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|\\\\\ 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 240304.14
`
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/ Simulation Teaser |
/ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ
It was a beautiful spring day, a breeze blowing in off the Western
Sea, a few wispy grey clouds flitting across a golden sky. The
reconstruction of Fisher's Landing was proceeding apace, and housing
was again finally catching up with the city's population. Lt.
Commander Jim Owens waited on the tarmac at Fisher's Landing
Spaceport, watching the clouds pass overhead and reflecting that
nineteen people knew the secret of Xanadu's Fourth Chamber. They
would soon be twenty. Finally, the Reorsan packet Mayenne dropped
low over the island, passing through the cloud layer. A few minutes
later, Mayenne dropped gently to the tarmac.
Nineteen people knew Xanadu's terrible secret, but a young woman
aboard Mayenne would soon make their number twenty. Lt. Commander
Jim Owens felt sorry for her.
There were thirty-five people aboard the packet from the Artemis
system, and Owens recognized her right away. Slim, slight, and yet
with an almost impatient way of walking, Patricia Luisa Lopez looked
very much like her Daystrom Institute biography picture. Lopez was
perhaps 1.5 meters in height, 47 kilos, dark hair, dark eyes -- but
her small body harbored one of the Federation's finest minds. The
fact that her name was on the manifest of Northwest Territory, the
first Federation colony ship to pass through the Traxati hypergate
into M64 was no surprise... and yet Owens felt a surge of excitement
seeing her. He moved forward to meet her.
"Patricia Lopez?" he said, "I'm Lieutenant Commander Jim Owens. I
was sent to meet you." Lopez had a small bag, which Owens gestured
toward, and Lopez passed it over, looking around in a somewhat
distracted way.
For her part, Patricia Luisa Lopez was confused, but hid it from
Owens. The opportunity to emigrate to the M64 galaxy was an exciting
opportunity for her -- the recruiting sheet had been explicit in
promising that any sort of scientific research would be funded,
particularly highly theoretical research. Lopez's research was not
considered practical, even by Daystrom Institute standards. To be
offered funding, space, and materials to pursue it had been
incredibly attractive, and she had had no problem persuading her
husband to make the trip with her. However, to be suddenly met by
two tall, rangy Starfleet Security officers the moment her foot had
touched the tarmac at Artemis had been intimidating to say the
least.
The Security officers had explained that her presence was needed in
"another system," and that she would be reunited with her husband
in "a couple of weeks." They had at least made it clear that
someone was incredibly anxious to talk to her, and followed this up
with documentation -- signed by someone named Rear Admiral Dev
Wallace -- guaranteeing that any research she wished to conduct in
M64 would be fully funded to whatever extent she desired. Carte
blanche. It was every scientist's dream.
Yet Lopez was a theoretical physicist; her latest paper was titled
Non-gravity Bent Geodesics of n-Spatial Reference Frames: An
Approach to Superspace Visualization and Probability Clustering.
Her thesis advisor at Stanford had assured her that "only Gods and
beings of pure energy" would ever have call for her research or her
work. So why were they so anxious to see *her*, so anxious that
they would separate her from her husband and pack her off to Reor, a
trip of more than twenty light-years? The fact that someone of her
background was needed was... a little scary.
Owens was saying something about how happy he was to see her, and
that they had a ship waiting, but Lopez was still distracted by her
thoughts. "Commander Owens," she asked. "Can I ask you a
question?" Owens nodded. "How did you know that I was coming? You
only got the manifest for Northwest Territory five minutes after we
emerged from the gate. Why me?"
Owens smiled, but the smile was uncomfortable. "Mrs. Lopez, I
assure you that all of your questions will be answered, but..."
Owens coughed. "For now, let me just say that we were... able to
make that determination." As he talked Owens hurried her across the
tarmac toward another ship, and Lopez realized finally that Reor
wasn't her intended destination after all. She was going back into
space? The ship Owens led her toward was small, needle-nosed, and
her hull shone in a burnished silver-blue color not at all like the
dull grey of typical Federation ships. She was aboard before she
realized that Owens didn't answer her second question at all.
"A beauty, isn't she?" Owens asked, voice proud. "Arrow, our first
quantum slipstream packet. You won't believe how fast she is. We
wanted to get you aboard her and on your way practically the moment
you hit Artemis but Admiral Wallace..." Owens shook his head and
chuckled. "He didn't want to make a scene there. Arrow's a
little... conspicuous. I apologize for having to subject you to
another trip through space, but it won't be a long one, I assure
you."
"Where are we going?" Lopez asked. Owens continued to hurry her
aboard, and within another minute, she was in one of Arrow's plush
seats and the packet launched herself into the golden sky with quite
perceptible gravitational force. Patricia Luisa Lopez's first visit
to Reor'sa had lasted a grand total of eight minutes. Other than
Owens, she was Arrow's only passenger.
Only after the packet was on its way did Owens tell her Arrow's
destination. Xanadu.
As Owens hurriedly began to describe the asteroid-starship, a voice
sounded over the cabin's speakers, presumably the ship's pilot.
"Mrs. Lopez, Commander Owens, we are now en route to Xanadu. Our
approximate flight time this afternoon will be 48 minutes. We don't
anticipate any probl--" Suddenly, the calm, almost bored voice was
replaced by a quieter voice, telling the pilot something. When the
pilot spoke again, his voice was a bit distant; he obviously didn't
realize that his comm system was still open to the cabin. "Well,
where did it go? Damn thing's bouncing around like a cricket
lately... oh. Well, that's not too bad, then--" Apparently
suddenly realizing that his microphone was still open, the pilot
cleared his throat. "Ah... sorry about that," he said, "I've just
been informed that Xanadu has completed another... ahem...
translation, but she hasn't moved far. Flight time still about 48
minutes, so please sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight."
By this time, Lopez was almost not even paying attention to the
pilot's voice. Hearing about the asteroid-starship Xanadu and its
capabilities, Lopez first felt fear... then excitement. Coming to
M64 had been the right thing to do.
\_______________________________________________________________________
\ 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: Cmdr. Kariasa Ma'Aru (Kari)
S-3, Group Logistics: Cmdr. Savant (Savant)
Commanding, M64 Ground: Brig. Jeremy Ironside (Fraser)
U.S.S. Coronado Crew Roster:
Commanding Officer: Capt. William Daren (Daren)
Chief of Operations: Cmdr. Olme Tlaloco (rev)
Chief Flight Operations: Lt. (JG) Maiko D'Rall (Farrell)
Command Yeoman: Cwm. Miranda Forester (Fox)
Chief Tactical Officer: LCdr. Kyle Marcy (Marcy)
Raptors Squadron Leader: LCol. Thomas Wayne (Masters)
Battalion Commander: Maj. Jacob Prescot (Shadow-FjP)
Flight Leader: LMaj. Thirishar ch'Thane (Alffred)
Flight Leader: 1Lt. Natalia Petrovna (Phishie)
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)
On Extended Leave of Absence:
Bartender: PO/1 Bridget Bordeux (Dolin)
Positions Available:
Executive Officer: (---)
Assistant Tactical (---)
Assistant Engineer (---)
------
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/