ens_loami

:: shocked and dismayed :: your units don't check out! :)

I try to see the TNG/movie uniforms, although occasionally backtrack to the older TNG ones. Mostly because Arcadia is a Sovereign class and it just makes sense to have the latest in Starfleet fashion. But, then again, I've watched so much TNG, it's hard not to have the image embedded in my head :-)

=/\= Personal Log of Ensign Arphazad Lo'Ami =/\= ::Begin Recording:: Personal Log, Stardate 10212.20; Remind me never to volunteer for anything! After reporting to the cargo bay to help offload and install the Percy device, I found myself blinded and kidnapped in unfamiliar surroundings - notably the biobed of a Marine (or should that be "Marine") doctor ("doctor?"), doubtless "affectionately" named "Butch" by his/her parents at the first sight of him/her...it(?) After Butch cured me of the effects of a the flash grenade and the phaser stun, but, before Butch could rip my symbiont out in order to see one firsthand, another "Marine" took me under heavily guarded escort out of sickbay to his office. This one, a certain Major Perl, was a betazoid telepath, and despite my best attempts to confound his abilities, he seemed to know everything I was going to say, and more disturbingly, what I wasn't going to say, right after I thought it. He had apparently been under orders from "General Pike" to interrogate me and then dispose of me, but, fortunately, he seemed to be a Starfleet intelligence agent there to infiltrate the Omega VII criminals' organization. He let me go under disguise as a "Marine" under orders to disable the power transfer system that had been rigged up to drain Arcadia's shields to satisfy Percy's thirst for energy. Unfortunately, this telepathic intelligence agent was yet another Starfleet command bloke who can't tell the difference between a scientist and an engineer - I couldn't find any way to disable the system excluding walking right into their engineering section under the full gaze of all the Marines... er "Marines." At that point, I figured out how I could retarget the transdimensional power-transfer tunnel somewhere else, and hope that the Arcadia crew would know how to take advantage of it to send in the troops and disable this system. My targetting was slightly off, but the Arcadia's Marines stormed in through the tunnel anyway and quickly took down the criminals. Except for their leader, that is, the fake General Pike - AKA Carmina Santiago - a woman with fanatical dreams of stealing technology and taking over the universe, you know... the usual. She shimmered off to some unknown place in the midst of the battle. The other question of course, is what happened to Major Perl, the Starfleet spy. He could have left with the surrendering prisoners, I guess... or gone after Santiago... I'm sure he had some way out. Of course, there is no record of him or anyone who even resembles him in any Starfleet personnel directory. As of now, Percy is sitting in a Cargo Bay on Arcadia, safely broken and totally unusable. I would only attempt to repair that thing with the most strenuous of objections possible to the repair order on record. The ability to play with the laws of physics like that is just too dangerous in anybody's hands. =/\= End Recording =/\=

Tests? Papers? Research? I have enough of these in real life, do I need them for sims too? :) I like the idea of advanced academies, continuing ed or whatever we want to call it, but, let's remember -- this is a sim we're talking about here.

This is a pretty good idea... I have noticed that a lot of academy sims have had the chief positions taken up by ensigns/lt's ... of course, there is an advantage to that... it's a lot easier for a first time simmer to have some small part as an AENG or ASCI then be thrust into a command position (possibly with a much more experienced simmer as a subordinate!) having to keep track of what everyone else is doing... but, after 1-2 sims, all cadets do deserve to "shine" in chief positions, and of course, get corrected by the AENG who's the chief engineer on you-name-the-starship. :) of course, then, there were the academy sims when there were 8 ensigns and 2 cadets, but that's a different story... Which brings us back to the idea of "extention courses"... There would have to be something differentiating them from academies... or from free sims that happen to have ... we've already ranked and it's up to our advanced-sim CO's whether they want to promote us or not... so they can't dangle a promotion at us. And I don't know how CO-GM's would like an official method for reminding them of all the letters after your name. I can envision something like a engineering extention where the GM/temporary commander is the CENG, and everyone else is an AENG -- it would help us all have fun and improve our technobabble, if nothing else... or a security extention with a similar type of limited chain of command where the simmers are all security officers ... and so on for any department

=/\= Personal Log of Ensign Arphazad Lo'Ami =/\= ::Begin Recording:: Personal Log, Stardate 10212.08; It all started as a normal day... I was frantically working on some final simulations on my theory about the second-hand cloaking device in order to meet the submission deadline for the next issue of JFPS. I left the simulations running in the background on the computer, and they should be complete by the time I'm done with my next assignment, that went something like this... I got a comm call from Cmdr. Alces informing me that we were transporting a "perpetual half-life replenishing generator" to a Marine base. I admitted to having heard of the theory behind the device, although I didn't quite tell him how -- it was two years ago at the Daystrom Institute, over a couple of drinks after a lab meeting, when we joked about how someone managed to convince the JFPS reviewers to publish an article on the subject. Anyway, Cmdr. Alces insinuated that I should get involved in determining how the device works, without giving me a direct order. This left me in the awkward position of having to offer my services directly to the XO. As soon as the word "volunteer" was mentioned, I was sure that I was getting funny looks from everyone present on the bridge, as if I had broken some unwritten rule. First I wanted to get some information on the device, so I tried to transfer data on it to a datapad. It turns out that there is now 132 teraquads of data related to the process, an increase of ... well, about 200 times since two years ago. Later, I skimmed some of the data. Most of it is published in rather obscure scientific and engineering journals - The Serial Handbook of the Tellarite Warp Reactorman's Guild, The Journal of the Canadian Concrete Manufacturers Association (Canada? never heard of *that* planet!), and, most surprisingly, an inordinate amount of data was in the Pakled Scienz Timez, where the rest of the issue was devoted to "the ongoing debate over the existence of a universal attractive gravitational force." With the help of Cmdr. Alces, I did manage to identify some of the components of the device, which seems to also be known as "Percy," Perpetual Energy Regeneration Chamber Interchange (Don't ask me about the acronym, I didn't invent it) - a name I didn't quite understand until I read additional information from the device - er, Percy -'s manual. I think I now know at least how to turn the thing on: There are some slots in the back where you place some cold bread. You press a button, the bread enters the energy regeneration chamber, and the machine activates a quantum randomization loop. A few minutes later, due to a physical process that is still unclear to me, perfectly browned bread comes out of the chamber through the slots, and a relativistic stream of subatomic particles streams out of the output port. The particles can then be recycled through the device continuously to keep them from decaying. Although I don't know what use this device would be to a Marine, I would guess it could be a particle generator for some kind of exotic weapon, but I'm not a weapons expert. I do not think we'll have time to try the device aboard the Arcadia, and, I wouldn't want to anyway. Everything I know says that Percy violates some basic laws of physics. The literature says something about using quantum randomization to trick the universe into providing a supply of energy from the chemical bonds in the bread. The machine can borrow some energy from the universe... but, the universe is a loan shark... it will surely come back for any energy that's borrowed from it ... And I know that I don't want to be there when it does. In general, I agree with Cmdr. Alces that I would like to be as far away from this device as possible when it's turned on. Unfortunately, by volunteering, I think I may have finagled my way *on* to the away team meant to install it! Signing off... =/\= End Recording =/\=

=/\= Personal Log of Ensign Arphazad Lo'Ami =/\= ::Begin Recording:: Personal Log, Stardate 10211.21; First day on the job, in orbit above Risa. The night before I had been drinking with my academy buddies ... a nice, smooth, 24 year old scotch - the real thing. I was expecting to arrive finding the crew missing on shore leave... not in some partial parallel universe. Turns out one of the crew tried to beam up a second-hand Romulan cloaking device. The energy from the transporter must have activated the device. I didn't get much time to scan it, because the acting commander - a Marine - decided to destroy it. That's just like Marines ... shoot first and ask questions later. We might as well have a band of Klingons on every starship, just in case we have to perform an emergency massacre. From what I could gather, the device was based on the principle of varying the subquantum phasing of energy, making the matter and energy under its protection invisible, because they are partially out of phase with the rest of the energy and matter in the universe. A potential theoretical side effect of partially dephased matter is a subtle interaction between the matter in it and that in slightly different phases, including this universe's normal one. That must be why we were able to "communicate" by issuing computer commands. Along with the data from the U.S.S. Enterprise's encounter with a quantum fissue, I think I can make a compelling experimental case for the J'Ram-Hartman equation. Look for my publication in the next issue of the Journal of the Federation Physical Society. This crew really is ... something else. I come on board as assistant science officer... and they want me to be the only scientist and engineer on the ship... if it weren't for you, Nemrod ... :: looks down at his now bulging belly :: I wouldn't have had a clue. :: returns the symbiont to its normal internal position :: After beaming up the first group of phase-shifted crew, we learned that there was yet another. With one of the subquantum phase shift variances known, a correlation analysis of the original transporter signature revealed the other one, and we beamed aboard the rest of the crew, this time, a little more cleanly, into transporter room 2. There I was, standing there, datapad in left hand, cross-circuiting the transporter controls with my right hand... the XO and the others materialize on the padd, and... I ... drop my datapad... Right there, with the XO whom I'd never seen before, right in front of me. All I could do was fumble around and say "Ens...ign ... Ar....pha....zad ... Lo...Am...i" pick up the datapad, and complete "reporting for duty, sir." After the full crew was accounted for, we were able to use a warp field to break out of the phase-lock that had kept us in place, and get out of there... I never thought I would be wishing to get away from Risa. Truthfully, this cloaking device worries me. That kind of technology had not been heard of since the Pegasus incident. Why was it on the black market? Also, we destroyed the device with a phaser blast -- a shot of energy that seemed to have narrowed the gap between the phases of the three crews. By the reciprocity principle, this means that the gap between us and the device must have widened - I am not convinced that we have seen the last of this cloaking device. And, if such things are around, by how much can they change the phase of energy? A full 2*pi phase shift would introduce the device into another quantum universe. And, as we know from old 23rd century reports from the Enterprise, and more recently from space station DS9, not all quantum universes are populated by friends. Imagine that... an enemy uses one of these devices to slide armies between different quantum universes, conquering the entire multiverse. It would be worse than the Dominion, the Klingons and Romulans combined. But, enough musing on the apocalypse... my first day on the job is over... and I'm starting to think I should have taken that position at the Daystrom Institute. :: Looks at symbiont again :: Sometimes, you just get me into more trouble than you're worth. Signing off... =/\= End Recording =/\=

=/\= Starfleet Personnel Record of Ensign Arphazad Lo'Ami </span><span style='color:silver'>=/\= Name: Arphazad Lo'Ami Gender: Male Race: Trill/Human hybrid Marital Status: Single Age: 30 (Earth Years) Height: 170 cm Weight: 70 kg (+5 kg symbiont) Hair: Brown Eyes: Brown Place of Birth: UFP Mercy Hospital, Trill homeworld Distinguishing features: Light spots visible below hairline Trill symbiont Lo'Ami attached internally in stomach area Father: Ambassador Johnathan Bader (human, retired from Starfleet) Mother: Calla (Trill, unjoined) Symbiont: Lo'Ami Arphazad Bader was born on the Trill homeworld, as the first born to the Federation ambassador Johnathan Bader and his wife, Calla, a Trill native. Cmdr. Bader had a distinguished career in Starfleet; he was posted to the embassy with the rank of ambassador after his retirement from the service. Arphazad, known to friends as Zad, spent his early childhood on the Trill homeworld. He was an outcast among his fellow classmates, and frequently spent time alone in fantasy-play or on computers. Because he is the product of an interspecies union, Trill law would not allow him compete for joining with a symbiont, and this fact contributed to his outsider status. In early primary school, he was moved to the starship-based Interspecies Exchange School. He was known to his classmates as a prankster, but due to the clout of his family's diplomatic post, and the fact that his academic performance was generally above standard, he continued there through the end of secondary schooling, at age 16. Between the ages of 16 and 20, he studied theoretical and experimental physics at the Daystrom Institute, and fancied his future life as an unremarkable "lab rat" on a remote planet. Zad's father hoped that his eldest son would follow him in a Starfleet career, noting that he had shown promise in the sciences. These hopes were dashed, as Zad failed his first Starfleet Academy entry exam, with an exceptionally low score, at age 20. Despite his affection for laboratory science, Zad frequently accompanied his father on diplomatic missions. On one of the missions, when Zad was age 21, the starship Reliant, carrying a delegation of Trill and other Federation negotiators, came under attack by a peace-opposing faction in a regional war. The ship survived, but suffered heavy damage. Among the casulties was the ship's only Trill officer, engineer Lt. Nemrod Lo'Ami. The Lo'Ami symbiont was slightly injured during Nemrod's death, and could not be kept in stasis until another Trill host could be sent. The starship's doctors obtained Zad's consent to act as a temporary host until the symbiont could be moved to a more compatible 100% Trill. After the surgery was complete, the Lo'Ami symbiont integrated itself into Zad's nervous system faster than expected, making its removal from the half-human impossible without killing him and further endangering the symbiont. Zad experienced a long period of adjustment to the symbiont, although it is unclear as to whether this was due to problems with integration into a mixed-species host or to residual effects of the symbiont's injuries. Because Zad did not compete for the symbiont, he is subject to the scorn of other "more deserving" Trill, and is thus in an unofficial permanent exile from his planet of birth. The Lo'Ami symbiont is approximately 500 Earth years old, and has been implanted in 10 previous hosts: 6 male, 4 female. Most of its past is unknown to Federation records. The previous host, Lt. Nemrod Lo'Ami, a Starfleet engineer, was killed by plasma burns while on active duty on the U.S.S. Reliant. Starfleet medical teams, in consultation with their Trill counterparts, were able to fully heal the external damage to the symbiont, and heal the internal injuries to the extent that it would be fully functional. No symptoms of the remaining injuries have yet manifested themselves in the host. After the joining, Arphazad had gained all of the experience of the Lo'Ami symbiont, and decided that his scientific knowledge and experience would best be applied in Starfleet. He successfully applied to Starfleet Academy, and enrolled on stardate 0210.20. Despite having played an instrumental role in blowing up two starships in duty simulations, he graduated stardate 0211.06. His first assignment was as a science officer on the U.S.S. Arcadia, NCC-1742-E. ~~~ Lo'Ami made his way up the ranks of Starfleet science aboard Arcadia, rising to chief science officer, then executive officer. ~~~ Service Record -- 0210.20 Entered Starfleet Academy, rank of Cadet 0211.06 Graduated Starfleet Academy, promoted to Ensign 0211.15 Assigned to USS Arcadia, NCC-1742-E, as Assistant Science Officer 0301.16 Promoted to Lt.(jg) by Cpt. Christopher Moose, USS Arcadia 0303.20 Promoted to Lt. by Cpt. Christoper Moose, USS Arcadia. Promoted to Acting Chief Science Officer. 0308.06 Promoted to Lt. Cmdr. by Cpt. Moose, USS Arcadia, Accepted into permanent position as Chief Science Officer 0606.07 Promoted to Cmdr. by Captain Hayden Dactotah, USS Arcadia, with the approval of Starfleet Command. Assigned as XO of USS Arcadia. =/\= End File =/\=