Starfleet repels Romulan invasion of Duronis

DURONIS II — Defeating Eden Redstone, the crews of the USS Thor, USS Thunder, and USS Bronwyn returned to the Duronis system to finding a Romulan invasion underway.

Having already faced and defeated the threat of the Scimitar-class Wraith and its thalaron weapon, Rear Admiral Toni Turner and her loyal crew would have been forgiven for thinking that the hard work was over. But upon returning to their posting at Duronis II, they were greeted by the sight of more Romulan Empire ships, this time mounting an invasion of a territory to which they still lay claim.
The Empire ships had clearly been lying in wait and seized the offensive when the Starfleet vessels left the system. However, Admiral Rekor, commander of the Romulan invaders, immediately encountered stiff resistance from the ground defenses of the Starfleet embassy, ably presided over as they were by Commander Brayden Jorey, who had remained on Duronis II for this very reason.
Valiant though Cmdr. Jorey’s effort was, he was powerless to stop the Romulans beaming ground troops to the surface where they began to assault the embassy directly, though they had not reckoned with the tenacity of the Starfleet Marines, who under the leadership of Major Hannibal Tiberious Parker, have garnered a reputation for being the fiercest fighting force in the quadrant. The Marines’ answer was swift and brutal, and they held the attackers at bay long enough for the cavalry to arrive in the shape of the USS Thor, USS Thunder, USS Bronwyn, and even a Romulan Republic vessel whose captain had some unfinished business with Admiral Rekor.
With the tide turning against them both on the surface and in orbit, Admiral Rekor attempted one final kamikaze attack, aiming his ship at Duronis II’s capital of Lokesh City, but even this final act of defiance was thwarted as every weapon available from the ground defences and the vessels above was directed at the D’deridex-class ship, reducing the Romulan vessel to shrapnel which either burned up in the planet’s atmosphere or landed harmlessly in the surrounding ocean.
“The ship turned bright white before exploding like a gigantic firework. It would have been beautiful if not for the senseless loss of the lives aboard,” said Private Francisco Villa, a Marine who witnessed the macabre spectacle from the surface.
With Captain Tyr Waltas leading the final assault on the Romulan ground troops, the day was finally won, and the weary but victorious Starfleet officers could finally return to their hard-earned shore leave, albeit with a fair amount of rebuilding to do.
Written by Jarn Th’Braxa