The More Things Change...

''Five years have passed since the Crew made their historic journey home. The Federation and Cardassians are in talks of a Federation Membership, The Romulans are discussing mutual cooperation treaties with the Federatioin and the Klingons and Captain Jean-Luc Picard just retired from starfleet, and is serving as a Federation ambassador to Romulus.''

''A little closer to home, plans have started for some secret 'mission' Commander Stewart has been organizing, Everyone seems to know about this except me. I can only hope it has nothing to do with my birthday... I hate birthdays.''

''So far, the Expanse has been VERY quiet, it could just be because of the time delay between the dimensions, but, I'm still quite shocked that in 5 years, nothing has peaked its head out to see what's going on. Tam and Adria are working closely with Starfleet Science to try and close the Aperture, but... none of the normal techniques that came to mind during the war are working. Infact, the Graviton pulse only made the wormhole stronger.''

''There's still no word about the survivors of the "Peirce's Moon Massacre", but Dave hasn't given up. It seems like every tunnel entrance into the underground bunker has been caved in, But he believes the Bunker is still in tact. I hope he manages to find them.''

''Now, back to some point of relevance to this personal log, Starfleet Command has asked me to make an appearance on Romulus, and petition the Romulan Senate for additional support in my Zenas Defence Operation. Personally, while I don't trust Romulans, thanks to more than two centuries of conflict and deceit, I'm still eager to see how this will play out.''

-End Log-

--Colonel Walter Peirce, Strategic Operations Commander, Zenas Defense Operation Commander, 3rd Marine Batallion Commander, 10th Fleet Commander and all around good guy.

Episode Summary
Walter Peirce is awakened at 3am in the morning by an urgent call from Captain Tamara Stewart informing him that his presence is urgently required in the Republic's mess hall. After he arrives and promptly declares his distaste for surprise parties, Tamara quickly try to back pedal before reluctantly admitting that the party is indeed for him. With all the guests assembled, including Dave Rogers who is visiting the USS Republic especially for the event, the captain reveals that the party is not just to celebrate Peirce's 46th birthday, but also to celebrate his promotion to Brigadier General.

With the party now in full swing Peirce takes the captain to one side and reveals he received an urgent communiqué from ambassador Picard asking him to investigate the unrest on Romulus which is escalating as a consequence of the newly opened Federation Embassy. His primary concern in the separatist group 'The Order of Shinzon' which have been making numerous threats against the embassy culminating in a warning that they will utilise a Thaleron warhead if Picard does not leave immediately. Force to comply for the time being, the ambassador wishes for Peirce to resolve the situation as soon as possible.

After the party winds down, Peirce heads back to his quarters and pulls out a new Starfleet general's uniform which had had previously commissioned in anticipation of this promotion. In addition, he also prepares a mystery box on which he leaves a note reading "Do not open until the end of the mission" and leaves it for Tamara to find.

Some time later, as the Republic arrives in Romulan system, Peirce briefs the rest of the crew on the situation bringing them up to speed on the Order of Shinzon and the threat they pose to Romulus and by extension the rest of the quadrant. As well as the potential Thaleron weaponry at their disposal Peirce's Romulan contacts believe the the Reman separatists are in the process of constructing a fleet of Scimitar-class warbirds and, in short,it appears that the Order is arming themselves for a war.

After the meeting Tamara call Peirce into her ready room and asks if he's planning to take her away from home for another year, revealing she has a rather pressing engagement she'd prefer getting back home for. Peirce informs her that he has no plans for any more adventures then strictly necessary and tells her he'll gladly get her to the church on time.

Once the ship arrives in orbit around Romulus, Peirce beams down with an away-team, including Erin Montgomery, Charles Monroe, James Brooklaw and Tim Rogen, to check out the situation at the embassy. Once they arrive the team finds the embassy mostly deserted,the majority of the staff having evacuated to escape the threat of the Order of Shinzon for the time being leaving a bare minimum of personel- most of whom are Romulan. The away-team is met by Commander T'lara, an old contact and friend of Peirce's, who is currently supervising the situation at the embassy. The commander in turn introduces the crew to Bukrah, the Romulan ambassador's attaché who is currently running the diplomatic affairs of the embassy and commander Sobek, the head of embassy security.

As Peirce inspects the facilities, the rest of the away-team are made comfortable by their Romulan hosts. Commander T'lara immediately deduces that Erin is pregnant as as she reveals the father is a Vulcan the whole complex is shaken by an explosion. While the romulans lock down the embassy the away team frantically search for Peirce, only for the doctor to find his dead body near the epicentre of the explosion. Before the crew can investigate more fully Commander Sobek appears and has them brought to the conference area where they will be all monitored while the Romulan security forces identify the culprit. As the Romulans begin interrogating the away team the complex receives a transmission:

''This is an Automated message from the Order of Shinzon, broadcasting across Romulus. On this very night one of the enemies of the Reman Empire - the Federation General Walter Peirce - has been destroyed by our hands. Thhis is another victory, down our Long struggle toward TRUE freedom. Freedom from oppression. The freedom to reign supreme over all!''

''To the USS Republic, you watch yourself. You have 25 Terran minutes to withdraw or you will suffer a similar fate.''

With the Romulan investigation stymied and slowly grinding to a halt, the crew grow increasingly impatient with their inability to do anything about the situation. Just as tempers are begnning to snap, Peirce reappears revealing he had faked his death with the help of Doctor Rogen. He reveals he was aware of the Reman assassination attempt before he beamed down, but had played along in order to draw out the assassin - Attaché Bukrah. While he was 'dead' Peirce was able to slip past Romulan security and do some investigating of his own outside of the embassy, discovering the cache of Thaleron weaponry the Order of Shinzon were planning to use to carry out their threats.

With irrefutable proof of Bukrah's guilt provided by Peirce T'lara and Sobek take the attache into Romulan custody and escort him forcibly from the grounds, and off of Federation soil, and perform a summary execution on the traitor in order to prevent a scandal in the senate if the assassin identity were ever publicly revealed. As he watches the attaché's body float away into the sea Peirce muses privately that this may just be the first casualty in a new war.

Featuring

 * Walter Peirce - Klaw
 * Tamara Stewart - Grizz
 * Erin Montgomery - Trevor
 * Francis Quy - Quy
 * Charles Monroe -
 * James Brooklaw - Criminula
 * Luke Starrs - Trigger Angry
 * Tim Rogen - Andzzy
 * Dave Rogers - Talus Rpben

Guest starring

 * Commander T'lara - Grizz
 * Attache Bukrah - Quy
 * Head of Embassy Security Michael Barnes- CmdrSFC3
 * Commander Sobek - Talus Roben