/||\          ----------------------------------------------
      / || \              UCIP Starfleet Command, Eighth Fleet
     /  ||  \                  U.S.S. Coronado, NCC-97901
  .-/   ||   \-.       Fleet Captain Tebrun Lora Kor,  Commanding
  ./    ||    \.     ----------------------------------------------
  .-_-. || .-_-.                  Simulation  Teaser
   -_  \||/  _-.                  -[ SD 240205.06 ]-

 _________________________________________________________________________
/ Simulation Teaser                                                       |
/ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ 

 "What in Mithras name are they up to?" Vice Admiral Brian Aldur
 said, frowning at the display.  The Situation Room below the
 Ministry of Defense was crowded with other officers trying to answer
 the same question.  One of the holographic tanks in the room showed
 the location of every known friendly, neutral, and enemy ship in
 scanning range.  The other focused in on the single group of enemy
 markers: the group of Pfhor warships in the H042 system being
 monitored by U.S.S. Coronado.

 Coronado had moved to the H041 system, both falling back from the
 H042 system and moving closer to Reor.  Even so, Coro's sensor scans
 were of events six minutes after they happened thanks to the
 distance the scans had to travel.  The images being seen on Reorsa
 were another nine minutes late... the time they took to travel from
 Coro's position to Reor.

 Not for the first time, Brian Aldur wished that Starfleet had
 developed some sort of instantaneous mode of communications.

 In the second holographic tank, the display was frustratingly
 static.  The five Pfhor destroyers surrounded the six long, slender
 ships.  None of the eleven ships had moved as much as a thousand
 meters, as far as the scans could tell.  None of the ships were
 emitting much more than two or three times space background
 radiation.  More than one officer had commented that even an attack
 would be better than the waiting and wondering.

 "Any word?  I'm getting a little bored up here," a voice said from
 one of the speakers, and the Vice Admiral almost smiled.  One of the
 Starfleet ships was in constant orbit over Reorsa at any given time.
 At the moment, U.S.S. Stirling, Rel'ao Narque commanding, had the
 duty.  Despite Narque's sometimes quirky sense of humor, Aldur felt
 more secure with his flagship up there.

 "No, Captain," Aldur replied, "nothing ye--"  The Admiral stopped
 when he realized that what he was telling Narque was incorrect. 
 Something was happening.  A bright flare of light and energy had
 appeared in H042.

 "Something's happening," one of the operations officers nearby said.
 "Coronado is reporting some kind of subspace disruption."  Aldur
 frowned as he saw something almost appear in the H042 holographic
 display -- something enormous -- before it vanished.

 "What was that?" the Admiral demanded.  The already frantic
 Situation Room became even more active as the humanoids and braids
 present struggled to answer the question.  Suddenly, someone in the
 Situation Room -- Aldur never learned who -- screamed... either in
 surprise or in fear.

 "Admiral!  Look!" the voice screamed.

 Aldur turned to the neglected first holographic tank and suddenly
 realized what the scream was about.  An enormous red-tagged enemy
 marker had appeared in the Reor system.  "External view!  Zoom into
 the Reor system!" Aldur snapped.  "Stirling, report!"  The Vice
 Admiral spun, addressing one of the communications techs.  "Open a
 monitor channel on Stirling!"  The tech hurried to comply.

 Meanwhile, the first holographic tank zoomed into the Reor system to
 reveal that Stirling was no longer alone in Reorsa orbit.  The
 enormous asymmetrical shape of the Pfhor battleship was in orbit
 with her.  The audio snapped on a moment later, and Narque's calm
 voice filled the situation room.

 "All shields up, hail the Pfhor vessel... let's pull back a bit,
 give us some room to maneuver," Narque was saying, then added "arm
 all weapons" as an afterthought.  "Reorsan Fleet Command, we have a
 Pfhor warship in orbit here with us... we are attempting to comm--"

 That was as far as Narque got.  Without any warning whatsoever, the
 Pfhor battleship's weapons fired, eight of the hellishly bright
 beams erupting from different points along the ship's hull.  For a
 few seconds, Stirling's newly-installed false matter shields held up
 under the withering assault, and then they failed.  The beams
 chopped the command ship to pieces, stopping only when the fragments
 of U.S.S. Stirling exploded away from each other, trailing fire,
 plasma, and a precious few escape pods.  The communication
 terminated with a roar of feedback and noise.

 And then, for nearly thirty seconds, silence reigned in the
 Situation Room.  Someone within began to sob.  New red markers
 appeared in the Reor system as five Pfhor destroyers folded in
 around their battleship.  Finally, the communications technician
 cleeard his throat.

 "Admiral... we're being hailed."

\_________________________________________________________________________
\ End Simulation Teaser                                                   |
 ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ

 Crew Roster:
    Commanding Officer:        Capt. Tebrun Lora Kor     (Jester)
    Executive Officer:         Cmdr. William Daren       (Daren)
    Marine Commandant:         Col. Jeremy Ironside      (Fraser)
    Command Liaison:           Cmdr. Savant              (Savant)
    Chief of Operations:       Cmdr. Olme Tlaloco        (rev)
    Chief Tactical Officer:    LCdr. Sieven Drexler      (Brad)
    Assistant Tactical:        Lt. Kyle Marcy            (Marcy)
    Chief Flight Operations:   Lt. JG Ananda Wilk        (Baralu)
    Intelligence Officer:      LCdr. Kariasa Ma'Aru      (Kari)
    Chief Science Officer:     Lt. Kathleen Hammond      (Kath)
    Company Commander:         MCpt. Jacob Prescot       (Shadow-FjP)
    Flight Leader:             MCpt. Craig Serrold       (Aggie)
    Chief Engineer:            Cmdr. Zunite Oswald       (Sonya)
    Assistant Engineer:        LCdr. Jack C. Farley      (CCC)
    Assistant Engineer:        Lt. Aramis Skylooker      (LewisSharp)
    Systems Specialist:        Lt. Caring-Thoughts       (Alffred)
    Chief Medical Officer:     Ens. Jason Vogel          (Thompson)
    Civilian:                  Alados ha-Soron           (McC)

 On Extended Leave of Absense:
    Wing Leader:               2Lt. Andrew Stylus        (JadeFalcon)

 Positions Available:
    None!

------
Jester

Fleet Captain Tebrun Lora Kor
Rear Admiral (Commodore) Selectee
Commanding, U.S.S. Coronado, NCC-97901
http://www.jestertrek.com/coro2400/