Tiber sector

The **Tiber sector** is a region of space in the Beta Quadrant, within the boundaries of the Romulan Star Empire. It bordered the Samnar sector to the galactic east. The area was first explored by the Romulans circa 2220. They established colonies in five systems in the sector, which flourished and grew into vital trading partners for each other and the rest of the Empire.

In the 2370s, Tigelis VII, one of the oldest colony worlds, was struck with an outbreak of Phyrox Plague. Carried to other colonies by traders and tourists, the disease spread like wildfire throughout the region, and the Senate ordered the Romulan Star Navy to quarantine the sector immediately, and to avoid all contact with infected individuals to protect the blockade. Emergency medical supplies and personnel were sent into the sector constantly, but only barely managed to hold their ground against the progress of the disease.

The plague continued to spread, and by 2374, appeared to be mutating in response to Romulan medical efforts, resulting in new variant strains even more resistant to conventional treatment. Military personnel and Tal Shiar agents assigned to maintain order in the sector found themselves with an increasingly difficult job as otherwise loyal and peaceful citizens of the Empire were driven to ever-deepening paranoia and violence. Some communities on various colony worlds tried to isolate themselves in hopes of avoiding infection, while desire for greater assistance from the Empire led to protests and riots in some of the larger cities hit worst by the plague. Although the sector's representatives pleaded for additional aid, but the Senate was only able to devote so many resources to the relief efforts due to the ongoing Dominion War. Concern over the situation in Tiber sector grew throughout the Empire, though the Tal Shiar heavily edited or outright blocked news reports and other transmissions from the region in order to prevent panic and public outcry.

Eventually Senator Jollen Merek of Tigelis VII proposed a radical solution: submitting a request for humanitarian aid from the United Federation of Planets, which, according to the Tal Shiar, had successfully managed a similar, if smaller, outbreak of Phyrox Plague on Cor Coroli V in 2366. Unfortunately, the Cor Coroli incident was classified by Starfleet Command, so little to no information was available about how Starfleet dealt with the disease. Predictably, the Senate rejected Merek's proposal, preferring to avoid any appearance of weakness in front of their old enemies, and believing that if the Federation could handle the plague, the Romulan Star Empire could do so as well. Meanwhile, the Tal Shiar dispatched agents to retrieve Starfleet's classified files on the Cor Coroli incident, though their initial efforts met with little success. The agency also placed Senator Merek under close surveilance, as his family lived in the infected area, and it was believed he might try to contact the Federation personally.

The outbreak of the plague also brought an increase in piracy throughout Tiber sector, creating additional problems for Romulan ships overseeing both the relief efforts and the blockade. Rogue criminal bands, operating out of the uninhabited systems in the sector, would strike at ships carrying supplies to the Tiber colonies, hijacking their cargoes and killing the crews; the pirates would then sell the supplies on the black market to those able to meet their extortionate prices. The attacks resulted in stronger protests by the Tiberian colonists and increased military patrols and escorts of cargo vessels through the sector. (LUG: *The Way of D'era: The Romulan Star Empire*)

## Locations

Roulean system (Roulean Belt) • Tigelis VII
## External links

* Tiber sector article at ***Memory Beta***, the non-canon *Star Trek* wiki.