by Chad Fopma

It was several years after the USS Enterprise first encounted a Bird of Prey near the Neutral Zone before Starfleet had another run-in with the Romulans. A convoy of five Miranda class cruisers were bringing much needed supplies to the newly rebuilt Earth Outpost Four after a massive outbreak of Rigelian fever. Three hours from the outpost, the USS London exploded. Before any proximity alarms could sound, the USS Royal also blew apart. Two Romulan Birds of Prey had de-cloaked in the middle of the convoy and opened fire instantly. The massive plasma torpedo blasts ripped the two ships apart without any trouble. The USS Reliant and USS Texas managed to get their shields up before the next volley, but the USS Odonata had only partial shields when it was hit next. After the initial blasts, the Romulans targeted the warp nacells of the Starfleet ships to prevent their escape. The Reliant and Texas both managed to get off a few shots, but in the end, the Romulan tactic of dropping their cloaks just long enough to fire and then re-cloaking proved too much.

After several days of no contact, Starfleet sent another ship to investigate the missing convoy and found nothing but a few shattered hulls. Their were no survivors.

This convoy attack was put together with two Romulan Bird of Prey kits from RBM Models and some very poor mis-cast Miranda class hulls. The Romulans were given a non-traditional paint job to try and give them a slightly updated appearance. The Mirandas were all painted a very light grey and decaled before being heavily weathered and given a black wash. I then cut a number of 'hobby sticks' to various lengths to give the display a three dimensional element and embeded them in a wooden base. Then, I painted the whole base assembly black before mounting the ships on them.

Image: Lots of damage

Image: Miranda and Odonata

Image: Incoming Romulans

Image: Romulans

Image: Texas and Odonata

Image: Ugly convoy

Image: USS Texas