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The Battle of
Altorus
John spun around in his chair to face the rest of the bridge. "Thirty seconds until we reach the Altorus system, Ma'am." Sara spoke. "Take us out of warp." "Ma'am, I recommend we proceed with caution. I detect weapons fire ahead," Midnight called out. Sara sighed, "And so it begins." "But are we too late?" Jake asked, mostly to himself. He had relinquished command as soon as the commander had beamed aboard, and when offered the executive's chair, opted for his place at Engineering. They were going to need all the help they could get. "Ma'am, I am also detecting six Elyshan ships and six Starfleet ships... plus one other one I'm unfamiliar with." Midnight wondered where this last ship had come from. Sara shook her head. "Red Alert, man all battle stations." Shade looked at his tactical read out. Six Elyshan ships, that was a mighty force, but so were six Federation ships. Shade brought all of his system to full power. "Take us out of warp, and target the nearest Elyshan ship," Sara noted. John nodded and turned back to the navigation console. "Aye Ma'am. Slowing to impulse now," he said as he ran his fingers nimbly across the control panel. "Commander, reading four vessals in front of us. A shuttlecraft, very heavily damaged I might add. The USS Carthage, and two Elyshan Frigates blasting away at the Carthage," Shade said. "We're being hailed.... it's the Pagh." Midnight was relieved. At least she was going to see another friendly face on their side. Sara smiled, "On screen." A moment later, Mor'tah appeared on the screen in full Klingon attire. “You did not think I would let you have all the honor, did you…” Mor’tah said as he quickly studied the battle ahead. The Federation fleet suffered heavy damage while the Elyshans appeared to be unharmed. "If you are not too busy, hun, could you aid the rest of the fleet?" Mor’tah nodded. “Understood…” Mor’tah said as he looked into Sara’s eyes, refusing to say anything else in front of both ships crew. With that, the mighty Klingon vanished from the view screen, and once again, the battle ahead loomed large and imposing.
Over on the IKS Pagh... “Coordinate your attack with the Federation vessels, I want their ship status known at all times!” Mor’tah said as he took his seat in the command chair. “Helm, bring us around… target the big one…” Mor’tah said with a grin as the other Klingons cheered.
Back on the Frontier... "Shade, open fire when we decloak. Target those two frigates. Mr. Forest, take us in." John gave a wry smile and punched up the impulse engines. "Here goes nothing," he said, ready to make quick course corrections for the inevitable debris or whole ships that would be flying at them. Shade looked at his read out, just a few more seconds and they'd be in weapons range. "In range....now!" Shade said. "Drop Cloak and open fire!" Sara ordered.
Meanwhile, on the USS Tigris... "Captain, there are two ships decloaking to starboard, bearing zero-one-eight mark seven." Cain scanned the ships, "hold on... it's the Frontier and a Klingon vessel." Cain felt a bit of relief as he saw the two ships entering the melee.
On the Bridge of the USS Frontier again... "Commander! Sensors indicate there are five lifesigns on the alien shuttle! Two Elyshans, an El-Aurian, a Borg, and... I'm not sure what the fifth lifesign species is, but its humanoid." "Sounds like they brought along some company," Jake said. What were the Elyshans doing on the shuttle already if they were still chasing it, he wondered. A quick glance at his scans confirmed that all the subspace interference was preventing any beaming from taking place. "Mr. Forest, plot an intercept course! Shade continue opening fire on the Elyshan. Jake, get a transporter lock on the Ambassador." "There's too much interference," Jake replied, "Between the subspace weapons and the damage to their warp core, I can't get a lock. We're going to have to tractor them into the shuttlebay." Sara spoke, "Get us closer, Mr. Forest!" "I'm working on it, Ma'am!" John said, monitoring the navigations sensors. "It might be easier if we got those two frigates off our tail!" "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!!" Sara barked, using the old term.
And on the Tethys... “Computer, initiate auto-separation, authorization Iluvar-alpha-two,” Iluvar ordered, taking advantage of the Elyshan’s distraction with the bird-of-prey, which had opened fire on two of the frigates. There was a slight jolt as the Tethys began to break apart. Suddenly, where there had been one damaged ship, there were three independent vessels, ready to take on the Elyshans. Each section, operating in concert, continued their attack on the battleship, dodging some of the return shots, impacting others.
Back on the USS Tigris... "The Tethys is entering multi-vector assault mode," Cain announced. " Mr. willings, give her some cover until they've completed separation." "I am glad we got some help," Joe said as the ship rocked again. "Weapons still doing nothing! Damn it!" "Sir we're taking some massive damage! Hull breach deck 17 and 19!" She shook her head, "Lateral Sensors are off line!" "Direct damage control teams to respond to those sections. Order all non-combat personnel to assist in the evacuation of those decks." Cain's orders were just one of many being screamed above the battle chatter. "Will someone please find a way to get past there defenses." Joe yelled. "Captain there might be a way." Mike said. "I have an idea." "Two more hull breaches Sir!" Ella growled. "Decks 12 and 20! Auxiliary deflector and controls are offline, and Engineering is reporting some major issues!" Her muscles tensed. She should be down there! "Keep us together, Lieutenant." Joe said knowing the growing concern the crew was getting. It was a welcome relief when one of them had an idea on how to get those shields down. "I am listening now Mr. Wilson." Joe said as a small explosion happened behind him. "Captain, we could use the tri-cobalt devices," Mike replied. "Sub-space weapons were banned for a reason," Cain explained. "Starfleet isn't going to be very happy when they find out about this." Mike nodded in agreement. "The tri-cobalt devices are only a form of subspace weapon. Not the real thing. However I recommend using only three-quarters yield because of the unpredictable side affects." Joe smiled, the plan seemed simple enough. "Mr. Willings, arm two tri-cobalt torpedoes with three-fourths yield payload." Monroe's hand's moved over the console with lightning speed. "Copy that! Locked and loaded!" "Sir," Cain shouted over a console explosion, "the Explorer is clear but the Midnight is getting hammered. The frigates have bracketed her and she's caught right in the center." "Helm, bring us around," Joe ordered. "Ready weapons." "Ready to fire on your order, sir." Monroe said. "Fire tri-cobalt torpedoes!" Joe said.
Cut to the Bridge USS Tizona...
"The Tigris
is prepping a tricobalt device" Rex told Celezar
Meanwhile, in Engineering...
Back on the Bridge...
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