The end of the mission on Romulus has finally come and it was not without its burdens.
Having located an Iconian installation within the Romulan Blue Zone we had little time to explore before encountering a number of crazed zealot Romulans, all of whom seemed to be consumed to do the bidding of another. Their eyes glazed black, they were chanting to raise “Ram’Laza”, which Telus achieved by opening a doorway (a portal of some kind) using the Iconian technology present in the installation.
It is not clear whether the chanting played a part in this or whether it was down to the additional power that we had negotiated to be routed to the installation in order to gain access - regardless a creature presumed to be Ram’Laza came through the portal.
The Romulan zealots fought with us, though the Captain made short work of a few of them with his sword. This left me feeling uncomfortable but is there really much difference in and instantaneous killing blow from a sword or a blast from a disruptor rifle? - computer, remove that last sentence…
Whilst the Captain had his reasons for using ‘specialist’ weaponry it was clearly a ‘kill or be killed’ situation, the zealots showed zero restraint or mercy. A few perished though a few were successfully disabled.
Ram’Laza was a different beast entirely. Impervious to our weaponry, we were no match for it. Indeed, it was the selfless and heroic self-sacrifice of Lieutenant Commander Vex which ensured our survival. She fearlessly tackled the creature head on whilst repeated disruptor blasts forced the creature back through the portal. Before it was possible to reach Lieutenant Commander Vex the Captain then had no choice but to close the portal and destroy the console to prevent further incursions.
As soon as the portal closed a Romulan who had been unconscious throughout the battle (presumably as some sort of sacrifice) came back to consciousness. Named T’Kel he seemed to be missing about a month of time, he last remembered working on the archeological site. We guided him out of the site, along with Telus and have secured them for further debriefing. A few of the other survivors, were babblingly insane, and we led those to receive assistance on-planet.
After some discussion it was agreed that we could not leave such a powerful installation intact and under the sole control of the Romulan Empire; we removed what we could of the gate control console and I nullified the tri-fold ionic field array which caused a catastrophic feedback loop. The entire site went up and I am grateful for the Romulan shielding technology that covered the site! By the Prophets, that was a big explosion!
The destruction provided us with enough pandemonium to flee, and also afforded the Captain time to do a ‘smash and grab’ on Telus’ office. Hopefully there will be some valuable data recovered.
Upon rendezvousing with K’Ren’s she reported her earlier psychological ‘disturbance’ had abated. It would seem something about that location drew Romulans in like moths to a flame. Once close enough the would then be overcome by the control of either an Iconian device or perhaps the influence of Ram’Laza - we can only hope the data gathered provides some insight.
The loss of a crew mate never sits well with me. My crew is my family, my only family and losing someone cuts deeply. I am reminded of all those I have already lost.
I ask the Prophets to guide the pagh of Ana Vex, wherever in the cosmos she finds herself and I pray that one day she is returned to us. Jia'kaja, tre'nu'tol'a rem... La'por i'lanu kos... I'nar tan'a'tali nor.
::Computer: End Log::