U.S.S. Coronado, NCC-97901

/||\ ---------------------------------------------
/ || \ UCIP Starfleet Command, Fifth Fleet
/ || \ U.S.S. Coronado, NCC-97901
.-/ || \-. Fleet Captain Tebrun Lora Kor, Commanding
./ || \. ---------------------------------------------
.-_-. || .-_-. Simulation Teaser
.-_ \||/ _-. -[ SD 240109.03 ]-

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"Admiral, your Coronado-frigate, they-many are reporting in," a cool,
flowing voice said in Brian Aldur's ear. Aldur opened his eyes to see
Parts-of-Clouds, Stirling's Reorsan Starfleet liaison, hanging over him like
a collection of pale pink serpents. It was an unnerving image which the
Admiral shook off as best he could. There was no point in alarming or
upsetting the young Reorsan officer. "Clouds" was a braid, of course, the
native species on Reor. Made up of a small colony of lesser lifeforms known
as "cords," a gathered braid of six to twelve cords was intelligent and
sapient.

Clouds was more intelligent than most, but she -- the braid insisted on
being referred to as female despite the fact that braids were asexual and
relied on their cords for reproduction -- was still relatively unseasoned.
Her translator-generated English was improving, for instance, but still
included the odd braid turn of phrase. "They-many," indeed. Aldur had been
told that the braid native language had two plural tenses: plural-singular,
to refer to a single braid (made up of many cords), and plural-plural, to
refer to many braids. Braids referred to a single humanoid in the
plural-singlular, something that was somewhat disconcerting to many
humanoids. The limited Reorsan singular tense was used to refer only to
single cords, and the braids refused to use that tense to refer to single
humanoids, for reasons they wouldn't or couldn't explain. They found the
whole concept of using that tense to refer to single humanoids highly
amusing, in fact.

One of Stirling's officers had theorized over many ales within Aldur's
hearing in Stirling's main lounge that the Reorsan singular tense was
probably -- due to the cord's rather animal nature of constant feeding,
sleeping, and rutting -- equivalent to a pornographic language. Aldur
figured it was as good a theory as any.

The Admiral came fully awake, pushed himself off the couch in Stirling's
flag quarters, and nodded at the Reorsan. Since the beginning of the
Accursed attacks on Reor space 48 hours before, the Admiral had been
grabbing what sleep he could in two- or three-hour blocks. He walked
quickly out of the flag quarters, heading for Stirling's CIC. It wasn't a
long walk, and Aldur entered the CIC to find it buzzing with activity.

"Here, Admiral," a voice called, and Aldur walked over to where Lieutenant
Toudra, Stirling's Bolian Tactical officer, stood near one of the CIC's many
communications stations. Nodding at the Bolian, the Admiral stepped into
the field of view of the communications board, noting that Fleet Captain
Lora Kor on Coronado was awaiting his appearance.

Lora Kor nodded. "Coronado responding, Admiral, to your priority one, code
one." Such a signal had only one use: the announcement of an invasion of
Federation space. It didn't exactly apply here, 19 million light-years from
Federation borders, but it was the one code that the Starfleet vessels would
not ignore.

"Where are you, Captain?" Aldur asked, leaning forward.

"System J044, sector 0012, Grid 002," Lora Kor responded. "We can be in
Reor space in 90 minutes, but I thought it best to hold here a few minutes,
call in, and see where we can do the most good," the Captain said. It was
notoriously difficult to contact starships in slipstream, both men knew.

Aldur nodded. "Good thinking," he said. "As a matter of fact, the
situation in the Reorsan system itself is fairly secure for the moment --
we've had a few Accursed strike craft in here, but nothing we can't handle,"
Aldur said. "I think this might be an enormous broad-front probe, or maybe
a limited-objective raid. We haven't even pinpointed one of their big
capital ships yet."

Lora Kor nodded, relaxing slightly. "What are my orders?" he asked.

"I want you to proceed to the Tarwani system, H036, sector 0033, Grid 004,
just north of Reor. Once you're there, deploy LORASON sensors. Your
mission is two-fold. First, we've lost contact with a Reorsan patrol craft
in that region, number two slash seven," Aldur said. "See if you can track
down that patrol craft and if need be, either support them or rescue the
crew. Second, a LORASON sweep from that position will allow you to sweep
Reor's entire northern flank for Accursed capital ships. We think they're
launching whatever this is from either a single ship or a small group of
them in that area," he finished, then stopped. "One more thing, if you
detect an Accursed capital ship, you are NOT to engage them. Fall back, and
report in," the Admiral said.

Lora Kor nodded. "That's prudent, Admiral. I'd be the first to admit that
one Starfleet vessel, even one a century more modern than Churchill or
Dauntless, is probably not a match for one of those Accursed behemoths."

Aldur nodded agreement in turn. "Good luck, Captain. I'll want reports
from you every four hours once you pass through sector 0013 or 0014."

"You'll have them, Admiral. Coronado out."

"Admiral?" Toudra asked from two stations over, his bifurcated face
furrowed, as Aldur's call ended. "Gryphon has been attempting to call from
Gateway. If you're done, I'd like to release the relay to them," he said.

Aldur stood up and nodded, walking over to the Lieutenant's station. "Go
ahead, Lieutenant. Did they indicate what it's about? Are they under
attack?" he asked.

Toudra shook his head. "It's flash traffic, but they didn't attach a code
one to it," the Lieutenant said. The two men waited several seconds as the
rapidly-spinning subspace relay in the Pitstop system first released its
link to Coronado to the west, then resteered its beam toward the Gateway
star to the south. Apparently, the new relay intended for the Gateway
system itself wasn't yet operational.

A moment later, the face of Captain John Henes X of U.S.S. Gryphon appeared.
"Admiral, I have some interesting news. We've been rescued," the android
said blandly. "Sort of. I'll let my visitor explain." The android's face
disappeared, to be replaced a few seconds later by...

Brian Aldur couldn't help it. It had been a long, stressful couple of days
full of unpleasant surprises. He hadn't gotten much sleep. He secretly
felt as if the entire mass of the Accursed would be falling on Reorsa mere
weeks after he had settled in. Vice Admiral Brian Aldur couldn't help it:
he started to laugh. And once he started laughing, he couldn't seem to
stop. Lieutenant Toudra looked at the Admiral as he'd suddenly been
possessed by a demon.

"Well, I'm glad someone finds my presense amusing," Rear Admiral Todd
Marshall complained from the communications board, voice sour. His face was
grimy and the Bridge of U.S.S. Vanguard behind him obscured by shorting
lights and smoke.

The Admiral slowly got himself under control. "Todd Marshall," Aldur said,
still chuckling, "I suppose I should have expected you to turn up. My
knight in shining armor," Aldur said, starting to laugh anew. "Has someone
told you where you are yet?"

Marshall crossed his arms, voice still sour. "Well, between what my
astrometrics team and your carrier sitting here are telling me, I'm
somewhere this side of screwed."

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Crew Roster:
Commanding Officer: FCapt. Tebrun Lora Kor (Jester)
Executive Officer: Cmdr. William Daren (Daren)
Marine Commandant: Col. Jeremy Ironside (Fraser)
Command Liaison Interface: Cmdr. Savant (Savant)
Chief of the Boat: MCPO Olme Tlaloco (Tlaloco)
Chief Tactical Officer: LCdr. Sieven Drexler (Garstini)
Assistant Tactical: Lt. Kyle Marcy (Marcy)
Intelligence Officer: Lt. Kariasa Ma'Aru (Kari)
Company Commander: 1Lt. Eric Moore (Alffred)
Squadron Leader: Maj. Thomas Wayne (Masters)
Squadron Leader: 1Lt. Natalia Petrovna (Phishie)
Chief Flight Operations: Lt. (JG) Nikkos (Heiwa)
Chief Engineer: LCdr. Zunite Oswald (Sonya)
Assistant Engineer: Lt. Jack C. Farley (CCC)
Assistant Engineer: Lt. Aramis Skylooker (Skylooker)
Chief Science Officer: LCdr. Kathryn Janeway (Kath)
Acting Chief Medical: Lt. Ungtae Brie (Aggie)
Assistant Medical: Ens. Jason Thompson (Thompson)

On Extended Leave of Absense:
Assistant Tactical: Ens. J'aren Mayo (Spork)

Positions Available:
None!

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Ross Glenn aka Jester
Fleet Captain Tebrun Lora Kor, U.S.S. Coronado, NCC-97901
http://www.jestertrek.com/coro2400/