Toronaga - A Little Late (A Sunderbans Short) Complete!

Toronaga - II

Wilderness
Kahadria
HRMS Toronaga
Engineering

Tierrak moved quickly to prepared the engine control system for a shut down and rebuild. Engineer Chakyar went through the archives, looking to find an uncorrupted backup of the system. He finally found a recent backup and transferred it to a data module. Tierrak was frustrated as their first rebuild failed due to data corruption. Now that they had a another backup, the could start again, from the beginning.

"Core memory is cleared, auxiliary memory cleared, and the backup memory is cleared." He breathed in a breath and blew it out quickly. "Let's try it again, load the backup now."

As Chakyar began to put the data module it into the interface, his fingers fumbled and it popped out - flying upwards towards his face. Tierrak lunged quickly, reaching out with both hands in an attempt to catch the module. He struck Chakyar in the face, knocking him back, but caught the module and drew it up close to his chest, but fell over and struck the wall.

Chakyar stood up and grumbled at Tierrak. "Why did you do that? It was not going to hit the floor, I nearly had it before you leapt."

Tierrak gently rubbed the sore spot on his head. Standing up slowly, he responded. "It is the only un-fouled backup." A trickle of blood ran down his forehead, down between his eyes and then dripped down to the floor. "We cannot afford any more mistakes."

Chakyar, clenching his fists, turned deliberately back to the work. As he did, he felt something odd in his arms. He looked down at his hands; they were both shaking.

Bridge

A nervous Caralsov watched over the ship's monitors as they passively scanned the system. They had been traveling for almost an hour using sublight engines. Several minutes ahead lay a belt of asteroids, beyond the sixth planet. The captain stood watch over the sensor station to keep abreast of the ship's status and any happenings outside. He personally reprimanded Caralsov for allowing such an error. The captain's gruff, deep voice made it difficult for the young navigator, but he bore it well. So far, only extra fuel had been wasted.

The doors to the bridge opened, but no one turned to see who came on. Kartarac, after finishing another check for energy signatures, finally turned around to see one of his passengers standing in the doorway.

"Well, Doctor Retswer, come to pay us an in house visit?"

In the entrance, a tall older Ky stood; only his eyes moved as he scanned the room. A faint smile grew on his aged face and he turned to the captain. "Yes. I understand we have not docked yet."

The captain walked up to the doctor and forced a smiled. "Aye, sir."

"We've been in the system for almost an hour. And I noticed your pulse drive has an odd rhythm, of which I am sure you are aware."

The captain nodded and turned to face the screen. "You are indeed perceptive, doctor. I am afraid we are still a good way off from your destination."

"Still?"

"We are in the system of... Kahadria." The captain's voice was deep and serious as he spoke. Concern began to increase the depths of Retswer's wrinkles, he looked up to the screen and began to put it all together.

"Off course, engine malfunction..." His eyes narrowed, "This is no mere accident, captain."

Kartarac sighed deeply.

"Considering that, I offer our resources. " He tapped a few commands on his pad and handed it to the captain. The captain raised his eyebrows as he scanned the information on the pad.

"Doctor, I appreciate the offer, but -"

"We are more than just doctors and scientists, captain, and we brought more than medical and research equipment. I am sure that you will a few of these items particularly useful."

Kartarac chuckled. "Very well, doctor. You are certain you can part with these?"

"Captain, I would rather use them this way, than have them lost - and us with them."

He continued to look over the list and grunted. "The best place for your equipment will be the shuttle bays. Once there, you can assemble it with room to spare. If you would contact your team and tell them to expect the crates in just a moment, I will have them delivered. Have the leader of each team contact Commander Tierrak."

The doctor bowed and then contacted his team to provide the instructions. Captain Kartarac went to the engineer's console, located and transported the cargo to the shuttle bay. After a few moments, he spoke. "There, all four are in Bay One."

"It should not take much time to prepare them. I'll head down there."

The captain bowed. "Very well, I hope-"

"Captain!" Caralsov interrupted.

Kartarac's face turned grim as he walked over to Caralsov's console and looked over the readings. "Mmmm..." he began with a gruffer sound to his voice. "We have company. One ship, on the far side of the system. Shut down the sublight engines Caralsov." He continued watching as the ship slowed. "Pity we were a bit early for them." He checked the time, and faint smile drew across his lips. "Late for Kahadria, and early for our arrival at Taragan. Someone made a mistake on our ETA."

The doctor turned around, just as he was about to leave the bridge. "Then we may have the advantage of surprise, captain." In his face was the look of deep contempt. "Should they come after us, they will pay dearly."

The captain continued to watch. "I do not believe there is any question of should they come, doctor. It will be when they come."

Caralsov watched over the data. "I cannot tell ship class or type at this range."

"And you won't anytime soon with passive sensors, Caralsov. Raise Chakyar on the intercom system, I want an update of the drive systems." He looked at the data from the sensor for a moment. The ship was slowing down, and it was scanning the inner area of the system. He could tell the ship had three engines and had a power output similar to the Toronaga's.

"Captain," the chief engineer called, "the drive system has begun its startup procedures." Kartarac winced, powering them up would give the enemy something to look for. If they had fixed the system, all would be well and they would dart away, but if not...he watched the ship as it scanned the inner planets and moons. So far, they were looking in the wrong place, he thought.

"Chief, proceed. Caralsov, only use use thrusters if needed." Caralsov nodded. He watched the ship on the display, hoping it would turn away.

Kartarac looked back to Retswer, who was still standing and watching as the events unfolded.

"You'd best head down." Retswer nodded and left quickly.

Kartarac sighed and went back to his command chair. He thought about happier times, when the Mostrel avoided engaging the Torogana, or the times they did they wished they hadn't. He opened up battle plans he had worked out with and trained the crew on. After going through them all, he closed it.

As the Toronaga began drifting into the belt of asteroids Caralsov announced, "They have found us!"

The captain watched the Mostrel ship turn towards them. He spoke quietly, his voice stern. "All stations, prepare for battle!"