The Last Outpost

It was the second half of four hours of delayed starts, rushed endings, overlooked communications, speechless conversations, missing characters and motionless officers (http://i.imgur.com/egDKGNd.png). But there was still work to be done in a two-part story mirroring that from the first season. (http://www.last-outpost.net/forum/index.php/topic,5089.0.html)

As they did in 2385, Doctor Renee Hampton, Ambassadors Taval and Ka'teth found themselves locked in a room discussing the future of the Accobar System. In this instance, however, the Romulan fleet retaliated in the wake of a supposed Klingon attack and even a Starfleet engineering team was assaulted aboard the mining platform. As Ka'teth backchanneled his way through talks, making unseen communications with his superiors  , Taval kept his intentions close to his chest - naturally - before dropping a bombshell in a private conversation with Hampton.

Two years ago, Taval had claimed that the Federation were due to surrender the Accobar System back to Romulan control - in the event that the Cult of Romulus crisis had been resolved. Upon verifying his claims, Hampton worked with Chief of Staff Richard Watkins to retain the system by stating that a remnant group calling themselves the Cult of Romulus was grounds enough for the original agreement to still be in play. Hampton speculated that it would one day come back to the surface.

It seems that day has come, as Hampton immediately ended talks and rushed to warn Barnes about what was about to unfold. How that all plays out - we'll have to wait and see. Was the Hobus crisis the spark the Star Empire needed to make good on their threats? Well, there's already a Romulan fleet in the asteroid field. In the meantime, it's safe to assume Barnes won't be re-opening the Promenade any time soon.

I'm glad it's behind us.