~\\_               
          \\\\_             
          `\\\\\            -----------------------------------------
           |\\\\\           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 240211.11                       
 `                          
 _______________________________________________________________________ 
/ Simulation Teaser                                                     |
/ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ 

 "So... my Exec tells me that you tell quite a little fish story,
 Captain," Rear Admiral Todd Marshall said, reading a PADD tipped in
 front of him.  Marshall's hologram appeared to sit across from
 Captain William Daren in his Ready Room aboard Coronado... but he
 was of course aboard his own ship.  The holographic generators
 produced a more or less realistic facsimile.  The Admiral's voice
 was firm, but not unsympathetic. "Tebrun know about this?"

 "Quite so, Admiral," Captain William Daren said from his Ready Room
 aboard Coronado.  Presumably, Marshall was seeing a holographic
 representation of Daren in his own Ready Room.  "And yes, Rear
 Admiral Lora Kor has been informed, by my science officer directly.
 He concurs with the plan of action I've defined."  With a nod of his
 head, Daren indicated the PADD visible in front of Marshall.

 Marshall grunted and set the PADD aside.  "OK, so take me through
 this interesting... theory of yours," he said.

 Daren leaned back and steepled his fingers.  "Well, it's only
 partially theory, Admiral.  Some of what we know, we know from...
 other sources."

 Marshall didn't even justify this with a response.  "Understood," he
 said, voice suddenly dry.  "Go on."

 Daren nodded.  "OK... the short and tall of it is that use of the
 Jjaro Catapult allows us to create a gateway... an Apori rift, but
 on a massive scale, and with a much longer range," he said.  "From
 what we can tell, the Catapult doesn't have an inherent range
 limitation at all... the only limitation is the distance and
 destination coordinates that we can describe to it.  We couldn't
 specify an exact location one hundred million light-years away
 because we don't have sensors that can provide accurate navigational
 information at that range."

 Marshall nodded.  "So, if we know the layout of a building, you can
 put me on the couch... but if we can only see a far-away building
 but not the internal layout..."

 "We can put you in the building, but there's no telling exactly
 where you'd appear in it, yes, Admiral," Daren said.

 The Rear Admiral nodded and leaned back himself.  "OK, that's easy
 enough.  Go on."

 "Well, the immediate implications are obvious," Daren said.  "Since
 we know to within a few million kilometers where the Sol system is
 at this moment, we can use the Catapult to get us home.  The problem
 is that the Catapult is powered by a slow-build charge from the
 singularities... and since the construction of the Catapult, the
 singularities have only provided enough power to operate the
 Catapult... once.  And it took the singularities at least a thousand
 years to build up that level of charge."

 "Can we power the Catapult another way?" Marshall asked.

 "That's possible, Admiral," Daren said, "but we'd have to route the
 output of a convenient star into it for a couple of decades at
 least.   The Catapult is not exactly energy efficient."  Marshall
 snorted, and Daren took that as good reason to continue.

 "As I said, the Catapult can be used at least once... but we've
 discovered that using the Catapult has one major side effect.  Using
 it creates a ripple in the singularities... sort of a feedback
 effect.  A backlash, if you will, from using the system. 
 Ironically, the closer the Catapult target is, the more severe the
 ripple.  A far away target -- a few million light-years away, say --
 hardly produces a ripple at al--"

 But Marshall interrupted before Daren could continue.  "Oh great!"
 Marshall said, standing up and beginning to pace.  "You're saying if
 we use this thing that we're going to have another of those... those
 whatever that was last week?"  The Rear Admiral turned, apparently
 facing Daren and appeared to lean over the Captain's desk.  The
 illusion was quite good.

 If the Captain was startled by the outburst, he didn't show it. 
 "Actually... no, Admiral," Daren said.

 "How do you mean?  You just said..."

 "The ripple occurs in the past, Admiral," Daren said, voice mild. 
 "It occurs, in fact, just *before* you use the Catapult."  The
 Captain actually smirked.  "One of my engineers has been grousing
 that with the Catapult, effect appears to proceed cause."

 "So..." Marshall said.  "You're saying..."

 "...that we've already used the Catapult, Admiral, correct.  Or more
 properly, that we're about to.  We've already paid the price, and
 given that the price was quite severe, apparently we're going to use
 the Catapult to go somewhere quite close."

 Marshall sat down again, this time more slowly.  "We're not going
 home then," he said.

 "Apparently not, Admiral," Daren said, and his voice was now a
 little sad.  "But honestly, even if we could... would you really
 want to?  There are still thousands of people enslaved on Reor, on
 Artemis, in Tarndare... hundreds of millions more within a few
 hundred light-years.   Plus the S'pht, of course.  I for one
 couldn't leave all of those innocents behind... not and live with
 myself."  The normally quiet Captain was leaning forward, earnest.

 "Your point is well-taken, Captain," Marshall said, and relaxed,
 finally.  "All right," he said, picking the PADD back up.  "So, your
 recommendation is that we use the Catapult and the coordinates
 provided by Rear Admiral Lora Kor to send a group to Lh'owon." 
 Daren nodded.   "How does the group we send get back?" Marshall
 asked.

 "Ah, good point.  I forgot to mention that," Daren said.  "The
 Catapult creates a rift, as I said, and the rift is two-way.  We can
 use the same rift we use to get there to get back... but only within
 about 16 hours.   After that, the rift closes."

 "So we'd need to defend our end of the rift," Marshall said.  Daren
 nodded.  Marshall nodded back and made a notation in the PADD. 
 "Very well, Captain.  I'll pass your recommendation up to the old
 man..."  Then Marshall looked up, and half-smiled as he added,
 "...with my endorsement."

 "Thank you, Admiral.  Coronado out."

\_______________________________________________________________________ 
\ 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:   Ens. Maiko D'Rall         (Farrell)
    Chief Science Officer:     LCdr. Isamu Dyson         (Isamu)
    Company Commander:         Maj. Jacob Prescot        (Shadow-FjP)
    Chief Engineer:            Cmdr. Zunite Oswald       (Sonya)
    Assistant Engineer:        LCdr. Jack C. Farley      (CCC)
    Assistant Engineer:        Lt. Aramis Skylooker      (LewisSharp)
    Chief Medical Officer:     Lt. Jason Vogel           (Thompson)
    Assistant Medical:         Lt. Lauren Dyson          (Natty)
    Bartender:                 PO/1 Bridget Bourdeux     (Dolin)
    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/