Fic Update Thread 54: Find a spot out on the floor!

[Mamorien]

In the Raptor's Claws: Earth, Romulus, and the War That Birthed the Federation (ST:E) Chapter 10: The Fall of Denobula Triaxa.

We depended on the Vulcans to defend us for two centuries. How could they let our cities burn? – Tullis-kahndaxx-oortann, Denobulan geneticist

(...)

On June 3, 2156, the Romulan fleet came into the outer sensor ranges of... T’Prel’s defense squadron.[fn27] Unlike the Tellarites, she was not fooled by bogus identify friend/foe codes. There was no way that this could be any kind of Vulcan fleet. The Itam’s (sensors) were unable to tell just how many ships were coming her way at this distance, but it was clearly more than her small force could handle. Two strains of logic entered into her brain at that time. On one hand, the cold calculus of military logic dictated that she trade space for time and abandon the Denobulans so that Vulcan strength could be preserved for the future. On the other hand, the logic of friendship and duty compelled her to do everything she could to prevent the depredation of Denobula at the hands of the Romulans. She chose the latter. Even if the defense she and her Vulcan squadron could muster was inadequate, the stain on their honor caused by abandoning Denobula to its fate was too great.[fn28] Anything she could kill in space was a one less thing the defenders on the ground would have to face.[fn29] However, if there was to be any hope of defending the planet, she would need to send one of her ships away from the battle to raise the alarm. The most logical choice for this duty was the Fourcas (the Denobulan ship attached to her squadron). She ordered the ship to proceed at maximum warp to Tellar Prime and rally its defenders here. When her captain, Blason-oovex-varatam, protested that he could not abandon his family when the fight was here, T’Prel told him that he and his crew were very likely to be the last free Denobulans anywhere in the quadrant. Blason would serve his people best by carrying that torch as long as they were able. This seemed to be enough for the Denobulan captain. The Fourcas warped away from Denobula, pursued by the Romulan battlecruiser Mace of D’Vak and two Dhael-class cruisers. It would be the last time any of the Fourcas’ crew would see Denobula Triaxa for four years.

The fall itself (CW: gore)

(Admiral) Vadis’ three legions landed at the doorstep of the presidential palace virtually unmolested, as the Vulcan 31st was scattered throughout the city.[fn45] Only a token company of Denobulan gendarmes tried, valiantly but in vain, to resist the Reman hastati as they entered the palace complex.[fn46] It did not take them long to find President Trexa, his advisors and several leading members of the Ealdormoot. Once these dignitaries were secured, a helmeted figure calling himself Colonel Lovias stepped forward and offered Trexa a choice: either let his people fight and die in months of senseless slaughter that the Romulans were assured of winning, or surrender now and spare his people that fate. When Ealdorman Kentar-valla-ducaan, scion of one of the oldest trading houses on Denobula and head of the Ealdormoot’s defense committee, told the Romulan interlocutor that he would rather die than surrender, Colonel Lovias decided to oblige him. He pulled out his disruptor pistol and shot the aging ealdor square in the chest. First, Kentar’s clothes and skin melted from his body, then his muscles and organs, and finally his skeleton, leaving a smoking pile of ash on the marble floor. The whole process took less than two seconds, but those seconds were agony. With that characteristically unsubtle demonstration out of the way, President Trexa signed Lovias’ surrender papers. About fifteen minutes later, around 1pm local Privas time, Trexa announced the world’s surrender to the Denobulan public on every audio and visual channel. He also ordered the Denobulan gendarmes to detain every armed Vulcan on the planet.

https://intheraptorsclaws.wordpress.com/...la-triaxa/

Footnotes

27. T’Prel, Khre’riov’s Log – Denobula Defense Squadron (DDS 3X11), as received by the DW Fourcas June 3, 2156.
28. Boranna, Remembrances of T’Prel: My Hero, My Wife (Raal Press, June 2176).
29. DDS 3X11.
(...)
45. Vadis, Annals of Armada Group Louha Arhbeu (May 31, 2158; made accessible by Romulan Free State 2388).
46. People of Denobula v. Trexa, Adjudication Tribunal for the Occupation of Denobula, March 2161. Trexa was found guilty of treason for surrendering and committed suicide before his sentence could be handed down.

Brotherhood of Glass: Episode Four (Steven Universe OC sidestory) Chapter Five: Cheap Imitation.

Daniel's intuition proves correct when a sinister mystery begins to take shape.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/564638.../147795355