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

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/ Simulation Teaser                                                             |
/ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ

 "Sit down, Captain.  Can I offer you anything?"

 "No, Admiral, thank you" Aldur replied, taking a seat across from the
 Admiral's desk.  {{So this is Fleet Admiral Necheyev,}} Aldur thought,
 measuring the woman on the other side of the desk.  He'd never met her, but
 of course, stories of her tactics and methods were legend in Starfleet.
 "The woman who gelded the Cardassian Union" was one of the more interesting
 nicknames for her...  Her expertise on that race was proving invaluable in
 the Dominion War.

 The Admiral got right to the point.  "Captain... what do you know about the
 Son'a Corporate?" she asked.

 Aldur frowned.  "Well, I've heard of the Son'a, of course.  Hedonists, and
 occasional pirates, but I wasn't aware of a 'Corporate.'"

 Necheyev nodded thoughtfully.  "And the Ba'ku?"

 "If memory serves, that was the race that Captain Picard made such a stink
 about in the Federation Council a couple of months back," Aldur replied.

 Necheyev nodded.  "Correct.  It turns out that the Ba'ku and the Son'a are
 connected... they're the same race."  As Aldur's eyebrows went up, the
 Admiral went on.  "More than that, though, a Federation anthropological
 team has been on the Ba'ku planet for some months, reviewing their earliest
 records.  It seems that before the Ba'ku settled in the Briar Patch several
 centuries ago, they were a major spacefaring power."

 "The Son'a Corporate," Aldur guessed.  Necheyev nodded.

 "Very good.  The 'modern' Son'a are ones that follow the precepts and
 ideals of the Son'a of centuries past."  Necheyev paused, then leaned
 forward to regard Aldur thoughtfully.  "Captain," she said at last.  "That
 Federation anthropological team discovered what destroyed the Corporate
 and sent the Ba'ku fleeing through space.  It was described in some ancient
 records, brought by the Ba'ku to their new home."  Necheyev paused again.

 Aldur waited, interested.  "I'm listening, Admiral."  Strangely, Necheyev
 seemed to change the subject entirely.

 "Captain, the Camelynian Grand Crusade against the Dominion.  Tell me about
 it," she requested.  A bit confused, Aldur filled in what details he could,
 establishing that the Camelynians would not rest until the Dominion was
 either utterly destroyed or completely at their mercy.

 Necheyev nodded.  "When was the last time the Camelynians declared such a
 Grand Crusade?" she asked.

 "Well, I admit I haven't had time to check the records on that, Admiral,
 but it was centuries ago--"  Suddenly, Aldur stopped.  He looked up.  In a
 hollow voice, he asked, "The Son'a Corporate?"  Necheyev nodded.

 "The Corporate apparently tried to annex Camelyn.  What happened next is
 not in the records, but the Corporate, by all accounts, was no slouch.
 Whatever the Camelynians did to them," she said, "it was enough to make
 the last few survivors flee their planets, disband their Empire, and find
 the deepest hole they could find in the Galaxy to hide in..." Necheyev
 left the sentence hanging, and Aldur finished it for her.

 "Where they promptly rejected technology AND changed their names for good
 measure," he said.  "Yes, I can see why you brought this to my attention,
 Admiral," he continued, "especially given the Camelynian's treatment of
 the Dominion Ambassador last week."  Aldur's lip turned up at the thought.
 He wasn't exactly in mourning for the Vorta who had learned the hard way
 not to get on Camelyn's bad side.

 Necheyev nodded forcefully and leaned forward.  "Captain, as much as you
 might be amused at the Camelynian's methods, there are those in Starfleet
 including myself who are damned worried.  We're thinking about *after*
 the war."  Aldur sobered and nodded.  Necheyev leaned back.

 "You're probably the Federation's expert on these people right now," she
 said.  Aldur's eyebrows went up again.  Necheyev smiled slightly and
 continued.  "You have their respect and their trust.  The Camelynian
 Ambassador, Lord Devon a'Costa, positively raves about you.  As far as we
 can tell, Captain, the rank and file Camelynian believes that you saved
 their world with your blockade and subsequent blunting of the Dominion
 attack there last year.  'The courage of a white dragon and the wisdom of
 King Roland of Old' is how a'Costa puts it."

 Necheyev took a sip out of a cup on her desk and continued.  "Captain,
 we're putting you back in command of the Whitestone Task Force.  The MajQa
 will be replaced by another scout ship, the U.S.S. Palantir.  The Romulans
 have also agreed to provide three Warbirds to your direct command..."

 Aldur leaned forward.  "What's the catch, Admiral?"

 Necheyev nodded.  "The catch is, we want you to bring the Camelynians under
 control.  God knows we need them on our side, but we need their attacks to
 be focused toward bringing the war to an end.  Right now, they're blasting
 away at targets of opportunity and wasting their strength."  She leaned
 back.  "Their large ships are horribly vulnerable to ramming attacks.
 They're addressing this by bringing new types of ships up, but it's
 happening too slowly.  We're currently projecting that a massive, weighted
 strike directly into the heart of the Camelyn system by the Dominion could
 break their resistance, if it were launched soon.  That Vorta's head might
 have just invited such an attack."

 Aldur nodded, but his expression was troubled.  "How do you suggest I get
 the Camelynians to listen, Admiral?  They're a singularly... opinionated
 people, especially if they feel that they've been wronged."

 Necheyev nodded.  "We took that into account, and my staff has a solution
 that might address your concerns."  She paused.  "It's a little...
 unorthodox... but tell me what you think."  As Aldur listened, the Admiral
 explained.

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