With his back against the wall, the Praetor of the Romulan Empire would make a bad decision that would almost see the end to the Romulan Bird of Prey before it’s glorious history even began. But thankfully, his successor was not as short sighted, and the Romulan Bird of Prey would blaze it’s mark across the Beta Quadrant, becoming one of the most feared starship designs of it’s time.
Hello and welcome to another episode of Truth OR Myth Beta Canon, a Star Trek web series that dives in to a the history of any given topic using Beta Canon sources and my own imagination to fill in the gaps. In today’s episode we’re continuing our look at the history of the Romulan Bird of Prey.
Ive always been bothered by the starship to be honest, not because of it’s design because I love it, but simply because of Scotty’s line in Balance of Terror where he states the ship is only operating with Impulse Power. Of course, many in fandom have had the same re-action about that line, and some even coming up with the explanation that it was a mistake by Scotty as the Romulans use a Quantum Singularity to power their warp core.
Well, I don’t buy that either… Put simply, any starship that can analyze particles of space dust in minute detail, could most definitely detect a Quantum Singularity and the power that the Romulan Core itself would be giving off… That being said, without that explanation, well, Scotty’s line doesn’t make much sense, as impulse power would not allow for the Bird of Prey to travel beyond the Romulan Star System, let alone in to Federation Space.
So in this story, I decided to come up with an explanation for that canon plot hole, and I hope you enjoy it. Like always because this IS my own little bit of fan fiction, all information relaid should pretty much be taken with a grain of stardust and only be considered a little bit of Star Trek Fun!
And so, with all that out of the way, lets begin.
Bitter at the betrayal of the Tal Shiar, Praetor Vespasian used this opportunity to greatly decrease the power and influence of that organization, in essence, conducting show trials with mass executions so the Tal Shiar could never be a threat to his power base ever again. But even with these actions, the Romulan Military was not impressed. Vespasian was keeping a close eye on the military, knowing that if he lost their support, then his reign as Praetor and his own life would be over. Realizing a solid victory would re-ignite the Military’s loyalty Vespasian began to look for an easy but important battle to bring the organization back to his side. Checking his daily intelligence reports, one report caught his eye, an intelligence report on the Federation Bases along the Neutral Zone.
The United federation of Planets had always maintained their technology was ahead of it’s time and superior to most technologies that existed in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. And given that they had seemingly pull victory out of defeat in the Federation-Klingon War of 2256, the Praetor and the entire empire had no reason to doubt this. But an intelligence operative placed high in Starfleet Command had come in to possession of highly classified documents which clearly showed that Federation Bases along the Neutral Zone were not only severely lacking in man power, but also almost a century out of date technology wise. It seemed that very few systems on these bases had been upgraded or refit since their original construction.
This was the weakness the Praetor was looking for.
Vespasian saw the opportunity for what it was. If a Romulan Starship could attack and destroy Federation bases along the Neutral Zone, the long awaited redemption for their original defeat back in 2160, would finally be achieved. And this in itself would propel the unpopular Praetor to new and greater heights. Vespasian, he decided, would be the soul person to bring glory back to the Empire.
Meanwhile, construction on a new Romulan Vessel Design, first started by Vespasian back in 2258 was well underway.
Known as the Romulan Bird of Prey, this starship would be unlike anything that had come before it. A brand new and safe engine design, known as the Quantum Sigularity Drive was being developed, constructed and installed in to the class. Also, Romulan Scientists had made a breakthrough in weaponry design. Instead of the usual atomic weaponry and disruptor banks seen on earlier Romulan starships, the Bird of Prey would be equipped with an enveloping Plasma Weapon, who destructive power was believed to be unmatched in the galaxy.
And finally, Romulan Scientists had developed the first Romulan Cloaking device, based on Suliban Cloaking Devices they had received over a century before hand. This new cloaking device was far more advanced the it’s Suliban counterpart which the Federation, Klingon and Romulan Empires had made obsolete with sensor technology that could penetrate the cloak by the end of the 22nd Century.
Since that, the Suliban had not been able to create a cloak that any these governments could not defeat. And what better way, Vespasian decided, to test all these new systems, then with a glorious and successful mission against the Federation?
It was a brilliant plan, and if not for the interference of 1 Federation Starship, would have succeeded just as Vespasian had of hoped. Ready to put his plan in to action, Vespasian waited for construction to be complete on the Prototype Bird of Prey. However, design and technology problems kept cropping up which delayed completion.
Meanwhile Vespasian kept walking the fine line between Praetor and deposed man by the military. Then, in 2266 vespasian ran out of time.
His own loyal officers had uncovered information that suggested the Romulan Military were finally preparing a coup of their own, and with in 2 months, Vespasian was to be placed under arrest by the Romulan Admirality. And so ready or not, he had to put his plan in to action.
Heading to the Romulan Construction yard he was horrified to discover that although the Brid of Prey’s weapon systems, including the Plasma Torpedo system, was fully operational, the Quantum Singularity Drive was not. And worse yet, the shipyards construction engineers believed it would take at least 6 months before the components they required to bring it online would make it to shipyard, and the shipyard itself was having problems with the military vessels escorting the pieces to the yard.
But Vespasian would not swayed from the mission. Looking out at the ship yards large display windows at the 40 other Birds of Prey in various states of construction, Vespasian made the decision to pull a page out of the history books, and with that decision, his fate was sealed. Like vessels of over a century before hand, Vespasian had decided to use warp sleds to tow the Prototype Vessel to Federation Space.
As it stood, Vespasians plan was to use 4 warp drones to tow the Bird of Prey to a set of coordinates just inside Federation Space. Then the Bird of Prey, under it’s own power, would head to the Federation Base under cloak, and attack the base, destroying it, then returning to the Warp Drones and having the carry the starship to it’s next set of coordinates, where the entire process would be completed again.
Within 48 hours, Vespasian’s plan would be set in motion. Under command of one of his most loyalist of Commanders, the Bird of Prey would be successful in destroying several outposts before beginning it’s return to the warp sleds and its triumphant return to Romulus. Unfortunately for Vespasian and the crew of the prototype Bird of Prey the USS Enterprise, under the command of James T. Kirk, was able to outwit and destroy the vessel before it reach the warp sleds. And shortly thereafter, Vespasian was arrested on charges of treason, and immediately put to death, or so the history books say.
But again, recently discovered documents by the Federation- Free Romulan Historical Foundation, suggests that both the highest levels of the Romulan Military and Tal Shiar conducted investigations in to Vespasians death and concluded that the Praetor’s execution had been faked, and that Vespasian had somehow escaped Romulus, where abouts unknown. Regardless of these finding, again the Romulan Government had a big hole to be filled. And stepping up to the plate would be an unlikely candidate, a barely known General named Jarvic.
And although believed to not be able to last long in Praetors seat, Jarvic would become one of the longest living Praetors in Romulan History, taking the defeat of the Romulan Bird of Prey and turning it around, re-establishing the Romulan Star Empire as feared Galactic Power in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants.
And when we return to the last part in this series, we’ll see exactly how he did that… Hope to see you then…
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