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The Battle of
Altorus
"Sir, the Midnight has altered course - they're on a collision course for the battleship!" Jennifer reported from Ops. "Scanning for lifesigns..." She frantically worked the controls, trying to bring the little sensor power left over from science and tactical sensors to bear on the ship through the battle. "One lifesign. Male. The combadge identifies him as Lieutenant Skii. Sir, I think he's trying to utilize the ship's dual warp core to try and rupture the shields of the battleship - a warp core explosion of sufficient magnitude might just do that." "Any chance we can beam Lieutenant Skii to safety?" Iluvar asked. After testing out the transporters, she couldn't even get a vague lock on the Lieutenant. "There's too much interference, Sir. We need to be closer." "Open a channel to the fleet," Iluvar ordered, steadying himself as the Tethys rocked hard. "Channel open," Earlond said. "All ships, this is Commodore Iluvar. Target all weapons on the following coordinates," Iluvar commanded, entering the coordinates on the arm of his chair, "Fire on my command." Earlond's hands flew over his console, bringing the Tethys' full array of weapons to bear on the coordinates Iluvar was sending.
Meanwhile, on the USS Frontier... "Commander, I am receiving another message from the Fleet," Ensign Neptune announced. "They want us to lock weapons on the Battleship and prepare to fire." T'prow finally let her emotions kick in. She was glad to be back on the Frontier and with friends. This battle was what she needed to settle into her regular routine. Midnight knew something had been missing, but she didn't know it was a battle. "You heard the woman, Shade!" Sara noted. Shade sighed and prepared the last two tri-cobalt devices. "Torpedoes armed, Commander," Shade replied. John closed his eyes and hoped that this was going to work. "Moving into position, Ma'am." "Don't get too close," Jake said, checking his readouts, "We're in no state to get caught in any more explosions." "Thank you, Jake," John said, monitoring distances. "Just make sure I have the engines to get out of here when we need them." "The ship called Midnight is on a collision course with the Terodock," Ensign Neptune announced suddenly. "There's only one life-sign on board.... it's Lieutenant Skii!" "Of course," Jake exclaimed, realizing what the young operations officer was up to. "If tricobalt devices had the effect of nullifying the shields of the frigates, the dual core of that ship will certainly have an impact on the battleship's shields." "On screen!" Sara said. T'Prow didn't bother to hide her relief, "The Tigris is moving in and are attempting to beam Mr. Skii to safety." On the viewscreen, the Sovereign-class Tigris was shown speeding toward the Midnight as it careened toward the slow-moving Terodock.
And on the USS Tigris... It would only be about a minute now before the Midnight slammed into the hull of the Terodock. One crew member remained at the helm, and Joe was not about to let another brave soul die in this mess. "Time 'til the Midnight hits the ship?" Joe asked. "About a minute fifteen," Cain replied. "How long 'til we're in range, Mr. Willings?" Joe turned to ask. "He's got about ten seconds on us sir, he's not even slowing. Doesn't help that we're going the same speed either, unfortunately," Monroe said. "Helm, see if you can get any more speed out of the impulse engines!" Joe ordered. "I'll do my best," Drake promised. "Come on, baby," he murmured to the ship. "Just a little bit more..." "One minute," Cain said looking over his shoulder. He was under the distinct impression that this was going down to the wire. "Count us down, Mr. Cain," Joe said starting to worry. "Fifty-five seconds," Cain continued to count. "Weapons status!" Joe yelled suddenly. "We've got 4 quantum torpedoes, 8 photons, and 80% phaser efficiency, sir." "Fifty seconds." "Target all weapons on the Midnight," Joe said, wiping the sweat away. "Ready to fire on my command." "Copy that, transferring transporters to Mr. Wilson," Monroe said, and in a lower voice. "Should really consider getting that third arm graphed onto me." "I have transporter control," Mike said while activating another console. "Forty-five seconds." =/\=Yo guys... we get anymore down here and we're gonna be living in then nice quiet reaches of space with eternity facing us!=/\= Ella started flipping all kinds of switches, trying to stay ahead of the game. "Forty seconds." "Understood, Lieutenant," Joe replied. "If this works, we will not be taking any more hits." Drake smiled as the ship accelerated a bit. "This is it, sir," he called back. "She's giving all she's got and more." "Are we in range?" Joe asked again. "Almost... just a few more meters, Captain," Mike replied. "Thirty seconds." Cain sounded a bit more worried each time. He didn't want to be the one to count down to his own destruction, but, orders were orders. The Terodock saw two ships coming at her fast. The Captain figured they were going to try something but they didn't know what. The Terodock started maneuvering, but she was so big and so slow it was not going to help much. The Terodock turned to starboard to bring her charged weapons to fire on the ships. The Midnight changed course to line up with the middle of the big battleship and, in spite of the weapons hitting the hull and causing explosions, the smaller vessel stayed on course. "Twenty seconds!" "The course change is helping us get into range, just another few more meters!" Mike shouted as a console near him blew up. "Mr. Wilson, as soon as we are you beam Lieutenant Skii on-board," Joe yelled as the ship shook from a weapons blast. "The Terodock is targeting both ships sir. Hull's holding her own though," Monroe said. "Fifteen!" "Captain, readings show that her broadside weapons are not as strong as her main cannons," Mike said as he watched the final few meters tick off. "A lucky break," Joe said as he gripped the arms of his chair. "We have Impulse power!" Ella called up. She was giddy over the chance to work under pressure again, she always did her best drop then. "This is as fast as impulse will go!" exclaimed Drake. "Ten seconds!" Cain screamed this time. "Weapons are hot captain, on your order!" Monroe said. "Nine!" "We're in transporter range," Mike said as he worked his console. "Transporting him now." "Eight!" "Hold us here for another second!" Joe ordered. "Seven!" "Captain, David Skii is onboard!" Mike said with excitment. "Six!" "Helm all stop!!" Joe yelled getting up from his chair. "Five!" "All stop," Drake repeated, reversing the Impulse drives to cancel the Tigris' momentum. "Four!" "Full emergency reverse!!" Joe yelled as the ship shook from another blast. "Three!" The Tigris suddenly stopped its pursuit of the Midnight and at first started to slowly back up. The Terodock was firing on both ships but soon the crew figured out what was happening and focused their fire on the Midnight. "TWO!" As the Tigris backed off the once beautiful and deadly Midnight was a burning hulk. The Terodock weapons fire couldn't stop the ship as it slammed into the shields. What was left of the front of the hull buckled and started crushing into the shield. "ONE!"
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