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

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/ Simulation Teaser                                                             |
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 Fleet Captain Brian Aldur watched with unnatural calm as his small task group
 dropped out of warp on the edge of the Cardassia Prime system.  The Coronado,
 Renegade, Inchon, and Iwo Jima began their run toward Cardassia, taking a
 round-about route that would give them the maximum amount of time to scan the
 system.  Around them, several wings of Spectre class fighters howled out of
 warp and dropped into formation around the four capital ships.  Moments
 later, a group of Camelynian transports, escorted by four of their own
 destroyers, joined the Starfleet group.
 
 Far behind them, the Sixth Fleet had joined the Second in distracting the
 main force defending Cardassia and Septimus.  Though outnumbered, those two
 fleets were but a single prong of a multi-pronged attack.  Despite the
 setback caused by the Breen weapon, Operation Rainbow Five had reached its
 penultimate conclusion on schedule.
 
 As a result of the massive distraction, the Cardassia system itself seemed
 relatively free of defending starships.  Of course, the orbital defense grid
 was still there.
 
 "Everybody remember the plan," Aldur said quietly.  "We escort the transports
 in, beam the troops down to help the resistance.  We stay in orbit long
 enough to support the landing and establish a foothold.  Then we get the hell
 out and wait for the rest of the fleet to come in."  Aldur paused and looked
 around the Bridge.  "Everyone clear?"
 
 One by one, the officers on the Bridge nodded, Ensign Chris Tucker last.
 Tucker, filling in for Marshall at Tactical, looked vaugely sick.  It would
 be his first time deploying Coro's weapons in combat, Aldur remembered.
 Well, Ensign Tucker had picked a good day for it, Aldur thought wryly.
 Hopefully, the last day of the war.  A ghost of a smile crossed the
 Captain's face as he saw Tollory make his way over to Tucker, probably to
 reassure him...
 
 "Sir?" Commander Sirius asked hesitantly.  "What about the orbital defenses?
 We're not going to be able to establish orbit with a couple of hundred guns
 lighting us up," he asked.
 
 Aldur nodded.  "I have it on good authority that by the time we reach orbit,
 the orbital defenses will not be a problem, Commander."  Sirius looked
 somewhat reassured and turned back to his station.  Aldur mouthed a quiet
 prayer to Mithras -- that was the single part of the plan that he didn't
 know the details for.  He'd been told that he'd prefer not to know, and the
 grim look on Fleet Admiral Necheyev's face when she'd told him inclined
 Aldur to believe her.
 
 "They're picking us up now, Captain," Narque said from the aft Bridge.
 "Every emergency beacon in the system just lit off."
 
 "They're calling for reinforcements," Sirius added from Ops.
 
 Aldur just nodded.  "Too late for them now," he said.  "Commander Narque,
 find a good landing zone for our troops.  Preferably something near a
 Jem'Hadar barracks.  Ensign Tucker, once he's got the location, prepare to
 clear a beachhead for the Marines.  Quantum torpedoes and tri-cobalt
 explosives.  Make it clear we're not happy."  Tucker nodded once and got
 himself ready.
 
 Coronado and the rest of the group whipped around the system's largest
 gas giant and made for Cardassia herself under Lehman's hand.  A few more
 minutes, and they'd be in it...
 
 When Necheyev had described the group's blitzkrieg attack into the
 Cardassian system, her estimates of Coro's chances hadn't been good.  Aldur
 grimaced to himself.  "You'll probably be in escape pods by the time we get
 there, Brian," was how she'd actually put it.  "Talk to Morgan and the other
 COs involved.  Quite frankly, we want to deploy this group to save lives --
 if we've got to destroy the Jem'Hadar ground troops, I'd rather do it on a
 planet that's hostile to them, like Cardassia.  They absolutely will not
 surrender." she'd said.  "However, if you and the other COs don't think
 it's feasible, we'll find something else."
 
 Aldur, Captain Morgan of the Renegade, and the two transport COs had talked
 over the issue at some length.  But in reality, the decision had been made
 as soon as the target was named.  Morgan and Aldur had the utmost
 confidence in their ships and crews, and the Marines to a man had cheered
 when they'd learned they'd be fighting on Cardassia.  The chance to finally
 take the war to the enemy was just too tempting.
 
 The Captain watched the brown-gold planet grow larger in the holographic
 tank.  {{With luck and Mithras to guide us,}} he thought wryly, {{maybe
 we'll even survive to see the rest of the fleet arrive.  I'd hate for
 Necheyev to be right *all* the time.}}
 
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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/