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The Battle of Altorus
Post 09 - The Battle Begins

Bridge, USS Tizona
1637 Hours, MD-02

"Red Alert!" Bathar yelled as soon as the talks between Iluvar and the Sovereign broke down. "K'Palla, I need full power to the shields and weapons. Jones! Target the starboard flanking Striker." He looked around the bridge. All over his crew was working furiously. They were in battle mode, and they were ready to fight. He'd like to show this to anyone who had doubt about this crew. "LT Tolac, study their subspace shielding, let me know if you find anything."
 
"Full power to shield generators," K'Palla reported. "Weapons are at the ready, sir!"
 
"What the hell just happened?" Rex yelled. "Did they just cut off communication with us?"
 
"Targeting the Striker," Kyle confirmed, letting loose a combined volley of high-yield torpedoes and phaser blasts at the enemy ship. The weapons exploded harmlessly on the shields. "No damage!"
 
"Commander, their shielding is a remarkable piece of science. Appears to be a new form of shield harmonics," Tolac replied looking into his viewer.
 
Before Celezar could give the order to fire, a massive explosion rocked the ship. One of the striker class fighters had already targeted the fleet... the battle had begun. "Return fire!" Celezar yelled above the confusion going on around him. "And give me a bloody damage report."
 
Kyle didn't use up the energy and time to reply, simply sending more torpedoes and phaser blasts at the attacking ships, again inflicting no visible damage. "Shields are holding steady, but we have a hull breach on decks 32 and 33. We've lost torpedo bay 3 and tractor beam control, casualty reports are still coming in. Sir, their weapons went right through our shields."
 
"Commander our shield are no match for their weapons. They appear to be subspace yields," Tolac added.
 
"I think they're using subspace shields too, Commander!" Kyle reported from Tactical, as he fired another volley to no effect.

 

Meanwhile, on the Tigris...

"Cap, we have a problem... the Elyshan ships have powered subspace weapons and shields!" Monroe explained, his hand hovered over the weapons and shield systems.

"Battle stations, Mr. Cain!" Joe ordered.

Cain spoke on top of the Captain, already realizing what had to be done. "Red alert, auxiliary power to hull integrity! Load quantum torpedoes! Damage control teams, prepare for wide scale breaches!"

"Yea, we've got 170%, but not for long," Lieutenant Weston explained as she started to move the extra energy, shutting down environmental systems and life support to the evacuated areas so she would have some extra power.  Her quickly jury-rigged energy matrix seemed to help stop some power leakage, but she hoped that at some time she may make the changes a bit more permanent. That would definitely would help with power stop loss.

A moment later, Tybek decided he was more needed as Chief Medical Officer now. The bridge had more than enough warriors on it.

"Commander, if I'm needed, I'll be in sickbay," Tybek stated.

"On your way, doctor," Joe replied. "We'll try not to hit too many bumps."

"Captain Iluvar has given the order for all ships to engage the enemy, attack pattern Delta-three. Try to get a handle on the ambassador's ship," explained Lieutenant Willings, his hands moving swiftly over the console.

"Helm, three-quarters impulse, attack pattern Delta-three," Joe ordered.

"Aye, sir," Drake said, his hands flying across the console and beginning the maneuvers he had recently committed to memory.

"We've got an issue, sir," Monroe reported suddenly. "The Elyshans have fired upon the Ambassador's shuttle and knocked out her engines. They're about to overtake her. Orders?"

*So it begins* Joe thought. "Lock all weapons on the closest Elyshan frigates and fire!"

"Copy that sir, firing phasers!" Monroe said.

And on the Carthage...

"Commander, there are Elyshan vessels in pursuit of Ambassador Ocal's shuttle... permission to engage?" Roharren asked.

"Permission granted, Lieutenant. Mark, launch fighters and engage the lead support craft."

Upon Cathcart's orders, Reinhart opened the hangar doors and gave the green light for the six interceptor fighters to deploy. He knew that against the more powerful Elyshan vessels, they were only cannon fodder. Mark knew he should be out there. But he had more important roles driving the ship in a fight that he knew no one would walk away from. Mark increased the engine outputs to full power and guided the Carthage on the intercept course. The six Avenger fighters of "The Guardians" had all taken off. Their fates were in their own abilities. Reinhart only helped guide them to their death.

Reinhart tapped his channel comms to speak directly with the fighters. "Guardian Lead, this is Carthage, report," he said to the unit's Executive Officer, Victor Traburt, who was leading the squadron to battle.

"This is Guardian Lead, coming along the port side and accelerating. Time to intercept, two minutes."

"Acknowledged, Lead. Maintain course. Rules of Engagement are active, fire upon pursuing Elyshan vessels." Reinhart then turned to Cathcart. "Commander, the squadron is in pursuit and we are moving to block the vessels from attacking the shuttle."

"Excellent, Lieutenant." He turned to Xarin. "Divert all available power to the shields and have damage control teams standing by."

"Sir may I point out that Elyshan weapons are going straight through our fleet's shields, and our weapons appear to be useless against them," Roharren pointed out, monitoring the activity of the other ships.

"Blunt as ever, Roharren," Cathcart said shifting uncomfortably in his chair. "Fire at wi-"

All of a sudden the bridge was rocked by a direct hit from the Elyshans' weapons. Roharren had been right and the fizzing and cracking of split consoles came from all areas of the bridge. Some of the officers involved in keeping track of the systems display at the rear of the bridge were thrown against the railing. Martin looked around; no-one dead. It was a start. "I suppose they don't want to chat. Return fire! Xarin, damage report!"

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