By the time Trallian, Rellas, and the rest of their group spilled out the back door and into the servant's courtyard, the villa workers and their families had already poured out of their cottages and were trying to figure out what was happening.
"My Lord!" Sormok, the middle-aged Devorian foreman of the estate shouted running up to Trallian. "What is happening? Who are these people?"
"MORA!" Sevon shouted desperately as she spotted her nanny in the crowd. Sepina cowered next to her sister and desperately held her arms out. The young Elohsian woman pushed her way forward and dove down to wrap her arms around the two Romulan girls.
"They tried to hurt us!" Sevon shouted over and over again.
"Who tried to hurt you?" Mora said rubbing their backs trying to calm them down. Samilla let Mora take her daughters. She then adjusted the grip on her teral'n and stepped next to Trallian.
"They have always been absolutely loyal. They have always cared for us," Samilla told her husband. "Tell them. They deserve to know everything."
Trallian sighed and looked out at the fifty terrified pairs of eyes staring back at him.
"Many of your families have served mine for generations," the senator began. "In some ways, this home belongs to you as much as it does to me. You have tilled the soil, planted the gardens, brewed our kali-fal. My father and my grandfather before him ardently believed that free men and women take pride in their work. Slaves do not. I believe the same which is why you have always been free.
However, as most of you understand, conditions are not the same in the rest of the empire. Millions suffer in the most horrific conditions of bondage." Trallian motioned to the Gralluscan standing next to him. "This is Rellas, leader of the rebellion against the Romulan Star Empire. For two years, I have supported his fight against the government because I believed it was the only chance to improve this country.
But now, my actions have been discovered. The proconsul's forces have come to take me and my family. I thought that by keeping you all in ignorance, I was keeping you safe. I was wrong.
The government has sent Reman shock troops and tanks. Those are the sounds you hear approaching from all sides. That means they intend to devastate all of this." He said longingly looking back to the old house and its idyllic fields."
Trallian looked out at the sea of shocked and saddened faces of all ages staring back at him. Never in his life had he felt so ashamed.
"I beg you, do not run. If they catch you, they'll probably shoot you on sight. You have one chance: betray me. Surrender to the Remans and immediately swear loyalty to the people and senate of Romulus. The rest of us will try to distract them."
There was a long moment of silence. Many of the adults with families nodded and took several steps back. However, a few of the younger servants and farmhands didn't budge. Finally, Sormok stepped forward.
"You were a senator and a member of the Continuing Committee," he said in disbelief. "And yet you still supported the rebels?"
Trallian actually fought back a laugh.
"My friend, don't confuse being among the powerful as having power. I could either have continued to watch the suffering or attempt to do something about it. This was the only way I could see," he said gesturing back to Rellas and his fighters.
"I speak for the free workers of this villa," Sormok said turning to the crowd. They could hear the sounds of the Reman soldiers now less than a kilometer away. "My family has indeed served the Trallians for over two hundred years. My father shared his beliefs with me as well. He said, 'you will never find a Romulan anywhere with more honor than this family. They keep us safe, while most would have us in chains. We are lucky to be here.'"
He turned to look straight at Trallian.
"I also believe the same as my father."
Trallian and Samilla looked back with gratitude.
"Is it the intention of you and your soldiers to fight for our lord?" Sormok said turning to Rellas.
"The only chance we have to escape is to try to punch through to the north hills," Rellas answered. Sormok nodded in understanding. Then, the foremen turned to the other workers.
"I fault no man or woman for wishing to surrender. If that is your intention, gather the children and take them to the fermenting cellars under the barns. You will be safest there away from the house. However, if you wish to stay with me, and continue to serve this family until the end, step forward."
Fifteen stepped forward and gathered around Sormok. Mora stayed at Sevon and Sepina's side.
Sormok then turned to Rellas and Trallian.
"We are yours to command. What is your plan?"
Rellas took stock of the motley crew. The good news was that his force had more than doubled in size. The bad news was they were still no match for an armored assault.
"I'm the new one here," Rellas said with a shrug. "Tell me, what's the best way to go for an evening stroll through the kheh?"
****
The enemy was now less than four hundred meters from the house. Shinzon's tanks were spaced out in a file across the entire length of the field. Their metal tracks groaned and whined as they ripped the ripe stalks of kheh from the ground and churned the soil beneath their hulking hulls. Reman panzer grenadiers marched between the tanks at five meter increments. Each dismount carried a disruptor rifle at the ready. It would be their job to make sure nothing snuck out of the tightening net when the tanks attacked.
The Reman armor officers stood out of their hatches scanning the darkness with their sharp nocturnal eyes. Their vehicles' massive disruptor cannons searched back and forth for any targets of opportunity. Each soldier had an earpiece for their subspace radios affixed to their pointed ear, but the grunts were still close enough that short range telepathy sufficed.
"Negative enemy contact," one of the Reman dismounted squad leaders thought to his platoon leader riding in the turret of a nearby tank.
"Understood," the officer sent back to him. "Continue to advance and report."
Out of the darkness, the squad leader suddenly saw a saucer-like object ten centimeters across fly from a dense patch of kheh to their front. It landed directly in the path of his platoon leader's tank. It took a split-second for the squad leader to register what it was, but by the time his brain cried out in all directions, it was too late.
"An anti-matter mine! Stop! STOP!"
The platoon leader turned to his dismounts precisely as the tracks of his vehicle rolled over the mine. An enormous explosion echoed through the night. The tank was blown completely apart. Its turret shot twenty meters in the air as it rode the giant fireball.
The Reman infantry turned towards the patch of kheh and raised their rifles, but Seebo had already drawn a bead from another row with his pulse disruptor. He pressed the trigger and let loose a long stream of green blasts. His shots tore the Reman infantry to charred pieces and they collapsed into the furrows dead.
The other infantry screeched and shouted as they dashed towards the flaming hulk. Two other nearby tanks turned sharply and began traversing their turrets toward the origin of the shots. As their vehicles swayed and lurched into the sharp turn, they didn't see the two field hands crawling towards them through the mud.
"Light them!" the two men screamed before each throwing a glass jug on top of the armored turrets. Each vessel was filled with a mixture of harvester lubricant and raw high-proof Romulan Ale. A flaming rag in the neck completed the welcoming gift. The impromptu fire bombs hit at the same time. They shattered against the metal roofs and sent a curtain of flame against the vehicle commanders in the hatches. The Reman officers screeched in pain as the pale, gray flesh was roasted off their bodies by improvised napalm. One dove from his vehicle to the ground only to be crushed by the treads of his own tank. The second officer dropped down into his turret and set off an explosion when his flaming limbs contacted the disruptor cannon's power packs.
Another tank two hundred meters away panicked. Its gunner slew his big gun over and started firing wildly in the direction of the burning tanks. The fusillade blew huge chunks of soil and pieces of Reman dismounts into the air before setting the fields around it alight.
The advance towards the villa halted immediately. The infantry ran in five different directions trying to ascertain where the attack was coming from. The telepathic noise was deafening to everyone within mindshot as officers lost control of their men in the ensuing chaos.
****
"WHAT IS HAPPENING!?" Shinzon roared from his observation post on the hill. He may have called himself a Reman, but the human clone couldn't hear the telepathy echoing around him. Vkruk was holding his claws over the side of his head. Even the old man's experienced mind couldn't handle the screaming and shouts from the other Remans.
"They're being attacked," he said trying to focus on the more useful messages. "They don't know where it's coming from! There's automatic disruptor fire. They can see armed fighters moving through the kheh, but they're moving too fast to get a count…"
Shinzon cursed loudly as he grabbed his subspace radio. He screamed at all his forces through the radio:
"This is General Shinzon! Continue to push forward. Tank commanders, do not fire laterally! Keep your cannons forward and engage any target you see. Infantry, regroup between the tanks and watch for squirters! If anyone escapes through the net, I will have every single one of you executed for your failure!"
****
Seebo dove through a kheh furrow and landed next to Rellas. Valaa, Esrak, and Trallian were beside him. Trallian and Samilla and Mora held the girls tightly trying to keep them calm and moving. Sevon and Sepina were shaking from head to toe with fear, but somehow their legs still moved forward.
"Three tanks destroyed and about thirty infantry dead! We have them confused for now," Seebo said quickly changing the power pack on his disruptor. "Sormok has his people with ours taking cover in the rows. We're working to keep them pinned down, but it looks like they're starting to reform. My Lord, you need to go now. Get out of here while you have a chance!"
"We can't just leave them," Valaa said desperately looking back towards the battle area. She saw R'yigar, a loyal comrade since Daxos, stand up in a furrow forty meters away. He was guiding one of the villa's servants. Each had a plasma grenade in their hands. R'yigar let his fly at a nearby tank. The servant threw at the infantry beside it. Both bombs exploded. The Reman infantry were killed, but the tank was undamaged. It fired its main cannon right in between them. In a deafening flash, both men were carried to the afterlife.
"We're getting cut to pieces!" Valaa screamed.
Shinzon's threatening guidance was working. The Remans were indeed reforming. An infantry squad fired their rifles at a patch of grain holding another trio of rebel fighters. The tank next to them opened up with its turret mounted machine disruptors and mowed down the entire area.
"No!" Esrak shouted. "That was N'char, Chirba, and Brox!"
The Reman infantry ran over to check the kills, but one of the fighters still had a surprise left. Chirba, a former field worker freed from Jahandra II, pulled the pin on his last grenade. The revenge explosion cost Shinzon another squad.
"They're dying so that these folks can live!" Seebo shouted while pointing at the Trallians. "We don't have time to argue! I'll clear a path. Follow me!"
"Valaa, he's right!" Rellas shouted. He grabbed her and pulled. Soon the entire group was diving over muddy furrows, puddles, and thick stalks of kheh on their way towards the northern hills.
A Reman tank caught the signs of their movement just off its front right corner. Its turret slewed over and pointed its gun right at the fleeing group.
"FOR HOUSE TRALLIAN!" A voice screamed out through the night. The senator and his wife looked over. Sormok dove out of the kheh directly in front of the looming metal beast and pulled the pin on a plasma grenade. The kind, old foreman didn't know where to throw the bomb, so he did the only thing he could think of. He held it to his chest and dove right between the tracks.
"NOOO!" Mora shouted just as the explosion ripped through the light armor of the vehicle's belly. The shockwave produced a secondary explosion as the ammunition went. Another fireball lit up the night sky.
Nearby infantry heard the Elohsian's shouts and began firing their rifles blindly in her direction.
"AHHHH!" she screamed as they found their mark. Mora fell to the ground with a gaping wound through her chest. Sevon and Sepina shrieked as Rellas, Seebo, and the other rebels all returned fire.
Samilla crawled over and held the women's body in her arms.
"Mora!" Samilla said with tears streaming down her face.
Sevon and Sepina begged and pleaded for her to get up.
"Mora, I'm so sorry. This is all our fault!" Samilla howled.
"No it isn't…" the Elohsian said reaching out and taking the little girls' hands one final time. "Keep them safe, I beg you. I always loved them….I always…" Her head fell to the dirt and she was gone.
"Senator!" Rellas shouted as his disruptor took out another Reman grenadier. Valaa scored another kill, and then a long burst from Seebo's pulse disruptor finished off the rest of the squad.
"My loves," he said grabbing his wife with one arm and his daughters with the other. "My loves, we have to keep moving!"
"Mora, get up!" Sevon pleaded while she still reached for her nanny's hand. "Mora, please get up!"
"We can't just leave her here!" Samilla shouted. "She's our family!"
"Yes she was, but she's dead!" Trallian pleaded. "We will be too soon if we stay here. If you respect her wishes, we have to go!"
Samilla choked back her tears and helped her husband carry the girls. Both Sevon and Sepina were now bawling uncontrollably.
The Remans were fast regaining the upper hand. Tanks with infantry support were fiercely firing across the field. Hundreds of disruptor shots sizzled through the air. They mixed with the tremendous booms from the tank cannons which were fast obliterating all that stood in their way. The other groups of fighters and servants fired whatever hand weapons they had left. The brave souls managed to take down a few more scattered infantryman, but one by one each fell with great valor.
Finally, two Reman tanks moved around to trap Rellas and Trallian's group between them. As the senator saw the two armored leviathans closing in, he looked to his family, and then to Rellas.
"Give me some grenades," he said trying to steady his voice. "And take care of my children…"
Rellas grabbed the senator by the collar of the robes.
"The Romulan Star Empire has made enough widows and orphans," the Gralluscan said with iron resolve. "I will not be responsible for making three more. Stay with your family and live well. Valaa!" he said turning to the Orion. "Stay with the Trallians and get them out safely. Esrak, Seebo, and I will distract them."
Seebo looked to Esrak. In a moment of tova'dok worthy of the ancient sagas, they both said much without a single spoken word.
"Rellas…" Esrak said calmly. "Your fight doesn't end here. Senator Trallian himself said the answer lies at Hobus. Valaa and you are strong enough to go on alone. We aren't. Thank you for showing me what it is to live without fear."
The Reman tanks were less than forty meters away.
"He's right, Sir," Seebo said. "We can't let the Remans think they've won. Go to Hobus. Finish this fight."
"Good luck and take care," Valaa said trying to keep her emotions down. She knew there was no point in arguing.
Before Rellas could argue, Esrak grabbed two grenades from Seebo's bandolier. He roared as loudly as he could, jumped to his feet and charged straight at the left tank. Seebo raised his pulse disruptor and charged towards the right one.
Rellas' mouth dropped aghast as he watched his last soldiers charge straight into death with heads held high.
"May your glory light the way to paradise…" Rellas whispered as he grabbed Trallian and started running as fast as he could. Valaa grabbed the women and followed.
The Reman soldiers were so shocked to see two men charging them, they momentarily froze. Esrak raised a disruptor pistol and managed to shoot two of them in the chest. The left tank's commander desperately tried to swing his pulse disruptor over, but Esrak pulled the pins on both grenades and let them fly. They landed right in the commander's open hatch and exploded. The tank went up in a ball of flame.
The Remans on the ground opened fire with their rifles. They gunned Esrak down with three furious bursts.
"FREEDOM!" Seebo shouted digging his heavy automatic weapon against his hip. He fired his entire power pack while running at full speed. His shots cleaved the remaining soldiers nearly in half. The second tank's commander managed swung his pulse disruptor over and opened fire. Two burst passed through Seebo's chest.
The fighter stumbled as he felt the searing energy shred in his organs, but he had enough momentum to make it three more meters before collapsing. As his vision slowly went dark, he saw the bulk of the tank start to roll over him. Seebo forced a final grin as he picked the last two grenades off his bandolier. Then, he pulled their pins.
"I'll see you in hell…"
A massive explosion engulfed the vehicle in flames…
****
The Trallians reached the northern hills on the edge of the fields. Sevon and Sepina were no longer crying. A strange numbness had set in. Less than an hour before, they had been sleeping peacefully in their beds. Now, they had nothing left in the galaxy except shredded clothes covered with mud and blood.
"Valaa, check the path ahead. We're right behind you," Rellas said softly emerging from the kheh. She nodded and moved out into a narrow valley between the two cliffs.
Rellas gave the Trallian family one last brief moment to look back on their collapsing world. The four Romulans gazed back to see the four surviving tanks reach the villa a kilometer behind them. Instantly, the four turrets roared to life. Their main disruptors were set for maximum yield. The Villa Tralliakii, a proud home which had stood for over half a millennium, was reduced to ashes in less than sixty seconds.
"Our house is gone," Samilla whispered as she still grasped Lady Sebsta's bloody teral'n in her hand. "I'm sorry," she whispered in a quiet prayer to their ancestors. "We failed you."
"No," Trallian said pulling his wife and daughters into his arms. He planted a kiss on each of their foreheads and held them tightly. "That was just a building. House Trallian is still lives on…"
Star Trek: New Horizons Season 7, Episode 7 (And the Blue Fields Ran Green With Blood) by captaintigranian