Kansas_Jones

Nice log from the Resident Energy Being: I'm missing the Word of the Week (deciduous! woo!). This is so depressing. ::makes note to hide The Harpers command chair lint roller::

Ack! I have to wait to grab my copy on Friday. The suspense is killin' me. I just like the fact that the short stories contained within the Mirror Universe book line expand on the MU a bit, moving away from the common stereotypes that seem to have been plastered on the Mirror Universe. Case in point: a common misconception among the non-Mirror inclined Trek populace is that the Mirror Universe is all about sneering, smirking, sex, assassinations, and piratical violence ... of course, these fun and wicked things are all present in the darker universe of Mirror, and if they were not it'd be no fun. w00t w00t! :-D However, you can tell when someone overkills the Mirror Universe, because the Player spends the entire chat hour or log doing ::smirks:: ::sneers:: every other chat line as if that is going to equal Mirror, or they assume it's all about jumping into bed (all the time) with the department head or what have you in order to move up in rank. The short stories of Obsidian and Glass Empires (and I hope Shards) go beyond these usual "cliches" and give the reader a glimpse into how Mirror can work as a viable and vibrant universe to play in, because if all the officers are trying to assassinate one another, nothing would get done. A darker universe yes, with individuals we think we know leading rougher and tougher lives, but jobs and duties still need to be completed. Gotta love the piratical quirks of this kick azz universe.

Oh yeah Grom! That's, like, totally how I feel. Mirror Universe is cool and everything, but it's not the greatest gimmick the Trek Universe has to offer. I don't really get the fascination there, and I'll never create a specific Mirror styled board name or write Mirror logs or anything like that. Yeah, I really don't like Mirror all that much, but the book looks interesting. ::straight face:: :P

12.17.08 Agincourt Mission Update: TBS: None Mission Brief: The Agincourt is heading back to Tervan to pick up the Away Team, and once everyone is back together, there will be a debriefing meeting in the Observation Lounge. (The Mission Brief is pretty much what the entire sim consisted of, and the sim ended just as the crew was heading to the obs lounge for the meeting. This is the shortest update. Ever. :-P) We do have events elsewhere in the quadrant though, the below blurb is from the Federation News Network topic on the Boards, entitled Praetorian Candidate Assassinated:

Mission Brief: The Agincourt is heading back to Tervan to pick up the Away Team, and once everyone is back together, there will be a debriefing meeting in the Observation Lounge. 081217_Agincourt_Chat.txt

MISSION BRIEF: The Science teams have uncovered the location they believe where the Founders hid out at after the destruction of their homeworld. Corizon has recalled the teams and is having a briefing in the observation lounge with senior officers. The Excalibur, meanwhile, has broken orbit and is exiting the system at impulse as they finish the data upload. 081214_Excal_Chat_Log.txt

12.14.08 Excalibur Mission Update: TBS: Five Days - The data upload from the Miriamano Library Archives is completed. Science continues to process the data. - The Blood Cult prisoners will be shot back into their home space via escape pods. - A briefing was called by Captain Corizon among the senior officers and department heads. - The Library data yielded a solid lead: a direct trail to a planet where the Founders may have hid out, or at the very least a chance to find the device that will locate them or to find where the Founders went next. - The new planet is three weeks away at Warp 7. It is known as the Black Marsh. The surface contains cooler marshland, jungle, and high radiation levels. And, the data charts and graphs on record about the Marsh are ten thousand years old, so the Excal crew really doesn’t know how much the planet and sector surrounding the planet may have changed. - Preparations: once we are in range of the Black Marsh, a fighter recon team will be sent out to assess the sector, with the Excal keeping distance a few light years away. Marines and Security officers will be tapped to participate in the landing party; Captain Ah-Windu Corizon himself will lead the team, with Commander L.E. JoNs remaining on standby backup on the ship. - Personnel: The new Brikar Security officer made some patrol rounds, butting heads with the provisional Engineering officer, and the wasp defense project continues with the engineers and Security officer Beckman assisting them. Medical started their new part time orderly.

Copyright 2008 Comcast.net News: ::blinkity, blink blink:: ::eyebrow on Spock stun:: ::say what what??:: ..... this Holiday article definitely falls under the stuff we really don't need to be informed about. Scary!

Oh no! You know, from Chapel on down the line to Troi, she was a fixture throughout the franchise, putting aside any behind the scenes involvement. I got very used and comfortable with hearing her voice for all the computer work on the Trek shows, and she was Luwaxanna Troi, and she owned that part; Majel Barrett took that part and ran like hell with it, and the character was awesome.

I would like to comment on this, as a Real Life Player and RPG Player: Real Life Player: assassinations are never a good thing, and the ripple effect can be devastating. RPG Player: Cool! w00t! Bring on the intrigue! Yeah, now that's what I'm talkin' about. Nothing like a good assassination to shake things up a bit. - K >^..^<

T’was the Night of the Star Trek Simulation Forum T'was night right at the top o’ the hour, and all through the site, Real Life was not stirring, not even a byte. The coding was entered by Webbie with care, in hopes that the Players soon would be there. The Advanced Players were nestled name after name, contained with in the live chat where we all play out our Starfleet fame. And you with your mouse, and I with my keyboard, had just settled in for a long hours chat. When over the speakers there arose such a clatter, my senses perked and my head whipped up to see what was the matter. There on the monitor screen I did see, a Player gone newbie it be; sound after sound option was played, oh me. When, who to my wonderment should appear, a small red chess piece and bolded name, have no fear. I knew in a moment it was the Command Team, performing their volunteer GM career, how keen. Our attention was called and we all typed ::AA:: to be committed by our chosen code names into the boo yah fray. On Commander, on Lieutenant, on Ensign on Midshipman, on top of your Playa game and onward to the Mission! Type away, type away, type away all! All for one, and one for all! Our fingers flew over the keys, and the dictation software did tweak, as we launched our characters into the Trek RPG World that is so neat. Pirates, Rihans, Borg, Maquis, Outlaws and Baddies to scuffle with, oh my, we Fleeter officers never give up and always look out for the little guy. The fun and adventure was soon at an end, but I had nothing to dread, for next weeks game I can look forward to instead. On Commodore, on Admiral, on Lieutenant, on Midshipman, onward to our glory, adventure and the next Mission! Happy nocturnal RPG Simming to all, and to all a Good Night! Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Seasons Greetings Everyone! Have a Good One! >^..^<

MISSION BRIEF: When we left off we were finding things in the ruins of a colony attacked by the Soltans, and the Court was investigating the possible subspace trails left by the ships. 081210_Agincourt_Chat_Log.txt

12.10.08 Agincourt Mission Update: TBS: 6 Hours MISSION BRIEF: When we left off we were finding things in the ruins of a colony attacked by the Soltans, and the Court was investigating the possible subspace trails left by the ships. - The ground team (TLak, Karrigan, Colonel Harper) on Tervan Four encounters a recent blast crater and some wreckage that just doesn’t seem to coincide with the rest of the attack damage on the planet and colony. The new evidence does not seem to be adding up to a straight on Soltan attack. Is there a more sinister development to be concerned about? - The remaining bridge officers of the Agincourt (Condacin, Shadow, Murray, Kairi, and Commander JoNs) continue to sweep the sector for the Soltan approach vector; they find, thanks to the Resident Energy Being, that there is a “photographic image” contained in the subspace ether of the ships that marauded the planet and quadrant. That image yields odd results – the expected Soltan ship configurations (scout ships and larger assault ships), but also Breen inspired ship design. Colonels Note: Ok, let's do a 6 hour TBS, and next week we'll grab the AT and debrief one another and the Klingons.

Happy B-Day Chief Caitian Admiral BluRox!

12.07.08 Excalibur Mission Update: TBS: Six Hours - The disorderly security officer has now been made a medical orderly, helping out in the medical bay after his primary shift in Security. - The XO is semi traumatized by that one friendly wasp that landed on her head, and the other one who crawled into a pocket. - The Captain and his away team are still searching around a really big and old library; the site offers many many research opportunities, with both digital and actual hardcopy options. - The Science dept is still cataloging all the incoming data. - The Engineering dept likes their new mechanical tech countermeasure wasps, and they are moving forward with the project. Note: The Away team is welcome to come back to the ship, and start checking out the library in shifts as well. As for the crew? The Command Team really didn't get into the whole Shore Leave thing, so let's stick with the 6 hour TBS, stay with what we did during the 12.07.08 Sim, and go from there for the next Sim.

Mission Brief: The Excalibur has arrived in orbit of the Miriamo Archives and has begun the data upload of thousands of years of recorded history. The planet itself lay in ancient ruins, save for the Central Library Archives, which remains mostly intact. It is clear that this planet was once very important. The Archivists have given us permission to beam down away teams to do some looking around of our own. - Engineering continues to work on their countermeasure device to guard against any more technological intruders such as the Spider Mole employed by the Blood Cult raiding party. The Excal countermeasure beasties look just like small mechanical wasps. Dude, where’s my bug spray? - Medical deals with multiple patient injuries and recoveries that are healing within the medical bay. We had a semi-cranky vampire with a broken foot, tended to by the CMO. A bullheaded Klingon patient was also dealt with. And, CMO Wydown laid down the law with a recovering and disruptive Security officer. - The bridge ops were left in the XO’s command paws. - The Captain and his Away Team (Teykier, Khal, Tr’Lorin, Ramson, Security Escort) zoomed down to the Miriamano planet for some library and general planetary recon via the Captains Yacht. 081207_Excal_Chat_Log.txt

Ghost Rider! Dude! You gonna get on World of Warcraft tonight? There's a big Undead raiding party planned - we should totally be there!

12.03.08 Agincourt Mission Update: TBS: Twenty Minutes - The Away Team made planetfall and the devastation on Tervan Four is about the same as Earth: burned and bombed out buildings, many buildings wiped off the map. However – carbon scoring, consistent with weapons fire, as well as red and green colored blood stains were found at various spots in one of the buildings being explored by the away team. - The Agincourt set off to patrol the sector, and picked up a Soltan bread crumb trail so to speak; it was semi-determined that the Soltan attack fleet approached Tervan from a southern vector prior to launching their attack. The IKS VaKang accompanies the exploratory warship as a “wing man”.

MISSION BRIEF: The Away Team has beamed down to the surface of Tervan Four, the largest Soltan attack site other then Earth. The Agincourt herself is heading away from the planet and doing a recon of the sector. Both the planetary away team and the 'Court are searching for any further Soltan data that may be of use. chatlog2008_12_03.txt

Welcome back and have fun!

Happy Birthday Admiral A-9. Have a good one!

First off, I will say that websites rock out. If I'm checking out a sim website, and you have messed up text, dead links, and a generally nasty appearance with the choice of your colors and layout a nightmare of a mess .... chances are I'm not going to join your sim. However! I did not join STSF because of websites; I joined because of the Message Board layout, content, and general community. I lurked for four months before jumping in to make sure there were no god awful flame wars and generally stupid people ... then again, every once in a while ... ::ducks:: :-P Then I joined. While the various linked sites of the offered sims did help with a ship decision (s), there is/was also enough pinned briefing information (ship specs, crew rosters, general updates) within each sim message board section to more then help me with my choices of what ships I did join through these years. Websites are great, I admit that up front, and they are an invaluable tool for RPG simming. But sometimes, it ain't all about the flash bling blang boom; it's the content within. Sort of not judging that good book by its cover?

I object to the article. I get the fact that the author was trying to compare two different Kirk incarnations, but the article reads like a blatant Public Relations stunt. PineKirk might very well be a lecherous idiot, but we have no idea until we see the movie, and rule of thumb - the main hero of any film can never be the full on lech idiot, because an audience (any audience) will never accept him. Case in point - Mel Gibsons character (Porter) in "Payback". The man was dangerous, and a hardcase. But, he had his own principles (he wanted his dang money, period), and the character had what I call dark honor. I don't know what other watchers of the film consider him to be, but I consider Porter to be a hero. Or perhaps a dark hero. IMO, the article is a big time stink.

11.30.08 Excalibur Mission Update: TBS: Six Hours Pre-Sim, Three Hours Post Sim Mission Brief: The Excalibur has arrived in orbit of the Miriamo Archives and has begun the data upload of thousands of years of recorded history. The planet itself lay in ancient ruins, save for the Central Library Archives, which remains mostly intact. It is clear that this planet was once very important. The Archivists have given us permission to beam down away teams to do some looking around of our own. - Engineering continues to work on their countermeasure device to guard against any more technological intruders such as the Spider Mole employed by the Blood Cult raiding party. The Excal countermeasure beasties look just like small mechanical wasps. Dude, where’s my bug spray? - Medical deals with multiple patient injuries and recoveries that are healing within the medical bay. We had a semi-cranky vampire with a broken foot, tended to by the CMO. A bullheaded Klingon patient was also dealt with. And, CMO Wydown laid down the law with a recovering and disruptive Security officer. - The bridge ops were left in the XO’s command paws. - The Captain and his Away Team (Teykier, Khal, Tr’Lorin, Ramson, Security Escort) zoomed down to the Miriamano planet for some library and general planetary recon via the Captains Yacht.

Mission Brief: The Excalibur has arrived in orbit of the Miriamo Archives and has begun the data upload of thousands of years of recorded history. The planet itself lay in ancient ruins, save for the Central Library Archives, which remains mostly intact. It is clear that this planet was once very important. The Archivists have given us permission to beam down away teams to do some looking around of our own. 081130_Excal_Chat_Log.txt