~\\_
\\\\_
`\\\\\ -----------------------------------------
|\\\\\ 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 240302.24
`
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/ Simulation Teaser |
/ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ
||...and sometimes, the threads... knot.||
=.\= April 27, 2486 =.\=
Four Starfleet Ournal class starbases had been towed in pieces to
the Exodus gate over the prior nine years and then reassembled on
site. The expense and trouble to do so had been horrendous, but now
those facilities paid for that effort many times over. All four
were rimmed by light too bright to see as their skinfield phasers
slowed the approach of an entire squadron of Borg cubes.
Hundreds of ships had escaped through the Traxati hypergate to the
Gamma Quadrant of the Milky Way. The location was only temporary --
a waypoint. Once the Exodus gate was destroyed, the Gamma
hypergate would be readdressed... to Gateway in the M64 Galaxy. The
Alliance wasn't happy about becoming a home for these refugees, less
happy still about the loss of the entire Milky Way to the Borg. But
the Thousand Ships had been granted permission to make the crossing,
and planets were being set aside for them. The new Federation would
be founded.
But more than a hundred ships still remained waiting their turn to
transit the Exodus gate when a single Borg cube evaded fire from
what had once been Starbase 247 and broke through the perimeter.
Captain Walker Kile sat at his command chair aboard U.S.S.
Enterprise, NCC-1701-H, directing the exodus at a shout over the
Starfleet emergency frequency. "All ships! We're reading a Borg
cube incoming at 43 mark 25, speed sidestep 7. Lexington,
Saratoga, hold the lin-- it's opening fire! Belay previous order!
Lexington, get the Cirrus and the Dancer through, we're blowing the
gate in 10 minutes!"
"Captain!" Ensign Relorgah called from the Helm. "Coronado is clear
and no longer in our sensor range, sir!"
Kile nodded. "Good! Get the Havens moving!" he ordered. Relorgah
nodded and transmitted the proper orders.
Nearly at once, nine Khellian class Rihannsu Warbirds dropped their
cloaking fields, revealing the three Havens and their multitude of
support ships. The Havens -- enormous asteroid-starships initially
intended as platforms for radical scientific research into
Interspatial Physics -- were soon pressed into service as lifeboats.
One had been built in orbit of Camelyn, one in orbit of Earth, one
in orbit of Vulcan, all built from the largest asteroid that each
system could provide. The Camelynian Haven was generally called
Asgard -- the Camelynians claimed that the translation from the
original Norse to English was appropriate. The Vulcan Haven was Kal
Rekk, named after the Vulcan holiday of atonement; the Vulcans had
claimed for decades that an interspatial breakthrough would be
impossible, just as they had once claimed for decades that time
travel was impossible. The Human Haven was Xanadu, after an ancient
Earth poem whose descriptions of the place turned out to be all too
appropriate.
Perhaps the Vulcan name was most appropriate, however, for it was
the interspatial breakthrough that had brought the Borg ravening
down on them all. The cube smashed through the outer perimeter,
heading directly for the Havens. The Borg knew what had been
accomplished.
Kal Rekk reached the gate first, escorted by half the Khellians and
another large group of ten ships. The Haven flashed through the
gate and vanished, with Xanadu approaching the gate and not far
behind. Amazing to see objects as big as the asteroid-starships
were move, but the Beckmann drives were the least impressive
breakthrough that interspatial physics had granted.
The Camelynians, however, turned to engage the oncoming cube.
"Damn!" Kile said, slamming his fist down on the arm of his chair.
"Camelynians never change! Ensign, tell them to get their butts
moving! We're here to run, not to fight!" he said.
"I'm trying, Captain, but they're saying something about holding the
Borg off unt--"
Ensign Relorgah was interrupted as the cube flashed by the Havens,
all but ignoring the outpouring of fire being directed into it.
Instead, a hellishly bright red-white beam lanced out, striking the
hypergate! The flickering of red-white lightning surrounding the
gate half-blinded Captain Kile, leaving an afterimage of a circular
explosion on the inside of his eyelids as he blinked involuntarily
at the glare.
"They're trying to destroy the gate," Kile breathed, opening his
eyes and leaning forward. "We've got to stop them! Open fire, all
weapons!"
Kile wasn't alone in giving this order. The cavalry was still
there, and the skinfield phasers of more than a dozen warships,
including Enterprise, tore into the cube. The Borg continued to
ignore the attackers, doing whatever it was they were trying to do
to the Exodus hypergate. Kile knew that the gate itself, being
neutronium, was impervious to even Borg weaponry, but who knew what
the Borg might know about Traxati technology...
A moment later, the cube imploded, spraying debris over a wide area
and killing more ships in its death than it had tried to destroy in
life. Four colony ships were caught in the blast and were destroyed.
Behind them all, the six remaining Borg cubes destroyed one of the
Ournal starbases and punched through the hole in the lines.
"Cube destroyed, Captain!" Ensign Relorgah reported with a
victorious grin. She started to say something else, but was
interrupted.
"Lexington to Enterprise..." a voice said. "We've lost contact with
Kal Rekk and the subspace beacon! Not getting any return!"
Kile frowned. "Confirm the spin rate of the gate," he ordered, "and
fire a class XI probe through to check the gate's operation." These
tasks took only moments, and while they were accomplished, the next
group of the Thousand Ships gathered before the gate, awaiting
Enteprise's clearance to pass through.
"Spin rate still confirmed at 0.9726C, Captain," Ensign Relorgah
said. "That's the Gamma Quadrant gate address, all right."
Meanwhile, from the Sciences station, Lieutenant r'Lak reported in
as well. "Gate is operational, Captain. We're receiving probe
telemetry now," he said, then looked over, smiling in relief. "I
can't see the first group of ships or Kal Rekk, but Ronjan is still
there, big as life," he said. Ronjan was the impromptu name of the
red giant star that the Gamma Quadrant gate orbited; Kile had no
idea who had named it.
Kile nodded. "OK, so maybe the subspace relay was destroyed," he
said. "The Borg are still coming, and we can sort this mess out on
the other side. Get the last waves of ships moving!" he ordered.
Relorgah quickly complied, and Xanadu and the next group of ships
passed through the gate.
----------------
Within another seven or eight minutes, it was over. Asgard...
destroyed by the Borg along with 17 other Camelynian ships. In all,
87 ships and the asteroid-starship-Haven Xanadu transited the Exodus
gate. A moment later, an explosion of plasma and debris coughed
from the gate as the charges pre-set on the Exodus gate destroyed
the drives that allowed the hypergate's address to be changed.
"Begin respin," Captain Kile ordered. "Let's reset the address of
this gate to Gateway in M64," he said. Ensign Relorgah nodded and
got to work. A few seconds later, the Borg's access to the Gamma
Quadrant through the Exodus gate was cut off as the Gamma gate's
"address" changed... its own gravimetric drives respinning the Gamma
gate to a new destination. A collective sigh of relief went through
those aboard the nearby ships.
However, Lieutenant r'Lak at Sciences wasn't as happy. "Captain,
this is damned odd..." he said.
"What is it, Lieutenant?" Kile asked, looking over.
"Captain, long-range sensors aren't picking up any of the other
ships. Ranjan is here, the gate is here, but other than the other
ships that came through in our group, we appear to be alone," he
said, frowning into his sensor viewer.
Captain Kile stood up and crossed to the Sciences station. "That
qualifies as odd, all right," he said.
r'Lak looked up and nodded, his tentacles flowing back behind his
head. "That's not all, Captain," he said. "Ranjan is here, of
course, but her spectrograph is slightly altered, and she and the
gate are both about 800 trillion kilometers out of position," he
said.
Kile blinked. "What? What do you mean?" he asked.
"I can't explain it, Captain," r'Lak said. "Give me some time to
investigate further." He frowned. "I hate to speculate without
good data."
The Captain seemed inclined to press, but instead nodded. "Keep me
advised," he ordered.
\_______________________________________________________________________
\ 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)
Commanding, 1DIV, SFMC: Brig. Jeremy Ironside (Fraser)
U.S.S. Coronado Crew Roster:
Commanding Officer: Capt. William Daren (Daren)
Executive Officer: Cmdr. Darek Smith (Aggie)
Chief of Operations: Cmdr. Olme Tlaloco (rev)
Chief Flight Operations: Lt. (JG) Maiko D'Rall (Farrell)
Chief Tactical Officer: LCdr. Kyle Marcy (Marcy)
Assistant Tactical: Ens. Edward Miller (Thompson)
Raptors Squadron Leader: Lt. Colonel Thomas Wayne (Masters)
Battalion Commander: Maj. Jacob Prescot (Shadow-FjP)
Flight Leader: LMaj. Thirishar ch'Thane (Alffred)
Chief Engineer: Cmdr. Zunite Oswald (Sonya)
Assistant Engineer: LCdr. Jack C. Farley (CCC)
Chief Science Officer: LCdr. Isamu Dyson (Isamu)
Chief Medical Officer: Cmdr. Alec Reed (McC)
Assistant Medical: Lt. Lauren Dyson (Natty)
Bartender: PO/1 Bridget Bordeux (Dolin)
On Extended Leave of Absence:
Flight Leader: 1Lt. Natalia Petrovna (Phishie)
Assistant Engineer: Lt. Aramis Skylooker (LewisSharp)
Positions Available:
None!
------
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/