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The Battle of
Altorus
Joe hated the waiting game... the Tigris, Midnight, and Wandering Explorer had just arrived in the Altorus system as asked, but there were no signs of Ambassador Ocal's shuttle. "Any sign of her?" Joe asked Mike as he paced the bridge. "Negative, Captain," Mike replied in a worried tone. "The Elyshan jamming stations make it hard to see anything." "Please keep looking, Mr. Wilson," Joe said. "Her shuttle might have been destroyed, sir," Monroe stated, trying not to sound to grim. "Her reputation leads me to believe she's not dead yet," Joe said.
Meanwhile, on the USS Tethys...
Iluvar knew that things on the bridge were tense. Everyone
was waiting to see what would happen. He knew them well enough that,
despite the silence, they had a lot on their minds. No doubt, his fellow
commanders were experiencing similar situations. A moment later, an alarming beep began to sound from Tactical. "Sir, we've got an approaching shuttle," Earlond reported. "We've also got an Elyshan Battleship on the way...and it's got six escort cruisers." This was going to get interesting. "Time to intercept," Iluvar asked, his attention focused immediately on the main viewer. "ETA is four minutes." Jennifer reported.
Cathcart stepped out of his ready room with the colour drained from his face.
"Ambassador Ocal should be inbound any second. Preliminary scans indicate
that there's an alien shuttle being pursued by an attack group which
includes several smaller vessels. Our orders are to engage them while
the," he paused, unpleased about the comparison with his ship, "larger,
more heavily armed vessels engage the main body of the group.
Lieutenant Reinhart, are the Guardians ready to launch?" "Sir, there's an alien shuttle en route..."
On the Bridge of the USS Tigris... "Contact the Explorer, see if her sensors can detect...." "Captain!" Mike suddenly shouted a little louder then he needed. "There's vessel approaching! It's dropping out of warp... unfamiliar configuration. Five life signs are aboard." There was a sudden pause as Mike checked his readings.
Meanwhile, on the USS Tethys... A bright flash of light lit up the main viewer as an alien shuttlecraft dropped out of warp in front of the Tethys. Almost immediately, it was followed by a massive, Monolith-class battleship and six smaller, Striker-class frigates. The Elyshans, it seemed, were desperate to get their hands on the Ambassador. "Scan the shuttle," Iluvar ordered, "Are there any lifesigns?" "Affirmative. Sensors are reading five life signs; two Elyshans, one El-Aurian, one Borg. I'm having trouble identifying the fifth life sign." Shocked as she was at finding a Borg on the shuttle, Jenni focused on trying to identify the final humanoid. McNeil quirked an eyebrow at the life sign report. Elyshan, El-Aurian, and Borg, all on one shuttle? It sounded like the beginning of a very bad joke. It was clear, however, that the Elyshans meant business. They had very few ships that large, and most of those were supposedly assigned to the central Empire acting as command ships of the defense fleets surrounding the Elyshan homeworld, whichever of its many names one chose to call it. "Commodore, I know our mission is to retrieve and protect the Ambassador, but I do advise caution. That battle cruiser outguns us by several orders of magnitude, even if they play nice and don't use any subspace weaponry."
Back on the USS Tigris... "Elyshan weapons and shields are offline, sir," Monroe chimed in. "Keep your eyes on the situation, Mr. Willings," Joe asked sitting down. Cain moved over to the Captain's chair, standing over Boston's right shoulder, ironically symbolic of his new position and duties. He lowered his voice as to not be heard by the crew. "You realize sir, there's a very slim chance we'll be able to end this peacefully. What do you think, Captain?" "We will find out if Captain Iluvar and the Tethys can calm things down," Joe replied. "We have some chatter between Tethys and the Elyshan Flagship." "That ship is the Elyshan Guard Battleship Terodock, and yes, that is the flagship" Cain stated, looking toward the Captain. "It looks like they're the most powerful ship in the fleet," Joe said while looking at the main viewer. "Yes," Cain replied simply, keeping his eyes on the viewscreen, watching over the tense situation.
On the USS Tethys... The massive Monolith-class Elyshan battleship filled the viewscreen, its escort frigates trailing on either side. Next to it, the shuttle looked like a tiny spec and Iluvar knew that even the Tethys was nowhere near the size of the larger vessel. “Hail the battleship,” Iluvar ordered. “Channel open, sir,” Earlond replied, activating the communications with a practiced hand. Meanwhile, he was already assessing the situation. Despite the commodore’s desire to end this peacefully, it was his job to make sure they could end it by any means necessary. “This is Commodore Iluvar of the Federation starship USS Tethys,” Iluvar began, “To whom am I speaking?” A middle-aged Elyshan man with stern face appeared on the viewscreen. "I am Sovereign Joreck of the Elyshan Guard. If I were you, Commodore, I would power down my weapons and order my fleet away from the border. Our weapons and shields are a great deal more powerful than yours, and we are only here to reclaim some wayward criminals so they can be properly punished for their crimes." "I'm afraid I can't do that," Iluvar replied, "That shuttle is carrying Federation citizens who have specifically requested our aid. I would think that you would be interested in learning the truth as much as we are. If, indeed, the shuttle is carrying criminals, you can rest assured that they will be returned to you in due course." Sovereign Joreck shook his head and scoffed. "You'll have to excuse me, Commodore, but after the events which brought us here, I find it highly insulting that you expect me to believe that. If it weren't for that 'Ambassador' of yours, over a dozen Elyshan families wouldn't be grieving at this very moment for their lost loved ones. So forgive me if I don't feel very diplomatic." The elderly Sovereign took one step closer to his viewscreen. "Now stand down... or we will destroy you. That's my final warning." Abruptly, the Sovereign vanished from the viewscreen, replaced by the image of his massive battleship. Already, the frigates had started to fan out and Iluvar could tell that they would be standing by their word. "So much for pleasant conversation," Earlond remarked, "They are resuming their pursuit of the Ambassador's shuttle." "Red Alert, all hands, battlestations," Iluvar ordered. The bridge lights dimmed as the room was bathed in the glow of the alert klaxons. "Torpedos and phasers online," Earlond reported. "Shields are online and at full." "The Tigris, Tizona, Carthage, Wandering Explorer and the Midnight all report ready, Sir." Jenni replied, logging away the reports as the other ships let their status be known to the task force flagship. "Iluvar to all ships, prepare to engage the enemy," the commodore ordered, taking command of the situation. On the viewscreen, he could see the battleship getting closer and closer to the Ambassador. "All weapons, standing by," Earlond said, glancing at the commodore. This was going to be very interesting; Earlond had never seen Iluvar command a battle group before. Earlond glanced back at the viewscreen, his anticipation heightening. Nor had he engaged Elyshans like this. It seemed like it was time to put the Tethys through its paces. "Mr. Earlond, target the Teredock and fire," Iluvar commanded. Golden beams of energy lanced out through space as the Tethys moved forward to attack the massive battleship. Orbs of light streaked away from the Tethys' forward torpedo tubes. The battle had begun...
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