Kansas_Jones

This is me, jealous. Please tell me what Jewel Staite is like.

 

Kaylee fan,

Aliana Lucindak

Totally. My Dad and I are already collectively geeking out (and bonding) and preparing to get her autograph.

Okay, so that's FSF, STSF, FKA, (ABC, XYZ :-P) and I know of at least one local meeting chapter from the PA/Philly area (USS Sovereign - I have no idea if they are still active) that has gone to the MD East con in recent years, and whatever other on line or real life groups come to the MD East con. Diverse fan base, indeed.

07.02.08 Mission Update:

TBS: 2 Days and 1 Night

- The Secretary of State and her aides are now on board the ‘Court and are settling in for the escort run to the planet Vulcan. The surviving government officials are all convening on Vulcan, and the Secretary is due to attend.

- As the sim got underway, a reception (with the planning committee spearheaded by Lt. Cmdr “Sin” Condacin) to honor the Secretary was going on in the main observation lounge. Most of the crew was in attendance, sporting marine dress blues or fleet dress whites and making small talk with each other or the political guests. Onward with the mingling!

- Elsewhere, there was ships business to be attended to: Lt. Col. “Paradox” Day sent Major “Hair” Rieve and Lt. Major “Troll” Merrill on a shipboard mission to locate Lt. Cmdr “Will” JoNs and bring her to the marine offices. The XO wanted to have a chat with her 2XO regarding the second officers discharge of an illegal disruptor in the corridors.

EDIT: Okay, the Excalibur 2007 Awards are now posted! These were already awarded in sim, and it has only been about six months or so late to the boards due to a collective command team blonde moment. Indeed!

Good work everyone, and congratulations again. w00t!

Winner: Patterson, because I can so picture that kid going DEE DEE DEE

Runner Up: Joe Wilson (and clearly, this 5th grader has some issues in the smarts area)

Well, in that case I am happy that last year was my first (and apparently last) time at the Experience. I did have a ball at Quarks and the museum walk through and the adventure ride.

06.29.08

USS Agincourt NCC-81762

“Wake Fall”

It had been a long day.

The shift cycle had gone well into the second shift, and Kansas had just finished up with the security prep work for the reception that Operations was planning for the Secretary of State and the accompanying government staff. She had sent Master Chief Keltex his orders, with instructions to pick five of his best officers from the enlisted ranks to guard and maintain the perimeter around the reception. The Master Chief would man his own position within the gathering and be the lead guard in charge of keeping the ‘party’ safe for the duration.

The Caitian security commander and 2XO had handed off the Holmes investigation regarding the incident in the VIP corridor to her commissioned line officers. It wasn’t proper for her to conduct the investigation herself because she had been one of the parties involved in the altercation. She did know that Holmes had regained consciousness long enough in the medical bay to make a few crazed and disparaging rants about what aliens could go do with themselves, and then the docs had sedated him again. Kansas was betting Holmes was either suffering from battle fatigue or survivor shock, and just snapped, but the bottom line was the man was unstable now for whatever reason. She was half hoping they’d leave his sorry rear end on Rigel so the Fleet authorities could pick him up later.

She had retreated to her quarters, not really up to facing any crowds in the main mess. The feline had eaten, but it was more out of the necessity of not falling flat on the decking from lack of nutrition rather then any real desire to eat. She pushed a piece of chicken around the plate with an extended claw, not really seeing anything as her thoughts wandered.

The chime to her quarters sounded, and Kansas half leapt out of her furred skin. She ended up a good four feet or so away from the small dining alcove and over by the coffee table, with her tail and neck ruff flared out.

Jumpy cat. No, really?

This was it. The ships second officer firing shots with a plasma stun disruptor at an enlisted officer in the corridors was generally considered a bad thing even if the non com had gone bat sh*t. But, chances are there was a commanding Shark on the other side of the doorway, who wanted some answers. In fact, there might be a good chance two commanding Sharks standing were on the other side waiting for some answers from their feline. The young Caitian officer glanced up toward the ceiling plating. No, no thunderclouds were preceding the visitor(s). Maybe the scheduled Retribution Lightning of Zap would travel through the service corridors or something and then nail the feline.

Kansas wore her black duty trousers and blue hued short sleeved uniform undershirt, and half considered throwing on her gold uniform jacket which had been tossed over the back of one of the cushy chairs in the quarters. She nixed the thought and then just gave up and called out an “enter!” to whoever was waiting to enter. Dressed for your own funeral? Say what?

The visitor was not a raven haired bad ass or a pointy eared mind hopper. It was a silver haired old enlisted razorback of a Klingon who stomped into the feline’s quarters and without any preamble just fired off a few questions to her.

“Commander Kitten, I will only ask this once and off the record: was it self defense and did you really shoot him in the back?”

Her answer was prompt. “Aye Master Chief. Holmes jumped me. I had told Sin Condacin earlier that I fired with intent to kill him, but that’s not really true. I just wanted to get away from him, and the easiest method was to twist away from his forward attack, come up behind him, and discharge the plasma round into his back as the most convenient target.”

“And this cricket disruptor you used? It was a stun charge only?”

“Aye. Heavy grade plasma stun rounds diluted with some sedative grade gel packs.”

An eyebrow rose in surprise. “I had no idea you had such knowledge of back alley ordnance.”

An ear flipped back. “It’s not exactly an on the level ballistics knowledge, so why spread it around.”

“ … I’m pleased that you were carrying the disruptor actually.”

Now it was Kansas’s turn to be slightly surprised, and she cocked her head to one side in a silent question.

“If you hadn’t had the weapon, you might have reverted to your primordial weapons – fangs and claws. If you had instinctively ripped Holmes’s throat out … do I need to go on?”

A golden paw waved through the air in agreement that no, the big Klingon mentor did not need to explain further. “Do me a favor and send that point of theory by memo to the Sharks or something.”

“You know as well as I do that I don’t have the authority to become involved with this situation. There has been no word yet?”

“No. But, I do keep looking for the harbinger lightning to strike me down or something.”

Master Chief Keltex managed a toothy smile for his younger senior officer counterpart at the joke, and held out a padd to her.

“What’s this?” She nimbly snatched the padd from his big meaty hand.

“My response to your orders and the names and profiles of the non coms I plan on using for the reception guard as well as the general outline of the plans I will employ for the protective measures. I also cc’d Lieutenant Commander Condacin, Colonels Harper and Day, and the security line officers.”

Kansas quickly perused the data contents of the padd and she pleased with the outline and personnel; she nodded her approval and handed the digital recorder back to the big Klingon officer. “It looks good to me Keltex. And you are cleared for whatever resources you need.”

“Very good. I will take my leave from you now. Commander Kitten?”

“Master Chief?”

“Try and get some rest. You look like you went for a galactic tour on the Barge of the Dead.”

You have no idea … then again, maybe he does. “I will Keltex, and thank you. Dismissed.”

Memo Directive from the XO:

All potted plants residing on the Excalibur will be taken into custody immediately. ;-)

Trekking off to Perseus is all well and good, but what about Alpha quadrant concerns and security?

- Earth stability, quadrant stability: there isn't any! Earth is slagged, and quadrant powers are all experiencing the ripples of the fallout.

- A couple of the logs from Laarell, Salir have hinted at the plans that some sciences types are trying to implement/draw up for an upgraded early warning system for Earth. I'd say this is big time top priority with regard to stabilize the Earth

- The Council is gone: replacements are needed, and the reamining gov't officials are basically walking targets for any wacko who gets it in their mind to take them out and finish what the Soltans started

- There are no new incoming cadets for the Fleet, only a couple thousand survived (general number there): that's just a big concern. No new blood, and if scores of officers (like from the Yellowjacket, Excalibur and other ships) were lost in the orbital battle with the Soltans, the Fleet is stretched thin in general.

It might not be the best time to send off a search and destroy party, but I'm sure there is some tactical officer admiral type planning just that. Payback is always a strong motivating factor, especially when said admirals can control the chess peices from the safety of a briefing room.

Note: this log takes place fifteen minutes after the end of the 06.25.08 sim, some mature language.

06.26.08

USS Agincourt NCC-81762

“Random Acts of Violence”

Tell my Mother I died for my country, I did what I thought was best.

- John Wilkes Booth

Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.

- Bertrand Russell

= = = = = =

A small group of officers stood and waited patiently for the Marine escort team to pass by with their charge in tow: the Secretary of State and her staff members. Not that the gathered crewmembers could do anything but wait, mind you. One of the security teams assigned to patrol the corridors surrounding the VIP quarters blocked any further movement until the group had passed and was settled.

The detained crew members just had the unfortunate luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and would soon be able to continue their various duties or errands. Most of them understood the need for the security precautions and waited quietly, with their murmured conversations and curious looks toward the secretary constituting a normal reaction.

There was one crewmember, physically showing the same outward signs of curiosity or impatience at the delay, but their light brown eyes showed another emotion entirely: hatred. The brown eyes followed every movement of the blue skinned Bolian secretary of state as she was whisked down the corridor by the marine guard escort. Even as the dark eyes visually processed the whole scene, the crewmember’s mental thoughts were dark and foreboding.

Why should that Bolian government bitch be allowed to walk around like she owns the ship. So many Terrans were lost in that alien attack on Earth. They were alien attackers. And this ship is crawling with aliens just like them. How do we know they won’t turn on all of us?

My mother, grandfather, and my brother in law are dead. My sister is left alone with three kids, and her home was leveled in the attack. My father is half out of his mind with grief, and spends all day drinking if he manages to get his hands on some booze.

And these aliens got to walk around, and so many Terrans were dead.

He knew that assassinations had been done throughout history, and some had even been successful. He had always thought that an ancestor of his who committed such an act had been morally corrupt, but perhaps he had been wrong with his opinion. It was an easy enough feat to accomplish when you really thought about it. And the man could not work beyond his hatred.

Bitch.

= = = = = =

Kansas JoNs came padding around a bend in a side auxiliary corridor, speaking in low purrs over her communicator badge to the security guards stationed outside the VIP quarters. One of the guards confirmed that the secretary and her staff and the marine escort had come within visual range, and the Caitian felt a load lift from her shoulders. Now, she just had to check in with the two teams that were on patrol in these outer corridors. She planned on checking in with the team who currently held some officers in one of the side corridors adjacent to her current position.

The feline rounded another bend and visually locked onto the two security grunts that had been assigned to patrol the section, and gave them a friendly nod in greeting. The crewmembers they had detained were waiting patiently, but she could tell they were getting fidgety by their stance and body language. One of them she recognized as a new transfer to her department.

She stood upright on her hind paws and offered a small smile to both her guards and the way ward officers. “Thanks for keeping the main corridor cleared guys. And as for you lot, you know that these corridors were going to be under guard, so you need to find another short cut for the time being. You can go on your way now.”

= = = = = =

Something snapped in Crewman John Holmes at that point. He had been fine among the humans. The two guards who had temporarily blocked the corridor were human, and the officers from security, medical, and engineering who had been waiting with Holmes were human as well.

The cat just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Out of the command crew and the command line officers, JoNs was considered to be one of the most exotic and alien looking with the exception of the shadow thing. She was just another alien bitch. The secretary of state was no longer an issue on the radar as John’s reasoning and rational mind just blinked completely out of existence and he allowed the aggressive mind think to go full throttle. Murderous thoughts clouded his judgment and his rage lashed out at the first convenient and reachable target that his eyes latched onto.

It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. Blood for blood.

Holmes screamed and lunged at the feline, bolting past the guards and going for her throat

= = = = = =

Caitian reflexes not withstanding, and with several witnesses involved as well as three security guards present, the man really had no chance to carry out the attack that he had intended. But, the events were already in motion, and the horrible situation played itself out.

JoNs was shocked at the abrupt action, but reacted quickly and brutally to the assault on her person.

The feline had been out of sorts since her beating at the hands of the human mercenaries on Earth. She hadn’t shared her feelings with anyone, and she had calmed herself down as best that she could and gone about her duties. She had however taken to carrying a small hideaway disruptor pistol in between her trouser waistline and the small of her back. She had a permit to carry a personal weapon, but it was decidedly not a legal weapon. Fear gripped her heart and chest, and she didn’t want to be hurt again. So, she reacted.

The feline second officer managed to sidestep the lunge, and her right paw flew to the hidden holster as she twisted around and her free paw clutched at the crewman’s left shoulder. The retort of the pistol was muffled by the attached silencer in the enclosed space of the corridor, and a plasma stun round impacted squarely with Holmes’s mid back area. He fell face down on the decking, smashing his nose into the unyielding gray plating. The crack of cartilage was noticeable, and a few seconds later blood began leaking from his nose cavity. JoNs slammed back against the nearby bulkhead and sunk down to land on her rump in a moment of delayed shock.

The medical officer from the detainee group went into action and scurried over to Holmes, pressing two fingers to his neck in order to check for a pulse. “I’ve got one. Stable enough to move him.”

The feline started giving orders immediately, her purred voice sounding strange and distant to her own ears. “Get him to sickbay ensign; authorize site to site internal transport.” She turned her gaze to the new security guard that had been in the little group and spoke to him, “Midshipman, go with them and keep an eye on the perp.” He obediently nodded and went to stand over by the medical officer and her injured charge.

The medical ensign tapped at her communicator badge and in a low voice requested a transport for three to the medical bay. They soon shimmered out of existence but JoNs hardly noticed the departure as her mind kicked into what she had been trained for and she spoke to the two remaining members of the group that had been detained. “You all are free to go about your duties, but make yourselves available, as I’m sure there will be some investigative questions for you later.”

The feline handed her hideaway disruptor pistol to one of the remaining corridor guards. “Hold that. It’s evidence.”

Her conscience was going full blast, saying the same mental statement over and over - You shot him in the back like a coward, you shot him in the back like a coward – and Kansas pushed down the litany with a vicious mental shove. Her own thoughts were a confused and hurt jumble of emotions.

Still sitting on the decking and feeling weary beyond her years, the feline second officer swiped a paw at her communicator badge, “Bridge, this is Commander JoNs. The sensors didn’t record the discharge, but I just discharged a hideaway disruptor on board. The secretary and her party are safe, but there was an incident here in the VIP adjacent auxiliary corridor … “

06.25.08 Mission Update:

Mission Brief: The Agincourt has been sent to Rigel to pick up the Secretary of State and take her to a meeting on Vulcan, where the surviving high-level Federation officials are gathering to deal with the aftermath of the Soltan attack. As we open, the Agincourt has just enter the Rigel system

- The Agincourt achieved standard orbit above Rigel, and the Secretary of State and her staff were beamed aboard

- The Marine Honor Guard (and the Sharks just looked so pretty in those dressy blues.) escorted the Bolian Secretary and staff to the designated VIP quarters

- Four Security guards are to be stationed 24/7 outside the designated VIP quarters, with two roving patrols on a continuous circuit on the outlying decks as well.

- Engineering continues to repair any battle damage

- Medical is still tending to any personnel that were as well battle damaged

- The Ops dept. is making plans for a reception for the government representatives

Galaxy Quest is THE definitive Trek spoof, but I consider it more of a tribute film. Its a good solid action adventure/comedy, that pays a cute tribute to Star Trek, but as Kallah mentioned, it totally stands up well on its own.

Thank you all! w00t!

I took a couple days off work, which rocks out. I am just totally enjoying the day, and doing this that and the other thing, and going out to dinner at Bertuccis for their completely awesome food.

In the new star trek movie they should make new security uniforms with bulls eyes. That would be so cool that I would forgive them for making a prequel instead of a sequel, (didn't they learn their lesson when enterprise got cancelled?)

Short answer? No.

I thought ENT was a darn good series with quite a few original ideas. But I know it's like hitting my head against a brick wall when I come up against general opinions of the fan community at large. If the "messing with canon" storylines are so painful, just think of the ENT series as an alternate reality series. It isn't that bad; at least no worse then the "lets explore Data and his humanity" storyline that TNG ran into the ground and just ran the heck out of - B4, etc - it just got old.

I'm sorry, but we had like three series set within the same TNG/VOY/DS9 time frame; I enjoy them all, and they all rock out and offer some great adventures, but the same concept did get boring after a while, so it was a nice change of pace to see a series set in a past time frame.

Another non-explored idea is a future series, a la Agincourt (late 2390's) time frame.

And, yes, for the record, I am curious about the re-imagined original series movie and hope it blows out all the other competition.

- - - - - - - -

Topic: You're a hard core Trekkie if you can quote from the Trek in disguise and tribute film, Galaxy Quest. By Grapthars Hammer! :-D

I thought Cait was TAS (The Animated Series)? I went to check this on Memory Alpha, only to find the Cait entry had been relegated to Memory Beta.

There was a Caitian, or at least a cat like creature in the Federation Council scene of one of the TOS movies and timeline wise TAS was between TOS and TOS movie so for this poll I'd say Caits, Edoans, and whatever those bird creatures were can be called TOS.

M'Ress is a Caitian communications officer whose species may be related to the Kzinti.

 

The Kzinti are not to be confused with the Tzenkethi.

Caitians first appeared in TAS, so to me, that is direct link to TOS. Later, yep, those cat like beings on the Council board in Star Trek 4 are generally considered to be Caitians (the feline pool table dancer in Star Trek 5 is not considered a Caitian). Although, one of the Decipher (2004) role playing book expansions has a picture of the brown furred ST4 Council member one under the species heading of "Regulans" - I gather it's a copyright thing, but the infromation generally remains the same from the FASA role playing books, with a few new additions that are believable.

Honestly, there really isn't a lot of canon sources out there for Caitians, other then TAS (canon, in my view), the few FASA/Decipher books, and the few random appearances in novels or comics (non-canon). On the flip side, it gives a role player room to develop a feline Cait, as long as you don't get stupid with the felinization and try and do this that and the other thing characterization wise (god modding!).

I admit it, you made me look up Excogitations. My vocabulary has now expanded. Don't be making the XO Kitteh think now with the big words. :-P

Nice log Cappy! w00t w00t.

Many Caitians (TOS), with the kitteh's comprising both both my two regular characters and secondary characters that pop up from time to time in logs. And one lapse into a Human character - what was I thinking?

Seems as though we've opened up the proverbial can of worms. Many questions. No answers. Or, as Tay would say, "words, words, words."

Cats are very good at opening up that can, don't ya know? ;-)

CAITIANS! ::is way too biased::

Note: this log takes place during the ship’s travel time to Rigel.

06.22.08

USS Agincourt NCC-81762

“Creative Personnel Reconfiguring”

The Federation Starfleet had lost hundreds of cadets during the orbital attack on the planet of Earth, and a new influx of midshipmen into the service was not to be expected for quite a few years. Those Starfleet cadets who had survived the attack, because of dumb luck or because they had been serving a training assignment elsewhere, now found themselves being re-assigned and shipped out ASAP to mainstream assignments. This was not to say that the assignment process was haphazard or pell mell, not at all. Even though the academy was no longer standing, the re-assignment process was still following correct procedures as best that what remained of Earth Command was able to.

If an officer knew their way around the red tape, or at least had access to certain unknown or backdoor channels that would be able to circumvent the red tape, then you were in a position to make things happen. Or, at the very least, get the inner gears turning and working instead of grinding to a halt.

The JoNs clan was a well to do military family, with several succeeding generations currently serving in the Starfleet. Over the years of various JoNs’s serving with the Starfleet in either the military or the naval portion of the Federation, it was inevitable that a contact list was built up or certain favors were owed or called in when the situation permitted.

Lieutenant Commander Kansas JoNs had done something. Something she hadn’t yet exploited or used during her ten years of active Starfleet service. She had called in a few favors and used her family contacts and connection list within the fleet in order to make sure that certain senior cadet personnel ended up where she wanted them too. Namely, the feline had made sure that the young cadets who had been with her during the recovery assignment at the African S’Jhinto Base were well taken care of during the post attack assignment process.

JoNs scrolled down the personal profile information displayed on her desktop monitor, re-checking the information before she greeted the new security midshipmen who had been assigned to the ‘Court. The others had been assigned to her elder cousins’ ship, the Yellowjacket. The ‘Jacket had lost almost a third of her crew complement during the dust up with the Soltans, so Kansas knew that Left Ear was in dire need of good personnel.

= = = = = =

Chase, Midshipman Joseph (Male Caucasian Human)

Major: Security

Minor: Heavy Ballistics

<Assigned to USS Agincourt NCC-81762>

Connor, Midshipman Amanda Jo (Human Caucasian Female)

Major: Medical Technician

Minor: General Medicine

<Assigned to USS Yellowjacket NCC-1609>

I’Beka, Midshipman (Female Human/Capellan)

Major: Security

Minor: Weapons

<Assigned to USS Agincourt NCC-81762>

Sarvin, Midshipman Safalo (Male Caitian)

Major: Communications

Minor: Operations

Languages: Caitian, Federation Standard, Klingon

<Assigned to USS Yellowjacket NCC-1609>

Arika, Midshipman Savortin (Female Unjoined Trill)

Major: Security

Minor: Armory Officer

<Assigned to USS Agincourt NCC-81762>

Shumi, Midshipman Ho-San (Male Asian Human)

Major: Engineering

Minor: Damage Control

<Assigned to USS Yellowjacket NCC-1609>

T’Varek, Midshipman (Female Vulcan/Rihan)

Major: Flight Control

Minor: Operations

<Assigned to USS Yellowjacket NCC-1609>

= = = = = =

Chase, I’Beka, and Savortin had been assigned to the Agincourt under JoNs in security, while Sarvin, Connor, T’Varek, and Shumi had been assigned to Captain Left Ear JoNs’s Yellowjacket command. Kansas, in a rare showing of very un-kitten like boldness, had left her Elder Guardian cousin with explicit instructions to be nice to the new middies. And if the older Caitian was not nice to them, the younger JoNs would have words for her. Surprise on Left Ear’s part had worked in the younger felines favor, as Kansas had managed to cut the communications line before Left Ear had regained her non surprised and normal hard case composure. Score one for the youngster feline.

“Excuse me, Commander?” Chief Petty Officer Raphael Esteban poked his head through the open doorway, the human’s usual easy going smile plastered to his olive skinned and rugged features. Esteban had moved from the Beta armory squad over to the Alpha squad after the first shift squad hands had been lost in battle. Rafe would be training the midshipmen as the new Alpha squad lead.

“What’s the word Rafe? And what did I tell you about the Commander when I’m off duty?”

The Spanish man chuckled. “Mi apologies feline jefa. The newbies are all settled in their new quarters, and I just introduced myself to them. I see what you meant. Despite all that has happened to them, they are good kids.”

JoNs blanked her computer screen and stood from behind her desk, stretching as she did so and then grabbing a small duffle bag from its spot under the desk. The healing that Shadow had performed on her had indeed worked out well, and the Caitian officer was moving much more easily now. “I wish you could have seen the kids going into action down on Earth Rafe; they probably saved my life when they disobeyed orders and took on that mercenary crew. Their level of maturity is also holding strong, considering all the disconcerting things they have witnessed as a result of the attack.”

As usual when she was off duty, she was wearing the ever popular black high cut sweatpants to accomodate her cat shaped hind legs and yet another tee shirt featuring some family members ship or duty station.

The armory chief smirked and pointed a finger at the shirt. “And what family member and ship is this jefa?”

Kansas pointed a paw to the stylized logo and design of a starship stitched on the front of the dark grey shirt, and smiled brilliantly, exposing her fangs. “The USS Fearless, my cousin Ravarr, one of the senior security officers within the department.”

“Are most of the JoNs’s in security?”

“Actually, no. We really are all over the place within the fleet with regard to what our duty stations or concentrations are, and there are a couple that are also in commands of their own or on strict administrative duty within the command structure as well. It’s a pretty a pretty broad line within the family … I guess you could say we are well rounded.”

JoNs moved out of her office, and Esteban walked with her for a bit out of the offices and down the corridor toward the turbo lift. The line officer and enlisted officer discussed the normal ship board concerns: how the repairs were coming on the internal section of the main armory that had been compromised, the personnel transferring between the armory departments in order to make up for the loss of the first shift team, and how to re-vamp the safety procedures to make sure another explosion accident wasn’t a possibility. There would always be the danger of an explosion within the armory, as it was the nature of the job. But, certain precautions could always be implemented.

The lieutenant commander and chief petty officer soon parted company, and JoNs continued on her way to the junior officer quarters deck.

= = = = = =

Mature could be considered a relative term at this particular moment, considering that Midshipmen I’Beka, Chase, and Savortin were currently engaged in a rather suicidal game of throw the stuffed animal around within the small quarters that I’Beka and Savortin were to share. The doors to the junior officers’ quarters were left wide open, and Kansas walked right on in and deftly plucked the stuffed bear from the air as it winged at her head.

Green cat eyes fixed a no nonsense gaze on the junior middies who were frozen in mid dodge and or crouch. “Okay, I’ll pretend I didn’t see this, but this sort of thing is best left in the gym. But, hey, if you all slam into something or knock yourselves out on something hard, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

The three younger officers were still wearing their cadet grey duty uniforms, and wasted no time scrambling into a parade rest formation, which was no easy accomplishment in the two by four quarters; Chase ended up smashed against the desk in the corner area.

Kansas waved a paw in the air and tossed the stuffed bear back to the closest officer, which happened to be I’Beka, who caught it without a problem. “At ease and don’t bust a gut getting into your attention stance; I’m off duty and so are the lot of you for right now. You’ll have plenty of time to do that when you meet Colonel Harper and Lieutenant Colonel Day, and I will expect you to comport yourselves properly when you meet our commanding Shark ladies.”

The feline lieutenant commander parked it on one of the two bunks and set the duffle bag between her hind paws, motioning with a fore paw for the middies to settle in. “Sit down for a moment, I want to talk to the three of you.” The three junior officers quietly sat down on the bunk across the small area from JoNs, looking curiously at the golden feline.

Kansas started speaking straight from the heart, with her full honestly coming through loud and clear.

“We had a pretty raw clean up assignment down there on the Earth, patrolling those African territories for anything unusual. That mercenary crew that we encountered was bad medicine, and you and your friends kept your wits about you and responded to the situation well. I’ll be honest, you probably saved my life. I wanted to do right by the squad, so I made sure with all the re-assignments happening, that you three got posted here on the ‘Court because of your majors and minors, and why the others were assigned to the Yellowjacket under my cousin Left Ear JoNs. The good Captain JoNs can be a bit of a tight wad, but she’s a good commander and she needs officers to replace the ones she lost. I … also… well, I just wanted to say thank you….”

JoNs broke off from what she was saying and instead started rummaging through the bag. One by one, she handed out handwritten cards and small gift packages to the midshipmen. The cards were handwritten notes of thanks and congratulations from the Caitian officer, written on actual paper that she had managed to scrounge up, and the packages each contained one brilliantly colored Spican Flame Gem that the feline had purchased eons ago on a shore leave run.

Each of the young midshipman officers showed simultaneous surprise and pleasure at the little gifts. Chase spoke up, his brown eyes flashing happiness. “What’s all this for Commander?”

“Graduation presents.” A sad but encouraging and gentle smile graced Kansas’s features. “With all of this craziness from the attacks, you cadets didn’t have any kind of graduation ceremony from the academy, so I’d thought I try and remedy that situation. Welcome aboard the ‘Court, all of you.”

Is invasion of privacy an inherently violent act?

 

Just look at the effect interactions with the Cairn had on Lwaxana Troi.

::zooms back from Trek Wiki also know as the Pit of Knowledge::

Given that the Cairn had no personal concept of privacy until the Federation came along and started diplomatic talks, I'd say that this particular case was not violent more of a misunderstanding.

Are you driving at any thing specific besides the Troi question Prof? I mean, are you asking about this from a Trek perspective or real life perspective? Both?

Either way (especially if it is more of a real life perspective question) the invasion of privacy as an inherent violent act is a pretty broad question, and you're going to get a lot of broad answers intermixed with strong personal opinions/rants. I mean, even with Trek discussions like this, people have pretty strong opinions.

Are the non-telepath's rights to privacy greater than the telepath's rights to expected information. They should be equal. Luckily most telepaths Star Trek has come across have been peaceful and willing to wave their own rights.

I disagree. Just because one citizen has the ability to invade anothers privacy doesn't mean they should be allowed to do it. With that logic I could say that just because I'm holding a phaser and have the ability to use it doesn't mean I have the right to shoot anyone I want. Any citizen has the right to privacy. However abilities can be used by law enforcement such as Starfleet because they are there to protect the citizen of the Federation and to protect the citizens rights. But between a telepathic citizen and a non-telepathic citizen I don't think it should be allowed because that puts the non-telepathic at a disatvantage, since he(or she) can't defend herself against thought reading.

What about the onslaught of emotions to the telepath from the non trained and non telepathics? The telepath privacy is being invaded as well, so the mental road goes both ways.

A telepath would also have the rights to mentally defend themselves in this case, as well as be protected as a Feddy citizen if we really want to cover all aspects of this discussion.

What if another non telepath person willfully projected dark and murderous thoughts straight at a telepathic target? the flip side is if a telepath mentally projected dark thoughts to a non-telepath.

And what about a telepath slipping with their mental control? I sure wouldn't want all that mental energy slapping at me. What if a non telepath went "nuts" and had too much raw mental energy directed at a mental sensitive telepath?

What Spock did to Lieutenant Valeris was one of the most violent moments in Star Trek.

 

Was it justified?

 

--------------------

 

In TNG's "Evolution" Dr. Stubbs says to Deanna, "My dear Counselor, no insult intended, but please turn off your beam into my soul."

 

Is it ethical for Starfleet to exploit the abilities of its telepathic officers?

1.) Yes. First blood had already been shed when Chancellor Gorkon was assassinated; finding out the names of the conspirators as well as the location of the cloaked Bird of Prey via Valeris's mind was the logical counter move. Valeris knew the risks of being caught (or she should have, logically) when she threw her loyalties in with the conspirators.

2.) Maybe. Depends on the situation and officer as applied to the exploitiation; no one answer to this question, at least from my viewpoint.

- If the telepath is with Intelligence, that would be an exploitable talent, by all means.

- If a Medical Doctor telepath is dealing with a young child who can't speak yet, but is in pain, the telepath ability can be used to find out where the child hurts.

- If you're dealing with a rogue telepath, who mis-uses their powers to willingly hurt others (such as Spock/Valeris ??), then they are the ones exploiting. Yet, a counselor such as Deanna uses her telepathy to aid in her sessions.

It really does depend on the telepathic situation.

Tia has been bothered that much of the command staff and crew are from predator and warrior cultures. She definitely feels out of place on Excalibur. I too have created a warrior / predator species, and am considering pulling in one of Tay’s distant kin in, except on steroids, darker, more violent, as this seems to be what Excalibur calls for.

Caitians are a predator species, as established in TAS and various novels/comics/FASA and Decipher role playing books. Any tribal culture/warrior culture ideals are from my own little brain.

I have never played Left Ear JoNs as dark, violent, or on steroids, and I do resent the warp factor shot between the eyes commentary. I participated in a joint log with Maria Zier's player where Lefty held the womans little baby - the baby had not one claw mark on her. I have played her as a straight and narrow (possibly to a fault) by the book Caitian officer.

The whole point of these sims is to have a diverse group of officers.

Thank you, but do not presume to tell me about how I play my characters or project my ideas. Big time assumption.

(I iz lurkin' on ur boards, startin' a Seazon Three topic) >^..^<

06.19.08 Mission Update:

- The recovery effort on Earth has progressed to the point that the massive mobilization of patrol ships and ships stationed in Earth orbit and on station keeping throughout the immediate star system is no longer needed; Medical support ships, primarily, are now moving in to take over the full on recovery effort for the planet. Not much can be done for the massive loss of life and property at this point except starting to pick up the pieces, literally and figuratively.

- Most of the Federation council members were injured and killed in the Soltan orbit attack on Paris; an emergency meeting of surviving government officials has been planned, with the meeting place scheduled to be on Vulcan.

- The Agincourt has new orders: warp to Rigel, pick up the Secretary of State, and ferry the political diplomat to Vulcan for the government meeting.

General Questions:

With Earth so completely slagged, I wonder if the Federation Council will permanently relocate somewhere?

And what about all the cadets that were lost when the academy was hit? I'm thinking this will have reprecussions throughout the Starfleet because there won't be any new influx of midshipmen, other then cadets/middy's who were either away from the attack due to a training assignment or whatever.

And the 'Court doctors and any medical personnel are going to have to be on the lookout for anyone having issues dealing with grief or what they experienced planet side with the recovery effort. Knee deep in broken buildings, bodies, blood? Certain looter or pirate groups taking advantage of the chaos? Not a fun time, and sure to have mental reprecussions no matter who you are.

And what of vengeance against the Soltan attackers? That can be a powerful (and mindset altering) trap to fall into. Will the Starfleet stay on the straight and narrow, or send off a bunch of ships to hunt the Soltan down?

Cool. Let me find a pic.

EDIT: I totally had to go with the Boy Genius here: have at it!