Star Trek: Tirpitz

We were diverted to Cirini Prime on urgent orders from Starfleet Command.  After three weeks ago and a lengthy search, the USS Nobel had been declared lost with all hands while on a mission in Romulan space.  A few hours ago, listening posts along the Romulan boarder picked up a faint emergency signal on the frequency assigned to the Nobel.  We’re being sent to investigate, and if possible, render assistance to the long overdue ship.  

Rescuing the USS Nobel

When we reached the system, we found the Nobel under attack by a Romulan ship.  We were told to expect trouble when we were given our orders.  Cirini Prime is located near several worlds with colonies that have declared their allegiance to Empress Sela.  Any Federation ship passing through the region should have expected some trouble with Romulan forces assigned to protect loyal members of the Empire.  We made quick work of the attacking ship, and then hailed the Nobel.  Lieutenant Riley filled us in on what happened.  The Nobel had been sent to rescue a Federation science team that was being held by Romulan forces.  When they arrived, they found themselves overwhelmed by the enemy forces.  Romulans forces disabled and then boarded the ship.  The commanding staff were rounded up and beamed down to Cirini Prime, while the remaining crew were imprisoned onboard the their own ship.  Less than twenty-four hours ago, some of the Nobel’s security forces were able to break free and managed to retake the ship from their Romulan captors.  Since then, the crew had been working to restore damaged systems.  The Nobel and her crew were in no condition to try to rescue their senior officers.  That just left us to do the job.  We encountered light resistance as we closed to within transporter range of the surface.  While this region is heavily defended, Cirini Prime’s defenses appeared to be based around a series of planetary shields.   

Spotting the science team

Our scans of the planet surface detected a sprawling complex where we also picked up several life signs that matched the science team the Noble had been sent to rescue.  We beamed Major Iseli and her team down just outside of the complex with orders to rescue any and all Starfleet personnel they came across.  The away team had to fight through a number of Romulan patrols before they had visual contact with the missing scientists.  After dealing with the guards, the away team was able to question the scientists briefly.  The science team had been on a mission for Starfleet Intelligence when they had been captured.  Since then, they had been forced to work on several unknown projects for the Romulans.  A few of them had seen the Nobel crew when the Romulans brought them down.  The Nobel officers weren’t held in the same facility as the science team.  The science team believed they were being held in a nearby fort, where the science team had been kept prisoner when they were first captured.  We beamed the scientists onboard while the away team continued on to the fort.  

Finding the captured crewmen

As the away team made its way into the fort, we were contacted by the Nobel.  While most of their repair teams had been working on repairing systems essential to allowing them to escape the system, they had managed to get one transporter working.  Lieutenant Riley was intent on rescuing her captain, but they were having trouble locking on through the fort’s shields.  We contacted the away team to have them tag the Nobel officers with signal enhancers so they could be beamed up immediately once they were found.  It didn’t take long for the away team to find the hostages.  The Romulan captors were taken completely by surprise.  They were in the middle of torturing some of the Nobel officers for Federation secrets.  Those officers that weren’t being tortured were quickly found in a pair metal cages which Iseli believed looked to be about as old as the fort itself. 

Making our escape

As the Nobel beamed the last of their officers onboard, we beamed up the away team.  With all of the Federation hostages rescued, we set a course to leave the system.  We didn’t make it very far before we were attacked by a small task force of Romulan ships.  They had most likely been alerted to our rescue by some of the ships we engaged when we first arrived in the system.  The Nobel had managed to restore propulsion and get their shields back up and running, but they had not had the time to restore their ship’s weapons.  We engaged the enemy ships in an attempt to draw their fire away from the damaged ship.  We bought the Nobel enough time for them to warp the nearest Federation starbase.  After we dealt with the last Romulan ship attacking us, we also set a course back to Federation space.  

Out of Character

I have to say that I was really impressed with some of the visuals on this mission.  While a majority of the space missions the player goes through have very artistic nebula effects, this is one of the few times I remember where the ground portion also had some very unique elements.  It took me a minute to realize that some of the floating mushrooms were actually moving.  And I really thought it was a nice touch that the planetary shielding could be seen in space from the ground.  Somehow I doubt I’m getting the full effect of how things look because of what my computer can handle graphics wise.  But what I’m seeing is still really detailed.  

What a view

I’m starting to wonder where they’re going to go with the Romulan storyline.  I’m not feeling like there’s much of a connection between the major missions this time like there were with the Klingon story.  I’m not complaining about the missions themselves.  I’m still having fun playing the game.  It’s just that at this point in the Klingon story, there were more call backs.  Your captain is being sent to system X to follow-up on information your captain found while completing mission Y.  Maybe I’m missing them, but I’m not seeing the connections here.  I know the Romulans may be experimenting with weapons, and it may have something to do with technology they discovered from a lost civilization.  It just feels like the majority of the missions in Romulan space are about their reaction to things the Federation is doing instead of the other way around.