/||\ -----------------------------------------
/ || \ Starfleet Command, Second Fleet
/ || \ U.S.S. Coronado, NCC-63100
.-/ || \-. Fleet Captain Brian Aldur, Commanding
./ || \. -----------------------------------------
.-_-. || .-_-. Simulation Teaser
.-_ \||/ _-.
_______________________________________________________________________________
/ Simulation Teaser |
/ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ
Brian Aldur surveyed the condition of his opponent, breathing heavily and
trying to keep the frustration he was feeling off his face. His frustration
only grew, however, when he realized that his opponent was much more calm and
relaxed than he himself was.
Taking two steps backward to give himself time to recenter, he soon found that
his opponent wasn't going to give him that time. Blocking two quick punches,
he swiftly attempted a reverse spin counterpunch, only to find his arm caught.
His opponent threw him neatly, sending him tumbling to the mat, then advanced.
Aldur regained his feet quickly, then dropped for a low backspin kick. His
opponent jumped over the blow and countered with a short snap kick to the chin
that the Captain barely avoided by rolling onto his back, then using his arms
and legs to pop himself back onto his feet.
Getting clear again, he realized that his opponent knew very well how tired
and frustrated he was getting, and was intent on simply wearing him down
until Aldur made a mistake. Brian groaned inwardly, realizing that as long
as his opponent followed that strategy, his defeat was inevitable.
When the mistake came, it was subtle, but not so subtle that Aldur's opponent
missed it. The man opposite him dodged a high punch thrown with a bit too
much force, slipped inside his guard, and caught the Captain with an inside
punch to the midsection.
"Point, Browning," the computer declared calmly. "Match, Browning. Final
score, 18-17."
Brian grimaced, holding his side. "Nice match, Doc," he said.
Doctor Browning nodded thanks, heading for his towel, sitting on a bench at
the side of the Gymnasium. Picking it up, he turned to regard the Captain
thoughtfully, even somberly, an unusual expression for him. "You should
have had me, you know," he said.
Aldur grimaced again, but kept his back turned to Browning as he picked up
his own towel, trying to ignore his aching side. Clearing his expression,
he turned around. "Hm?" he said, though he knew very well what the Doctor
was talking about.
Browning was relentless. "There were three separate occasions during that
last match that you managed to open up my defenses, and you didn't follow
through," he said. "Very unlike you." He favored Aldur with a penetrating
gaze. "How long since you've had a vacation?" he asked.
Aldur thought back. Not since taking command of Coronado. Not while he'd
been on Mars. The last time... damn. Gryphon, when he'd been a Lieutenant
Commander. He kept all of this off his face. "Well, I've been spending a
lot of time on Camelyn," he started, gamely.
Browning snorted. "Yes, where everyone on the planet knows who you are and
you can't walk five steps without a 'Good morning, Lord Fleet Captain,'
this and a 'Canst I have but a moment of thy time, Lord Fleet Captain,'
that. That's no vacation." Nodding to himself, as if he'd made an
important decision, Browning headed for the Gym's comm panel.
"Now wait just a minute, Doc," Aldur said, following him. Browning held up
one hand to silence the Captain while he tapped the communications grid.
Running the towel over his face and neck, Browning swiftly sealed the
Captain's fate with three quick calls.
"Commander Cash, this is Browning. I'm invoking M-13 on the Captain..."
"Sirius, Doctor Browning here. Clear Holodeck 1 for at the next five days.
The Captain's going on a little break..."
"Riley! This is the doc. Want you to do me a favor. Reprogram the
replicators so that the Captain can't get a uniform, and change the
turbolift programming so he can't get on the Bridge..."
The calls done, Browning turned to survey the Captain. Aldur was glaring,
but it lacked its usual force.
"You can't do this, Doctor," he said. "Camelyn could still go up in flames
at any time, Starfleet is screaming at me to break up the task force
despite the fact that there's a Dominion fleet that would love to get their
hands on this pla..."
Browning continued to regard the Captain calmly. "I could make it an order,
if you like," he said. That stopped Aldur short. "Look, skipper," he
continued. "I'm not asking you to leave the ship, and I'm not asking you
to go down to the planet surface. However, I AM telling you to take a
break. It'll all still be here in five days."
Brian knew when he was outmatched. He nodded tiredly, pulled on his
gi jacket, and left the Gymnasium.
---------------
Aldur glared at the computer display in his quarters, flipping through screen
after screen of data without even seeing it. Finally, in sheer exasperation
he threw his hands up, leaned back in his chair, and grabbed the cup of
coffee sitting on the nearby table. His mood did not improve when he
realized the coffee was now quite cold.
Leaving the monitor on, he took the cup toward the replicator for a refill.
If he'd been asked the day before how many holodeck programs Coro had stored
in her libraries, he probably would have guessed a few hundred, certainly no
more than a thousand -- surely the computer memory wasn't set up for any more
than that! He had forgotten that Coro had become a much larger ship during
the recent refit, with much more storage capability, both computer and
physical, owing to several new cargo bays and another computer core.
There were more than *ten thousand* holodeck programs available to crew
members, he was shocked to discover. What holodeck programs weren't stored
live were apparently available in three bins of isolinear rods in cargo bay
three. Aldur resolved to ask Commander Sirius just how those three bins had
come aboard as soon as his exile was over...
The problem, the Captain mused as he took a sip from his new cup of coffee,
was that he didn't fit the profile that the vast majority of the programs
were written for. For exercise and martial arts training, he preferred real
people to computer simulations. The holonovels struck him as trite and
somewhat pointless. He wasn't interested in becoming a famous historical
figure, especially after how he'd been treated on Camelyn. And a good
portion of the programs available weren't things he could do for five days
straight -- horseback riding, sailing, hoverball, Broadway musicals, etc.
Those restrictions eliminated something like 80% of the available programs,
and despite his annoyance at devoting valuable cargo bay space to holodeck
programs, it was that library he was currently going through. Heading back
for the monitor, he hoped that the last two or three hundred left to go
would reveal something that both he and the doctor could approve...
He stopped, suddenly SEEING the screenful of lines of short descriptions
for available programs for the first time. Reaching across the table, he
pulled up the description for the short line of text that had caught his
interest. Reading through it, he grinned... then laughed out loud. This
would do... this would do VERY well.
Pulling on his jacket, he hurried from his quarters, heading for cargo bay
three, leaving the monitor on, the coffee cup forgotten.
---------------
Aldur removed the isolinear rod he wanted from the bin in Cargo Bay Three,
slipped it into the reader attached to his PADD, and initialized it. Almost
instantly, the small screen of the PADD was filled with rows and rows of
close-packed text:
BIN 3, SLOT 17, HOLOPROGRAM 9774:
"THE ALASKA INCIDENT" (EARTH, 2036 OLD DATE)
SHORT DESCRIPTION:
Participants in this program have the opportunity to become naval
officers during one of the most climactic naval battles of pre-World
War III Earth. Depending on the time factoring involved, this
program can run from four hours and eight days (the actual length of
the Alaska Incident) in length.
More information regarding the Alaska Incident is available in the
files below, for those not familiar with pre-WW3 Earth history.
Participants can act as the officers and/or crew of the following
naval warships, on any of the three sides of the incident:
U.S.S. Independence (United States/Aircraft Carrier)
U.S.S. Freedom (United States/Aircraft Carrier)
U.S.S. Yorktown (United States/Missile Cruiser)
U.S.S. Leyte Gulf (United States/Missile Cruiser)
U.S.S. Coronado (United States/Frigate)
U.S.S. Hermosa (United States/Missile Destroyer)
Aldur grinned to himself -- yes, this was the right program, all right --
and tapped a quick keystroke combination.
LISTING CANCELLED. U.S.S. CORONADO (UNITED STATES/FRIGATE) SELECTED.
Then another screen full of close-packed text:
U.S.S. Coronado, FFGN-24, Indomitable-class warship (Frigate)
Builder: Todd Shipyards, San Pedro, California
Power plant: Two General Electric two-shaft nuclear reactors
Length: 487 feet with LAMPS IV modification
Beam: 58 feet
Displacement: 8300 tons (full load)
Speed: 38 plus knots (43.7+ miles per hour)
Crew: 15 officers, 310 enlisted
Armament: Lancer anti-air missiles
Harpoon II anti-ship missiles
Six MK-52 torpedoes (from two triple-mounts)
Anti-Submarine Rocket (ASROC) launch-capable
One MK-45 5-inch/54 caliber naval gun
One MK-75 3-inch/62 caliber rapid fire gun
Defenses: 16 MK-7 Lowboy anti-missile rockets
Two Phalanx Close-In Weapons Systems
Prairie/Masker sonar masking system
Aircraft: Two SH-65 Seahawk (LAMPS IV) Helicopters
Date deployed: 19 August 2016 (Indomitable)
Below that, screen after screen of information detailing the ship, the
opposing sides in the Alaska Incident, this Coronado's role in the
incident, the politics of the time... yes, this would make a fine
vacation, the Captain thought, still smiling that secret smile to
himself. Crossing to the cargo bay's comm system, he toggled the
panel, and was soon talking to Doctor Browning.
"Hey, Doc," Aldur said casually, "how'd you like to join me in a little
sea voyage? I was thinking of inviting some of the other senior officers
as well, in case they also need vacations..."
---------------
If the Yeoman felt any amusement about the job the Captain had asked him to
do, it certainly didn't show on his face. Thirty-eight times over the course
of the ship's day, he delivered the invitation -- actual engraved paper! --
to ship's quarters all over Coronado. Deliveries were made to officers as
highly ranked as the ship's XO to one of the 1st Class Specialists. The
latter's quarters, for some reason the Yeoman didn't understand, were hidden
in the forward section of deck 19, easily the part of the ship least suitable
for humans: it was chilly, with conduits and such crisscrossing overhead.
When Doctor Browning opened his invitation, he smiled in spite of himself:
the Captain was certainly going out of his way to make clear that he was
following doctor's orders. The invitations were either a subtle jab at the
enforced leave, or Aldur was enthusiastic about the prospect; it was hard to
tell. In any case, they were modeled after party invitations common on
Earth for at least the last five hundred years...
Fleet Captain Brian Aldur
cordially invites you to a historical recreation
of one of Earth's most climactic naval battles of all time
"The Alaska Incident"
Holodeck One, starting at 0800 hours tomorrow
Appropriate attire will be provided on site
Dispensation from duty will be provided to those who participate
No RSVP required -- hope to see you there!
\_______________________________________________________________________________
\ End Simulation Teaser |
ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ
----------
Ross Glenn aka Jester
Fleet Captain Brian Aldur, U.S.S. Coronado, NCC-63100
http://www.ussrenegade.com/coro2400/