Kestra

What also somewhat concerns me is the fact that "new management" doesn't seem to have any idea of where to take the franchise next. By that I mean, we're not "moving forward" or anything like that...but instead having to return to characters that were originally created over forty years ago. I mean let's be honest...as painful as it is to admit...there are a large number of Star Trek fans that have never see The Original Series. There are many that have never seen the first six movies and have no intention of doing so.

I can see where you’d be worried about that Fred, because I’m kind of one of those people. I have a vague recollection of watching TOS reruns with my dad when I was little, and the only TOS movie I think I watched straight through is “the one with the whales”. See, I don’t even know the name! I’ve seen the others in bits and pieces, but don’t remember a whole lot from any of them.

The thing is though, I’d still be open to a movie about Kirk and Spock or even just the TOS era. It’s not my first choice, that’s for sure. But if they do it well, I’d actually appreciate the chance to be drawn in to that era. It would help to get past some of the cheesy props and just enjoy the characters. I’d dare to say that Star Trek fans would give it a chance no matter what it is. And after that, it’s just about whether or not it’s a well made movie, which we have to hope it will be.

The following is a bit of an update, taken from Empire Online. (4/25)

Exclusive: The Truth About Star Trek XI

 

Fans around the world whooped for joy last week at news that the Star Trek franchise was being resuscitated with M:I:3 director JJ Abrams at the helm. News that it would adopt the long-mooted concept of Kirk and Spock's youthful adventures at Starfleet Academy provoked a more mixed reaction. Those who thought such a move sacrilege can rest easy though because, as Empire discovered in an interview today with Abrams himself, the story is nothing of the sort.

 

"The whole thing was reported entirely without our cooperation," says the director with a hint of regret. "People learned that I was producing a Star Trek film, that I had an option to direct it, they hear rumours of what the thing was going to be and ran with a story that is not entirely accurate."

 

But the million dollar question is, what will it be about? Unsurprisingly, Abrams isn't saying ("We've made a pact not to discuss any specifics") but the Lost creator is a confirmed Original Series fan so don't be surprised if his take on the series does indeed take place around the era of Kirk and co, or if some of the established characters do make a reappearance. "Those characters are so spectacular. I just think that… you know, they could live again."

Basically we don’t know that it’s an Academy film. We don’t know much of anything, but Abrams has confessed to having a thing for TOS. I’ve heard a lot of people worried about it being “Star Trek: 90210” and I have to say I don’t have that same concern. I’d be more concerned about that if they were creating an Academy series (not film) with new characters. I just don’t think they’d go that route if they were doing a movie about Kirk and Spock, and more than likely a large portion of the movie would not be planet-based.

Edit: I should add that the only thing that makes me cautious at this point would be the hint of a reboot. But as there's absolutely no reason to justify thinking that right now, it's not a big deal. Also Happy Birthday Fred, I just noticed that at the bottom of the index. :)

Firefly

 

Mal - Captain Elias Moore (Challenger)

Zoe - t'Rexan (Talon)

Jayne - Van Roy (Qob)

Inara - Laarell (Excalibur)

Kaylee - Kestra Miral (formerly of Arcadia)

Wash - Travis Kroells (NFS Reaent)

Book - Lo'Ami (Arcadia)

Simon - Avery Tynte (Arcadia)

River - Miranda Porter (Arcadia)

The Reavers (collectively) - Dakkie (Talon)

Saffron - (evil transporter duplicate) Laarell

Did an avatar change and here's a quote for the occasion. :D

(on taking new passengers)

Kaylee: No, it's shiny! I like to meet new people, they've all got stories...

Jayne: Captain, can you stop her from being cheerful, please?

Mal: I don't believe there's a power in the 'verse that can stop Kaylee from being cheerful. Sometimes you just wanna duct-tape her mouth and dump her in the hold for a month.

Kaylee: [kisses Mal's cheek] I love my captain.

If your avatar or rank was something I designed or hosted, the link may now be broken to it. You can find the new URLs at this location. I can't guarantee how long I will have them up here though, so please upload them to your own computer and/or photobucket account to preserve them. Contact me if there are any isssues with this. Thank you!

Actually I believe that's one that was modeled on a 3-d program, so the texture simply looks odd from the side. The blue is like any nacelle, and I think the "cloud" bits you're referring to have in fact something to do with the nacelle attaching to the pylon.

I know some people online that are into designing ships and such. One of the guys put together a comparison chart that has many of the fan designs as well as canon ones, so you can see the sizes and all. There is one for shuttles as well. I thought it was interesting and well put together, so enjoy!

http://www.ewe-squad.com/woz/

Has anyone else actually watched some of their stuff? I was impressed by the production, but not so much by the actual plots and scripts of their material. Either way, it's cool that Takei is taking part.

Thanks Laura, I appreciate that. It's hard to imagine any of the GMs ever had problems simming. :blink:

And thanks to everyone again that has participated in the discussion so far, GMs and players alike. It's nice to know that whether you agree or disagree, you're at least willing to hear me out and discuss this.

Originally posted by Cdr Corizon:

Speaking for the Excalibur:

 

I post the chatlogs and email them to the crew on a weekly basis.

 

USS Excalibur Crew Policies: http://www.stsf.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=8365

USS Excalibur Information: http://www.stsf.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=8366

 

Also on the boards, as well as our website, you can find information about the Mornignstar, Camelot Station, the Romulan Fleet, and a database to our logs (which, I give much thanks to Tachyon for setting that up, and Moore for the idea.)

Very cool, and good things to know. Thanks for pointing them out.

I can tell you for a fact, that when you join Excalibur (and I think this is a lot of ships) new players get baraged with emails. I know right now you get like five from me the first day!

 

The problem of course, is that we don't want to scare the new player off. Incidently, I am actually thinking of a good idea that I think would go along with this, at least something I am now thinking about putting togather in my welcome packet.

I'm someone who totally hoards information and it wouldn't put me off at all, but I can see where you wouldn't want to overwhelm someone that felt otherwise. This sounds odd, but it's what I'm talking about. I'd like to know if a sim is "information heavy" because that's the type of player I am. On the other hand I'd imagine there are some players that would be turned off by too many details or rules.

Huff puts togather the mission briefings/recaps of the current plot arc, do you think that would help let new players know what's going on?

Well like I said above, I like information so I would have loved something like this. I started in the middle of a somewhat confusing plot myself and I didn't quite understand what was going on. Including a mission briefing in a welcome packet would help a newcomer to jump right in and get involved.

PS: On the subject of Chatlogs, I'd like to mention that not everyone has the amount of time to edit the chatlogs as I do. Because the chat log is of everything in the chat, it can often be very time consuming to edit out all the stuff to get to your game, especially if there is another game or academy during your sim.

I completely agree with you here. That's why I'm not calling for all sims to send out chat logs or anything like that. Sometimes I open up a window and save the chat log myself if I think I'll want to look over it later. And it's a pain to edit out even my own PMs from it. I don't think all the sims need to have this; I think it would be nice to know which ones do (whether it's through the boards or their personal mailstring).

By the way, Harper's questions were valid. This thread can be a lot more constructive if we can find out what kind of experiences and confusions (good or bad) simmers had with graduating the academy and joining ships.

Okay, I have to admit I've been avoiding the questions because I feel a bit awkward about it. But I agree that they are good questions and I'm the one that started this, so ...

I think there are two pieces of information that would have helped me. One, does this sim have a welcome packet? Two, are briefings or chat logs sent out on any sort of regular basis?

There are dozens of things that, looking back, might have been relevant. How structured is a sim, and more specific questions along those lines. But I think the first two questions I posed would have had the most impact for me and I wish I had known to ask them.

Just to chime in...

 

  I believe every sim does have a welcome packet of some sort.

I was under the impression that they in fact don't.

Edit: Someone suggested to me that I came off a bit testy. I'm not trying to be rude in any of my posts, only direct. Just wanted to clarify that.

Thanks to Moose's tips, and the support of some people of the message boards, my first Starfleet Academy mission was a success... sort of (we died.) I am definitely coming back tomorrow night!!

I'm really glad you enjoyed yourself. :blink:

Alright, well I'm disappointed that you feel that way but you've been simming much longer than I have, so maybe you've got some knowledge I don't.

ok, that's good to know. I wouldn't want to play a game where someone could come in labeled as the captain, and have nothing done about it. Would it be wise to re-register my forum name so it begins with Cdt_ and has a more Role-Play freindly name than Star Trekkian? (Like Cdt_Zack or something)

Well, everyone else has given you good advice. If you decide to change your forum name, I would suggest not adding a rank to it. Presumably you won't be a cadet (or ensign, or so on) forever.

Don't forget to check out Moose's tips at the top of this forum. There's one that's a great help if it's your first time in the academy.

Welcome to STSF! :rolleyes:

Thanks Nick, and LoAmi, for responding. I really appreciate it.

I suppose part of my point is that new players might not even know to look for those things or ask those questions. Right now, if I want to add another advanced sim on, I know who to ask questions and what to ask. I probably know at least one person on each advanced sim that I'd feel comfortable asking questions to.

Coming in as a new player, it's much more difficult. Do you drop by the advanced sim, pick someone at random (or the GM, who always looks very busy), and ask them all your questions? Like I said above, I wouldn't have even known what to ask. Even if I had, I feel like it makes a bad impression.

I didn't know how regularly people put out logs. I don't think I even really understood what a log was. I thought maybe the sims themselves had general guidelines on the matter. I didn't know who was on the roster of each ship so I didn't know if only a small percentage were writing logs or if that was most of the crew. It's actually quite a bit of work and very confusing to try to get a sense of each of the ships on your own. I remember trying it and failing utterly.

Even if you can't generalize answers, maybe something to point people in the right direction. A "you might want to consider these while choosing a ship". Maybe something saying whether or not a ship sends out a welcome packet, briefings, chat logs, or something to do with departments.

Mind you, I'm not saying that all the sims should. I guess I'm just having a hard time expressing the information I'd like to see available.

Having recently fallen prey to the terrific alternate Reaent sim, I was able to sample what it was like to be on two different STSF sims. Obviously things were a bit different on the Reaent, but I still noticed a couple of things that got me thinking. I'd appreciate anyone weighing in on some of these ideas I'm going to present here.

I think it would be helpful to have more information about the ships available to the general STSF public. I know most of the ships have websites, but they all contain varying amounts of information. I'm talking about information that would be useful to new people coming in that are trying to choose a sim.

It would be nice to know more about the style of the sim. I know there's some sort of unofficial suggestion to drop by sims, but it's sometimes hard to get a sense of the sim anyway. You generally don't know anything about the GMs or how things are run. Or maybe someone has more specific questions. Does it tend to be character intensive, with lots of crewmembers putting out character development logs? Duty logs? Are there briefings sent out? What about chat logs?

It might sound a bit picky, but I know that when I graduated, I didn't know that all the sims were run a bit differently. I figured in an organization like this one, certain things were standard. I'm not trying to start anything here, it's just something I've been thinking about and I'd appreciate comments on the matter.

Great log! Very well written and very emotional. I like how you did a different viewpoint; it adds yet more depth to the alternate universe Fred created.

Yes, uh-huh, I love you too Eowyn-- I mean Arwen. ::proceeds to mentally curse himself::

"You Can't Go Home Again"

A Miral and Sans production

Ariago sat back and watched the happy group continue their talks for a while, before quietly excusing himself to get the rest of his belongings from the station.

"Need some help?" Kestra offered, noticing the quiet officer. "I'm heading back in a bit myself."

He turned his head around. "Uh, sure Lieutenant...I mean...I wouldn't want to bother you or anything..."

"Oh no, no trouble at all," she assured him. Saying goodbye to the rest of the group, she followed him out of the bar. "So I thought I heard someone mention you're in engineering."

"Uh, yes...I just graduated from the Academy before being posted." He walked along somewhat awkwardly, not sure of his step as he passed a security officer.

"Well that means we'll be working together. Have you been on board and met the chief yet?" She tried not to notice his awkwardness. Oddly enough, he made her feel outgoing.

He continued to walk along, clutching his clothes bag. "Uh yes...but if I may say...he seems like a very...'odd' man."

Kestra laughed quietly. "Odd?" She thought about it for a second. "Yes, I suppose he is a bit odd. But he's a good officer, and really quite pleasant. I heard the last chief was a slave driver."

From the odd range of behavior Ariago had seen from Commander Light...well, he decided to wait until he saw the man as his true self. "Well then, I am glad he's around. My sister she was never...uh...that hard on the engineers either..."

"Oh, you have a sister in Starfleet? Me too. What ship?"

He pause for moment, trying to find proper words. "She used to serve. She was the Chief Engineer on the USS Bozeman."

She noticed his hesitation and was confused. Was she just reading too much into it? She couldn't read a thing from him. "That's quite a feat," she said, glancing over again. "My sister's in medical. So is the rest of my family actually, though we're the only two in Starfleet."

He nodded in an interested manner as they reached a large area, with an overwhelmed Starfleet officer trying to manage the people retrieving large personal items. The only thing there for him was a rather large couch, that appeared to be rather badly burned. He quickly got an anti-grav hauler, and the two made their way back to the Arcadia

Kestra looked at the couch and back at the confusion of people. "That's it?" She peered curiously at the couch, trying not to seem overly obvious.

Ariago walked along, looking at the couch for a moment. "Uh, yeah, it was my sisters. Its the only thing I really held onto from the Bozeman."

This time the past tense hit Kestra like a ton of bricks. Was. How could she have been such an idiot? ~You sure have a way with men, Kessa.~ She wanted to kick herself but instead nodded slightly and continued walking.

Even though she couldn't read him through his shields, he extended his perceptions enough to feel her. "Yeah...The Bozeman participated in the Battle of Sector-001 against the Borg. My sister was killed."

The embarrassment and sadness was plain on her face. "I'm so sorry, Ensign Sans. I didn't realize. I should have." Was now a good time to run away?

He walked along, looking forward this time brushing past one of the many security officers that had seemed to flood the promenade since he and Lt. Miral had left the bar. "Don't be, it was over seven years ago. I don't expect every inquisitive crew member to be a scholar of Federation Military History."

"This is why I stick to machines," she mumbled as they reached the airlock to the Arcadia, which would force them to go separate ways.

She turned, and waved him goodbye, hoping he had a good time on the ship. He gave her a weak wave of his own until she was out of sight. "Me too."

(OOC: This takes place prior to the last sim.)

"In the End"

starring Simon Ljungberg and Kestra Miral

She sat at her table, running her finger lightly over the fruit in front of her, not really thinking about food. A slight smile played on her lips despite the serious tones of the conversation around her.

Simon entered the mess hall. He was in a bad mood after his fights with Kestra and Captain Jalil and the little incident with Dr. Vio. All he wanted to do was have lunch and be left in peace for a while. As he turned from the replicator and looked for a table his gaze fell on a familiar figure sitting alone at a table. He walked over to her, hoping she'd give him a chance to apologise. "Hey, Kes. Mind if I join you?"

She looked up at him and smiled. "Of course you can, Simon." Pushing out a chair with one of her feet, she motioned for him to sit across from her. "I was hoping to run into you."

He looked at her, his expression a mixture of surprise and skepticism. He couldn't believe that after their fight she'd be glad to see him. There must be something else. "Thank you," he said as he sat down and put his tray in front of him. "Any particular reason you wanted to 'run into me'?"

"I just wanted to apologize. For our argument." She could sense his skepticism but continued anyway. "It was silly and immature, and unnecessary. I think we've just all been stressed out lately. All the tension from the fighting out there. Not knowing." She glanced out one of the windows before looking back at him.

Simon's jaw dropped and he had stopped moving his fork towards his mouth. " I couldn't have said it any better." He finally managed to say after a moment. "Listen, I didn't mean to say all these things. I have to apologise, too."

"Oh no, please don't," Kestra interrupted him. "Tell me how things are in sickbay."

He raised his eyebrows at the abrupt change of the topic. He pushed his tray away from him suddenly not feeling hungry anymore. "Alright, Kes, what's going on?" Simon simply couldn't believe it. Here he was ready to apologise, something that didn't happen often, and that was one thing Kestra had accused him of, and she changed the topic. He was getting confused and he was sure she could sense it. Did she enjoy playing games with him, he wondered.

"What’s going on?" She watched him slide the tray to the side and made an effort to keep his confusion from affecting her.

He exhaled audibly and closed his eyes briefly. "I was trying to apologise for what happened and you ask me what's going on in sickbay. Kes, I might not be able to sense what you feel but I know you long enough to be sure there's something else. And please don't try to play games with me. I'm not up to that right now." His frustration and anger was getting the better of him and he just didn't manage to keep either out of his voice. It didn't matter anyway since he was sure Kestra would have known anyway.

She reached out to hold his hand for a moment to calm him. "I'm not playing games. It's just that all that suddenly doesn't seem important." Kestra withdrew her hand and looked at him, wishing for a moment that he was empathic. That she didn't have to sit here and explain anything to him. "Simon, I think I'm going to leave after this."

At her touch his heart started beating faster. He squeezed her hand gently. When she withdrew it he wished he could have held on to it. "I've got no idea what you're talking about Kes." He leaned back and looked into her eyes. Almost pleadingly he went on. "Please, Kes, don't tell me you're leaving this ship already."

She simply nodded at him. "The crew seems great, but ... we'll be lucky to make it out of this alive. I don't really know what I'm doing out here." Another pause. "I'm leaving with Travis."

He had opened his mouth to reply when the last piece of information sank in. He just sat there staring at her for a few moments. A wave of emotions washed over him. The first thing he felt was anger closely followed by a feeling of betrayal and a sense of loss as he understood what she meant. In the end all he was left with was anger again. "What!?" What do you mean, you're leaving with Travis?"

She leaned in closer, her voice remaining quiet and calm. Perhaps he would calm down a bit as well. "We've worked things out," she said. It was hard to keep from smiling at the memory. At the thought of it. "My father's spent most of his life working against the UFP. Travis has spent his whole life doing the same. His parents were killed for it. I don't want that; I want to get out of here while I still can."

Nothing she said could calm him down now. Granted, things had not exactly gone right between the two of them ever since Kestra had come aboard but Travis? He got up, knocking over his chair. "It seems like you've got it all worked out already." He threw his napkin on the tray and glared at her. "Well, have a good life." With that he turned and stormed out of the mess hall, attracting quite a few curious looks.

She sighed quietly, watching him leave. At least she wasn't the one storming out of the mess hall this time. He was never going to understand it; his work was his life. It wasn't even about Travis. Kestra noticed a table of officers still looking over at her and whispering and she let herself take it all in for a moment.

There were massive fleets outside the ship, fighting, waiting. Some of them hidden. Other forces unknown. Simon was mad at her; people were talking about her. She ignored them, picked up the apple from her tray, and smiled again. It didn't matter. It would all be over soon.

I'm generally either out or traveling on Friday evenings, but I still think it's an excellent idea. It will be especially good for those dedicated simmers who do not live in the US and will find it easier to join an Academy at this time.

More academies are always good (at least for cadets and players, if not GMs) and it's great that the GMs have been able to do that. I'll definitely try to join in on one sometime!

Who voted "meat only"? :lol:

Everything of course! I tend to like most of my food with a pretty good amount of meat, although with Indian food I often find myself eating vegetarian dishes because they are almost better.

Awww, that was a great log Miranda. Don't worry, I'm sure Kes won't be scared of her forever! And besides, now they've got matching necklaces. ;)

Which ones? A lot of the GMs are a bit sneaky and have multiple names. Still confuses me quite a bit.

"Taking the Long Way"

starring Avery Tynte and Kestra Miral

(OOC: This is an expanded version of an in sim conversation from last week)

"Are you coming?"

"On my way" Avery said, stuffing another hypo in his lab coat. He found himself slightly amused at the sight of Kestra halfway dangling out the Jeffries Tube. Hopping up behind her, they began to plod towards the next level.

Kestra picked up her pace. "This had better work," she mumbled to herself, her voice echoing through the tubes. Avery sped up to keep pace with Kestra.

"If it does not, do we have enough packs in reserve to power the ship?" He asked as they neared the end and Kestra swung over the edge, grabbing the top rung of a ladder.

"We don't have enough of just about anything at the moment. It's driving me crazy. I'd hate to be the reason we lose even more." She barely paused as they reached a junction, glancing around and continuing to climb.

Avery followed, noting how easily Kestra moved through the tubes. "This is not your fault Kestra; you are doing all you can."

"You know, everyone always says that. 'It's not your fault.' But sometimes, it is someone's fault. I'm not saying it's my fault they were infected, but I could have caught it sooner."

"Yeah, and I could have caught that infection in the Revin sooner." We live and learn," Avery swung down another ladder and followed Kes down a long tube, "it is what makes us better officers."

Kestra hesitated slightly as a brief wave of dizziness passed over her. "I've got a lot to learn," she replied quietly.

"Don't we all," Avery halfway muttered to himself. "You feeling ok?" he added.

She swung around to face him, grinning. "Would you believe me this time if I said yes? Anyways you're the doctor, you tell me."

"Oh, I believe that you believe you’re alright." He returned the grin. "As for my opinion, well I would need a tricorder...and someone still has mine..." They reached a junction and Avery paused against a corner. "I'm glad you know where you are going; these all look the same to me. You would think I would get used to it, all the ships and stations I have been on."

Kestra smiled to herself as she led him down the next corridor. "The one thing I am sure of would be my sense of direction. Hasn't failed me yet. Probably more useful for an engineer than a doctor anyway. How did you decide on medicine?" She immediately wondered if he'd be offended by her prying.

"I was," Avery paused, just that half instant of hesitation, "I was inspired."

As they reached the next junction, Kestra slowed down and leaned against the bulkhead. "I'm sorry, I'm weaker than I realized," she explained. She looked over at him. "Inspired, you were saying?"

Avery felt the sir grow cold in his lungs, that all too familiar pressure returning to his mind. He looked down. "A memory, from my childhood...I," again he paused. "I watched a team of medics during triage, trying to save lives. Succeed or fail, they went after their goal the same." His eye's glistened...just a bit. He looked up. Quickly....too quickly he said. "As for joining Starfleet, well I followed my Mother there."

Kestra looked at him and then ducked her head down. "I'm sorry if I made you recall something unpleasant." She fought to take a deep breath and will away her dizziness.

"No it is ok, Kes." He shrugged. "I long ago learned to deal with these things." He pushed the last bit of sadness from his face. "What about you? What made you want to tinker with ship's systems?" He smiled playfully.

"They're not people," she answered simply. "I don't have to worry about insulting them, or getting embarrassed." She flushed slightly for what felt like the tenth time that day. "I don't have to concern myself with their feelings. They're so much easier to fix."

They moved a bit further down the corridor, and Avery opened a hatch. Climbing out he extended his hand to Kestra. "I can see how you would prefer that. Your empathic abilities must make it difficult to work around sentients sometimes." Avery was immediately regretful of his words. "That was rude of me, I apologize."

Not wanting to appear impolite, she took his hand and climbed out the hatch after him. "It's not rude. Some empaths prefer to work around other people, and even enjoy it. I simply don't." She suddenly realized how stand-offish she sounded. "That's not to say I don't enjoy company," she said hurriedly.

Avery smiled. "We all need company sometimes." He looked up at her. "Plasma conduits and warp cores have their charm," He raised an eyebrow, "But sometimes embarrassment, conflict, and well...life's little oop's are what make it worth living." The doors to Cargobay 1 shooshed open, and conversation turned to gel packs.... and pumpkin pie.