/||\        ----------------------------------------
       / || \         UCIP Starfleet Command, Second Fleet
      /  ||  \             U.S.S. Coronado, NCC-97901
   .-/   ||   \-.      Commander Tebrun Lora, Commanding
   ./    ||    \.   ----------------------------------------
   .-_-. || .-_-.              Simulation Teaser
   .-_  \||/  _-.             -[ SD  239908.02 ]-

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/ Simulation Teaser                                                          |
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 U.S.S. Coronado Sensor Log DC4384.2, Stardate 239908.0116
 Transmission Intercept from Zadar 3
 Planetary Computer Information Network broadcast

 INTERCEPT BEGINS.

 "...Gaia is the entire planet, and she is a living thing, and has been for
 two billion years now.  Cats and dogs and birds and people are made up of
 cells, and in the same way, an ecosystem is made up of those cats and dogs
 and birds and plants... and people.  Gaia becomes a single living thing --
 we are are bits and pieces of her.  As we are all organisms, call Gaia a
 'planetism.'

 Planetisms, like organisms, have to change and grow before they can
 reproduce.  As Gaia grows older, she develops entire ecosystems.  Some are
 found to be viable and are kept.  Others give her no advantage, and are
 wiped away in planet-wide extinctions.  As the planetism grows older, she
 finds ways to use more and more of her surface area more efficiently.  Life
 begins in the seas and migrates onto the land and soon the entire planet is
 covered.  But ultimately, Gaia has to do what all living things do: mature
 and reproduce.

 How can a planetism make others like herself?  First she develops an
 ecosystem that develops a highly specialized organism: people.  Now we're
 here and we're not doing too badly.  We have a highly developed brain.
 Gaia has become self-aware, and is looking outward.  She develops eyes to
 look out into space and tries to understand the environment she must conquer
 to reproduce.  She has reached puberty.  We will carry her biological
 information with us aboard our spaceships.  Only, she regulates herself and
 prepares herself for puberty by goading her self-aware organisms with
 diseases and viruses and natural disasters.

 Is it any coincidence that only now are we being struck by so many
 retroviruses and immune system epidemics?  We can't solve these diseases
 without understanding life, without understanding Gaia, to the nth degree.
 We cannot regulate and control natural disasters without understanding
 the rhythms of our planetism.  These are skills that Gaia gives us to take
 into space with us...

 Of course, Gaia isn't the only planetism.  There are probably billions of
 others, some connected to their fellows by networks, some independent like
 us.  And when they get out into the galaxy, they find that they are in
 competition.  Suddenly, they're part of an even larger, more complex system:
 a galactic ecology.  Just as organisms that wish to survive their ecosystem
 must develop strategies to compete and flourish, planetisms must also
 develop strategies to compete, and to eliminate competiton.

 Is it any wonder the Killers came for us?  We've been like a small bird
 crying our heart out in the forest, wondering why no other birds answered
 our calls.  The reason is because the galactic skies are full of hawks, and
 planetisms that don't know enough to keep quiet... get eaten."

 INTERCEPT ENDS.

\____________________________________________________________________________
\ End Simulation Teaser                                                      |
 ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ

Crew Roster:
	Commanding Officer:           Cmdr. Tebrun Lora         (Jester)
	Executive Officer:            LCdr. Velorna Tal         (Ol Army)
	Marine Commandant:            LMaj. Jamie Brennan       (Juliet)
	Chief Tactical:               Lt. Sieven Drexler        (Garstini)
	Assistant Tactical:           Ens. Timothy Bruce        (Phoenix)
	Chief Flight Operations:      Lt. (JG) Fornan Dejat     (Ryan)
	Chief Engineer:               Lt. Jarod Bentall         (Alffred)
	Assistant Engineer:           Ens. Titan                (Eric)
	Company Commander Alfa:       1Lt. Jeremy Ironside      (Reaver)
	Company Commander Bravo:      1Lt. Stephen Sirius       (Sirius)
	Squadron Leader:              1Lt. Terrance Dauber      (Santiago)
	Chief Science:                Lt. Traqzis Trq           (Nephy)
	Assistant Science:            Cdt. Zunite Oswald        (Sonya)
	Chief Medical:                EMH                       (Mouse)
	Bartender:                    Dalton                    (Heiwa)

Positions Available:    None

----------
Ross Glenn aka Jester
Commander Tebrun Lora, U.S.S. Coronado, NCC-97901
http://www.ussrenegade.com/coro2400/