The Battle of Altorus

Prelude to the Battle of Altorus | The Battle of Altorus | Elyshan Ship Images | 2009 Story Arc Report

The Battle of Altorus
Post 02

Bridge, USS Carthage
0840 Hours, MD-01

Cathcart came flying out of his ready room like a man possessed. He took his seat and shot an excitable glance toward Eve. He tapped out a command line into his panel and stood back up, looking toward Reinhart. "Lieutenant Reinhart, alter our course for the Altorus System. Engage at maximum warp. We have new orders from Starfleet Command."

"Aye, Captain."

Reinhart acknowledged his orders and looked down at his navigational display. The Carthage was now patrolling around Starbase 514 at half-impulse, and one hundred fifty eight degrees to starboard off of the next desired track towards Altorus. The course Mark chose brought the Carthage in at the edge of the system, allowing for en route navigational changes. Reinhart fired the port impulse engines. The surge of energy to the port side was compensated by the thrusters, bringing the ship into a bank. Standard rate of turn for starships was three degrees of directional turn per second. Reinhart understood Cathcart's urgency as a chance to push the Old Cart five times that rate. The turn brought the relatively hulking mass that was known as the Excelsior-class around on course in 10.53 seconds. Reinhart increased power to full impulse, and engaged the warp drive.

A moment later, the Carthage vanished from sight into a blueish white star now en route to Altorus at warp two and rising.

"En route, Commander," Reinhart reported.

"Ideal, Lieutenant." He turned to Roharren. "Ta'narik, I want you to make sure that we're prepared for battle. As far as I know we could end up fighting the Elyshans. Unfortunately we don't know a lot about them." He stepped round to the tactical console and said quietly, "Hopefully we can solve it diplomatically."

"Acknowledged sir, all tactical systems will be functioning as soon as we are at battlestations." Roharren turned to the CO. "We will be ready for them sir"

Turning round to Xarin, he shook his finger as if he was having difficulty remembering what he was trying to say. "I need the shields at their maximum efficiency. If I know one thing, it's that we're going to be out-gunned!"

"Aye, sir. We'll be doing everything we can." Tivalar's fingers moved over her console as she ran checks on various systems and their status. It was not immediately needed, but it would be something she would do periodically since they were expecting a fight.

Reclining back into his seat, Cathcart settled in for a long journey. He'd have liked to have been in engineering but he wanted to make sure that the crew knew he trusted them to do their jobs efficiently. He turned round to Eve and sighed. "Better have Kardinal get some damage control teams ready."

"Sure, want me to go down and assist or is my presence required here?"

"I'd rather have you on the bridge, Eve. I'm sure Kardinal is perfectly capable." He didn't know what they were about to run into but he knew for a fact he wanted Eve sitting next to him when they got there. "Tivalar, what's the status of the task force?" It had only taken Tivalar a few moments to pull up the information.

"Tizona, Tigris and Tethys will be with us. Several others are en route.”

Cathcart scratched his wrist a little, nervous about what they were walking into. "Hail Commodore Iluvar on the Tethys."

All the while monitoring the Warp Trajectory, engine output and efficiency, Reinhart had the duty of communications. He was not exactly sure why, mostly because a hundred years ago they had a good looking girl sitting in the back of the bridge wearing a skirt for the job. But he did not complain... too much. Mark found a Federation encrypted frequency also being used by the Tethys, and sent the initial hailing signal. And waited. And waited. Damn, they must be busy now, he thought.

Not terribly long after the initial hail was sent, the return signal was received and a connection established. "Commander, Commoodore Iluvar is on hold, line one."

"Perfect. Thanks, Mark. In my ready room, please. Eve, you have the bridge," he said as he strode off towards his ready room.

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