Cptn Moose

I'm on a sea food diet. I sea food, I eat food. As I recall, this was the time they stiffed me out of the toy in my happy meal.

A Meeting of the Minds, Stardate 10407.27 Even before he entered, Gowan Varden knew that the Benai Moset and Melora were already in the chamber. Perhaps it was the subtle popping that Melora's index finger made, or the faint odor of rasha spice that indicated Moset had over-indulged in the local delicacies again. Varden had been Benai Prime of this triad for so long, he had stopped noticing these details long ago. He sensed they were there, as he always sensed their presence. No greetings were exchanged on his arrival. None were needed. He proceeded to sit cross-legged in the center of the featureless chamber and extended his hands, left palm up, right palm down. Melora was Secondary Benai and sat next to Varden, placing her right palm in Varden's left, holding her left palm up for Moset. Moset was Tertiary Benai. He sat down and laid his palms onto the un-joined hands to complete the circle. For a moment, no one spoke. They focused, taking their cue from Prime Varden, adjusting their heart rates to his and matching his breathing. The existed this way for several moments, with the rhythms of their body in perfect synchronization. Finally, they were ready to begin. "We are here to discuss the status of our Federation projects," said Prime Varden. His lips made the motions, but no sound escaped his lips. The physical moments to produce audible sound would only slow them down. It did not matter. They heard each other through their bodies. Their pulse and their breathing remained in perfect harmony. "Melora, begin." "Ambassador Moose and his Delegation have met with Captain Moose and the Arcadians," said Benai Melora. "The Arcadians are searching the city for the Revelation Device," offered Benai Moset. "Ambassador Moose has given them sensors to detect stable protomatter," said Varden. "Decoy protomatter samples have been set all over the continent," said Melora. "I followed one team on a public transport as they were successfully led to a decoy," said Moset. "During the journey from Paktar, we discovered their Lt. N'Dak was a powerful telepath," said Varden. "He has been recovered," said Melora. "Drs. Indi and Nile are working with him," said Moset. "Can he be properly conditioned?" asked Varden. "In spite of his talents, he was very susceptible to my voice," said Melora. "Rowan Moderi should no longer be necessary for the test," said Moset. "Then we must find the device," said Varden. "Hayden Dacotah looks exactly like Rowan Moderi," said Melora. "She has been arrested and brought to Gio Moderi," said Moset. "He will take her to where the device is hidden," said Varden. "We will follow with N'Dak," said Melora. "And we will determine if the Revelation Device can be detonated by a telepath of our manufacture," said Moset. Varden did not speak, although it was his turn. Their pulses had begun to vary by a millisecond. He paused, giving the triad a moment to re-synchronize. "We must still be able to transport telepaths into Federation Space if the Revelation Device is to be used to impede their advancement," continued Varden slowly once they were re-aligned. "Readings were taken of the telepath Kelly Quest during the voyage from Paktar," said Melora. "She was not immune to folding space travel," said Moset. "Her son David is still the only known telepath to survive unshielded," said Varden. "Then she can not be cloned to produce more telepaths," said Melora. "Not without genetic material from the boy's father," said Moset. "The boy's father is dead, no genetic material remains," said Varden. "Then the boy is the key," said Melora. "The boy is the key," said Moset. "The boy is the key," agreed Varden. An eerie silence overtook the triad as their hearts continued to beat to the same rhythm. Although it was not his turn, Varden finally broke the silence. "Where is the boy?" he asked. No one answered the Benai Prime, because no one had the answer. And in that moment, the three Benai simultaneously realized that they had miscalculated. After months of careful surveillance, they had allowed the Arcadia to distract them at a crucial time. They had lost track of David Quest. "Find him," hissed Benai Varden. Cptn Moose USS Arcadia, NCC-1742-E

IF IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY TODAY: you’ll uncover hidden treasure later this year. It won’t be so much a case of finding something new in your life as of rediscovering something old. In your past there’s a clue to a much brighter future. In something you have left behind is the key to something you now need to pick up and take forward once more. In your biggest current fear is your source of greatest potential strength. Your life may or may not be about to change dramatically ... but you, most definitely are going to do so! Horoscope courtesy of Jonathan Cainer at www.cainer.com Birthday wishes courtesy of Moose. Happy Birthday sweetie.

With my summer vacation imminent, I need a good page turner to lay open on my chest as I sit by the pool passed out from one too many Bloody Marys. I already took Tachyon's advise and read the first volume of the Neanderthal Parallax. I thought it was good but not enough to move on to volume II. I thoroughly recommed Tad William's "Otherland" series for everyone. It's about a virtual reality world that's a little too real. Get settled in for a long ride though. Four volumes and about 3500 pages total, but impossible to put down. So ... what is everyone reading these days?

Mission Brief - Stardate 10407.21 The entire planet Axaia is celebrating on the eve of their acceptance into the Coalition. However, the party may be their last hurrah. Axaian Magistrate Gio Midori is prepared to detonate a "Revelation Device", which will destroy all life on the planet but guarantee him a position on the Coalition Council. The device could be anywhere, shaped like anything, and can only be detected by the stable protomatter from which it is made. Captain Moose and the crew of the Arcadia must split up, and help Ambassador Moose search Axaia for stable protomatter, before the planet turns into just one more Coalition experiment.

Just when I think I've heard it all ... The moon landing was one of the most incredible feats ever engineered by man. We've done some pretty amazing things since we've developed opposible thumbs, but this one tops them all. I remember exactly where I was when the landing took place. I know if you weren't alive then that it seems pretty impossible. But you kids need to accept the fact that old people did something neat that you may never see again in your lifetime. Conspiracy theories on this topic are just sour grapes. The moon landing happened. Go focus on finding Elvis' secret retirement condo.

Well, I had the best of intentions, but going to the bookstore or the library ended up falling into that 'exercise' category, and while that works for real life, it has no place on my vacation. : ) However, I'm home now and can pick up the hunt once again. Thank you all for your suggestions. : ) M.

Well, in theory, the Botany Bay was travelling slower than light for 300 years before it was found? Would they have even made it to Alpha Centari by then? I know I should be a purist about Trek history, but I know they made some of this stuff up when it was just a two or three season T.V. show, and not a "cannon" or opus. It's hard to blame the original writers for not having the history of the future all mapped out (yes, I know. B-5 did it 20 years later. But that was after there was a proven market for this stuff). If the established refrences don't add up coherantly, it's hard to blame B & B for taking a little creative license for the sake of a good story.

When I was small, and my mother was frustrated, the neighbors would often hear her shout, "Do I have to spell it out for you?" Well, yes ... as you can imagine, she did. And now that I'm an adult I am no less demanding. When simming, I expect things to be spelled out for me. Too often during a game, a request for someone to invent a particle inverter or to equip a shuttlecraft with an anti-matter phase cannon is met with a single word in reply, "Done." Done? That's it? Done? If I ask this out loud, the answer I usually receive is, "Done, Sir?" How can you install an anti-matter phase cannon using less words than there are in its name? The question hangs like Marsha Mason's stockings in the shower. The answer is that you can't, or at least shouldn't. Our sim world is only as real as we build it to be. The details we invent are what adds texture to our world and makes it come alive. Pry off the access panel, crawl underneath the console into a cramped area where you can barely move your arms, remove the stellar navigation sensors, hot wire the anti-matter manifold to the impulse modulator and be careful not to touch the red wire because OUCH. Too late. Now, grab the med kit with your one good hand and wrap your burned fingers tightly together with gauze that you rip from the roll with your teeth. And if you say a little prayer as your hand reaches out from under the console, and fumbles blindly for the green start button, then and only then can you say, "Done," as the phase cannon hums to life. The more time you take to describe your actions, the better it is for everyone. First of all, it's fun to make stuff up. That's why you're here. And it's fun to stay busy. The players who call, "Done," too quickly are usually the same players who later say, "I had nothing to do," at the end of the night. Descriptive actions benefit the other players as well. It's difficult to catch everything typed to the room. Even an action as wordy as ":: installs phase cannon ::" can be easily and innocently overlooked if it's only one line. Breaking that action into multiple lines to the screen gives everyone multiple chances to see what you're doing. Then they can either join in to help, or acknowledge the event in whatever scene they happen to be playing. In Tip #2, I mentioned that you should advance the plot as a group, with each person contributing one detail in turn. This is still the case. Developing your actions as I'm suggesting does not railroad the other players into following your story. When you play a scene with others, how long does it take them to reply to you? Thirty seconds, one minute, two minutes? It may be longer if the phone rings, or their dog knocks over their fishbowl, or a beer calls to them from the fridge. Use that time to describe your character's actions in more detail, and flesh out the scene. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words. We don't have pictures. "Done," leaves you 999 words short. Tip From The Moose #3: Spell It Out.

I think you're missing the point entirely. We want more, they're giving us more. They're worried that if they stop producing what we want, we'll take our business elsewhere. That isn't insulting, that's empowerment. And it's capitalism at its best. I don't think that Paramount was slapping the Star Trek label on cow dung and calling it a diamond. I think they sincerely tried to give the viewers what they wanted. Some of it worked, some of it didn't. But they're trying to make it better because they all want to keep their jobs. I want them to keep their jobs. I enjoy new Trek product. :: throws two cents into the jar ::

Mission Brief, Stardate 10406.23 Towed in disgrace to the Coalition shipyards in the Gyome System, the crew protect the secrets of the ship while continuing it's search for the Federation Delegation to Paktar. Cptn Moose USS Arcadia, NCC-1742-E

A fuzzy Moose? That's hard to believe. ;-) XO is an extreamly difficult position to play. When we sim, we all pretend we have a job on a starship. But when you were a kid playing Fireman, were you the guy driving the truck, the girl breaking down the door with a pickaxe, or the schlump back at the station processing the Worker's Comp. paperwork? Well, if startships were real, that would be how the XO spends their day. And yet everyone fights over the post ... go figure. If you are a Mission XO in the academy, you have two duties: a ) Manage the away team. b ) Manage the bridge if the CO asks you to. Beyond that, you have to do the same thing any other player does when the story isn't about them ... keep yourself busy and don't trip on the furniture. It's no different than being the Chief of Security in a Medical Research story. What partly makes this so difficult is that you can't learn by emulating others. The role is usually played by a GM. They also have an OOC job during every academy, which is cadet management. My definition of "keeping myself busy" is to worm my way into any situation where I think a cadet needs help. This is inappropriate if you're not the GM hosting the sim. A Mission XO who starts giving orders to the other players without being asked to by the CO is "cocky" and "grandstanding", and generally gets beaten up by the other players once the game is over. Yes, it's a double standard, and it's one that's extreamly hard to navigate, which is why personally I rarely assign a Mission Xo. I hope this helps. : )

Very few people have my cell phone number. I carry one basically so I can let my wife know what train I'm on going home and so she can reach me in emergencies (like she forgot to ask me to pick up cheese at the store). I spend too much time on the phone at work, so I don't usually hang on the phone and chat (I don't hang online and chat much for that matter). But what I do find interesting is that I won't think twice about making a long distance call on my cell phone, but I will treat it like a big deal if I call long distance on my land line (even though it's cheaper).

Yes, we're saying exactly that. Otherwise we'd be launching a ship full of Ambassadors, Terrorists, and bartenders. : ) This summer's play-by-email portion of the game is open to all members of the STSF (whether they want to join the game when it goes live or not), and chronicals the details leading up to the launch of the Challenger, NX-05. If you create a character that you'd like to take on the journey, we'll talk about that in the fall when we start building the actual ship's roster. In the mean time, it's a forum wide project that everyone is invited to participate in. Thank you everyone who has. I hope more people find time as the summer progresses. Moose

Because the American President you're trying to honor is a political figure. Because you keep pushing us to honor this particular figure, and you get belligerent when told this is not the appropriate forum (like at Sunday night's academy). Because you've put a "Vote Bush" slogan in your signature. I'm sorry, but you don't seem to be motivated by bi-partisan patriotism. And you seem totally unconcerned with the amount of people who've told you that you're offending them. Now would you please let the President rest in peace, and find a more appropriate way to honor him? Thank you. : )

That's a job for the philosophers. ;-)

Mission Brief, Stardate 10406.09 Have traveled through alien territories and hostile dimensions, the Arcadia has finally met it's goal of arriving at the planet Paktar, deep in Coalition space. Upon arrival, they were greeted by Dr. Virax, a former crew member who now works for the coalition. But all of their work may be for naught. Dr. Telano has accidentally reanimated the Borg drone retrieved from the transwarp conduit ...

Well done, Tach. Trichon has also written a log about a xenophobic isolationist. Perhaps there is some joing scheming / plotting in your future : ) Moose

IF JUNE 2 IS YOUR BIRTHDAY: Drummer Charlie Watts (1941) shares your birthday. People turn to you because you're inventive and resourceful. You have good problem-solving skills. You adapt well to changing circumstances, and often have quite an exciting life. One of your greatest assets is that you're reliable and loyal to what matters to you. Get ready for stimulating changes in the year ahead! Happy Birthday Pitty. : ) horoscope courtesy of Georgia Nichols. www.suntimes.com

It's hard to believe that there won't be room for everyone, but who knows, maybe well have to speed up the NX-06 as well. : ) However, we will not be assigning posts on the ship until summer ends and the launch draws near. Not all of the characters created in the logs will be coming with us. Admiral Forrest is staying on Earth, as will the hundreds of the corps of engineers who build the thing. This is a chance to explore some characters that wouldn't normally make it onto a starship. So relax and have some fun experimenting with some new characters. The rest will work itself out. Thanks to everyone who's joined in so far. There's been some great logs. : )

This fall, as UPN launches it's fourth season of Enterprise, STSF will be launching its first. GM's Moose and Jorlis will be christening the Challenger, NX-05. This new advanced simulation will explore the 22nd century galaxy at 11 pm Est on Sunday nights beginning September 12. There will be an announcement mid-August as to when crew applications will be accepted. In the mean time, the Challenger is under construction and we'd like everyone's help. Between now and September, we will be building the ship in a play-by-mail format, and every member of the forum is invited to participate. We need engineers, medical personnel to treat them when they get hurt, diplomats to smooth the way with known races, etc. This is the first ship created specifically for STSF, and we'd like everyone to have their finger in the pie before the launch. To participate, simply post your entry in the Challenger Logs folder. Or partner up with a buddy, and write a joint log. Please email [email protected] or [email protected] if you have any questions. With your help, Earth will soon be a major presense in space once again.

The Arcadia has suddenly begun receiving massive amounts of data from a deserted Borg cube. There is no apparant reason for the data feed which is on the verge of overwhelming the Arcadia's computer. Is this a passive/aggressive attack from an automated Borg defense program? Or can the crew find the source of the transmission before their computer is irreparably damaged, along with the ship itself. Cptn Moose USS Arcadia, NCC-1742-E

I'm sorry, but in spite of how fond of Enterprise I've grown lately, I think the british dude is one of the worst Trek characters ever. I also think Trip is one of the most believable. He gets my vote.

I have to agree. : ) I took my seven year old to see the movie, and I can't wait until he sees it again in 10 years and figures out what he missed this time. He thought the big kitty eyes (Vex's avitar) was the funniest thing he'd ever seen. Personally, I enjoyed Pinnocchio doing Tom Cruise and Michael Jackson.

Thank goodness, it's a cat! I thought you had discovered why Vex was so anxious to get engaged. ;-) Congrats mama. Moose. P.S. Henri-etta of course