts of the Empire. Warships were deployed and hidden within asteroid belts, upon smaller moons, and, in a few cases, within the upper atmosphere of gas giants. There, they lay in wait for an enemy of unknown power.
Preparations had only just begun when another vessel arrived in the home system. Caught unprepared, the Romulans sent a swarm of small ships to attack the larger opponent. During the battle, the enemy fired a nuclear torpedo which detonated prematurely. Sensor sweeps determined that there was little salvageable technology on the hulk, but a strategy was devised based upon what could be learned from the structural layout of the destroyed vessel. When a rescue vessel arrived two days later, the Romulans were prepared.
As hoped for, the rescue vessel was quite similar to the first. Fifty small ships charged at the larger one, firing their lasers not at vital systems, but at the environmental hull. Three Firebirds evaporated in a cloud of radioactive dust as the ship fired in its own defense, but as the smaller vessels reached the critical distance, each in turn pivoted until its plasma exhaust pointed directly at the ship. Intense heat and pressure collapsed the weakened hull, exposing the interior of the vessel to the deadly vacuum of space. The attack was swift, deadly, and as effective as the Romulans could hope for. Boarding parties quickly dispatched any living crewmembers, considering it a mercy that they did so, given the condition of the few who survived.
Upon examination, it was discovered that what the Romulans had mistaken for subspace distortion field generators were precisely that, but with a difference. These SFDGs had no safety interlocks to prevent a cascade through the light barrier. Most of the computer records were destroyed in the capture of the strange vessel, but Romulan cryptologists, aided by scientists of various disciplines, determined that these SDFGs had been intentionally designed without safety interlocks. THESE were the faster-than-light drives! After some testing with different types of ships, it was determined that the feared destruction of the ship as it entered lightspeed didn't happen. The ship was protected from these deadly effects by the bubble of space-time which formed about the ship when an "acceleration cascade mode" was entered. Sensors could not "see" outside this "bubble", and the vessel had to be brought out of FTL mode before a directional change could be effected with confidence, but presumably, the enemy had to deal with these same problems.
The Romulans had finally achieved faster-than-light travel, but at what cost..? An unknown enemy was surely planning its vengeance. The Empire would have to act now while it still held the advantage of surprise or perish.
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