/||\        -----------------------------------------
       / || \            Starfleet Command, Second Fleet
      /  ||  \             U.S.S. Coronado,  NCC-63100
   .-/   ||   \-.     Fleet Captain Brian Aldur, Commanding
   ./    ||    \.   -----------------------------------------
   .-_-. || .-_-.              Simulation Teaser
   .-_  \||/  _-.

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/ Simulation Teaser                                                             |
/ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ

 The Assault Transporter rooms were a mad rush of activity, as Coronado's
 twelve platoons of Starfleet Marines prepared to move out.

 PFC/1st Willy Harbeck looked around nervously.  Although he didn't know it,
 he was Coro's most junior Marine.  He had never been in combat.  He had only
 participated in combat drills without number -- mostly on the Holodecks.  His
 personal armor, compression phaser rifle, and the small shield generator that
 was a Marine's most valuable piece of equipment were all perfectly fitted,
 tested, and functional.  He also carried a long knife and a palm phaser, as
 well as a single photon grenade.  In short, he was well-armed, and ready to
 kick some tail at need.

 It didn't stop him from feeling nervous, however.

 "Harbeck!" a voice shouted.  Sergeant Vrash, his Andorian squad leader.
 Vrash was tough, tougher even than the average Andorian.  His antennae were
 sheathed beneath his issue helmet, and his rifle glittered as he held it at
 port arms, regarding the young human soldier.  A cigar -- a ridiculous
 indulgance, as far as Harbeck was concerned -- protruded from Vrash's thin
 lips, held in clenched teeth.

 "Yes, Sergeant!" Harbeck returned, coming quickly to attention, and trying
 to ignore the smoke getting in his eyes.

 "You ready for this, Private?!" Vrash shouted with a feral gleam in his eye.
 Somehow, though shouting, the Andorian managed to hold onto the cigar.

 "Hoo-ah, Sergeant!"  Harbeck snapped into his place in line.  His squad, part
 of Third Platoon, was scheduled second in Assault Transporter One, along with
 squads from Forth and Sixth Platoons.  Harbeck had learned the location they
 would be holding backwards and forwards: ten meters to the left of the main
 entrance to what the Marines were calling the "Infinity Cavern" -- the large
 cavern where the crew of the Horizon slept their long sleep.  A mirror group
 of three squads would hold the area to the right of the entrance.

 Inside the cavern, squads from three platoons would protect the Medical and
 Science teams as, one by one, they "woke" Horizon survivors and removed their
 parasites.  When the mother creature was located, it would be the job of
 these Marines to neutralize it, preferably keeping the maximum number of
 Horizon sleepers safe in the process.

 Outside, squads from all six platoons would hold the cavern entrance against
 a possible attack from the cants -- the 7' long ant/cat warriors.  Lieutenant
 Twain had made it clear that there could be as many as 3500 infected cants,
 of which as many as 10% might be warrior-class.  350 infected warrior cants
 versus a little over 200 heavily-armed Starfleet Marines.  More, if the
 mother creature decided to send the workers against them.

 Harbeck shivered.  Not for the first time, he was glad he was on the INSIDE
 detail.  At least there, he only had to worry about himself being infected...

\_______________________________________________________________________________
\ End Simulation Teaser                                                         |
 ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ

----------
Ross Glenn aka Jester
Fleet Captain Brian Aldur, U.S.S. Coronado, NCC-63100
http://www.ussrenegade.com/coro2400/