The Romulans have been kidnapping Vulcans and utilizing their brain tissue to enhance their own mind power, planning to use these abilities against the Federation and the Klingons. The lady Romulan commander, Ael t’Rllaillieu, is appalled by the dishonorable nature of the scheme, and after failing to convince the authorities to drop the plan (and being sanctioned for her efforts) decides she has to turn to her enemy, specifically Captain Kirk, for assistance. She leaks enough information to the Federation to get the Enterprise (along with the Constellation, the replacement Intrepid with a Vulcan crew, and the oversized Inaieu crewed by Denebians) to be assigned to patrol the Neutral Zone. There she takes her previous ship, the Bloodwing, commanded by her son, Tafv, and a well trusted crew across the border and requests Kirk’s assistance in destroying the facility at Levaeri V, where the research on the Vulcans is being carried out. Kirk agrees to the plan after the Intrepid and its Vulcan crew is kidnapped by the Romulans. They approach the research facility with the Enterprise as an apparent captive of Bloodwing, and a team of Federation and Romulan crew beam down to destroy the facility. Unfortunately, at the same time a group of Romulans from Bloodwing beam over to the Enterprise to really take it captive. This group is led by Ael’s son, Tafv, who is out to avenge what happened to his cousin, the Romulan Commander that Kirk stole the cloaking device from. The invading Romulans are thwarted by the quick thinking of Scotty and Herb Tanzer (and Moira, the games computer), and the combined Federation and Romulan force (with the help of the Horta ensign, Naraht) destroy the research facility. They then have to escape from three Romulan warships that arrive just as they are trying to restart the Intrepid, but with the last-second intervention of Constellation and Inaieu they all escape back across the Neutral Zone, although Ael and her crew are left wondering exactly what their future will be now that they are outcasts from the Empire. [Timeline: Stardate 0304.6, Lia Burke is on McCoy’s staff, considerably long after the M-5 incident.]