Dumbass

I think the mini-skirts from TOS should be mandatory for all the female crewmembers. ::):

I was thinking about The Andy Dick Show on MTV, but don't you all sleep a little better knowing the most advanced EMH has a substance abuse problem?

I did get the E-mail version - and even Data had problems reading Romulan, so what do you expect? :)

I was 21 when I made that rank, I'm 33 now. And Corporal is not really that high up, just above Private First Class and just below Sergeant.

(recorded aboard the Tyderium) We received a new mission from Starfleet Command to begin reconaisance of an old Romulan base construction project on Herio V. Our task is to determine if the "abandoned" structure is suitable for Starfleet to turn into a base of our own. I am currently on an away mission with LtJG Shamour and Ensign Kroells to conduct on-site reconaisance. After some exploring Kroells and I have found the main nerve center of the base. Because I can read Romulan I was able to find the controls to the main reactor. It had not been used in some time so understandably it was out of power. Nevertheless I flipped the switch. All that happened was an emergency light came on and just as quickly went out, but at least we now know it could function if given enough start-up power. The next step will be to have one of the engineers hook up a portable generator from the Reaent, or perhaps even the Tyderium itself could be used as a power source. Once we can "jump-start" the reactor and get it online we can use it to power the other base systems and see to what extent we would have to replace Romulan technology with Starfleet's to make it suitable for our use. However, activating the base's systems will surely draw the Romulans' attention. This mission is more dangerous than Captain FredM will admit to. He claims the Romulans no longer have a strategic interest in this planet. For the record I disagree. Herro V lies along a major trade route, which would give any major power an advantage in expanding it's influence. We learned how dangerous even Romulan trading partners can be when the Mji almost blasted us out of the sky with plasma torpedos of Romulan design. Even though we are near Federation space the Romulans were here first. This means they know the area better, another reason to be cautious. Despite FredM's assurances I have yet to hear a plausible explanation as to why the Federation is interested in this area but the Romulans are not. Their reasons would be the same as ours. Ensign Van Roy Operations Chief USS Reaent.

I was a Corporal in the United States Army, stationed in South Korea, and I even got to patrol the DMZ. Everything in the movie about the DMZ is WORD REMOVED

Andy Dick had his own show? That's disgusting!! :)

I like that big-ass ship Darth Vader had the best. :)

It could be worse. We could have been stuck with the Star Trek: The Motion Picture uniforms. :)

I don't think it would be a smart idea to base a new sim around the Promethius-type ship. We've seen them in only part of one episode, so there are a lot of assumptions we would have to make that are somewhat less than canon. Ambassador class has only one featured episode too, but we know it operates similar to a Galaxy class (although not as advanced) and because that episode featured an actual crew, instead of just an EMH, we know something about how the ship would be operated. Arguably we know even less about the Vorcha class than the Promethius, but the Qob-Lakota came to STSF as an existing sim, not one starting from scratch. And do we really need to be subjected to an Andy Dick character every week? Didn't we learn our lesson from News Radio? :)

You forgot to include a category for the red uniforms in ST II-VI. :)

Not really a line, but it was in the episode Tapestry where Picard was reliving his life as a recent Academy graduate. He had sex the night before and someone was stroking his ear as he woke up. It wasn't his g/f, it was... Q! :)

I like the TNG movie ones. They just look a little warmer and sturdier. It IS the official uniform. The only reason Voyager used their own is because their tailor was in the Delta Quadrant too.

Since I was not needed for the moment in Engineering I decided to check out the engineering terminal on the MeH. LtCdr Narn asked why I wasn't supervising repairs to the ship and I explained that all the battle damage had been repaired. Strange, I would have thought the OPS manager would have known that. Just then the QoB-Lakota was scanned by a force still unknown as of this writing. The scanning beam affected some Engineering systems so I decided to return to the department to assess the situation. In retrospect the logical thing would have been to remain on the MeH and analyze from there, but I am still learning how the MeH engineering station operates. I will need to speak to the RawI' about putting in some more MeH time to learn the station better. At any rate, once I returned to Engineering I was asked to analyze the scanning beam. In the process of doing so it was discovered that Engineering had been cut off from ship communications. The MeH decided to send CSEC Sogh'a' Ramjep to investigate. After informing her of the problem she decided to have me scanned anyway. I implied that if she continued to scan me I would be tempted to use her tricorder in a place where it doesn't naturally go. She interpreted this as a mating ritual and left. After analyzing the scanning beam used on us I have been able to determine it was not the cause of our internal communications malfunction. Most likely this was caused by unavoidable neglect due to our lost-in-space situation. Many of the sensitive components can not be safely replicated and only another Klingon ship or base could provide us with the latest software updates. Our internal comm system may present problems in the future and we will just have to bIIaj (deal with it). Ensign Van Roy Chief Engineer

Do we get to ride on a special school bus or something?

(scheduled for up-link from Tyderium to Reaent) I thought the OPS position would keep me on ship for a while. Guess I was wrong, because here I am patrolling what I'm told is an abandoned Romulan base construction project near a major trade route. I already have a bad feeling about this mission. It brings up some old ghosts from my past. So far our scans show no life signs or any electronic activity on the "base", if you can call it that, but I suspect the away team and possibly the Reaent are being observed under cloak. Even though the Romulan Empire had been shrinking when construction began it isn't like the Romulans to just abandon anything. I do admit some apprehension. And how could I not? I remember hearing the stories about my mother: Her "recruitment" into the Tal Shiar; Her mission to probe the Federation economic structure for exploitable weaknesses; Her receiving Ferengi DNA into her genetic structure, presumably to aid her mission, without knowing it would be passed on to me. She taught me the Romulan language as a boy, preparing me for the day of "re-unification", but when I discovered her tapping into the Vulcan central bank and erasing debt records, thus crippling those the debt would be paid to, I knew I had to turn her in. She was assassinated by another Tal Shiar agent - still at large - before she could be interrogated. I think my mistrust of the Romulans is justified, although FredM manages not to see the danger. Any government that would do what they did to my family is one I want to keep at arms length. Not a very Vulcan attitude to have, but I'm only half Vulcan. I can think like a Romulan and know what I would do in their place. Recent events involving the Remans not withstanding, Romulans are the most cunning, subversive, and manipulative enemy the Federation has, and I am keeping my phaser fully charged.

Fred, you have WAAAAAAAY too much time on your hands. As for all the "cutting room floor" stuff, what matters in judging a movie is what the audience sees, not what it doesn't.

It would be easy to have some kind of "Bridge Officer Test" or "Command School", just put an Academy graduate in the CO chair (like Lt. Savik in The Wrath of Kahn). Most GMs do this and it seems to work. I admit the other schools might be hard to coordinate. Maybe we couldn't do it as a traditional sim alone and would have to use other evaluation methods - tests, papers, research, etc - but I think the interest is there. Admittance standards would be something to think about, and we might have to have a ship CO recommend or authorize the training, but I think it's doable with a little work. Just apoint a topic coordinator and have them put together a training program. In the business world a 4-year degree and work experience isn't seen as a big enough commitment to continued learning, but advanced degrees, seminars, and professional certifications are. Most employers are happy to pay for this because it increases the employee's worth to them. The real military has similar programs - for enlisted as well as officers. You just don't graduate basic training or college and that's it. If you're promoted based on technical competence you will need the leadership skills to back it up and vice~verse. I'm pretty sure the "real" Starfleet operates the same way and we should be emulating that as an example.

Wesley Crusher was wearing a Starleet dress uniform despite leaving the Academy (and being a Traveler), They served illegal Romulan Ale at a military wedding complete with a Starfleet band contingent. They beamed Picard and Data to the Enterprise while shields were up. They never explained why Worf was in a Starfleet uniform when he is now an Ambassador. Should I go on? The writers promised us we would have a movie that FINALLY featured the Romulans, and they weren't in even a third of the movie. They weren't even an intregal part, the story could have been told without them. Data would NEVER transfered his knowlege to B-4 without knowing more about how he got there, or why. Didn't he learn his lesson from Lore? With B-4's knowledge transplanted from Data, B-4 should have been able to access much more of the ship's systems than he did. Let's see, what else? Picard's Academy pic showed him bald, even though we've seen pics of young Picard with a full head of hair. A whole room full of Romulan Senators just stares and watches when that radiation was spilled, and no security was around whatsoever. And finally... It was too damn long, almost 2 full hours. *** Don't get me wrong, the special effects were the best of any Star Trek movie so far (although I don't know if the GMs will let me get away with that "Phaser the whole sky and torpedo anything that explodes" move in the Academy), but the story telling and the accuracy was just awful.

I thought it sucked. It was better than the odd-numbered ones, but the least good of the even numbered ones.

So does Garnoopy win anything for being the 500th poster? A free set of steak knives?

The ship is docked at Starbase 342, where we are taking on fresh supplies and the starbase crew is repairing the ship. I'm glad for that because we don't have the manpower to do it ourselves. Our engineering officers are new and there is currently no CENG. I would have liked to go on shore leave with the others but I was needed on the bridge. We were also taking on two pieces of fresh meat new officers from the station and needed to receive them. As a result of the position consolidation I have routed all Helm functions to the Ops station. It will take a while to get used to seeing my old station vacant. As I was pondering the best use of the empty station two new Ensigns, Revolone from engineering and Goad from science, reported for duty fresh from the Academy. Revolone received his "Welcome Aboard" speech from the CO. While Goad was receiving the same speech we had a chance to catch up. I met Revolone as a new cadet while on leave. He had expressed an interest in the Reaent's Helm position, not knowing I already had it. Revolone graduated the Academy in record time and I offered to put in a good word with Captain FredM if Helm looked available. Apparently Fred had already made his decision to merge the two positions, but I will try to give Revolone some bridge time if the opportunity presents itself. After Goad and the CO were done I gave the two new Ensigns a quick tour of the ship. First we stopped by Main Engineering where I told Revolone that I would be supervising him and Ensign Cruz from the bridge until a permanent CENG was named. Then we stopped by the main science lab and eventually crew quarters and Ten Forward. I have no ambition to be CENG on a formal basis, but with all the new Ensigns and crew reassignments it feels like I am being used in more of a management role as opposed to a button pusher. It is a welcome change. Ensign Van Roy Operations Chief

The last few days have been busy for the engineering department. However, I'm pleased to report that all systems and equipment I am responsible for are now battle ready. Following the feast in the mess hall a couple nights ago I was allowed to take the warp engines off-line for much needed repairs. The warp core repairs were relatively simple, and only took about an hour, but the nature of the repairs was such that they could not be executed while the core was operating. The external hull breaches were a different story. I requested that Lieutenant Quv slow to one quarter impulse so that we could work safely. The prospect of a full day in biosuits drew some protests from my staff, especially among the Klingons. The biosuits do make one's butt look big, but this is hardly a concern worthy of a vaj (warrior). Nevertheless repairs were completed a few hours ago and I plan to give the department some R&R time tomorrow. We used quite a bit of raw material in completing the repairs to the hull. We now have less tritanium than I am happy with, but we are not yet in danger of running out. However, our supply of duct tape is in seriously short supply. This can be replicated, but the real stuff is better. Ensign Van Roy Chief Engineer

Ensign Van Roy's personal log. Stardate 0212.03 I'm beginning to find my way around the ship a little easier. It turns out I am not the only engineer on board, just the only engineering officer. Apparently it is a rite of passage for new department heads to get their hands dirty before the enlisted ranks make themselves known. I have a staff of a little over 220 engineers of various enlisted ranks under my supervision. To put this in perspective, my 20th century counterparts would be lucky to be in charge of a platoon of 40 enlisted engineers. 220+ is a small battallion by comparison. The extra hands made light work of our repairs. The internal hull breaches have all been repaired, as have the shields and cloaking device. We still need to make some modifications to the warp core and repair the outer hull breeches. The core repairs shouldn't take long when next we drop out of warp, but even with our manpower we need to put in some serious zero gravity bio-suit time. To attempt anything while flying faster than one quarter impulse would be fool-hearty. I just hope we don't run out of tritanium alloy and duct tape. For the time being there is not much more I can do. LtJG Perfect's assistance in engineering was much appreciated. After our repairs were as complete as possible I was invited to her office for an on-duty drink. I'm not used to serving on a ship that is so cavalier about on-duty drinking, but she is my superior Starfleet officer and I must obey... :nod: Ensign Van Roy

Ensign Van Roy's Personal Log Stardate 0212.07 I just returned from taking a personal leave to discover a stack of neatly folded mustard-yellow undershirts placed on my bunk. An envelope addressed to me was on the stack. I opened the letter, which read "Congratulations, Operations Manager - Captain Fred M." I will still be responsible for the Helm position for the time being, but I do get to move to a more comfortable chair. This position will require me to work closely with Engineering. This is a concern of mine, since everyone in that department is relatively new and a Chief Engineer hasn't been named yet. I am not yet sure to what degree I will be asked to supervise the department, or whether I can do so from the bridge. Ensign Van Roy Chief of Operations USS Reaent