Flaihhsam s'Spahkh

Ohrain Fvillhum, Sh. nu18r kh. nu5r s'Okhala, fvh. 2 a.h'S. (Praetor's Log, Stardate 93191.5)

Ohrain Fvillhum, Sh. nu18r kh. nu5r s'Okhala, fvh. 2 a.h'S.
(Praetor's Log, Stardate 93191.5)

Across the Star Road which the Humans name "the Milky Way galaxy," the allied forces battle an ancient foe who would exterminate or enslave us. I hear the chatter of Starfleet officers over the subspace frequencies, with indications that some of them do not take this threat seriously. A few have even argued that we should all stop fighting and attempt to negotiate with the enemy. Yet before we had our first encounter with the Ikonnsu, we accessed their database in the Solanae Dyson Sphere and learned of their plans for several polities in the Star Road. These Ikonnsu are not a peaceful people, tyrannical overlords of the galaxy some 200,000 years ago, forced to retreat from our galaxy by an alliance of those species which they had dominated for untold centuries, and now back with plans to reestablish their domination of the Star Road. Perhaps some in Starfleet do not feel the threat since the capitol planet of their Federation has not yet been subjected to direct attack. Perhaps some have forgotten what we learned in that database. I will provide some quotes from the database we infiltrated:

System: Sol
Dominant Species: Human
Servitor Presence: Level 4 surveillance in effect
Ideal site for harvesting. Servitor races have used disease epidemics and internal conflicts in ancient past to gather specimens for study.
Population is numerous but mostly peaceful. Poor candidates for servitor status: High creativity levels and self-preservation instinct make them inclined to fight rather than submit when faced by overwhelming foe. See "Borg" for more information.
Can be aggressive when threatened. Recommend that all activities in system be covert until invasion is launched.
Target for extermination. If Sol system is eliminated, models show that political entity known as "Federation" may collapse.

Notice: Target for extermination.

System: Qo'noS
Dominant Species: Klingon
Servitor Presence: Level 4 surveillance in effect
Aggressive, warlike species that dominates this area of space. Strong tendencies to fight rather than submit. Harvesting programs in past have been problematic -- only successful when used in concert with internal conflict.
Possible candidate for servitor race, if key members of government and entity known as "Great Houses" could be used to direct rest of population.
Military structure in most organizations makes population already accustomed to taking orders from superiors. Recommend study of "honor" in society for use as a tool for control.
If population can be absorbed into servitor species, it would be a great addition to our fighting strength. If they cannot, extermination must be swift. We cannot give the Klingons a chance to organize against us.

Notice that they would prefer to absorb the Klingons into their "servitor" species, but that plan seems to have been abandoned now in favor of their backup plan, which is swift extermination.

System: New Romulus
Dominant Species: Romulan
Servitor Presence: Level 8 surveillance in effect
Survivors of Romulan extermination have gathered on site of former Dewan homeworld. They have uncovered sites belonging to servitor races and are attempting to reactivate gateway. If gateway is successfully activated, they may threaten entire network.
Attempts to use Elachi to eliminate threat unsuccessful. Alliance with Tal Shiar problematic -- Romulans as a species show more self-determination and willpower than in previous observations. Leader known as Sela must be controlled or eliminated.
Several key members of Romulan Republic gateway research team have been taken for additional study without their knowledge. Brain scans of Researcher A'dranna have yielded vital information about project.
Agents have used that information to destabilize gateway. If activated, seismic instability will affect entire planet. Expected outcome is 70 percent reduction in population.
Remaining survivors must not be allowed to form organized groups -- recommend subsuming them into Elachi as soon as possible.

In case this be not clear, this database entry reveals that the Hobus supernova, far from an attempt by the Ikonnsu to bring themselves back to our galaxy, was an attempt to exterminate all Romulan and Reman life. That was prevented by the willing sacrifice of a Vulcan whose nobility cannot be denied, although he was unable to act in time to prevent the loss of the entire Eisn system and billions of Romulan lives (had the Remans not already been relocated to Crateris, billions of Reman lives would also have been lost), and so the Ikonnsu proceeded to send one of their "servitor" species, the fungoid life-forms known as "Elachi," to "eliminate" the survivors. This also failed, due to the will of our peoples to live and be free. Next the Ikonnsu sabotaged the gateway in the underground ruins of the Vastam region of our new homeworld, the capitol planet of the New Romulan Republic, ch'Mol'Rihan, in an effort to massacre 70 percent of the population, and survivors were to be "subsumed" into Elachi (the exact meaning of this is a matter of debate, and our teams have had insufficient time to examine the remains of those who have been found inside Elachi incubation tubes, but some have theorized that the purpose of these tubes was to transform the occupants into Elachi, while others, noting that dead humanoid and vulcanoid bodies fell out of the tubes when they were opened after the incubation process had gone on too long, have suggested that the purpose of the incubation tubes was to feed humanoid and vulcanoid species to Elachi young). This plan has been thwarted by personnel from the various branches of the Romulan Republic Forces.

This is so stunning as to bear repeating in blunt language: the Ikonnsu have used three different plans in an effort to "exterminate" all Romulan and Reman life!

Obviously, these Ikonnsu are not beings to be negotiated with. The evidence strongly supports the conclusion that the entire population of the Ikonnsu consists of less than 15 individuals, and that they are all very much involved in these plans to reconquer the Star Road and commit genocide on a massive scale in their efforts to do so.

Fleet Admiral tr'Kererek, head of the New Romulan Star Navy, believed at one point that we could not win this war, but he was one of the few insisting that we should fight till our last breath. The Tal'Diann of the New Romulan Republic, under my leadership, has a different perspective: we believe we can win, although the cost may be high, but we agree with tr'Kererek that we should fight till our last breath. Some Terrhasu once had a belief which was summarized in two slogans: "Give me liberty or give me death" and "Live free or die." These slogans are very much the attitude of the Romulan and Reman people since before the Sundering, with a brief perversion of our ideals in the final decades of the dying Star Empire, but we of the Republic have restored the love of freedom as our highest ideal. Indeed, the motto of the Tal'Diann has been, since my leadership, "ahr'Lleiset mnhei'sahe mnei." Verily, "Our chief governing passion is Freedom." If we die, we do so still free; we will not submit to the tyranny of the Ikonnsu, but will fight them to our last breath, with which we shall breathe that most sacred of words: Lleiset.

But we believe we can win this war. Recent R&D work with [REDACTED] has shown great promise. Our will to survive and remain free cannot be broken. The Ikonnsu will fall before the combined might of all the branches of the Romulan Republic Forces (including both the Star Navy and the Tal'Diann), even if our allies in Starfleet and the Klingon Defense Force should surrender. We will not surrender. We will fight on. We will be free.

Fvillhu s'Tal'Diann -- Praetor of the Tal'Diann/Tal-Diann
Tal'Diann = KDF-allied Romulan Republic Fleet / Tal-Diann = Fed-allied Romulan Republic Fleet
ahr'Lleiset mnhei'sahe mnei. Our chief governing passion is Freedom.

Paying Our Respects to Spock's Memory

A few of our personnel on ch'Mol'Rihan to pay our respects to Ambassador Spock's memory:

(L-R) Saruk, Ko'lina, Praetor Ji'ana t'Charvon, Kara t'Charvon, Arina, and Aisha Imperia Vi Terra, at the Monument to Spock on ch'Mol'Rihan.

Proclamation from the Praetor of the Tal Diann

Twenty-three years have come and gone since Spahkh went missing in his successful attempt to spare more worlds the fate which the Tal'Shiar in their insanity brought upon ch'Rihan and ch'Havran.  Spahkh gave his life so that others might live.  While he was unsuccessful in petitioning the Vulcan Science Academy to take action in time to prevent the destruction of ch'Havran and ch'Rihan, nevertheless, he did succeed in saving the lives of many Rihannsu and Havrannsu (as well as others).  A man of deep wisdom, keen intellect, and heartfelt compassion, Spahkh is worthy of honor.  He did much work in the movement to heal the wounds of The Sundering.

A friend to our peoples, Spahkh was more than a friend to me.  Among other things, he trained me in Vulcan disciplines, sharpening my latent psionic talents so that I have become a highly skilled telepath.  In the time that he was on ch'Havran (where I had gone due to events on ch'Rihan) before the Murder of the Eisn system by the Tal'Shiar, we became very close, having first met over an hundred years prior aboard my flagship, the ch'R Memenda, in 2268.  Now in 2410, the Federation's Starfleet has declared him dead.  Although I hoped that some means of rescuing him could be found through the use of temporal sciences, the event was already so flooded with chronitons that no further alterations to the timeline were possible.  I will treasure his memory, and the time we shared.

In honor of Spahkh, and having cemented my position in the New Romulan Republic, my loyalty to Proconsul D'Tan and the Republic beyond question, I have chosen now as the appropriate time to reveal my identity.  Those familiar with Romulan history may have already guessed as a result of my reference to my former flagship (if not as a result of numerous hints in previous briefs and the like which can be found in the archives of this web-embassy), but for those who have not, I will state the truth.  My birthname was Di'on t'Charvon.  I later took the nahi (a name used in Romulan society to conceal one's true identity), following my exile and the ceremonial cursing of my birthname, Liviana t'Charvanek, and became known as Fvillhu Thea following my marriage, in 2344, to Fvillhu Devoras Narviat, with whom I shared the office of Fvillhu (Praetor) of the Romulan Star Empire until his untimely assassination, in 2373, at the hands of the Tal'Shiar.  I am well aware that skeptics will doubt.  I offer DNA test results as evidence.  In those test results will be found also evidence of how I have survived so long, and how I am bodily younger today than I was prior to my disappearance from history in 2380.  A hint has already been given in my earlier reference to temporal sciences.

From this day forward, to honor the courage of Spahkh, I will no longer hide my identity from the public, although, due to the ceremonial cursing of my birthname, I have instead adopted the new name Ji'ana t'Charvon.  The Republic may rest secure in the knowledge that, although I have claim by blood to the Throne of the Raptor Star, I have no ambitions to be Empress or even Praetor of the Star Empire, nor of the Republic.  Indeed, I took the nahi of Jessatra ir'Virinat t'Prell (in Virinat dialect:  G'essatra ir'Virinat t'Prell) precisely because I have no designs on those offices and wished to avoid public adulation which might have led to a movement to install me in one of those offices.  I am more than content to remain Chief of New Romulan Military Intelligence and Praetor and Fleet Admiral of the Tal'Diann and the Tal-Diann.  Any attempt to put me on the throne will be met with violent resistance.

My loyalty is to D'Tan and the people of the Republic, and political office should not be hereditary.  Competence and ability are not genetic;  mere blood relation to a great leader does not qualify one to be a great leader.  Some of my relatives are perfect examples of this truth, and should not be followed merely due to family connections.  I proved myself again, in the Republic, without any reference to my family.  This is how it should be.  With great power comes great responsibility, and only those who have demonstrated merit on their own strengths should be put into positions of power, lest their irresponsibility lead to disaster.

Spahkh lives on in our hearts.  Let us do only what would honor his memory.


--------------------------------
G'essatra ir'Virinat t'Prell
(aka Ji'ana ir'Vastam t'Charvon,
aka Liviana t'Charvanek,
aka Thea),
Praetor of the Tal Diann