~\\_               
          \\\\_             
          `\\\\\            -----------------------------------------
           |\\\\\           Starfleet Command, Eighth Fleet (OOC)    
            \\\\\|__.-~~\   
         _--~         ~~/   Defenders Task Group 85.3, "Whitestone"  
       /~         _-~~~'    Embarked on U.S.S. Coronado, NCC-97901   
      ('-//////-//          Rear Admiral Tebrun Lora Kor, Commanding 
       ////// }}-)          -----------------------------------------
     /////~                 Simulation Report                        
  _///~                     Stardate 240210.07                       
 `                          
 _______________________________________________________________________ 
/ Simulation Teaser                                                     |
/ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ 

 "For, although common Snarks do no manner of harm... Yet, I feel it
 my duty to say, Some are Boojums--," a female voice said through the
 ansible.  The transmission was a bit staticky.

 "Say again, Elite Three.  I didn't quite catch it?"

 "Never mind, Elite One.  Approaching the coordinates now."

 A pair of the ungainly Banshee fighters screamed along one of the
 two singularities that were strung along the central axis of the
 second chamber.  The two small craft slowed as the approached what
 had been designated the "south" wall... the wall with two portals
 leading to what was believed to be Xanadu's third chamber.  A few
 minutes before, one of the portals had opened for a few seconds,
 then closed.  Nothing had been seen passing through, but all four of
 the Elite pilots agreed that the invisible ship that had been
 shadowing them had either left the second chamber... or another like
 it had arrived.  Elites Three and Four had been sent to investigate
 as quickly as possible, in case some trace of the phantom ship
 became evident.

 Soshra, the Andorian pilot of Elite Three, whose callsign was
 alternatively "Ten" or "Borg" (depending on who you asked) was in
 the lead.

 "You're in a whimsical mood today, Borg," Tanner Kile called from
 Elite Four.  Tanner's callsign was "Slap."  He matched Borg move for
 move, staying only five or six meters off her right wing-tip.

 "I don't like fighting ghosts," Borg said, adjusting the sensor
 readings her fighter was getting off the south wall.  This close to
 the wall, the sensor reflections were causing a feedback that
 further clouded the display, making it all but useless. 
 Fortunately, EM radiation-based sensors worked, which meant that
 laser ranging kept her fighter well clear of the barrier.  Slap
 followed Borg as she adjusted course to parallel the south wall. 
 "Elite One, sensors intermittent.  No target, repeat, no target. 
 Telemetry on burst 183."

 "Yes, we have it, Ten.  Continue your sweep along the south wall,"
 Swassanra, the Caitian flight lead of the Elites ordered, then
 paused.  A moment later, she added a second order.  "Elite Three,
 Flag has requested a close recon of the singularity generators. 
 Confirm."

 "Elite Three confirms," Borg said.  "Slap, break formation and
 investigate," the Andorian ordered, continuing her own patrol of the
 south wall portals.  Tanner clicked his microphone twice in
 acknowledgement, then swung his fighter up and away from the other
 Banshee, ghosting along the south wall toward the axis.  The axis
 wasn't far at all, and within 15 seconds, Kile's Banshee had swung
 over one of the singularities and flew between them.

 About two kilometers separated the two singularities.  This close,
 the dense formations generated graviton fields.  Paradoxically
 however, the fields repulsed anything that approached instead of
 attracting it.  Slap had to make almost continuous course
 corrections as first one singularity, then the other, attempted to
 repel his fighter away.  He eventually found an axis of neutrality
 between the two singularities and flew his fighter along it.  Slap
 glanced at his hull temperature and radiation readings -- both were
 high, but not dangerously so -- before spinning his fighter on two
 axes and heading back toward the south wall.

 Rising from the south wall were two crystalline towers.  Each more
 than four kilometers high, both sparkled in the light from the
 singularities, rivaling the ice geode in the first chamber for their
 beauty.  Kile took advantage of the zero gravity on the spin axis to
 slow his fighter to only a few dozen meters per second to examine
 the towers more closely.  His sensors were no less clouded than
 Borg's but the towers appeared to be flawless crystals, revealing
 no imperfections, no moving parts... no technology at all that he
 could see.  Slap then turned his attention to the south wall between
 the singularities.

 There, a spinning vortex of yellow-white energy made the south wall
 impossible to see between the singularities.  The two singularities
 didn't touch -- they were too far from each other -- but the
 convergence of the formations into (and through?) the south wall
 apparently produced the vortex.  As Kile's Banshee approached,
 sensors became more and more erratic.  One sensor reported that the
 south wall underneath the vortex was made of neutronium before it
 failed completely.

 The Banshee slowly approached the vortex; Kile was fascinated by the
 beauty of the spinning vortex of energy.  Borg asked him to repeat
 his last transmission, and only then did Slap realize he'd expressed
 his opinion aloud.  Between the two distractions, he didn't see the
 tendril reach out to catch his fighter until it was too late.

\_______________________________________________________________________ 
\ End Simulation Teaser                                                 |
 ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ 

 Defenders Task Group 85.3, "Whitestone" Staff:
    Commanding, TG 85.3:       RADM Tebrun Lora Kor      (Jester)
    S-1, Group Adjutant:       Cmdr. Sieven Drexler      (Brad)
    S-2, Group Intelligence:   LCdr. Kariasa Ma'Aru      (Kari)
    S-3, Group Logistics:      Cmdr. Savant              (Savant)

 U.S.S. Coronado Crew Roster:
    Commanding Officer:        Capt. William Daren       (Daren)
    Executive Officer:         Cmdr. Darek Smith         (Aggie)
    Marine Commandant:         Col. Jeremy Ironside      (Fraser)
    Raptors Squadron Leader:   Lt. Colonel Thomas Wayne  (Masters)
    Chief Tactical Officer:    LCdr. Kyle Marcy          (Marcy)
    Assistant Tactical:        Ens. Tamarith             (Tamarith)
    Chief Flight Operations:   Cdt. Maiko D'Rall         (Farrell)
    Chief Science Officer:     LCdr. Isamu Dyson         (Isamu)
    Assistant Science:         Ens. Veyla Anari          (Vaath)
    Company Commander:         Maj. Jacob Prescot        (Shadow-FjP)
    Flight Leader:             2Lt. Mikhail Petkovic     (Archyyt)
    Chief Engineer:            Cmdr. Zunite Oswald       (Sonya)
    Assistant Engineer:        LCdr. Jack C. Farley      (CCC)
    Assistant Engineer:        Lt. Aramis Skylooker      (LewisSharp)
    Chief Medical Officer:     Lt. (JG) Jason Vogel      (Thompson)
    Assistant Medical:         Lt. Lauren Dyson          (Natty)
    Civilian Liaison:          S'buuth                   (rev)

 On Extended Leave of Absence:
    None!

 Positions Available:
    Flight Leader:                                       (---)

------
Jester

Rear Admiral Tebrun Lora Kor
Commanding, Defenders Task Group 85.3, "Whitestone"
embarked on U.S.S. Coronado, NCC-97901
http://www.jestertrek.com/coro2400/