/||\          ----------------------------------------------
      / || \              UCIP Starfleet Command, Eighth Fleet
     /  ||  \                  U.S.S. Coronado, NCC-97901
  .-/   ||   \-.       Fleet Captain Tebrun Lora Kor,  Commanding
  ./    ||    \.     ----------------------------------------------
  .-_-. || .-_-.                  Simulation  Teaser
   -_  \||/  _-.                  -[ SD 240205.27 ]-

 _________________________________________________________________________
/ Simulation Teaser                                                       |
/ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ 

 Jia Ron Drull was... troubled.  This was unusual enough that he
 stopped to examine and really experience the emotion for a few
 moments, the feelings flashing through the Taeren mindlife around
 him.  Drull had begun his study of the Churchill descendants and
 their allies with the thought that by understanding this species, he
 could better understand Taeren pre-history.  He was finding that
 after more than a century that he was probably understanding them
 more than was strictly healthy for him.

 The ships of the Pfhor Hegemony had entered the Taer system again,
 this time in greater numbers.  Drull and two other Novices had been
 unable to repulse the attack alone, and had been obligated to "wake"
 two Adepts and an Elder from their mindlives to assist in the
 defense of the system.  The Elder had itself swatted five Pfhor
 destroyers like flies, their crews going mad in a few instants
 before plunging their ships into Taer's bright yellow star.

 Fortunately, Taer was distant enough from the Reorsan home systems
 that the humanoids didn't even notice the attack on the Taer system,
 much less its conclusion.  That was the good news.  The bad news was
 that the Elder, before returning to its briefly interrupted
 mindlife, had made it clear to the Adepts and Novices involved that
 it was not to be disturbed again.  That message had been directed to
 Jia Ron Drull in particular as the Novice known to be studying
 events outside Taer.

 Drull's one plea for suggestions had been cut off, the Elder reading
 the thoughts right out of a Novice's mind with no more difficulty
 than it had had with the Hegemony's pilots and navigators: "More
 direct intervention may be necessary" it had told him, finally. 
 Doubly insulting: the message had been delivered in a contemptuous
 tone that spoke volumes to Drull about the length of time he was
 likely to be a Novice if he didn't come up with something.

 More direct intervention.  Right.  Elders were sooooo helpful at
 times.  Jia Ron Drull was... troubled.  He understood that humanoids
 spent a lot of their time in this state.  He was really beginning to
 understand the humanoids all too well.

 As a result, Drull was spending even more time "listening in" on key
 conversations on Reorsa.  He was convinced that helping the
 humanoids in their own resistance was the key to keeping the Pfhor
 out of Taer.  If the Hegemony saw the defense of Taer as simply an
 extension of the greater humanoid defense, then they would have no
 reason to single out the Taer system.  An influx of Pfhor ships into
 the Taer system similar to what they'd recently done in Tarndare
 would be a disaster the least effect of which would be to guarantee
 that Drull spent the next several thousand years as a Novice.

 The conversations on Reorsa, however, weren't of much help.  The key
 argument seemed to involve how to defend a fixed position from a
 much larger, more technologically advanced adversary.  Aldur, in
 particular, kept invoking phrases that had no meaning for Drull --
 "Crusades" and "Saladin" and "Vietnam" -- and it was taking too long
 to pull the cultural context for these phrases from the Admiral's
 mind.  Finally, Aldur said something that seemed to be a key point. 
 Drull listened in closely.

 "Speed isn't the problem," Aldur was saying.  "We can get our ships
 to the site of a Pfhor attack in a few minutes, thanks to transwarp
 and slipstream.  Keeping the ships safe between attacks also isn't
 the problem; if nothing else, we can hide Crystal Palace in an
 interstellar dustcloud in Grid 003 and use her as a staging point,"
 he said.  "But battles are won and lost on reconnaissance and
 communications," Aldur said, leaning forward over whatever it is he
 was standing next to, making his point with an extended index finger
 pressed against whatever it was he was leaning over.  "We need to
 know where the Pfhor are, and get that information to allied forces
 that can do something about it.  And people, our efforts there are
 woefully inadequate!  Even if this were Federation space, with a
 network of subspace beacons, relays, and sensor grids, I don't think
 it would be enough," he concluded.  "Our communications are just too
 slow."

 The argument then moved on to how the allies could improve their
 reconnaissance and communications.  That wasn't as interesting to
 Drull as the burning desire left unspoken in Aldur's mind.  Aldur
 apparently HAD a solution to the problem but wouldn't mention it out
 loud -- seemed amused that he'd even thought of it, in fact.  But if
 it was a solution, why wouldn't the man use it?  Drull delved into
 the Admiral's thoughts to learn what an "ansible" was.

\_________________________________________________________________________
\ End Simulation Teaser                                                   |
 ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ

 Crew Roster:
    Commanding Officer:        FCapt. 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)
    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:     Lt. (JG) Jason Vogel      (Thompson)
    Civilian:                  Alados ha-Soron           (McC)

 On Extended Leave of Absence:
    Assistant Tactical:        Lt. Kyle Marcy            (Marcy)
    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/