~\\_
\\\\_
`\\\\\ -----------------------------------------
|\\\\\ 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 Teaser
_///~ Stardate 240212.02
`
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/ Simulation Teaser |
/ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ
<<The story in the first part of this teaser begins with...
http://www.jestertrek.com/coro2400/simtrans/reports/coro417c-t.html
and
http://www.jestertrek.com/coro2400/simtrans/reports/coro505a-t.html
and
http://www.jestertrek.com/coro2400/simtrans/reports/coro513a-t.html
...and will be continued in future teasers. Foreshadowing: a valid
literary technique. ;) Enjoy.>>
=/.= June 4, 2431 -- Reunion Square, Churchill Downs, Reorsa =/.=
The crowd had increased in size, but decreased in volume. Hardly
anyone dared to breathe. Joe Fisher's voice had grown quieter and
quieter as he described the Stand until it was barely above a
whisper. Even the normally rambunctious grandchildren were silent
and wide-eyed.
"The Pfhor crushed Starfleet's very soul in M64 in less than three
minutes that day," he said, voice solemn and slow, looking down at
his hands, not able to meet the gaze of those around him. "Gryphon.
Thonus. Resolute. Two vectors from Fearless..." Fisher's voice
hitched. "Odyssey. Her crew hadn't even finished repairing her,
and she was killed that day. The Stand held for three minutes, but
those three minutes... Thousands dead. Thousands! Hundreds more
maimed. Oh Gods, those three minutes were expensive..." The old
man's voice broke, and when he rose his head, those assembled could
see the tears for the lost. For a moment, Fisher couldn't speak,
but those around him could see the carnage.
"Where were you, grandpa?" Annie asked, wide-eyed. She'd never seen
such emotion from her grandfather before.
Fisher roughly wiped his face with the back of one hand and smiled
weakly at his granddaughter. "I was in command of Reaver, one of
our escorts, honey. We were on the Vanguard line on the opposite
side of the system. Vanguard was the heaviest Starfleet ship that
survived that day, but we were on the wrong side!"
Fisher hunkered down to the dirt and traced a diagram with his
finger. A circle, bisected by a line, a depression in the center.
"Gryphon's battle group was here... on the south end of the system.
When her battle group was... crushed, the Thunderchild group moved
up. They were behind them. The rest of us... here." Fisher's
finger stabbed down on the opposite side of the circle and he looked
up. His face was stricken.
"But grandpa, couldn't you...?" Baker asked, drawing a line through
the circle. Fisher shook his head.
"That's a good idea, Baker, but no... the radiation--" Fisher
stopped and looked at Baker's face, reminding himself that the boy
was only nine years old. "No, honey, we couldn't... it would have
killed us to go through the circle." Fisher smiled grimly. "A lot
of Pfhor ships died just that way, in fact... couldn't slow down or
turn in time and rumbled right into the circle and died there."
Baker nodded, uncertain, but Fisher looked down at the diagram
again, lost in the past.
Tracing a long course around the circle, Fisher continued, voice
grim. "No, we had to go around, or go to Xanadu on our path then
follow the other path across, which took just as long..." he said.
"Seven or eight minutes at full impulse, and we had to spend the
first part of those seven or eight minutes listening to the
chaos... the screaming as the Pfhor rode right over Starfleet's
heart..."
=/.= November 26, 2402 -- Longshot System =/.=
Starfleet gave as good as they received, but in a one-for-one
battle, the Pfhor were victorious. Their weapons were no longer
clumsy, but precise as anything Starfleet could field. False matter
torpedoes fired from the Starfleet ships were cut from the sky
before they could find their targets. By the time the obvious
countermeasure was devised, it was too late. Most of the Starfleet
ships simply did not have the maneuverability to "dive bomb" the
Pfhor ships.
The Pfhor took advantage of that fact. Of Gryphon's battle group,
only a single capital ship survived the assault: Chappy Morgan's
Swiftsure. Within three minutes, the remainder had been cut to
pieces. A few hundreds survived, but thousands did not.
At no time did the Pfhor ships transmit a signal. They fought as
they always had: in silence.
With the Gryphon battle group crushed, the bulk of the Pfhor fleet
swung around, slow... ponderous... some ships stumbled right into
the radiation field. But there were dozens of destroyers, ten
cruisers. Enough of them survived the turn, swung left, and right,
and up, and down... arcing away from the radiation field and into
the arms of the Apori.
Dozens of Apori rift-gates opened and the destroyer-escorts flashed
out... battle was joined.
But the Pfhor battleship, having crushed the bulk of the Starfleet
group, maintained its course and entered the radiation-free path to
Xanadu, a small collection of escorts around it. Banshees and
Loktai Scouts dropped out of nesting along the ship's path, but they
were as flies to an elephant: not even worth swatting.
The battleship and her escorts ignored them and dove down the path
to Xanadu.
=/.= Earlier that day -- Enigma System =/.=
Rear Admiral Tebrun Lora Kor's hologram activated. A picture of the
M64 galaxy spiraled into existence above the snows of Enigma. At
its center, a representation of red smoke... smoke the Traxati
feared for some reason, and wanted destroyed.
The hologram zoomed in, soon showing a picture of the Longshot
system. On one side of the system, a holographic representation of
the Defender forces. On the other, one of Lora Kor's models for a
Pfhor assault. Behind the Pfhor, the red smoke.
The picture zoomed in further. Three times the battle was shown,
and three times, the battle was lost. The methods changed, but not
the outcome. Then the battle was shown a forth time.
Months before, the Traxati had given Coronado's crew a signal
beacon, and a deal had been struck: find a way to destroy the red
smoke, and the Traxati could be called... asked for help.
In the forth battle, that signal beacon emerged from an Apori rift-
gate, followed by Kelaka, followed by hundreds of Traxati weapon-
probes, firing their neutronium needles...
...clearing the path to the red smoke which was shown being
obstructed by the Pfhor.
=/.= November 26, 2402 -- Longshot System =/.=
Rear Admiral Tebrun Lora Kor reentered the Longshot system 190
seconds after the Pfhor fleet was revealed, 180 seconds after the
destruction of Gryphon, 12 seconds after the Pfhor battleship
entered the radiation-free corridor to Xanadu. An Apori rift-gate
opened just "north" of U.S.S. Thunderchild, and Kelaka emerged...
followed by the Apori escort destroyer... followed by the Traxati
signal beacon that Savant had once called Muse.
Kelaka entered the system transmitting only a single visual image: a
dark rider riding a dark horse... flying a banner that was entirely
black. Tolkien might have said that only the eyes of the dead could
see what was on that banner.
Behind these three ships came the Traxati weapon-probes, already
firing their neutronium needles.
\_______________________________________________________________________
\ 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)
Acting Chief Medical: Lt. Lauren Dyson (Natty)
Bartender: PO/1 Bridget Bordeux (Dolin)
Civilian Liaison: S'buuth (rev)
On Extended Leave of Absence:
None!
Positions Available:
Flight Leader: (---)
Assistant Medical: (---)
------
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/