Mreh K'hal

I figured that was the episode in question, and that's one of those that seems to run counter to every other episode's technobabble about what happens in the reaction chamber. Geordi had the RC open more than once on TNG and there was never any other mention of having to deal with something like that, so that may be one of those that only happens when the warp core is operating inefficiently or the dilithium crystal is degrading, or can be thrown out of the technical book as an inconsistent plot device. If it routinely created such a dangerous substance you'd expect Starfleet to have a security detail staring at the thing 24/7 and the Maquis would've been trying to slip into every starship in the quadrant to get some.

The M/AM reaction doesn't create any waste materials, though depending on the efficiency of the unit may waste energy. When a particle of matter collides with a particle of anti-matter, the process completely turns the fuels to energy, hence its use as a power source. The dilithium crystals control the 1:1 intermix reaction, and the energy created is used to turn another flow of deuterium into plasma, which is routed to the warp nacelles or through the ship to be tapped (though why Starfleet engineers always seem to route an EPS conduit right behind/under/over manned consoles escapes me). Its much more fuel intensive and inefficient compared to an AQS, though the problem of post-reacton containment result is equally difficult on a ship with AQS, which creates highly energized quantum particles as the means of energy which need to be routed/stored and tapped outside of the actual AQS unit. Either way there is post-reaction containment of energetic particles, though plasma would probably be safer than highly energized quantum particles. Some of the other hazardous materials involved besides plasma involved are the fuels themselves (deuterium by itself isn't any more of a problem than standard hydrogen, but in chemical reactions can create toxic compounds, heavy water for one, and of course anti-deuterium is just not good to have around normal matter because of the anti-matter effect). The coolant required to keep the equipment around the reaction core itself from immolating is the most toxic material involved, witnessed of course by the melting of the Wicked Witch... erm, Borg Queen in First Contact. The coolant seems to be an issue that engineers should try to fix using a different technology, as you'd think they'd be beyond having to install a radiator by the 24th Century. More advanced use of force fields or something else entirely. Advantage there goes to the AQS system, which uses field containment and structural integrity features only. The containment of the anti-matter itself is an issue, but the danger between anti-matter containment and a quantum singularity containment seem to be about equal, as loss of containment of either equals boomage, and use the same basic principles with different configurations. Containment of either takes up a good chunk of the energy produced by either of the power systems. The advantage of a M/ARA is that it can be shut down, while you're stuck with an AQS whether you like it or not. As for the fuel cargo, even though deuterium is heavier than plain Hydrogen, it's not by much and wouldn't account for a great deal of the ship's overall mass and wouldn't be any more complicated than deuterium storage is today. Those stores also go to fuel the fusion reactors on board. Most of the deuterium would either go to the fusion reactors or for creating the plasma in the M/ARA reaction. Post-processing of the spent plasma would allow for recycling of the materials, though what percentage could be re-used I'm not sure about. Most sources I've seen seem to say that the impulse engines use plasma from the nearby fusion power systems, but I see no reason that plasma generated by the M/ARA reaction wouldn't be routed to the impulse engines as well, as that's a much more efficient plasma generator than the fusion systems which would be the most fuel intensive and inefficient. Even Romulan vessels with AQS still use deuterium fueled sublight drives, so would have the same problems with needing tanks. Any way you slice it, generating power on the levels needed on a starship is going to be dangerous, and there are advantages and disadvantages to any system. For more "local" ships I think the M/ARA would be more ideal, as refueling isn't a problem if you're in your own neighborhood and the versatility of the system would outweigh the high initial start-up costs of an AQS. Long-term or long-distance vessels would benefit more from the AQS ability to sustain itself.

"So what do I do with the blue disk I usually put in my tank?"

( JoNs quotes lifted from Cmdr LeftEar JoNs' post "Uber-Probie" ) “Mister Khal, bring us down and around again in an inverted under-maneuver..." JoNs ordered. He complied, his ears still twitching from all of the verbal abuse JoNs had been spitting out for the last few minutes. The battle hadn't been going badly, per se, but it hadn't been going well, either. The raider ships had refused to disengage, but neither were they stepping right in to slug it out. Which meant that he had been twisting and turning the Excalibur into a pretzel trying to line up shots for tactical. He understood JoNs' foul language quite well, because he wanted to use it too. If his entire being wasn't so completely occupied on the business at hand, that is. After another bit of profanity, he heard JoNs make the order: “Re-engage and let’s take out the trash …” "Gladly," Mreh responded in a low growl. It was time to end this before his paws fell off from all of the maneuvering, not to mention JoNs wearing out his ears.

Happy Birthday!

lol, nice find, hilarious

Normally dropping off an away team and then being left behind wasn't too upsetting for Ensign Jennifer Harmon. She could lock up the ship and amble over to the port/station/city's nearest watering hole and immerse herself into the local ambiance, or take in the sights if there were any. The situation on Black Marsh however was the exact opposite. Dropping down in the middle of a jungle on an apparently uninhabited planet meant no local ambiance or sights to see. Thumbing through the a fashion mag hadn't provided nearly enough entertainment, especially since it was a six month old copy that she'd looked through enough times she could hand sew half the dresses herself. Feeling lonely, she locked up her Normandy and wandered over to the other. After letting herself in, she then poked her head into the cockpit. "Hey Tivosk," she said, then settled into the co-pilot's seat. "Ensign Harmon," the gangly Vulcan responded, with a raised eyebrow. "Is there a problem?" "No, no. Just though I'd come over and keep you company." "I see," he said, his eyebrow winging up even higher onto his forehead. He postulated that, as Harmon knew full well his Vulcan heritage, that her statement meant she came over for him to keep her company rather than the other way around, as he needed no company. "So, how's the communication uplink holding up?" She asked. "It has been intermittent. We are experiencing increased delays and interference with the signal." "Oh. What's the problem?" "Unknown. The relay fighters and communications buoy are still in position. Perhaps the radiation levels have increased in the upper level of atmosphere." "Perhaps?" Harmon asked, used to more definitive statements from her Vulcan colleague. "You can't tell?" "No," Tivosk responded, his brow creased very slightly. "The scanning equipment aboard these transports is relatively rudimentary. Most often the vessels are deployed using pre-gathered intelligence and/or auxiliary scanning craft, such as fighters, scouts, or command center craft." "The sensors aren't the only thing that's rudimentary. They barely bothered to install sufficient RCS to land the things in atmosphere." "Indeed," he agreed. "The design placed a premium on shielding, armor, and space for the troops. They are auxiliary crafts with a very specialized purpose." "Yeah, I'd rather fly a cargo shuttle than one of these again, but you gotta do what you've gotta do," Harmon stated. Tivosk nodded, and then intensely focused his attention back on the console. His hands moved across it rapidly a moment. "Problem?" Harmon asked. "Indeed. It appears we have lost contact with the Excalibur. Our data relay session has fully terminated. Attempting to re-initialize now." "Hmm..." She accessed the communications on the terminal to her right. "Harmon to Excalibur, come in please." A moment passed. "Nothing, damn. We'd better check in with the away team. Harmon to Corizon... Harmon to Garrison... Harmon to Victria... Oh come on, they're not even ten kilometers away, what's the problem? Harmon to anyone, do you read?" "I am unable to re-initialize data contact with the Excalibur, voice communications obviously are not accessible either. I cannot, at this time, even verify whether the communications buoy or fighters are receiving transmissions," Tivosk said. "Damn it," Harmon said, pounding a fist on the console. "I knew there'd be hiccups with this, but no one said anything about the comms just falling off the map. Are you sure it's not on our end?" "Diagnostics have come back negative for errors." "Maybe we should still try using the other ship, try combining the resources, maybe it'll be enough to get through." "Probability of success is low, though it could not hurt to try," Tivosk agreed. "All right, I'll head over there now." Harmon rose from her seat and exited the cockpit, heading for the hatch. Tivosk could hear the door easing open before there came a high pitched yelp. He quickly jumped out of his chair and headed out of the cockpit as he heard the door slammed shut. He saw Harmon standing there, her skin bleached pale and her hand trembling. "Look!" She shouted, pointing to the small view-port beside the door. Tivosk eased up to the window and peered outside. He could see in the low lighting of the Normandy's exterior lights, large figures moving around near they other ship. As one turned its head toward their craft, his eyebrow winged up. A group of the figures quickly ran over to the vessel. "It appears that we are not as alone as we assumed," he stated calmly. "You think?" Harmon asked incredulously. "So much for using the other ship. Thank goodness I locked it up tight before I came over here." "Indeed," Tivosk said. "We must re-establish contact with the away team and warn them." "Yeah, let's get to work."

On Sam's point, if you do decide to go Mac and still want to access some windowsy-type programs, there are a couple of good software options available that can create a virtual PC on your Mac. The Apple site actually touted one as one of the reasons to switch to Mac, since it said something along the lines of you can have it both ways and it'll work better than the original. So don't let that be a reason to stop you.

Happy Birthday Huff!

Dateline London: The London Transit Commission has been forced to take up the airline policy of requiring passengers to buy as many seats as their rumps require after an incident today on route 312. More on page 11.

Helmsman: "Well, that always works when I play GTA!" Captain: "You're grounded, son!"

They had parked. Again. Mreh, remembering the talk of the young pilots back in the Academy, couldn't fathom how anyone could think that being a FCO for a Starfleet ship could be remotely in the category of "hot-dogging." The job, especially on a capital ship, consisted mostly of inputting where you want to go and letting the computer autopilot get you there, with a lot of looking at numbers to make sure that it was doing what it was supposed to. Then, when you arrive, usually at a planet, you told the computer where and what kind of orbit you wanted then it did that. Then you watched the ship's marker go in an ellipse until it was time to go back to plan A and tell the ship where you wanted to go next. Even most combat maneuvers consisted of preset, computer controlled flight. The fun bit was when you got to make those maneuvers up on the fly. Though of course getting the mass and volume of a Starfleet capital ship to dance like a ballerina was practically impossible half the time, and the other half you were risking splitting the ship in two if you did go for it, so you only did it when circumstances said you'd die otherwise. All in all, if you want to hot-dog it, fighters are the way to go. Since Mreh's flight experience came out of his desire to be a well-rounded physician, he'd never been of the hotshot group. On top of that, as a Caitian, he wasn't terribly fond of doing anything dog related. Most of his flight time as a doctor came in shuttles and runabouts, though he did get to fly an Olympic Class once during a short stint on the Nobel when he was a roving medic stationed from DS9. His enjoyment of flying though had kept him current on his original certifications, and field certifications from holodeck training in other ship classes, both large and small came along the way. That opened up his lateral move to flight control. His short stint on the Sovereign Class Excalibur-B didn't thrill him overmuch. The ship was too long, in his opinion, and it never handled well. Starfleet got a D- grade in his view on that class. After the transfer to the Norway Class Raleigh, he'd only just whetted his appetite for flying. Once he'd discovered that the Excalibur-B was going to be scrapped and they'd be getting an Akira Class, he'd purred like a kitten for nearly a week. The Excalibur-C was much more fun to fly, even in A to B mode. The few times he'd really had an opportunity to push the ship's maneuverability hadn't disappointed him, either. Still, he was grateful for the changes in department structure that allowed him to take on some operations duties. It filled out the duty shift so he could feel more involved, especially when they parked or were in warping from one place to the other. When the structure shifted again, putting him under the aegis of Command and keeping the administrative operations duties, he'd been thrilled. While Commander Teykier had been a good boss, being part of the science department just felt wrong. Now, as the ship was nestled into orbit around a brown dwarf while they waited for their reconnaissance probes and fighter squad to report on the layout around the Black Marsh, and around the occasional bump from a gravitational eddy from the star, Mreh pored through the navigational charts they'd received through the upload from the archives. There was a wealth of data there that needed updates, as the charts were in some cases older than the societies of the species he worked with. He'd feed the original data into the computer and have it use all of the science known to Starfleet to move the stars to the best approximation of their current location. He could easily fob this off over to science and let the astrometrics lab play with it, but he enjoyed watching the stars shift and nebulae expand on his screen while he monitored the orbit. Of course it was all there for them to do if they pulled it up, but he'd rather oversee what he thought might come in handy personally. The incoming data from sensors was matched to the computer projections continually, allowing for adjustments to the update protocols. Meanwhile the computer hummed away on decks 7 and 8 as data was picked and analyzed from the archives by all the departments. Apportioning the computer time amongst them was a minor headache, as everyone wanted in but there was only to go around. Science got the biggest chunk, naturally, as they had the widest scope and the archives held data most applicable to them. How Commander Teykier managed to divvy it up amongst all the disciplines he didn't know, though he wouldn't be surprised if there were some sulking scientists down below because they had to wait in line. Tia had done a remarkable job organizing the upload and storage, and somehow they'd managed to pull up the entire upload without significant data loss. The temporary hard drives Engineering had cobbled together were working well, though they weren't as efficient as the main computer. Hopefully they could get back to base and upload it to the more capable units aboard a starbase for dissemination sooner rather than later, though. One downside to this, Mreh figured, was that the database would open up so many questions that needed answering in the Gamma Quadrant that any chance the Excalibur could get an Alpha Quadrant assignment after their current one was over would be slim to none. That calculation, however, was dependent on them finishing the mission to begin with. At this point they had a small thread to tug, but whether it would lead them to the magic carpet or merely unravel everything was yet to be seen. He half hoped for the latter, and that they could just wash their hands of it, be had a feeling the Universe wasn't going to be that accommodating.

"Freak!" The insult, hurled across the playground by a pretty young boy with curly brown hair, hit its target. Then was duly ignored. The recipient wasn't one to feel the sting of an insult, or even a sting if a 15 cm combat knife in his thigh for that matter. Luckily the latter hadn't happened. Yet. Luc Daren IV merely continued his job, assigned by a gangly girl that could loosely be called his friend. Every seat of the swing set was occupied, though none swung higher than the girl, as Daren's job was to push her. Considering, even at the tender young age of eight, he was already nearing two meters in height and 100 kilograms, pushing someone on a swing set to dangerously high levels was, in this case, adult's play. Under most circumstances, a child barely surpassing one meter wouldn't dare insult someone that much larger, but Daren never did anything about insults or other malicious treatment, so the insult hurler felt safe, and apparently justified. He wasn't the first, and certainly wouldn't be the last to be rude. Considering the time, the mid 24th Century, it wouldn't be uncommon to see a creature far odder in appearance, at least to human norms, wandering around. There was even a Klingon in the neighborhood. Though insults in that direction never went unnoticed, of course. Daren wasn't an alien though, in the strictest sense of the word. Just a mutant, and that apparently could still stir the innate cruelty of some. Aside from the impressive stature, Daren boasted other unusual traits for a human. Most noticeable was his skin tone, a rich coral. It started, as it always did in Daren children, very pink. Not pink in the way many often referred to skin, but if the newborn Daren IV had been placed in a bed of pink carnations he would've been expertly camouflaged. As age progressed, the skin deepened, and by the time he was five the bold skin tone he sported was permanent. It could become a bit deeper if he was out in UV rays for a while, but the mutated melanin was far more efficient at protecting the skin. His well structured face also sported a VISOR, as he was born blind, as was his sister and father before him. Behind the mask, so to speak, changes in the brain structure, specifically the hypothalamus and frontal lobes, have made the Darens an extremely unflappable bunch. Luc Daren II once joked, reportedly after a week's consideration of the concept, that Vulcans went about emotional control the wrong way. Instead of Surak, they should've just had an accident. From a medical perspective this isn't entirely accurate, as the mutated brains still allow for the more complex emotions. However, without the basic emotive responses triggered by a standard hypothalamus, the Darens really have to work at it to succeed. Unfortunately, not all mutations are good ones, and besides the blindness other weaknesses popped up with the changes. The Daren immune systems are rather unresponsive to microbial infestations, and the altered hypothalamus doesn't reset the body's thermostat to the high setting to help combat the issue either. From birth, vaccinations and treatments to counteract the immune deficiency are required. Thankfully, modern medicine has been able to augment this deficiency, though of course the universe is full of tricky bugs. Nearly two months after making his joke Daren II was sliced, accidentally, on the thigh by a 15 cm combat knife. Because the brain doesn't quite trigger pain the same way in the Darens, he nearly bled to death before he noticed he was cut at all. Daren III however was able to practically whistle through a torture episode during the Cardassian war. This trait fills the category of "circumstantial advantage/disadvantage." So the young Daren IV, as he finished out the recess period by giving his female friend a few giddy seconds of free fall on the swing, was not in the least bothered by the insults. Though karma was apparently keeping score, as the pretty young insulter was later killed by an angry Nausicaan who thought that he had been insulted. *** Thankfully Klingon ships were built to withstand the pounding of their heavy crew's feet, so Daren never really had to think twice about his footing as he patrolled the dank, dark corridors of the Qob. Neither did he have to worry about matting the piling of carpet, either. His assignment to the Qob had been a natural fit, something the personnel department of Starfleet had actually done right for a change. After a few years on a cramped Defiant class, it dully registered to him that the Qob was an improvement after his transfer. He'd taken the night shift, when the surly Klingons were even surlier, and it had suited him well. It was perhaps that, even through all of the danger and intrigue that the ship had gone through, that had kept him relatively unnoticed by his superiors during that time. Somehow, though, the situation changed and he'd received a communique alerting him that he was now the Chief of Security. An accomplishment, really, for a human, to gain enough trust that he could bust enough heads and lead teams in glorious combat on a Klingon vessel. He was large even by Klingon standards, could throw drunken crew members an impressive distance across the mess hall, though admittedly with less enthusiasm, and considered application of pain-sticks to tickle, he fit in rather well with the Klingon crew he served with. He was as apprehensive as it was possible for him to be though, moving to first shift. He'd barely seen or spoken to most of the others higher in the chain of command, especially as changeable as it had been of late. It would behoove him, he considered, to be visible, not that standing out was any problem for a 2.54 meter, coral colored human. The hardest part, he knew, would be to laugh at the appropriate time for a Klingon joke.

Simple? Sure. Efficient? Extremely. Cheap? Concisely! The R&D Department's New Motto

The reindeer strike to gain extra insurance benefits goes south as Santa enlists another sleigh for the duration.

:: purr :: Well done Jonesie!

Flight Control & Navigation Section Sub-Department of Command Division Staff/Chain of Command: 1. K'hal, Lieutenant Mreh (Male, Caitian) [CFCO] 2. Halloway, Lieutenant J.G. Elizabeth (Female, Human/Trill) [AFCO] 3. Trylin, Ensign Eric (Male, Human) 4. huWane, Ensign Weka (Male, Raperian) 5. Ensign Kalifax (Female, Illyrian) 6. Istok, Ensign Dandoria (Female, Rigelian) 7. Harmon, Ensign Jennifer (Female, Human) [shuttle Operations] 8. Ensign Tivosk (Male, Vulcan) [shuttle Operations] Standard Duty Schedule: Alpha Shift → Lt. K'hal (Primary); Lt. J.G. Halloway (Secondary) | Ens. huWane (Standby 1), Ens. Kalifax (Standby 2) Beta Shift → Lt. J.G. Halloway (Primary); Ens. Trylin (Secondary) | Ens. Kalifax (Standby 1), Ens. Istok (Standby 2) Gamma Shift → Ens Trylin (Primary); Ens. huWane (Secondary) | Ens. Istok (Standby 1), Ens Kalifax (Standby 2) Alternate Duty Schedule: Alpha Shift → Lt. J.G. Halloway (Primary); Ens Trylin (Secondary) | Ens. Istok (Standby 1), Ens. Kalifax (Standby 2) Beta Shift → Ens. Trylin (Primary); Ens. huWane (Secondary) | Ens. Kalifax (Standby 1), Ens. Harmon (Standby 2) Gamma Shift → Ens. huWane (Primary); Ens. Kalifax (Secondary) | Ens. Harmon (Standby 1), Ens. Tivosk (Standby 2) Procedures: The primary officer for each shift will take the helm unless otherwise engaged or unable to perform their duties. The standby 1 officer shall remain on post in the relief area during the shift. When the active helm officer requires temporary relief (not to exceed five minutes) the standby 1 officer shall fill in. Should the active helm officer require relief due to injury or posting to other duties, the standby 1 officer shall fill in until such time as the secondary officer can be summoned. The secondary officer, though off-duty, must be prepared to take active helm duties within five minutes of notification. Under yellow alert conditions, the schedule will be at the discretion of the CFCO or AFCO. Red alert shall require that either the CFCO or AFCO be on active helm duty or immediate standby as flight regulations and personnel permit. Should the CFCO be required for away teams or other bridge operations functions, the Alternate Duty Schedule shall be placed into effect. In the event that any flight control/navigation officer shall be placed on the inactive schedule, due to inpacitation or other reason, personnel placed on the emergency roster by the CFCO from other departments shall be promoted to the active schedule as available from the discretion of the corresponding department heads. Under normal ship conditions, the active helm officer shall be granted a thirty minute break in the middle third of their shift, where the standby 1 officer shall fill in and the standby 2 officer shall take post in the relief area for the duration of the break. Yellow alert conditions shall be at the discretion of the CFCO or AFCO. Under red alert conditions, breaks shall only be granted if the maximum of eight unbroken hours of flight time has been reached. Training: All flight control officers shall meet Starfleet mandated flight time requirements to maintain their Akira-Class qualification. The CFCO shall schedule simulation time for those officers who cannot meet the requirments through active helm duty shifts. All FCO's shall also maintain minimum flight time requirements for the Captain's Yacht and minimum Class A-2 vessels (including the Normandy, Justinian, and Adventure classes in inventory). If desired, FCO's can cross-train and maintain qualifications for all Guinevere, Lancelot and Ethan Allen small combat craft. Qualification and classification must be done through the CAG's office. Flight censures earned in either the FCO/Nav or Fighter Squadron will cross department lines.

Geez, didn't think it would be that hard to find a skeletal woman on e-harmony. :: click of phalanges on mandible ::

Websites, wikis, and work... oh my! I too have thought about this issue for a while. I personally love playing around with HTML and CSS; even doing all the coding manually, since I'm geek enough. I've even used it to format my bios and logs here on the boards since the option is available in Invision (though unfortunately it seems to revert back to standard text after a while, something I didn't count on, leaving my CSS to flap in the breeze). Anyway, there are a lot of different options to use, each of them with their own advantages and disadvantages, some of which have been outlined already. As for the individual website approach, it does offer the highest amount of individuality and creativity, as you can see with some of the spectacular websites that are available for some of our sims. Whatever the team has the time and effort to include can be in this format, but again it's time consuming and takes some know-how. The wiki approach takes some of the sting out of it for the end user, but puts just as much strain on the wiki-master as the website approach does. If you go for really tight security measures, meaning the admin has to approve accounts (which would probably mean coordinating with the GMs to ensure that so and so is actually a member of that sim) would be very time consuming. Less stringent security measures would lead to spamming, inaccuracy, and the headaches of editing and deleting out the garbage. Plus that whole imbalance thing. Some GMs just don't have the time even if they have the inclination to do all that. Others may not even have the inclination. There are also some open source CMS (Content Management System) out there that have more functionality than a pure wiki, though they offer the same challenges as a wiki. They don't offer the same amount of personalization on individual pages than the website approach, though the overall front end could be spiffed up to integrate with the STSF look pretty well. Then there's the final option of a custom-made portal that could do exactly what we need it to do, however if anyone has the skills and know-how to do that here they're probably too busy being paid for their technical wizardry to have time to scratch one up for STSF. If I did, I would, but I'm a long way away from tinkering with coding to implementing such a complicated thing. Any option that involves custom coding raises the problem of the ... discrepancies :: slight snarl :: between web browsers display of HTML and CSS. Why a certain one with a lot of blue involved in the look doesn't bother to incorporate the W3C standardizations is utterly beyond me, but I digress. Lastly, we have to go into A9's philosophical argument. Do the bells and whistles matter as much as the practicalities anyway? I belong to one sim with a highly knocked out website, one that had one but was rarely updated before AOL dispatched it into the ether, and one that doesn't have one at all. So obviously I didn't consider it a requirement, though I really wish Talon did have one, because I think if the Rihan data was organized and made more available I think more people may feel more comfortable trying the sim on for size. Though of course there's the counter-argument that it may scare people off that may have liked it if they did just happen across it. So, as I see it, it's as different for each sim as it is for each player. A wiki seems like the most feasible add-on at this time. The hosting of it and the administration become an issue, but that is for people with more pips than I to wrangle over. I would think that creating admin/mod accounts for the GMs and then allowing them to individually add users themselves would be more feasible than open registration, since that gives the most amount of security and control if I did have those pips, though. :) On a side note, I really wish we had some sort of HTML forms for the sim application process, which at the moment is time-consuming and unwieldy on both ends, I imagine. Of course I wish we had a centralized roster database to go along with it for the purposes of display and personnel administration. Part of my Christmas wish list for STSF, lol. I doubt Santa has many MySQL trained elves, though. :) Anyway, sorry for the long-winded prattling, but I figured I may as well put in more than just a few cents, heh.

Ah, it's finished. I can finally take a vacation!

I hate the default Invision theme, but customizing it is bloody hard work, especially when you can't just use the W3C standards for CSS layout because IE still isn't compliant with it. :: rude finger gesture Microsoft's way :: It would be nice to be back in black, but I don't look for it.

Mattress manufacturers, in an attempt to raise profits, tout the new bed that has "padding exactly where you need it."

They were still a few days out from the Satarimi, so Mreh decided it was high time to have a high time. He requested and received a day off, and the morning of the big day he slept in three hours for a start. After chugging down a latte, a rare treat for the Caitian since he usually passed on caffeine, he dressed and then sauntered out of his quarters headed for the holodeck. He'd managed to get it for the whole morning, since he usually didn't use his allotted time and his rollover minutes came in handy. Outside of the holodeck doors he ordered up the program he'd eagerly been waiting to use, especially after the excursion on the Taliesin. Stepping in, he found himself on a sunny beach filled with men, women and other broiling under the sun atop their towels. They weren't what he was here for, though, and he passed them without a glance. Okay, he did glance at some of the women, but that was neither here nor there. He stopped off at a little sand hut and picked up his board, then gleefully jogged out to the water and waded right in. Mreh hadn't surfed since he was a teen, primarily because going through the Academy and then serving in Starfleet just didn't leave enough time to do it. Though he had slightly lost the taste for it, especially after he'd ended up with lungs full of salty water after a spectacular wipeout his senior year of high school. It seemed, ten years later, to be a good time to pick it up again. Lying atop the board on his stomach, he paddled his way out into the ocean. Normally he would wear a wet suit to surf, but since this was simulated water this time he decided to just go with surf trunks and let the holodeck take the water off. The choice saved him thirty minutes of trying to get his tail through the wet suit. Though it had been a long time since he rode a wave, there was no real audience to worry about embarrassing himself in front of and he didn't want to seem like some wimpy grom in his own mind so he headed straight out. He took it easy at first, there was no reason to end up with another lungful of water, simulated or not. Considering the holodeck program was fully customizable, he could amp up the waves later once he got back into the swing. He was totally stoked to be back riding the waves again, even though he could still see his mother rolling her eyes at the concept. He was a long way off from taking the back door into a pipe, but getting up and doing some lip turns was quite a thrill. Mreh knew was going to be a wicked fun day.

What the GMs would make cadets do if everything happened in person.

Updated bio to reflect recent departmental changes Altered format