/||\ ---------------------------------------------
/ || \ UCIP Starfleet Command, Fifth Fleet
/ || \ U.S.S. Coronado, NCC-97901
.-/ || \-. Fleet Captain Tebrun Lora Kor, Commanding
./ || \. ---------------------------------------------
.-_-. || .-_-. Simulation Teaser
.-_ \||/ _-. -[ SD 240104.30 ]-
__________________________________________________________________________
/ Simulation Teaser |
/ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ
=.\= Hayashi System =.\=
The Hayashi blue-white supergiant erupted into a violent supernova... the
first supernova in the Milky Way galaxy in 398 years. Much later, the
Rihannsu Star Empire granted a Federation science team permission to study
the expanding shell of the destroyed star... but as it happened, only U.S.S.
Phalanx and U.S.S. Vanguard were in place to observe and record the death of
Hayashi. Fortunately, science teams on both ships had enough foresight to
record what data they could, but with the war on-going, the normal rules of
scientific investigation did not apply. The two ships remained in the area
for less than a day.
Unseen, the Hayashi supernova washed over the Traxati hypergate,
obliterating the drives that controlled the spin rate of the gate and
sending it tumbling out of the remains of the system. The gate, being
neutronium, could not be consumed by the exploding star, but the delicate
balance that allowed it to operate was destroyed with the rest of the
system...
----------------
MISSION REPORT/C0DE2/EAM/URGENT
TRANSMISSION BEGINS.
To: Salek, CAPT, Commanding Fifth Fleet, U.S.S. Archer
Fr: Marshall, RADM, Commanding Task Group 5.2, U.S.S. Vanguard
Dt: SD 240104.24
Distress call received from TG 5.4, under attack in the Hayashi system by
Romulan force of unknown size. TG 5.2 arrived in the region to find that
Hayashi had become a supernova. Trilithium weapon signature detected. No
sign of TG 5.4, and Romulan ships, including at least one D'Sedrin class
cruiser scattered on our approach. No distress beacons in the area, no sign
of survivors, no sign of Romulan-origin debris. All TG 5.4 ships presumed
destroyed in supernova... but last sensor return of TG 5.4 ships indicated
they were moving toward Hayashi. Possible sensor discrepancy. Requesting
orders.
SHIPS PRESUMED DESTROYED:
Task Group 5.4
VAdm. Brian Aldur, Commanding
U.S.S. Stirling, NCC-84378 (Eclipse class)
Flagship of Vice Admiral Brian Aldur
Fleet Captain Rel'ao Narque, Commanding (Crew of 1250)
U.S.S. Odyssey, NCC-71832-B (Sovereign class)
Captain Christina Margrove, Commanding (Crew of 800)
U.S.S. Gryphon, NCC-62899 (Akira II class)
Captain John Henes X, Commanding (Crew of 700)
U.S.S. Fearless, NCC-59655 (Prometheus II class)
Captain Jennifer Mitchell, Commanding (Crew of 500)
U.S.S. Coronado, NCC-97901 (Katana class)
Fleet Captain Tebrun Lora Kor, Commanding (Crew of 250 + 250 SFMC)
Wraith Squadron SO-2, "Raptors"
U.S.S. Renegade, NCC-97902 (Katana class)
Captain Stuart Morgan, Commanding (Crew of 250 + 250 SFMC)
U.S.S. Swiftsure, NCC-65031 (Norway II class)
Commander Morgan "Chappy" Chapel, Commanding (Crew of 150)
U.S.S. Schweitzer, NCC-55019 (Olympic class)
Commander Jania Shiid, Commanding (Crew of 350)
U.S.S. Resolute, NCC-74211 (Defiant II class)
Commander John Zort, Commanding (Crew of 70)
U.S.S. Douglas MacArthur, NCC-77043 (Tobruk class)
Lt. Colonel William Jonté, Commanding (Crew of 500 SFMC)
U.S.S. Athena, NCC-92004 (Artemis class)
Lt. Commander Ian Smythe, Commanding (Crew of 100)
U.S.S. Thonus, NCC-92085 (Artemis class)
Lt. Commander Tokia Shras, Commanding (Crew of 100)
M.R.F. Pearl, NS-1938 (Mobile Repair Facility)
Captain (Eng) Taylor Renard, Commanding (Crew of 150)
U.S.S. Vladivostok, NCC-46920 (Marco Polo class freighter)
Lt. Lloyd Mason, Commanding (Crew of 60)
S.S. Yamashita Maru (Antares class freighter)
Yoshiro Mori, Vessel Master (Crew of 45)
S.S. Mount Rainier (Antares class freighter)
t'Sorak, Vessel Master (Crew of 45)
C.W. Crystal Palace, RN-4 (Camelynian Worldship)
Duke Henry Gaveston Tudor of Cambrian Veils, Commanding (Crew of 1100)
C.S. Rising Star, RN-238 (Camelynian Sword class destroyer)
Viscount Roger Tarymount, Commanding (Crew of 400)
C.S. Javelin, RN-267 (Camelynian Sword class destroyer)
Baron Thomas More, Commanding (Crew of 400)
S.R.R. Sienov Temarr SRR-1083 ("Blackrazor") (Ra'Kalen class destroyer)
Commander Surak, Commanding (Crew of 50)
FULL CASUALTY LIST TO FOLLOW. TRANSMISSION ENDS.
----------------
=.\= U.S.S. Coronado, SD 240105.10 =.\=
Captain Tebrun Lora Kor looked up with a smile. "You wanted to speak with
me, Lieutenant?" he asked.
Lt. (JG) Jacques Chirac, Coronado's Quartermaster stepped the rest of the
way into the Captain's Ready Room and nodded. The door slipped shut behind
him. "Yes, Captain, I hope that Savant told you that this is not
particularly important..." he said, voice somewhat hesitant. Human, in his
early 50s, of French descent and uncharacteristically timid for a Starfleet
officer, Chirac had been the ship's Quartermaster since her commissioning.
He seemed uninterested in any more responsible job and though timid, was
extremely organized and efficient. Many had tried to break him out of his
shell, so far without success.
The Captain smiled again, nodded, and waved to the seat across from his
desk. Truth be told, he was intrigued by the request. In two years, Chirac
had never asked to see him and he had only spoken to the man a handful of
times. Trying to look as unthreatening as possible, Lora Kor said, "Yes,
Lieutenant, she did -- but she also told me that you thought you had
something interesting for me?"
Chirac nodded, at sat down slowly, as if he feared that he would break the
chair he was sitting in. Lora Kor noticed that he was gripping a PADD.
"Captain, this might seem a little odd... but what do you know about Michel
de Nostredame?" Chirac asked.
Lora Kor blinked, then responded slowly, searching his memory. "French
Renaissance physician and astrologer, if memory serves... wrote a number of
prophecies, some shown to be descriptions of future events if looked at
somewhat poetically," he said.
The Quartermaster chuckled, then nodded. "That's more or less what everyone
remembers about him. The prophecies were called the 'Centuries'... there
were ten of them, most of them made up of 100 'quatrains.' The poetry is
included because the Catholic Inquisition was happening at the time, and he
had no desire to be burned as a witch," Chirac said. Lora Kor, leaned back,
smiling very slightly. Obviously, the Quartermaster saved his enthusiasms
for his interests. The Captain nodded for him to go on, which Chirac did.
"In 1555, Nostradamus predicted with startling accuracy the precise manner
of death of the King of France at that time... only, the King died in 1559,
four years after Nostradamus described it. There are many other prophecies
that are just as specific and accurate."
The Captain again slowly nodded. "And you wanted to see me about this
because...?"
Chirac seemed to realize what he'd been saying, then shrugged and passed the
PADD to the Captain. "This is from Century Seven... quatrain 28, to be
precise. I've included the original French, and the modern French to
English translation."
Lora Kor looked down and read. "I don't understand French,
unfortunately..." He frowned. "This doesn't make any sense."
The Quartermaster smiled. "That's because the computer only speaks modern
French," Chirac said, leaning over the PADD. "However, in *Renaissance*
French, this word becomes 'herd'... and this word changes from 'makes' to
'leads'." Tapping on the PADD, Chirac instructed the computer to alter the
translation, then looked up. "Thirty were killed when the S.S. Mount
Rainier was destroyed, correct?"
The Captain nodded, now a little numb. The translated lines had changed:
"The Captain leads a great herd
from his nearby enemies on the mountain.
Surrounded, he cuts such a fiery path
that all escape, save thirty, who are roasted."
Lora Kor didn't need Chirac to tell him that in a poetic style, the top of a
gravity well -- such as where the Romulans had surrounded the task group
from -- could very easily be described as a "mountain." Superheated gasses
and plasma erupting through the hypergate had indeed formed a "fiery path"
as the group had fled through the gate. Describing Task Group 5.4 as a
"great herd" was fanciful, but also accurate. Lora Kor looked up at Chirac,
who was smiling like a child who had discovered a wonderful new toy.
"Lieutenant," Lora Kor said, voice slow, "I don't suppose Michel de
Nostradame had anything else to say about..." Lora Kor looked down at the
original French. "...about 'le capitaine,' did he?"
Chirac nodded, cleared the PADD, and indicated the directory. "I thought
you might be interested, Captain. I've provided the appropriate references
for you."
Lora Kor chuckled to himself, then nodded. "You can rest assured I will
review them. Thank you, Lieutenant."
----------------
The first surprise in store for Vice Admiral Brian Aldur when he went aboard
Blackrazor were the command consoles: all of them were displaying LCARS data
formatting, in English. It wouldn't have been unusual except for the fact
that barely over a month before, Blackrazor had been named Sienov Temarr and
had been flown by the Rihannsu.
Passing quietly through the Bridge of the escort destroyer, he let his eyes
wander. The gravity, originally uncomfortably high, had been reset to
Starfleet standard at some point. Ditto lighting and temperature, both of
which had been higher than the human norm. Someone had even replaced most
of the chairs in front of the consoles. The more he looked around, in fact,
the more the Admiral could have been fooled that he was aboard a Federation
ship. It was clean, quiet, and apparently ready to fly.
As he passed the Helm console, four Binars looked up at him and bowed
briefly, then continued a conversation in their chittering language. Binars
had been indispensible in getting Blackrazor operational and apparently
found the computer fascinating for some reason that hadn't been completely
communicated to the Admiral as yet. Three or four others in Starfleet
uniforms were also going over other consoles around the Bridge.
Spotting Fleet Captain Narque, Aldur made his way over to the Dekoran man,
who turned as the Admiral approached and smiled. "Good morning, Admiral,"
Narque said quietly.
Aldur nodded, indicating one of the computer consoles and its LCARS display.
"Not exactly what I was expecting to see," he commented.
Narque nodded. "Isn't it funny?" Turning to one of the consoles, the
Dekoran's fingers flew over controls indistinguishable from the Starfleet
norm. "We're still putting the pieces together, but it looks as if when the
Rihannsu took possession of Starbase 220 a few years ago, they found the
computer technology aboard the starbase superior to their own and have been
using it on their newer front line ships." Pulling up a display of the
computer controls, Narque traced the data pathways. "Bioneural circuitry
tied to optical relays linking a FTL computer core not very different from
one aboard a Starfleet ship... all controlled using LCARS interface
consoles. Once we broke through the security systems, it was child's play
to reprogram the interface to Starfleet standard." Narque smiled wryly.
"As a matter of fact, breaking security turned out to be a bit easier than
we had any right to expect -- we know this hardware much better than the
Rihannsu, of course."
Aldur nodded, crossing his arms. "How long until we can put a crew aboard
her?" he asked.
"Any time, Admiral," Narque replied. "Other than cloaking systems,
Blackrazor is fully operational." He tapped the console again, bringing up
cloaking system status. "All of the cloaking hardware is functional," he
said, pointing to the display. Three green indicators confirmed that
cloaking hardware was operating. However, underneath, only one of three
indictors for programming was green. One was amber, another red.
"Unfortunately, when the Rangers realized that they weren't going to stop
the Marines from taking the ship, they started turning their weapons on
computer control systems. From what we can see, this ship has the hardware
necessary for a very advanced holographic defense system and phase
discriminators for a phasing cloak... but the programming is gone."
Turning, Narque pointed at one of the control consoles. Squinting, Aldur
nodded. It appeared to be much newer than the consoles around it. "We were
able to salvage the primary cloak programming from backup computer storage,
but the programming for the holographic defense and phasing cloak systems is
gone, with no way to recover it."
"Can we replace the programming?" Aldur asked.
Narque nodded. "Of course, and we've already done it on the holographic
defense system side. Our programming is apparently not as advanced as
whatever the Rihannsu had in place," he said, indicating the amber marker,
"but it's functional. As you know, Fleet Captain Lora Kor was Director of
Starfleet Research and Development at the time the Federation perfected a
phasing cloak... he looked a little uncomfortable when I asked, but I think
on your authorization, he'd release Starfleet phasing cloak programming for
Blackrazor."
Aldur nodded again. "I'll see to it," he said. "How are the exploration
teams firming up?" he asked.
Narque turned away from the console, leaning against it, relaxed. "Per your
orders, three groups are going out, three ships each. Coro, Javelin, and
Fearless in group 1; Renegade, Rising Star, and Swiftsure in group 2;
Resolute, Gryphon, and Stirling in group 3. The other ships, including
Crystal Palace, will remain in the Gateway system. Our destroyers will
guard the worldship while hers join the exploration teams. Odyssey, in
particular, is severely damaged and will stay with Pearl." The Dekoran man
paused. "I was just about to return to Stirling to get us underway, in
fact."
Aldur nodded. "Do that. Also, instruct Pearl to start construction of
three subspace relay beacons. Stirling can keep the groups in contact as
long as we don't exceed a sphere with a diameter of 90 light-years, but
sooner or later, we're going to need relay points."
Narque frowned very delicately. "Admiral, construction of relays will take
several weeks with Pearl's current staff... We're also going to have to
identify a system with a source of raw materials... deuterium and iron ores
in particular for the industrial replicators. That will also take time. I
take it you believe that we're going to be here for a while?" he asked.
Aldur glanced around Blackrazor's Bridge, then nodded. "It's a good bet,
I'm afraid. I've got science teams from Odyssey reviewing Coro's LORASON
sensor results on an hourly basis and one thing is for sure: there isn't
another hypergate within her 60 light-years scanning range." Aldur paused,
then looked around Blackrazor's Bridge again. "Let's start putting a crew
together for this bird," he said. "We're going to be here for a while."
Narque nodded somberly. "Aye, Admiral. I'll put out a call to the ships...
see who they can spare."
Aldur tipped his head in acknowledgement, then turned toward one of the
doors. "I'll see you on Stirling, Fleet Captain."
\__________________________________________________________________________
\ End Simulation Teaser |
ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ
Crew Roster:
Commanding Officer: FCapt. Tebrun Lora Kor (Jester)
Executive Officer: Available (---)
Marine Commandant: LCol. Jeremy Ironside (Fraser)
Command Liaison Interface: Savant (Savant)
Chief of the Boat: MCPO Olme Tlaloco (Tlaloco)
Chief Tactical: LCdr. William Daren (Daren)
Intelligence Officer: Ens. Kariasa Ma'Aru (Kari)
Squadron Leader: Maj. Thomas Wayne (Masters)
Chief Flight Operations: Cmdr. Fornan Dejat (McC)
Chief Engineer: LCdr. Zunite Oswald (Sonya)
Assistant Engineer: Lt. Aramis Skylooker (Skylooker)
Assistant Engineer: Lt. Jack C. Farley (CCC)
Chief Science Officer: Lt. Kathryn Janeway (Kath)
Assistant Medical: Lt. (JG) Ungtae Brie (Aggie)
On Extended Leave of Absense:
Chief Medical Officer: LCdr. Dalton (Heiwa)
Positions Available:
Executive Officer
Company Commander
Squadron Leader
Assistant Tactical
----------
Ross Glenn aka Jester
Fleet Captain Tebrun Lora Kor, U.S.S. Coronado, NCC-97901
http://www.jestertrek.com/coro2400/