Cptn Neptune

Welcome to STSF!

MISSION BRIEF: When we last left the Challenged ones, they were begining to finish off the first wave of evacuations. The Science team had departed for the planet to begin orginization the transfer of a number of projects from the planet. 102906.txt 102906.pdf

A little fun for the Challenged Ones <_<

More fun :unsure:

MISSION BRIEF: The Challenged ones arrived at the Seti Lo colony, where Evacuating is underway. 101506.txt 101506.pdf

MISSION BRIEF: Challenger has nearly arrived at the Seti Lo system to begin evactuation of that system. 100806.txt 100806.pdf

Mission Brief: When we last left off, Challenger was meeting with the Evacuation task force, and heading for Seti Lo." 100106.txt

Mission Brief: Captain Rex has been officially given command of the Challenger, with Gio being assigned as the new XO. Thew crew has been recalled, and is gathering in the mess to watch an announcement from the head of the United Earth Government. 092506.txt 091706.pdf

UES Challenger Current: June 19, 2006 Version: 2.0 Welcome to the world of advanced simming! You may have demonstrated to the Academy staff that you can sim at or beyond the basic level, but there are some things you need to know to continue at the advanced level. You probably know the core differences already (you create a character, the missions continue from week to week with the same crew, etc), but there are some things you may not know. Following are five items of which you'll need to be aware. These items apply specifically to the Challenger sim; other advanced sims may follow different guidelines. These guidelines supplement the STSF rules, so make sure you are familiar with those as well. Item #5 — Problem Solving — is a more advanced topic that you may want to hold off until after you've experienced a few advanced sims. Attendance You weren’t required to attend every Academy of a certain timeslot; you could attend whichever ones you liked as frequently as you liked. On Challenger, this is not the case. You now have a crew that you’re going to be working with on a permanent basis. They’re going to be relying on your presence every week, and if you fail to attend without notice you may end up disrupting their plans. Real life happens. No one can be expected to attend 52 sims a year. All your fellow crewmates ask is that you send an e-mail out if you know you aren’t going to be able to attend an upcoming sim. This way, any plans that involve you and your character can be postponed or changed. If you are, for whatever reason, incapable of sending out advance notice, don’t sweat it; send an e-mail afterwards explaining your absence so we know that you didn’t simply miss the sim because of lack of interest. Absences should not be frequent. If you find that you’re missing many sims because of real-life distractions, you may want to question whether you are able to commit to the sim; even with plenty of advance notice, inconsistency on a player’s part can be detrimental to the game. If you’re not interested enough in the game to attend, either start attending to allow it to grow on you (it eventually will) or leave—a player with no desire to sim is simply taking up roster space. If you have to take some time away from the sim, you can request a Leave of Absence. Generally, a LOA should not last longer than three months. Beyond that time, the command team reserves the right to relinquish your position to another play, reduce your rank, or remove you from the roster entirely. Note that attending, for example, only three sims over a three month period could be treated as a three month LOA. If you miss four sims in a row, you are automatically placed on LOA or removed from the simulation. ALL ATTENDANCE matters shall be the purview of the First Officer. The XO is the assistant simulation host and is to be accorded all due privileges. As such, the following measures are incuded in this policy. Please be aware of them. -A player absent for 3 consecutive weeks without notification to the Commanding or Executive Officer will receive a 1-week warning. -If notification is not made, that player shall be terminated after the 4th week and that member’s data will be forwarded to the host string to notify future hosts. -Vacations, emergency leaves are always available. Please notify the Commanding and the Executive Officer as soon as possible as a courtesy to the crew and for the continuation of a smooth story line. Rank and Promotions All STSF Academy graduates shall assume their positions at the rank of Ensign. Promotions to the next available rank will be assigned as the Commanding and Executive Officers warrant. Sim attendance, involvement, and logs are all points considered when deciding promotions. The rank structure allows us to maintain a clear chain of command. Players who demonstrate a solid command of the Problem Solving guidelines below make more effective senior officers, while junior officers are expected to input more of the ideas that the senior officers work with. In addition to this, solid attendance, consistent log writing, and good sim etiquette are all considered before a player is promoted. The Challenger rank structure follows. Note the abbreviations in parenthesis. Put your rank at the beginning of your login name when you enter the chat room (examples: Ens Kim, LtJg Paris, LtCdr Worf, etc.): Ensign (Ens) The rank you start with. Many players enjoy playing Ensigns most and actually ask to not be promoted. Ensigns have few responsibilities and are allowed a lot of creativity. You got here simply by graduating the Academy…or maybe you got here by finding that you didn’t like the responsibility of the senior officer ranks. Lieutenant, Junior Grade (LtJg) The easiest promotion to receive. To reach this rank, you need only attend a few sims, be on your best behavior, and write a few logs. Once you’ve reached this rank would be the ideal time to read the Problem Solving guidelines. Lieutenant (Lt) The top of the junior officer ladder. To reach this rank, you should demonstrate a solid grasp of the Problem Solving guidelines. Input ideas, preferably ones that allow a lot of room for other players to contribute. Develop those ideas with logs as well as simming. Lieutenant, Senior Grade (LtSg) The ideal Lieutenants don’t just offer ideas and follow orders, they act as go-betweens. They receive the ideas offered by the Ensigns and LtJg’s and identify problems before passing them on to the higher-ups, and they then receive the orders of the higher-ups and delegate responsibilities to the Ensigns and LtJg’s; in a department with more players, this is a vital role. They have a cordial attitude with others, demonstrate the ability to lead, and always look for ways to involve their crewmates. They’re also reliable players, demonstrating good attendance and steady log writing. If that all applies to you, you’re ready for seniority and a promotion to LtSg is in order. Lieutenant Commander (LtCdr) A LtSg is likely to become a department head (aka chief). A department head receives ideas offered by the assistants and coordinates both with the command staff and with other department heads to translate ideas into action. This is the life of the senior officer, and it carries heavy responsibility. If a player handles that responsibility well, he will be promoted to this rank. The LtCdr’s (referred to as “Commander” for short) are leaders even among the senior officers. It’s the highest rank a player can achieve without being a GM assigned to the sim, but a player who enjoys this role and handles it well has what it takes to become a GM. Command Staff The CO and XO are GMs assigned to the sim. A player can not be promoted to the command staff without becoming a GM and applying for an open command staff slot. The command staff ranks are usually Commander, Captain, Commodore, or Admiral. ALL PERSONNEL matters shall be forwarded to the ship’s XO for resolution (CC all ship’s business to the CO), pending the Commanding Officer’s final approval. This includes division and ship-to-ship transfers. A roster shall be posted to all crew members and the director of STSF personnel and periodically updated. Exceptions: On accepted transfer, and with the Commanding Officer’s consent, a new member may be allowed to retain his/her former rank. The same may be accorded to any veteran STSF officer depending on the circumstance. Simply because a member creates a screen name with a specific rank does not imply that this rank shall be accepted on assignment to a simulation. On many ships there is often a member who serves in a different rank or capacity on a different ship/sim. That rank is not carried over to the Challenger except when specified as above. Therefore, the Captain on another sim may not necessarily be allowed that rank or those privileges on a second simulation. On Challenger we are fortunate to have several seasoned veterans who participate in other capacities because they enjoy this venue of entertainment. Logs It’s easy to assume that any given Advanced sim, just like any given Academy, is a 1 hour per week activity. This is not the case. The advanced sims introduce logs, and both writing logs and reading logs written by others could make a sim a 5 hour per week activity. You should allot enough of your free time every week to read your crewmates’ logs and write one or two of your own. You could just ignore the log-writing aspect of the sim altogether, but this would hurt your ability to both understand and enjoy the sims. Why are logs so important? There are a number of reasons. The most basic log is the duty log. Despite its simplicity, it’s also the most important type. The shortest duty log (a single paragraph) can be nothing more than a summary of the last sim from your character’s point of view. A more complex log could include analysis of events that occurred, speculation as to why they occurred, suggestions as to how the crew could react to them, and plans for the next sim. Such a log accomplishes quite a bit. By reading it, your crewmates can enjoy an extensive recap of everything that happened during the last sim, especially events that they weren’t paying direct attention to. In a busy sim, there can be over five separate events occurring around the ship and possibly off of it, all at the same time, from the integral events that drive the mission to the subplots that occupy the departments; even an experienced player can have difficulty keeping track of all those plot threads. Without duty logs, the only recap available is the recording of the chat session, but reading this is boring and still requires separation of the plot threads, though many players find reading the chatlog (which is posted weekly) helpful. A duty log also sets the stage for the next sim. By recapping a previous sim and indicating what your plans are for the next sim, you won’t be lost when the sim starts. Additionally, your crewmates will be aware what you plan to do and make their own plans accordingly. Keep your eyes open for the mission briefing, usually written by the CO; while other logs may set the stage for various plot threads, the briefing sets the stage for the central plot thread. You were encouraged to make a “stock” character in the Academy—less personality, more attention to duty. In the Advanced sim, where you’re simming with the same group every week, creating and developing a unique character and his/her relationships makes for a much more vibrant game. To start, you should write a character bio. Your bio can be as simple as a short list of attributes (name, age, gender, etc) or it can include more detailed background information—childhood history, education, personality, medical records, or anything else you can think of. It doesn’t need to be this detailed at first since your bio can be updated as you sim. Whichever your preference, your character can be developed further in the sims and through use of personal logs. You are asked to create a biography within a month of being posted to the simulation. All Biographies should be sent to the CO and the XO for approval before being posted into the bios folder on the Challenger boards. The host team reserves the right to modify all biographies to fit the simulation regulations, and will be subject to the “magic bullet” rule. Personal logs usually have very little to do with the mission, instead focusing on your character. You can define your character’s feelings for another player’s character, detail an important lesson your character recently learned, recount moments from the character’s past, describe strange hobbies, habbits, personality quirks, emotional struggles, mood swings, or anything else you can think of to give your character extra dimensions. But be careful—don’t get so wrapped up in your personal logs that you disconnect your character from ship business. If you plan to write a lot of personal logs, mix in enough duty logs to create a healthy balance. Sometimes, logs are made for two… or three, or four, or five, etc. This is where joint logs come in. Joint logs are a collaborative effort by one more than one log writer. They can be duty logs featuring several officers discussing and brainstorming a plot thread (same as a standard duty log, only with several people offering input). Or they can be personal logs, recounting an off-duty hangout such as a poker game, movie night, a friendly stroll through the arboretum, or even something a bit more intimate. If you have an idea for a log, and you think it would involve some of your crewmates, send them a PM or E-mail to arrange a joint log. Joint logs are usually simmed out in a PM or chat room and converted to a more log friendly format afterwards, but a few are exchanged by e-mail with each writer contributing a piece in turn. Check out the Advanced sim forums on the STSF message board to get ideas of what sorts of logs are written and how they are written. Logs also let the command staff know you’re following along with the storyline and enjoying it. It also helps you focus on the events of the last sim and how to prepare for the next one. It doesn’t need to be a novel, just however much you want to put down to express your thoughts at the moment. All logs should be sent to the entire crew as e-mail and posted to the Challenger boards. This ensures that everyone aboard receives the mail and allows everyone in STSF the ability to see what is happening aboard our vessel. This is often helpful for newly assigned crew members who can read the boards to get up to speed on the current mission. One more reminder on logs: Please, make your logs readable. In other words, try and use standard grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. Read a few of the other crewmembers’ logs. You’ll get the idea. Do not send mail which will affect the ship without the CO or and XO’s approval. Do NOT send mail which will affect another crew member without their permission. Back to top Etiquette For most people, this is not a major issue. We can all respect each other as gamers and enjoy the sims together. But a reminder of the various points here can be helpful in avoiding problems between players. These are simply basic rules of conduct. You’ll see the term PM (Private Message) used a lot. PM’s are the “magic lamp” of player etiquette, useful for both resolving disputes and for getting to know your fellow players better. Don’t take your rank too seriously. Rank is only a convenience that allows for a more smoothly run sim. A Lieutenant does not have a right to “talk down” to an Ensign, unless they’ve both agreed by PM that it’s appropriate (see OOC and IC below), and junior officers are just as important to a sim as senior officers. Our characters may outrank one another, but as players we’re all on a level playing field and we can all at least role-play seniority in a respectful manner. Keep in mind that a fine line exists between what goes on out of character (OOC) and what goes on in character (IC), and that that line can sometimes become blurred, leading to confusion and conflicts. Sometimes a character can be *very* different from the player behind it—rude, bitter, and ill-tempered, for instance, whereas the player is far more amiable. And sometimes arguments and fights can take place between characters whose players are actually very good friends OOC. If you see something like this in a sim, assume that it’s exactly what it is… a staged performance by online actors. If you think you’d like to sim a little tension or even hostility between your character and another player’s character, first be sure to let that player know what you want to do and make sure it’s alright. Any physical violence between characters, no matter the circumstances, should be cleared by PM. PM’s are useful for many other reasons. Sometimes, a character speaks to another character in sim but isn’t answered. Don’t assume you’re being ignored if this happens. Sims can be busy, and chat lines can be missed. Simply send a PM to the player pointing out that you’re trying to get his/her attention. If you’re confused about something (you’ve lost track of a plot thread, you’re not sure why someone’s doing something, you’ve forgotten how a certain technology works) PMing the appropriate person can help. PM’s are exchanged regularly during a sim to ensure that everyone is on the same page. Avoid clogging the chat room with excessive << OOC statements like this >>. A few such statements are ok, but back and forth discussions should be moved to PM. If you write a log that involves another player’s character extensively, send the log to the player for approval first. No one wants a character misrepresented in someone else’s log. If you’re planning a log that involves another player’s character extensively, you may want to consider contacting the player for a joint log. Finally, if you have a dispute with another player, take a simple two-step approach. Politely contact the player by PM and try to resolve the dispute yourselves; if this doesn't help the situation, notify the command staff. The best way to avoid disputes is to get to know your crewmates. How can you do this? Simple…send them PM's. But please, please be aware that each of us has “feelings.” Out-of-character attacks upon another crew member will not be tolerated. There is absolutely nothing wrong with two “characters” arguing, but make sure that each person understands it is a “character” interaction. If the hosts feel the interaction is disrupting the simulation, we will warn you via IM or email. Continued disruption will be dealt with under the Terms of Service. Problem Solving and Game Play In the Academy, you weren’t expected to do much—follow the chain of command, watch out for and react to ACTIONs, don’t lose focus of the mission, keep busy, and interact with others. You graduated past all of that. In the Advanced sims, with missions continuing from week to week, problems will tend to be a bit more complex, but this will offer you the opportunity to be more creative. You’re now expected (rather than encouraged) to chip in with observations and ideas about a mission. But you also have to be mindful of the limitations… Challenger’s missions are generally series of problems to be solved. You have the one central problem (first contact with a new species, exploring a new system, investigating an anomaly, etc) that must be ultimately solved, and several smaller problems that crop up along the way (not all of them related to the central problem). A common misconception by an inexperienced simmer is that the goal of simming is to solve these problems. Actually, the goal is to have fun role-playing the effort to solve the problems…possibly failing miserably along the way. In fact, not all missions end with a positive result, but as long as the players had fun, the game was a success. Sometimes a player will try to be a superhero, coming up with and executing the one action that quickly solves everything (usually involving the character performing a feat well beyond his/her capability or the use of some technobabbical innovation that no one understands). The problem with such a solution (aside from possibly not making sense) is that it will cut any given mission down to one or two sims, which means no one will have any opportunity to enjoy pitching in. You want to contribute ideas, but how can you do it without going overboard? Here are some suggestions: Practical solutions You may have noticed that the Challenger tech primer puts an emphasis on certain technology not being available, even if it was used briefly on Episode such-and-such of Enterprise. There’s a reason for this. If you go before your chief or the CO suggesting that we escape the nebula with a baryon/tetryon deflector pulse combined with a phaser beam modulated to an alpha wave frequency, you’re going to get some glazed expressions… at best. At worst, your idea will actually be used, the problem will be solved, and there will be no room to come up with anything more creative. Use of technobabble is appropriate to fit the Trek setting, but it should not be the sole solution to any problem. Rather, it should be used to embellish a more practical solution to a problem. Ask yourself… what, exactly, does the baryon/tetryon pulse do? Or the modulated phaser beam? Would they push the ship, create a protective bubble around the ship, open a rift that the ship could use as an anchor? Outline what they do, and your superior officers will be able to figure out what sorts of consequences would arise (more of those “smaller problems”) and how those consequences could be addressed. If you’re not sure yourself what they would do… you might not have the best solution. It’s often best to start by putting the problem in practical terms. If the ship is trapped in a nebula… what exactly does this mean? What smaller problems are posed? Can you draw analogies between the problem and real-life scenarios (maybe a car being stuck in mud during a hurricane)? When you have the problem in practical terms, come up with practical solutions, then put the solutions into a Trek context. Challenger doesn’t have a pulse-emitting deflector dish or phaser arrays… but it doesn’t matter. A practical solution can probably be carried out with different, even more crude, technology. Imperfect solutions Should your solution be the immediate answer to everything? Of course not. If it is, you have something to learn about teamwork. Simming is a team game, and the best players are the ones who find ways to involve others. When coming up with a solution, don’t say “I think it will work.” Instead, say “it could work, but there are a lot of elements that need to be addressed.” Maybe the baryon/tetryon pulse would create radiation harmful to the crew. Maybe the phaser modulations would require direct modification of the phaser arrays. Maybe the nebula would have to be monitored for dangerous particle concentrations. Make your solution full of even more smaller problems, and the rest of the crew will have ways to become involved. If another player is presenting a solution that isn’t full of holes, put some holes in it yourself (especially if you’re a department head). The solution wasn’t your idea, but your character is an expert in areas that the other player’s character is not, so you might know more about some of the problems that would be posed. On the other hand, don’t simply say “no, that won’t work.” That’s just negativity. Indicate that the solution could work but that there are a lot of gaps to fill first. Believable solutions Obvious enough and something that any Academy graduate should understand. You’re not going to move the comet off its collision course by detonating the system’s star, and you’re not going to send a command that makes the consoles in Engineering come alive and fight off the intruders as if Challenger has become Fantasia. Some solutions are not quite that exaggerated but are still outside the realm of possibility. On Challenger, using forcefields to seal off the ship would be a perfect example… forcefields aren’t in use on starships yet. But don’t even respond to a solution like this with “no, that won’t work.” Take the solution presented, acknowledge that the idea has merit even if the method does not, and offer alternatives. You’re not going to blow up the star… but maybe you can create a smaller shockwave significant enough to push the comet. You can’t make the Engineering consoles pop up and fight… but you might find a way to surround them with electricity fields. And there are always practical alternatives to using forcefields. One tree, many branches If a solution to a problem is being worked on, do you… a) lend a hand and/or your brain to help develop the solution or :) come up with a completely different solution? Saying “I’ve got a better idea” is a signal that you’re ignoring your teammates and trying to become the focus of attention. Contribute to solutions that have already been presented. If you’re a department head, develop the solution by presenting problems that need to be addressed (as indicated above). If you’re an assistant, and you’re not sure how you could pitch in to the problem solving effort, ask your superior officer what you can do to help. Don’t scrap your “better idea” entirely—maybe it can somehow be integrated into the solution already being developed, or maybe it can be saved for a similar problem further down the road. Imperfect Characters You’re sitting in the holding cell in the middle of the mysterious alien lab… but you’re not about to stand for this! You bust open a wall panel with your bare hands and disconnect the circuits inside, shutting down the force field. Out of your cell, you overpower the four guards, managing to dodge all of their pulse rifle blasts. You move over to the nearby computer terminal and start accessing all of the lab’s systems, even though this terminal is only meant to access the brig. You seal off all the doors, lock the aliens out of the computer, and send out a distress signal for Challenger to pick up. After a few seconds, you remember to release your crewmates from their cells. By the way, did I mention you’re a medical officer? This is called “god moding” and it’s inappropriate because if one character can do everything you don’t need any other characters. This was an exaggerated example, the kind of thing that would hold you back about 10 sims in the Academy (not to mention invoking a swift GM ACTION killing your character off). But god moding can always creep up in more subtle ways. Try to remember… you’re not here to solve problems, you’re here to have fun making the effort. Avoid the mindset that the sim is a challenge to be overcome and put more emphasis on what you’re not capable of doing. Flaws encourage teamwork and are a lot more fun to role-play. Telepath Players In regard to telepaths, please note that as with logs, permission must be obtained from other players before your character can sense any particular thought or emotion that is not explicitly spelled out on screen. For example, without permission, the following is not acceptable: Neptune> ::throws chair across the room:: Telepath> ::senses Neptune’s anger:: Since I simply may like throwing chairs, that is not acceptable. The following is acceptable: Neptune> ::is extremely angry:: Telepath> ::senses Neptune’s anger:: A Final Reminder on Role Playing This is a game, played for enjoyment; it is natural to assume that a variety of circumstances will occur. However, please understand that while this simulation is not real we still expect an atmosphere of realism. Thus, it is expected that your character will not engage in actions that exceed the bounds of what can be called realistic. There are no “super heroes,” just a team of dedicated officers. Likewise, the ship does not heal herself. Any damage the ship receives must be repaired. Please note, repairs take time, they are not instantaneous: no “magic bullets.” Finally, while 22nd century technology is quite advanced, Star Trek has its limits, and we work within them.

The Policy Packet is now available in download-able format. Challenger_Policy_Packet.pdf Challenger.doc Challenger.txt

Name: Neptune Rex Age: 47 Sex: Male POB: Geneva, Switzerland, Earth Ht: 5'9" Wt: 165 lbs Rank: Captain, UES Challenger Eyes: Brown Hair: Grey, Medium Length Father: Dune Rex, deceased Mother: Kim Rex, deceased Siblings: Hermes Rex (Male), Lunar Colonization Project Chief Scars: none Past History: Born the eldest of two children, Neptune grew up on the outskirts of Geneva. His father, Dune, served as Chief Diplomatic Advisor to the New European Union, centered in Geneva. Raised in an intellectual family, Neptune was taught the value of peace from his parents, both of which had been children during the Post-Atomic Horror Years. Neptune was always encouraged to seek peace as a first and only option. At age 17, Neptune entered Oxford University, in England studying Political Theory. He graduated top of his class summa cum laude. After graduation from Oxford, Neptune enrolled at the University of Cairo, Egypt to pursue a Doctorate in Government. At age 25, he graduated with a Doctorate of Government and a second degree in Linguistics. After graduation, he began teaching at the Univ. of Cairo. During mid-2140, Dune Rex had left the public sector for a position with Cochran Warp Technologies the leading research firm at the time. He served as Director of Governmental and Vulcan Relations. In 2143, Dune passed away of natural causes. Following the death of his father, Neptune returned home to Geneva for a short time. Shortly after which he resigned as a professor and assumed his father’s job. Neptune quickly impressed those with in the CWT hierarchy and worked his way up to Executive Vice-President of Public Relations. During his time at CWT he made many friends with in the Earth Government. Based on that and his track record at CWT, Neptune was tapped by Starfleet Command to become the Chief Ambassador to Andor in mid-2154. Recent Career History: Shortly after his assignment to Andor in June of 2154, diplomatic relations between Earth, Andoria, and Vulcan became strained when a Vulcan cruiser was destroyed at the hands of supposed Andorian agents. The entire matter was being escalated by the Challenger Project. The ensuing few weeks would be among the mostly deadly that Earth had perhaps ever faced, when the Andorians deployed an entire blockade around the Sol System. Before the blockade had been fully in place, Neptune returned to Earth, per orders of Earth Gov. He would be an instrumental part in the peaceful ending of the blockade. For his part in that matter, he was offered one of the prestigious positions aboard one of the most controversial ships in fleet history, a ship that because of his diplomacy had been finished in less than three months, a new record. The decision to leave the diplomatic corps was not an easy one for Neptune. His dealings with the Vulcans and Andorians had shown him that much work was still left to do. The wounds of the past had been reopened and it had nearly cost every man and woman in the Sol system their lives. But it was that very epiphany that lead him to take the position aboard the Challenger. His skills in both diplomacy and linguistics made him an asset to the Challenger program, and he was given the Starfleet Rank of Lieutenant. He accepted the position of Communications officer, and has been assigned to the vessel. After a tenure as Comms officer of the Challenger, Neptune was "asked" to become Governor of a new Earth Colony. In late 2156, Neptune’s commission was reactivated and he was assigned as a special agent for Starfleet on a mission into Klingon territory In the course of the mission, both the Executive and Commanding officers of the Challenger were lost, and Rex assumed command, but not before Captain Elias Moore instated him with the field promotion to Commander, and the provisional command of the UES Challenger. Upon the return of the crew to Challenger, UE Starfleet upheld the field promotion and placed Commander Rex in temporary command of the Challenger and dispatched them on a diplomatic mission to Sauria. When Challenger was recalled to Earth, the decision was made by the Admiralty to leave Rex in place, and promoted him to the rank of Captain. Psychological Profile: Neptune is what Keirsey sorter describes as the "Mastermind" or Rational Mastermind. A Brief Description of the typical mastermind: Of the four aspects of strategic analysis and definition, it is the contingency planning or entailment organizing role that reaches the highest development in Masterminds. Entailing or contingency planning is not an informative activity, rather it is a directive one in which the planner tells others what to do and in what order to do it. As the organizing capabilities the Masterminds increase so does their inclination to take charge of whatever is going on. It is in their abilities that Masterminds differ from the other Rationals, while in most of their attitudes they are just like the others. However there is one attitude that sets them apart from other Rationals: they tend to be much more self-confident than the rest, having, for obscure reasons, developed a very strong will. They are rather rare, comprising no more than, say, one percent of the population. Being very judicious, decisions come naturally to them; indeed, they can hardly rest until they have things settled, decided, and set. They are the people who are able to formulate coherent and comprehensive contingency plans, hence contingency organizers or "entailers." Masterminds will adopt ideas only if they are useful, which is to say if they work efficiently toward accomplishing the Mastermind's well-defined goals. Natural leaders, Masterminds are not at all eager to take command of projects or groups, preferring to stay in the background until others demonstrate their inability to lead. Once in charge, however, Masterminds are the supreme pragmatists, seeing reality as a crucible for refining their strategies for goal-directed action. In a sense, Masterminds approach reality as they would a giant chess board, always seeking strategies that have a high payoff, and always devising contingency plans in case of error or adversity. To the Mastermind, organizational structure and operational procedures are never arbitrary, never set in concrete, but are quite malleable and can be changed, improved, streamlined. In their drive for efficient action, Masterminds are the most open-minded of all the types. No idea is too far-fetched to be entertained-if it is useful. Masterminds are natural brainstormers, always open to new concepts and, in fact, aggressively seeking them. They are also alert to the consequences of applying new ideas or positions. Theories which cannot be made to work are quickly discarded by the Masterminds. On the other hand, Masterminds can be quite ruthless in implementing effective ideas, seldom counting personal cost in terms of time and energy. Dr. Ruth Berg, Chief Psychologist --Star Fleet Medical Educational Career: -age 17, Neptune entered Oxford University, in England studying Political Theory. -graduated top of his class summa cum laude. -enrolled at the University of Cairo, Egypt to pursue a Doctorate in Government. -age 25, he graduated with a Doctorate of Government and a second degree in Linguistics. -began teaching at the Univ. of Cairo. -resigned teaching post to take private sector job with Cochran Warp Technologies. Service History: -Appointed Chief Diplomatic Liaison to Andoria (2154) -Assigned to Challenger as Communications Officer (2154) -Commissioned to the Rank of Lt. [Commodore Moose] (2154) -Appointed as Governor to the Meteora Colony, Resigning Fleet Commission (2155) -Commission Reinstated, promoted to Rank of Commander, [Captain Elias Moore] (2156) -Assumes Provisional Command of UES Challenger (2156) -Promoted to the Rank of Captain [starfleet Command], Assumes full-time command of Challenger, (2156)

Neptune turned to exit the conference, along with the rest of his crew, when he felt a hand against his arm. He turned, to see the face of Admiral Noavonna. “Commander,” her baroque voice said gently. “The admiralty would like to speak to you.” A sudden wave of uncertainty overcame him. Had it been his speech during the meeting? Were they kicking him out of Starfleet? Perhaps they were going to ask him to be reactivated as an Ambassador. “Of course,” he said a bit weakly. “May I inquire as to the purpose?” Noavonna smiled, “Your future with Starfleet Command.” What was that supposed to mean? He hated cryptic responses like that one, but she was an Admiral, what was he to do? “When do they want to meet with me?” “Right now, if you’re available.” “Of course.” It was a short walk from the auditorium to the lift that carried the Commander and the Admiral to the much more private and smaller briefing room of Starfleet Command. After being nodded in by Noavonna, Neptune passed through the double the doors. The room was richly decorated with hues of navy blue and maroon. An ovular marble table rose out of the floor in the center of the room. Opposite him, three admirals sat looking over paperwork, barely aware that Neptune had entered their sanctum. After a few moments, a female seated in the center to table noticed him. “Be seated Commander.” He took his seat with a nod, “Thank you Admiral.” Admiral Scarlet Thompson looked towards her peers then to Neptune before speaking. “Commander,” she stated his rank for the second time in less than five minutes. “Quite honestly we’ll be keeping this as short as possible, I do hope you understand.” “I am sure you’re all very busy.” “That would be an understatement,” Thompson said with a slight, languid smile. “Commander, as you know, the fate of the Challenger command staff has been torrent and unfortunate. With Commander Cole’s accident and the loss of Captain Moore, it’s left us with quite the predicament.” Neptune merely nodded, allowing the Admiral to continue. “Which is why we’ve decided to keep you as commanding officer of the Challenger, and to promote you to the rank of Captain, effective immediately, with all the rights and privileges deserving of your new rank.” Opening and closing his mouth a few times, Neptune felt his cheeks flush. “Surely there are more qualified candidates.” “Candidly,” the Admiral responded flatly. “Yes, there are. However, due to our current situation with the Romulans, it would be difficult to train a completely new command staff.” He leaned back into his chair, letting all of that soak in; never in his wildest dreams did he ever believe that he would be the Captain of a Starship, let alone one of the lead starships of the United Earth Starfleet. He supposed though, that with the loss of Meteora, that Challenger was as close as home as he had anymore, after all he’d not lived on Earth in over three years. “Thank you,” he finally said. “May I inquire as to who will be my first officer?” Looking down to her stack of notes, Thompson nodded her head. “I realize that you’d suggested Lt. Commander Gamble as the new Executive officer…” “But,” he finished what he knew was coming. “But, Commander Gamble’s been out of the fleet almost as long as you have, to say nothing of the toes he stepped on when he went off to find himself.” Neptune pursed his lips, and released a sigh. “I do hope you’re not planning on throwing me some new Commander, with all the crews been through…” Thompson waved her hand, “On the contrary Captain,” she addressed him by the new rank. “The Admiralty has chosen Lt. Giovanni as your new Executive officer. Other than yourself and a few others, he’s been with the Challenger project from the beginning.” A broad smile crossed his lips, “That will be more than acceptable.” “Excellent,” Thompson said. “I’ll leave it you to give Commander Giovanni the good news.” Neptune nodded. “Is there anything else Admiral?” “Yes,” she said, her tone rapidly changing to more businesslike. “Starfleet Command and our Allies have made a decision on how best to respond to what we are now nearly sure is a Romulan attack on the Coalition. Fleet Admiral Gardner…” “Fleet Admiral?” She nodded. “The Admiral has assumed Command of all UES forces, and jointly with Tellerite Admiral Koresh is now the Supreme Allied Commander.” “I see,” Neptune said distantly. So much for giving peace a chance. “As I was saying,” she continued. “Fleet Admiral Gardner and Admiral Koresh have approved of a plan proposed by the Andorians to form a new defensive perimeter bolstered by coalition forces.” “A sound plan.” “Yes,” Thompson agreed. “However, several of our colonies are beyond the proposed line. And we’re not about to leave them to fend for themselves. “Which is why, Captain, that you will be leading a task force to evacuate one of those colonies.” “Are we planning on evacuating all the colonies beyond the new peremiter?” “Of course,” she said dismissively, though not harshly. “You however only need to worry about one colony.” “Which is?” “Our colony on Seti Lo VII.” “Understood.” “You’re task force consists of five Y-class transports, the NX-class Pathfinder and the Intrepid-classed Agamemnon and Ajax as well as the Andorian cruiser a’Naor.” Neptune nodded his understanding. “How many colonist are we talking?” “Just under 35,000,” the Admiral said softly. “You’ll be evacuating them to the nearest base behind the line, which is the Vulcan starbase in the Kheti Belt.” “35,000.” He stated flatly. “It will take more than one trip.” “We’re aware of that, Captain. We only have so many transports to go around. Get as many colonists as you can in the first trip, and then get back as quickly as you can.” “And if the Romulans decided to crash our party?” “Then you’re to defend yourselves,” she said sternly. “But do not engage if you are overmatched, the safety of our warships and our colonists are paramount.” “Understood.” “I also thought you’d like to know Captain,” she said. “The Vulcans arrived at Meteora a few hours ago…there was nothing left. I am very sorry.” He took a deep breath. “Thanks.” “In seventy two hours, their will be an official declaration of war upon the Romulan Empire from the Coalition governments—we want your ship ready to go by then, Captain. You’ll rendezvous with your task force in orbit of Pluto as soon as the announcement is over. Understood.” “Yes, sir.” “Then Godspeed Captain.”

MISSION BRIEF: The Seniors officers (that's you guys) of most ships have been called to a 'town-meeting' of coalition forces to discuss the 'Romulan' problem facing us. 091706.pdf 091706.txt

Rex found himself amid a surplus of Starfleet, Andorian, Tellerite and Vulcan command officers. Not something he’d exactly prepared himself for, but not an unwelcome sight; in these times of peril it was comforting to see officers of all four fleets able to come together with out trying to kill each other. The room was partitioned into sections, placing each of the various species in their own area; Rex found his seat in the UES section, next to an empty seat marked “Hernandez.” Thinking for a few moments, he recalled that the Captain of the Columbia, which had been dispatched to investigate the sudden silence of Earth Outpost 4, was named Hernandez; apparently they expected her back in time for the meeting. At the fore of the room, top brass from all four fleets sat talking amongst themselves grimly—whatever news they had for them, it was as bleak as Gardner had made it sound in his communiqué. With most of the room seated, a Starfleet Admiral, Rex recognized her as Vice-Admiral Krista Naovonna, stepped to the podium in the center of the brass table at the head of the room on the raised platform. “Good evening,” her dialect distinctly Russian, “This briefing will now commence. I remind you this briefing is classified.” She looked down to a set of notes before beginning. “I am sure many of you are wondering why you are here, and why you’re being briefed with your peers in the various space agencies of the Coalition. To answer that question I shall first turn you over to Andorian Admiral Nuzin.” With a polite nod, the tall, blue Andorian took Naovonna’s place behind the podium. “Thank you Admiral,” he said firstly. “In the interests of time, I will, as our human friends would say ‘cut to the chase.’” There was a small amount of laughter about the room, briefly cutting the solemnity of the room. Smiling slight Nuzin continued. “In light of events that Admiral Gardner of the United Earth will be briefing you on shortly, the various government of the Coalition of Planets voted unanimously in an emergency summit held just hours ago to form a joint defensive force to protect our vested interests in intergalactic peace. To further that aim, it was decided to hold this meeting in order to foster unity between our various command units…” The Andorian continued for a few more minutes, but Rex found himself more interested in what Gardner was going to say. An event that would cause the Coalition governments to act unilaterally meant that it was worse than Rex had imagined. There was only one event he could think off the top of his head… “Again,” Gardner said, “I extend my thanks to my Andorian colleague for his introduction and explanatory statement.” Rex looked over noticing Hernandez’s seat was still empty before looking back to the podium. “Unfortunately I do not have the pleasure of announcing news of peaceful co-existence and mutual cooperation between sovereign neighbors, allies and friends.” Gardner’s tone had grown darker than usual, and the room whispered quietly in angst. “Rumors have begun to spread that a number of Coalition positions in the outlying territories have been compromised—those rumors are completely true.” A pit had begun to form in Neptune’s stomach by then, and he swallowed hard. “War,” he whispered softly. “Approximately seven days ago,” Gardner continued. “The Vulcan relay station on Khaz Minor lost contact with the UES base EO-4. In response, Starfleet Command dispatched the UES Columbia to investigate. According to our last contact with Columbia the entire station had been ransacked by an alien force, and the entire crew of EO-4 butchered.” Silence, followed by more whispers. “We’ve been unable to raise Columbia since their last transmission, and they are presumed MIA.” Unconsciously Rex’s eyes flittered towards the empty seat. “Missing,” he said. “Now I understand.” “This event alone,” Gardner continued on, “would not precipitate this meeting. However, less than 72-hours ago three more Coalition positions have befallen a similar fate to EO-4, utterly razed.” The whispering had grown louder. Finally a voice echoed towards the podium, “Do we know who’s responsible?” Holding a hand to the collected commanders, asking for silence Gardner shook his head slightly. “Not officially,” he said flatly. “However intelligence experts for the Andorian Empire and Vulcan analysts have suggested that this the work of the Romulan Star Empire.” Again silence. The Romulans? Surely they couldn’t mount such a strike against the Coalition, could they? Before Gardner could continue, Naovonna appeared once more, saying something quietly into his ear. After replying to her and giving a comitial nod, he exited abruptly, leaving Naovonna at the podium “I am afraid that we will have to adjourn this briefing,” she said calmly. “However, there will be a town-meeting session of Coalition forces held in a few hours. You may contact your superior officers for more information. I remind you, this briefing is classified. Good day.”

MISSION BRIEF> The Challenger is nearing the Earth system, where just about every UES vessel is in the system, including a large number of Vulcan, Andorian, Tellerite and Rigellian ships." OOC Fun: Bill_Gamble: #::Walks into his mothers house, seeing that nobody is home:: Hello??? Anybody here?" Cptn_Neptune: << ACTION> A yellow-haired woman in a yellow and black jump suite looks at Bill:: hello...bill. >> Dave_Grey: <<LOL>> Dave_Grey: <<RUN, Bill! RUN!>>" Sean_Xiang: <<::DED::> Cmdr_Giovanni: <<LOL>> Bill_Gamble: <<ROFL!!!>> Bill_Gamble: << ACTION> ::The sexy women does the nurple pincher heart-stab judo punch, killing Bill:: >>" Cptn_Neptune: << ROFL >> Dave_Grey: <<He's dead, Jim!>>" 091006.txt

I actually have a fairly unique perspective to 9/11. Unlike most Americans and indeed the world, I didn't get to watch the entire affair unfold on television. At the time, my school was in the proccess of replacing the entire wiring system in the school and had not gotten to replacement of tv cables. In fact only a handfull of rooms even had internet. So because of that, no one knew anything was wrong untill the towers had started to fall. I remember when I first found out. A friend of mine who has a lot of family in NYC passed me in the hall ways, I was late to my next class, and she was just crying her eyes out. I asked her what was wrong, and she just said that "there's something really wrong happening, someone's crashed planes into the WTC." At first I didn't believe it. I thought it was a hoax. So her and I went into the nearest room that had internet and asked to use the computers. I brought up CNN.com. My heart fell to the bottom of my stomach as the picture that has been etched in my mind since that fateful day materialized on screen--the plane crashing into the WTC. The rest of the day was a wash. Unable to watch live, we resorted to listening on the radio, gathered in various class rooms. There was of course great concern among everyone because a lot of people in my area have friends and family who work in the DC area, as well as a few kids who's parents and family are from the NYC region. To this day I've seen very little of the actual 9/11 footage. And I don't think I want too. The image I saw, that fatefull morning on CNN left enough of an impression on me. With that said, as we reach this somber occasion, I think it is best that we not dwell on those events that we can no longer change, but instead look to the future with hope. 9/11 is a day that has forever altered the course of history and the world that my Generation, and my children's generation will live in. And though nothing can bring back those who died, they can live forever in our hearts and in our minds. So I will close with the same sentiment that Valae shared earlier, let us celebrate life, not death. May we all walk foreward towards future filled with hope.

Contributed by Sar'Vek t'Jhiin A glowing console sparked a few times in the otherwise foreboding darkness of the remains of Earth Outpost Four. Highlighted against the eerie quiet of the command center, a few voices crackled over built-in communicators within the EV helmets of a small Starfleet team. Before them was a scene of utter carnage; cables and blackened metal strewn haphazardly about, blasted from their previous lodgings. Spotlights shined onto the charred bodies of the former communications relay's late personnel. "Looked like one of them was maybe trying to record something when they got hit." "Poor devils never knew what hit them." "I suppose we should let the captain know," one of the officers murmured, tapping the comm controls on his arm. ~ "And no energy residues?" Erika Hernandez, commander of the UES Columbia, leaned over her communications officer's console, brow furrowed. Good God ... what were the Romulans like if they'd enact this sort of massacre? But then again, they were still only drawing a few rough assumptions. "A few faint traces. Some tachyons, looks like something stemming from some kind of disrupting weapon." Smoothing a few errant pieces of hair back into place, the brunette sighed. "Didn't Enterprise find tachyon traces in the Romulans' minefield and the prototype vessel they sent out a year back or so?" "That sounds right. Not entirely sure, though." So they had their shadow of a doubt as to who caused this nightmare dropped from four percent to three percent. Lovely. "Anything still operating there?" The security chief took a seat at one of the few cleared chairs, keying a few commands into the monitor. He surveyed the brief flashes of data that crossed the screen before shaking his head, sadly. "Maybe some of the most recent data entries. We can try to get an engineering team on it to tap in; maybe access the sensor arrays if we're lucky." Hernandez nodded, reaching to disconnect from the channel as she spoke. "I'll send one over, Chief. See if they can do anything with life support, too. Have the deceased sent to medical to confirm the exact cause of death. Columbia out." Turning again to the operations officer, she sighed. "Get on it, Dobson. Have Biggs and Stone sent over." Quietly making her way back to her seat, she silently let her head hit the back of the chair. ~ A Romulan bird of prey glided silently through the vacuum of space, catching the light of distant suns across the dark colorings that designated that the vessel was of the Star Empire. Gleaming marks tracing downwards across the 'body' of the raptor-like ship, a few high-level phase cannon were situated at strategic points on the hull. The RES Flamesword was a bold declaration of the Empire's strength; a visual reminder of greatness. The Oira was quiet, even quieter than the regular level of peace that Enarrain Uhan t'Kaelan demanded on a day-to-day basis. Hands neatly folded to one side of her lap, she looked the tactician currently on-shift. "Has the Lloann'na vessel disengaged its activities at their facility?" she asked in clear Rihan, raising an eyebrow. "Na, Rekkhai. They're still holding their position at the outpost." The officer scowled slightly at the results of his scans. "I'm reading multiple lifesigns aboard the station as well, Lhhei." Nodding sharply, t'Kaelan drew herself up a trifle straighter before casting her gaze towards the helmsman. "Take us in, Arrain. Maintain stealth." ~ "We have something, Sir." Erika raised an eyebrow, looking slightly to her right and behind her at the young lieutenant manning her tactical station. Bright kid -- had the brain and quick thinking of a professional with the reflexes of the young. Good smile; good heart. "What is it, Alex?" "I... I don't know." "Don't know?" she asked, briefly rolling her eyes. "Anything more specific you can give me than that?" Gods, they always had to do that. She didn't doubt there was a 'something more specific', because even when serving on a starship, there was some unwritten rule that you'd always chop up your announcements to preserve the drama in a situation. As if there weren't enough dramatic elements already -- maybe they didn't ever even realize they were doing it. Schultz shook his head, vehemently. "Nothing." Not a pronouncement that there had been no occurrence meriting attention, but the confused statement that where once there may have been something, the scanners were turning up blank. "It's crazy, Captain. For a minute there, I thought I was getting some metalloid readings a little ways from here. Nothing now. No ships, no objects." Hernandez paused, running over a few of the options in her mind. "Run high-definition scans through Science?" "Already done. Still not a thing." Not responding to Tactical again, she looked over at the chief engineer and OPS, huddled around the latter's console. "How's repiecing those logs coming, boys?" she asked. "It'd be nice to know what they knew, or at least know what they didn't know before they got hit." "Going to be a little longer," the engineer explained, apologetically. "We have a fragment here and there, but nothing substantial enough to be utilized." "Keep at it for now. Can you run a clip on the viewer of what you do ha--" "Captain, there's something jamming our communications. I've lost the link with the EO-4 computer." Hernandez looked sharply at the ensign, any annoyance at being interrupted instantaneously replaced by concern. "Jamming? There's nothing in the vicinity." Shaking his head rapidly, the ensign motioned to one of the displays on his console. "Every frequency's fried. Can't get anything in or out." "Something's... forming off our port bow." Utterly perplexed, Hernandez moved a step closer to her seat, staring at the image off the bow. A hazy form of a craft slowly phased into view on the main viewer, unfamiliar markings highlighting various parts of the ship. It hung in space, dangerously hovering near the Columbia, as more vessels -- dozens more vessels -- materialized around. "Polarize the hull plating," she announced, voice deceptively calm. "We're not sure these are the ones who attacked the outpost; we won't be the first ones to fire." God knew how getting oneself involved in an interstellar incident could ruin a day. "Nothing..." Schultz whispered. "They're just... there. It's almost as if they're waiting for something." "Maintain hull polarization. Non-invasive scans." ~ "We have them on our targeting sensors, Rekkhai." "Prepare to fire on my command, Erei'Riov." ~ Fingers clasping around the armrest on her chair, she gulped, hesitantly licking her lips before looking down, engaging the shipwide comm. "Tactical, Red Alert. If these bastards so much as twitch a muscle, I want to know. They're going to learn that we won't stand for this -- that the Coalition won't stand for this. It starts and ends here. They will see that they will not have a chance to repeat the statement they made here." Lifting her chin proudly, she stared at the massive Romulan ships. "May history never forget the names Columbia or Earth Outpost Four." A few beats of quiet before Schultz spoke, his throat dry. "They're powering up weapons, Sir." ~ tr'Kaelan stalked through the corridors of her vessel, pausing in front of main Dheno. The doors parted, allowing her entrance as she straightened slightly. What few Lloann'su survivors had made it through the battle were sprawled in a few cells, clumped together with no apparent organization. Pausing in front of one of the small holding areas, motioning towards a dark-haired woman in the rear, knelt over one of the weakest-looking humans. "Lloann'na..." she called, almost bored. She cast an angered look over one shoulder at the alien, pushing off the floor to stand. "Why?" "We have things to discuss." "Important, no doubt," she replied sarcastically before looking back at the dying officer. "I can't leave them." t'Kaelan smiled, a touch too darkly. "Oh, ie, au can. Na ever fear, Lloann'na." She temporarily deactivated the forcefield, motioning her out with a disruptor. Hernandez glared at the slightly demonic-looking alien. Maybe this was why Vulcans never smiled; they were too damn sinister looking when they did. "Or what, you'll shoot me like you did them? I'm not leaving my crew." "Ie, I'll shoot you. But au will na have the pleasure of dying from your injuries. Out." Her mouth tightened, but she carefully stepped over the legs of another officer stretched out on the floor, and approached the Romulan. Uhan smiled, motioning her ahead with a swift jab of the disruptor barrel. "Good th'ann... au follow orders well. What is aur name?" She stumbled a pace, then recovered and straightened proudly. "You can call me captain," she told her curtly, stepping away from her weapon. "I think I'll call au "yy'a", unless au give me another name." The word meant nothing to her, but the weapon being waved was a pretty good clue. "Look, either shoot me or get to the point here." Motioning her into a room off the main corridor, she pushed her to a padded metal chair. "I'll take my time." Not being stupid, Hernandez knew what was coming, and decided that keeping this woman talking was her best bet. "I don't suppose you people have anything like the Geneva Convention?" she offered flippantly. She cocked her head before picking up an electronic data storage device. "Na translation is working, but I doubt that we have anything in common with something of aur's, na." "So you don't believe in keeping your prisoners from bleeding to death in your cells, then." "Not necessarily, if it's useful enough. We have a fine janitorial staff." She activated the unit, smirking. "What was the designation of the vessel we demolished?" "The good ship Lollipop," Hernandez snapped back. "Damn you, get a medic in there to tend my crew!" "Lollipop..." She smiled; apparently the translators had given a fair Rihan approximation. "I'm sure." t'Kaelan appeared to consider the demand for a moment before replying. "After I have some questions answered, perhaps I will..." "You people are inhuman!" Bemusement shone in her eyes. "I do na believe I ever claimed to be io of aur pathetic little race. Aur vessel's name, Y'ya-io?" "Why does it matter?" she said wearily. "It's scrap metal now." "Perhaps I have an affinity for scrap metal," she offered by way of an explanation. "It wasn't a request." She spoke softly enough that the human would have to strain to hear her. What harm could it do? "Columbia." "Columbia." She considered the name for a moment before shrugging. "And aur name." "Hernandez. Erika Hernandez." Pronouncing the name in a completely Romulan accent, Uhan smiled. "Such a delicate, pretty name. The organization you represent." "You blew my ship to hell and back and you don't even know who we are?" Erika came half to her feet in anger. "God damn it, you trigger-happy bastards!" A cruel laugh escaped before her fist hit the other woman back to her seat, drawing red blood. "Before au insult my parentage, please remember that au are being recorded. I merely asked as a precaution in the event some question arose as to... Columbia's origins." "Record this," Hernandez snarled, making a very old and very crude human gesture. "I assume there's some significance to that." Uhan took a step back, studying her. "There are exactly re ways we can go about this. Io would be by putting out my janitorial staff even more than they'll already be taxed, and settle this attitude problem of aur's in blood. But that would make a mess, and I do na like messy things. The other would be for au to answer my questions very rationally, and au and all aur surviving crew will be treated by my maenakir and allowed to survive." She subsided into the chair, mulling this over. As much as she would like to wrap her hands around the woman's throat -- how was it possible they were more arrogant than Vulcans? -- her crew came first. So, "Very well," she said quietly. Good. She was learning. In which case, a fine opportunity to attempt to gather some intelligence. "How many sizeable vessels does aur government currently have in operation?" She treated the alien to a contemptuous look. "Exactly how many, I am not certain. Our fleet is expanding by the day," she said proudly, "and we've been on deep-space assignment for a while now." Uhan gave her a condescending, saccharine smile. "Not certain. That's very nice. Are au, by chance, trying to impress me? It's rather comical if you are," she added with an air of distaste. "You wanted the facts." "Truth, na boasting." "Very well. And how long, would au estimate, until aur troops can deploy into a strike against us?" "We're not interested in striking against au -- I mean you." Hernandez shook her head briefly, and continued, "We seek peaceful exploration and coexistence." Uhan paused from her questioning long enough to backhand the human. Did she take t'Kaelan for a fool? "Au think we'd actually believe that?" She rubbed her cheek. "Paranoid, aren't you? Believe it or not, some people in the galaxy believe in talking before shooting." "Na in our experience." "Well, you've had a crappy life and I'm sorry, but it doesn't change reality." Sparing her a blow, the Romulan smiled thinly. "Au have na sense of self-preservation. Are all aur kind this way?" "Nope," she quipped, smiling at the woman. "Au're just lucky." Hernandez found herself slammed into the back of the chair, whiplash effect working on her neck. "Impudent brat. And that I ever wondered why we attacked aur outpost? Au humans are na thing more than an infestation in this quadrant." She spat a little blood off to one side, and worked her jaw cautiously. Nothing broken. "Funny, we seem to be getting along fine with everyone else. Maybe you need to learn to play nicely." She ignored the human, approaching a cabinet at the far end of the room, removing a storage container before moving to a basin. The spigot churned out a few liters before t'Kaelan discontinued the flow, adding the contents of the bottle before turning to smile at Hernandez. "Au seem overly fond of words, don't au?" "Hey, you're the one that wanted to have this little chat." The captain shrugged. "Na chat, na. Answers. Na... I did na wish to chat with au. But au've thoroughly disgusted and annoyed me, something I didn't believe was possible for such a lowly inferior to do." A slightly kinder tone caught her eye as she dropped a cloth into the basin before carrying it to the human. "Perhaps au wish to clean aur wounds. After all, we are na complete savages. I would hate for au to have that impression." Hernandez snorted. "Am I supposed to trust you? Do I look that stupid?" "Actually, au do." She sneered. "Look in a mirror sometime." "Were we discussing au, and na me?" She looked away for a moment, another thought coming to her mind. "What was the closest vessel from aur Coalition to the outpost we dispensed with?" "Columbia." "And other than you?" she prodded. "We're explorers," she snapped, leaning forward to get in the Romulan's face. "We don't travel in pack like hyenas." “Na na, of course na." She picked up the data store, punching a few controls before smiling too-pleasantly. "Well, then, my dear explorer, I do believe that I've asked all of the questions I meant to. Au may rise." "And my crew?" She bit the words out through a clenched jaw. "In limbo, at the moment." Pointing to the door with her chin, she waited for Hernandez to make the first move. Erika stood up, stepping away from the chair slowly. "You said you'd send a doctor," she reminded the Romulan. "Perhaps I will. Perhaps na." "Not much for keeping your word, are you?" "Na with a Lloann'na," she admitted. "Move." She headed for the door. "Someone should explain the concept of 'honor' to you people. I would also include things like not attacking peaceful outposts without warning." "We have honor, fool," she replied, a slight edge on her voice. "It's honor that compels us to activities that might otherwise be deemed unthinkable. Honor drives us for the glory of the Empire." "Plenty of people in our history have talked like that," Hernandez returned. "And you know, every last one of them fell out of power." "Perhaps they should have overseen the people under their control more thoroughly. I doubt our visions of power are alike, th'ann." She paused before the cell without opening the door, glancing inside. "Your species requires sustenance to survive?" "Generally." "That's something of a shame..." "You're planning to starve us now, too? Why am I not surprised." "Oh no, I wouldn't dream of something so barbaric. But why waste resources on prisoners that will be executed upon their arrival on ch'Rihan? We have the answers we were looking for, and our mission was a success. We do na need au." "Of course." Hernandez smiled grimly. "Such... brutal efficiency." "May the Elements smile kindly upon au in Vorta'Vor." She looked at one of the guards, briefly deactivating the translator as she spoke in rapid Rihan. "But, 'Captain'," she said, raising a disruptor, "As io enarrain to another, I would spare au the fate of aur crew." Her eyes slid to the weapon, then back to the Romulan's face. She waited, silently. Uhan fired, her expression not changing as the human crumpled to the ground. A few muffled cries of alarm came from within the cell, various Starfleet personnel shocked and horrified. "Bring the corpse when au vent the rest of them. We do na need any of them alive." ~ The Firesword on course not for ch'Rihan as she’d told the now dead Hernandez but instead en route to regroup with the First Fleet, tr'Kaelan sat within the Enarrain's Chambers, keying in a channel to Galae Command. An aristocratic visage greeted her as she inclined her head, slightly. "Khre'Riov," she murmured, politely. "Success, Enarrain?" "Success, Rekkhai..." - Romulan Glossary - Arrain - equivalent Romulan rank to Lieutenant ch'Rihan - Romulus Dheno - security Enarrain - commanding officer Enarrain's Chambers - Ready Room En'Riov - equivalent Romulan rank to Admiral Erei'Riov - equivalent Romulan rank to Commander ie - yes io - one lhhei - ma'am Lloann'na - Starfleet maenakir - doctors na - no; not oira - bridge re - two rekkhai - Sir Rihan - Romulan y'ya - dead; kill

Cptn_Neptune: For those of you have read my log, and those who haven't the Romulans have clearly announced that "All your base are belong to us" though we don't know that...*yet*... MISSION BRIEF: The Challenger crew has returned to the ship, with plans to disembark in a few days. 090306.txt

I hope his last words were "Crickey!" ;)

From the Help Page. the official requirements: I think the International Sim is prima face a good idea, and something that council might want to explore more fully, but not something I see happening like, next tuesday. ;)

The last rays of light slipped behind the planet as Station EO-4 slid into the darkness of night. Aboard the station, all was relatively calm; business in the mess hall started to pick up as the crewmen shuffled through the buffet line for evening meal. Ensign John Karmeckie was busy trying to score a date with a fellow Ensign, failing miserably; three seats over Lieutenant Gordie Jewel toyed with the latest analysis of the science teams attempt at real-time subspace communication with the Alpha Centauri colony. A few decks up, Kayla Howell leaned back into a long shower after a less than enthusing shift. Life as normal aboard EO-4. The command center also radiated normalcy; Lt. Commander Justinian Qyoto stepped softly off the singular lift on the entire station and headed towards the Central Command and Operations console that served as the nerve center for the entire base. I was late. I’d overslept—how you over sleep for an 1800 shift is beyond me, but I did it anyway. Of course, it didn’t really matter Commander Santos and Graeling had already descended below decks for their evening meal. Being late for my shift had started to become a regular occurrence, but like I said, no one cared if you were a few minutes late. Why the hell would it matter? Not like anything happens on the edge of forever. Let me qualify that—nothing had ever happened before. EO-4 was a communications relay station with some high-tech sensors packed into a dozen decks and dropped into orbit of a shrouded, barely M-class planet whose atmosphere was thick enough to cut with a knife. When we first came on-line, the Vulcans swung by to check up on us pretty often, making sure we hadn’t gotten ourselves into any trouble; but since the shake up on their homeworld, their visits became less and less frequent. ‘n’fact I don’t think I’d seen one of those pointy-eared green-bloods in over three months. Normally, I just sat at the CCO console reading the three week old news feeds from Earth. Like I said, being on the frontier was pretty boring; which is probably why it’s still so vivid of a memory. Karmeckie had finally given up on wooing his prize and had moved on to sulking in the corner, playing with his food. Funny the things that stand out the most. All I wanted was to have a nice date with her. God she was pretty. An Italian girl too, my mom would have loved her. Ensign Maria Perenilli. I think she was from down in Sicily somewhere—I’d made up my mind though, I wasn’t going to ask her out anymore, but when I came in, and saw her…I couldn’t help myself. “Hey Maria,” I said. I was real smooth this time too, didn’t clam up like last time. But she still didn’t give me the time of day till I sat down right across from her. “Why don’t you let me cook you a real meal, not this crap.” Everyone knows I am a damned fine cook—momma and nunny wouldn’t have it any other way—but she just rolled her eyes. “How many times do I have to tell you Kar-Mac.” Kar-Mac, that’s what all the Engineers called me. “I don’t date grease monkeys like you.” Grease monkey. What’s with those science types anyway? I mean, it’s not like you can be an idiot and know how to fix a serial bypass plasma inducer. Didn’t she know she was driving a stake through my heart? Just one date, that’s all I wanted. So there I was, playing with my crappy food from the crappy mess hall cook. I don’t even know what it was supposed to be—some kind of chicken dish. Which was when I made up my mind: I didn’t care how pretty she was, if she would rather eat this slop than eat some fine homemade Italian food she wasn’t worth the trouble. That was when something else caught my eye. Looking over the headlines from the three week old news feeds Qyoto thought of Earth, and the comforts of home. The frontier life meant it took several weeks before any message from home or to home would arrive—hard on a newly married man. I don’t know why I put the paper down. Useless as it was—the headline on the sports page about a fight between two Andorians was no less than two weeks old—it was still more entertaining than watching sensors beep. In retrospect, it was a good thing I did put the paper down when I did—the long range sensor net had picked up something strange. “I didn’t know we were due for a comet in this sector.” “We’re not Kar-Mac,” Perenilli chided him as he she made her way over to the window. “Then what’s that?” I think, down deep, she really liked me and just didn’t want to admit it. I don’t know why though. Things would have been much easier if she’d just said something, instead of hiding her true feelings for me. I know she had to have them, why else would she go out of her way to make fun of me? “Now that’s interesting,” Qyoto said aloud, looking over the sensor readings. “Tenal, see if you can match that with anything in the database.” At first I wasn’t completely sure what the anomaly on the sensors was; it didn’t match anything the computer could identify, and it certainly didn’t have an ion trail so it wasn’t a ship. Well I didn’t think it was a ship anyway, not at first. Perenilli positioned herself nearer the glass, squinting to see what Kar-Mac was pointing too. “That’s weird…” “What?” “Hey Jewel,” she looked over to the Lieutenant a few tables away. “Come take a look at this…” Then there was Jewel. He was a good guy, don’t get me wrong, but he was also my main competition for Maria. He was tall, quite, geeky, handsome…everything I wasn’t...’cept maybe the handsome part. She just had to call him over, like it’d be the end of the world if I were right. No she just had to go and prove me wrong. “I’ve never seen anything like this before, sir.” Tenal said, blinking at his console. My gut instinct was to get Santos and Graeling up there. It wasn’t long after I paged them that both Commanders joined me. What ever the anomaly was, it was moving towards us. “What do you make of it,” Santos said looking to Graeling and Qyote. “I’ve never seen anything quite like it, myself.” “It should be in visual range soon enough,” Graeling said tapping a console, bringing up some information. “Suggest yellow-alert.” “Agreed,” Santos nodded, looking towards Qyote. “Yellow-Alert.” Everything after that—it’s a big blur in my mind. The next thing I clearly remembered was hunkering down underneath a fallen bulkhead as the torpedoes slammed into the hull. Santos and Greaeling were long gone…I can’t remember much, probably lack of blood. I think my leg’s broken, and I am pretty sure I have a concussion, took a hard fall during the last attack. They seem to have moved on. I can’t move to well though…I think everyone else up here’s dead… Why couldn’t it have just been a stray comet? I’ve asked myself that a dozen times. I guess Maria not going on a date with me is a little trivial now, but it’s the only thing I can think of really. God, I am laying here in a pool of my own blood, Maria and Jewel a few feet away from burned beyond recognition and all I can think of is how she wouldn’t go on a date with me. I hope if you’re reading this, you won’t…what’s that...it sounded like weapons fire. If you’re reading this…I am dead. The attackers beamed over; checked for the dead. I don’t think they saw me. I didn’t get a good look at them; they had on some kind of helmet protecting their face. They shot the bodies they found, bastards. If you’re reading this, promise me you won’t let this…oh hell…they’re back…

I loved Babylon 5, probabbly more than I like Trek. In fact, I try to emulate the same feel Babylon5 had with my Advanced games, but anyway, Londo is awesome and two of his quotes are among my favs. "I suppose there'll be a war now, hmm? All that running around and shooting at one another. You would have thought sooner or later it'd go out of fashion." -Londo Mollari And another by Londo. "There was a time when this whole quadrant belonged to us! What are we now? Twelve worlds and a thousand monuments to past glories. Living off memories and stories, and selling trinkets. My god, man! We've become a tourist attraction. 'See the great Centauri Republic - open 9 to 5 - Earth time'." Londo Mollari

While I think Sci-Fi would do "Enterprise" more justice, I don't see that happening. A) Because Paramount e.g. CBS will be reluctant to give up the rights to be the publisher of "their" franchise. :D The show sucked. {so says the Captain of Challenger} Unlike Farscape, which actually was decent. Maybe they could a Romulan War miniseries?

Mission Brief: Do they get the shuttle back, and do they want to tell Rex it got twoed if they don't. Meanwhile final preperations are underway to head back to Earth. 082006.txt

Rounding the horizon, Eisn, homesun of the Romulan Empire, sent streaking rays of light into space bouncing off the glinting hulls of the vaunted Romulan Star Navy. Hundreds of starships gathered, forming great lines. The glittering rays hit the observation deck of the Imperial Fleet Yard Command Center. Admiral Destorie N’Dak stood tall, shielding his eyes from the lights. His heart swelled with growing pride as he looked upon the culmination of his plotting, planning, and work, the Romulan war machine marching, ready to grab destiny by the reins. True the Romulans had fielded warfleets of some size before in their long history of conflict, but never one as large as the one they assembled now, and it had only one purpose—destroying Earth and the Coalition. At the lead of the forming panzerkeil formations were the pride of the Imperial Design Directorate, the t’Liss-class Warbird. Modern in every way possible, their sleek, predatory lines and shimmering green hulls struck fear into those who opposed the Empire. On the wings, the elder, though still deadly, heavy cruisers of D’Saehen and R’Shaoi-classes took their place. Fighters swarmed throughout, as a myriad of light cruisers, frigates, and corvettes took their place. A long shadow cast itself over the observation deck, causing the seasoned Admiral to lift his head. Overhead, the pride of the Romulan Empire moved into position; the lead of her class, the Victory was the largest ship ever constructed by the Romulans. Nearly 900 meters long, the Battle carriers held hundreds of small fighters and drones and were the single most heavily armed ships in the Romulan arsenal. They did have a small weakness though, they were slow—taking nearly an hour to power up their warp drive units. None the less, all seven of the breathtaking ships took their positions at the base of the formations. Below on Romulus, thousands of soldiers marched forward in rank formation towards waiting troop transports. Romulus was going to war, and the whole of the Empire watched either in person or on live video feed with a growing sense of pride. “Your shuttle awaits you,” a young voice broke the Admiral’s train of thoughts. “Very well,” N’Dak said without turning. “I’ll see you at the docking port; inform the Victory’s commander I will be arriving shortly.” From the shadows of the room, a teary-eyed woman emerged. “Must you go, Destorie?” “My destiny lies before me, e’lev.” “Then promise you will return to me.” “I will promise only to return in victory,” he turned to face his bondmate. “For I shall take death before surrender, and I will not return in defeat.” "May the Elements guide you..."