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 240111.12 ]-

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Though it lasted the better part of a month, for years afterwards, the
braids referred to it as the "Day of Training."

Reports of casualities from Churchill Downs and Fisher's Landing continued
to come in, but within a week of the Pfhor bombardment, it was known that
more than 6,000 braids had been "killed." Of course, death was a very
different thing for a community lifeform such as a braid. In fact, serious
injury in braids was measured by the number of their cords that were killed.
A braid who lost two or three cords would be badly wounded in both body and
spirit, but could usually survive it. But a braid that lost half of its
cords could not, and was considered "dead." This braid's remaining cords
were referred to as "unbraided." Unbraided cords could not join with other
unbraided cords; the trauma of separation from a braid was too much for
other unbraided cords to overcome and the resulting braid would be
non-viable. Of course, this left a very large number of unbraided cords --
the largest number that any braid could recall.

A Maker-of-Decision was immediately called to decide what should be done
with more than 25,000 unbraided cords. In the end, though, the Maker wasn't
necessary. It started slowly. A group of 24 braids from the survivors of
RSS-01, the "Swordsmen," Reorsa's first Spectre squadron, came to the
half-formed Maker and requested that they each be given one of the unbraided
cords. In exchange, each would provide one of their own cords. They cords
they provided were extremely stable, mentally and physically, and unlike the
unbraided cords, made excellent additions to new juvenile braids being
"born." It was a sacrifice for the Swordsmen, as a great deal of mental
discipline would be needed to retain their knowledge and training despite
the loss of a cord, while simultaneously having to ease the trauma of the
newly unbraided cord that joined their community.

But the braids that agreed to the service aboard humanoid starships and
fighters tended to be the most practical, emotionally stable braids. Many
had lost a cord or two in combat, and had learned how to adjust quickly to
the integration of a new replacement cord. These in turn taught the others.
The Swordsmen adjusted quickly and well, emerging stronger for the exchange,
though for an unexpected reason. Each of the Swordsmen took something new
out of the exchange: the terror that the unbraided cord had felt at the
touch of death from afar. Though they didn't know it consciously, this
strengthened the resolve of each of the Swordsmen to defend their species.

The first 24 became more than 100 from units all over Reorsa. As more and
more patrol ships rotated home, the 100 became 1,000. As the news spread
among the "military" braids, the 1,000 became a flood. Many braids had been
wondering what they could do to help in the tragedy on a small island on
their planet's southern hemisphere. Many braids were angry at what had been
done to their world. Some were very angry. Some, however, took unbraided
cords as their own simply because it was something that they could do to
help. And since the most emotionally stable braids were given preference,
the vast majority of the unbraided cords went to the "military" braids.

The effect on the newborn braids receiving cords from these military braids
was also unexpected, but just as obvious in retrospect. Since a cord
carried a piece of the knowledge, training, and instinct that made up a
braid individual, more than 25,000 newborn braids were created each of whose
most stable cord carried a bit of knowledge, training, and instinct from the
original military host. This group of newborns signed on for service in
Reorsan fighters and starships, and the newly forming ground defense forces,
in droves. Their sergeants and flight instructors, not realizing what had
happened, were amazed at how quickly these newborns picked up the required
skills. "You're a natural!" the human instructors would exclaim, not
understanding just how true this was...

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The reaction of the U.S.S. Churchill descendants was more predictable, but
less organized. They spent four days in mourning for those killed in the
bombardment, but on the fifth day, Churchill Downs and Fisher's Landing
began coming under sporadic terrorist attack. Though the attacks weren't
particularly effective or damaging as a whole compared to the orbital
bombardment, this insult added to the settlement's already grievous injury
inflamed the population. In one voice, they began howling for blood.

The single Reorsan fleet recruiting office in Fisher's Landing was soon
overrun with angry applicants, and ill-equipped to deal with the load. It
took two days to get enough qualified personnel into the office to deal with
the influx, but the problems only began there. Even with all of the
Starfleet vessels having arrived, there were still far more applicants than
there were slots for them to fill in space. In addition, even if there had
been positions available, the city could ill afford to lose hundreds of
personnel to the starships, especially after the loss of nearly 2,000
humanoid lives in the bombardment. And even aside from that, there was not
nearly enough people available to train all of the potential recruits.

Those in the initial rush that were turned away were somewhat understanding,
but still wished for some way to help. So, when the idea of a planetary
militia sprang up in one of the nets, hundreds expressed enthusiasm and
interest. Almost immediately, several local platoons sprang up and began
"training" themselves. After all, most reasoned, militias had been formed
from the general populace for thousands of years, and there *were* enemy
troops on the ground for them to fight.

The problem of training and equipping the militia, of course, remained.

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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 Operations: Cmdr. Olme Tlaloco (Tlaloco)
Chief Tactical Officer: LCdr. Sieven Drexler (Brad)
Assistant Tactical: Lt. Kyle Marcy (Marcy)
Assistant Tactical: Ens. Alex Goncalves IX (Alexandre)
Chief Flight Operations: Ens. Ananda Wilk (Baralu)
Intelligence Officer: Lt. Kariasa Ma'Aru (Kari)
Chief Science Officer: Lt. JG Kathleen Hammond (Kath)
Company Commander: 2Lt. Jacob Prescot (Shadow-FjP)
Squadron Leader: Maj. Thomas Wayne (Masters)
Wing Leader: 1Lt. Craig Serrold (Aggie)
Wing Leader: 2Lt. Andrew Stylus (JadeFalcon)
Chief Engineer: LCdr. Zunite Oswald (Sonya)
Assistant Engineer: Lt. Jack C. Farley (CCC)
Assistant Engineer: Lt. Aramis Skylooker (Skylooker)
Chief Medical Officer: Lt. JG Jason Thompson (Thompson)

On Extended Leave of Absense:
None!

Positions Available:
Assistant Tactical Officer

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