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

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/ Simulation Teaser                                                             |
/ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ

 "Atten'hut!  Cap'n on deck!  Hoist the mains'l!"

 All through Holodeck One, the Coronado senior staff came to chuckling
 attention as Mouse whimsically called them to order.  She then slipped
 into the back of the line where her own lack of stiffness wouldn't be
 noticed.  Nearly forgotten, she leaned against the hologrid walls,
 biting her lower lip.

 "At ease, everyone," Aldur said, approaching the center of the group.  He
 had just come from a lower decks party, where the combined Engineering and
 Tactical staffs were throwing Phoenix Berkana and Heather Wong promotion
 parties: both had made full Lieutenant that morning.

 "Mr. Marshall, Dr. Browning, front and center!"  Aldur waited until the
 two officers approached before continuing.  "It is a Coronado tradition
 that each officer who gains a promotion is to be punished for it."  Aldur
 smiled, and Marshall involuntary looked around the bare holodeck for
 whatever form of torture was going to be forthcoming.

 "However..." the Captain continued more seriously.  "I believe sufficient
 punishment has already been applied... in making you wait so long.  It is
 my honor and privelige to promote both of you to the rank of Lieutenant
 Commander, with all the rights and priveliges thereto."  He shook both
 officer's hands after pinning their new rank on their collars.  He then
 took several steps back.

 "Congratulations," he said.  "Cash, Sirius... now."

 Aldur then left the holodeck chuckling as large holographic water guns
 appeared in the hands of all the senior officers on deck... except
 Marshall and Browning.  He grinned.  The guns were holographic.  The
 water was not.  The holodeck doors closed off the sounds of mock outrage
 from the two officers under attack.

 ----------------

 Under Commander Lehman's hand, Coronado broke standard orbit, once again
 heading for the U.S.S. Horizon and the barrier beyond.

 Behind them -- the planet of the sessile webs and "cants."  After removing
 the parasitic infection that had been plaguing the planet, Coro's crew had
 swept the world, looking for evidence of further infection... and finding
 none.

 What had followed surely had to be the strangest negotiations in Federation
 history -- Aldur had interfaced with the sessile net lifeform and negotiated
 permission for a Starfleet science ship to return to the planet.  The new
 ship would bring with it experts in a dozen fields, telepathic and empathic
 communications specialists high among them.  Aldur felt confident that some
 sort of wide-ranging information-sharing agreement would soon be in the
 offing.

 The sessile had even held his clothes for him until their discussions were
 complete.

 It had asked, however, that the damaged portions of itself remain in the
 Horizon cargo hold until... Aldur wasn't sure of the wording, but it had
 come across as something like "...until our dreams are no longer bad."  This
 suited the Captain fine -- he had the impression that Coro was going to run
 into those sessile fragments again.  He smirked.  Had, in fact, encountered
 them two weeks ago.

 The Department of Temporal Investigations was going to have a fit over this
 one.  They hated predestination paradoxes, but this one was clear enough.
 Coro had to encounter the damaged sessile in the Horizon cargo bay.  That
 had brought Coro to the nebula which had brought it into contact with the
 undamaged sessiles.  That in turn had eventually caused the crew to leave
 the damaged sessile in the cargo bay of Horizon and that ship to pass
 through the barrier into the past to be picked up by the DTI.  The DTI, in
 turn, would call in Coro... who would eventually encounter the damaged
 sessile.  Repeat.

 Yes, the DTI was going to flip, and that also suited the Captain just fine.

 The fact that Coro was carrying more than 200 survivors from the ship was
 going to annoy Lucsly all the more.  That made Aldur smirk again.  The DTI
 could have the job of reintegrating these folks into the 24th century --
 it would serve 'em right for getting Coronado involved.  It also might make
 them think twice before calling again.

 That, yet again, suited the Captain just fine and dandy.  He grinned.

 So, the Captain was in a fine mood when Coro reached the barrier.  It was
 what happened then that turned the day strange...

\_______________________________________________________________________________
\ End Simulation Teaser                                                         |
 ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ

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