Welcome to FarPoint Newsletter
January issue
January Birthdays
01.06 Aron
Eisenberg (Nog,
Star Trek: DS9)
01.07 Mark Allen Shepherd (Morn,
Star Trek :DS9))
01.08 Dr.
Stephen Hawking (noted contemporary physicist, special guest star, Star
Trek :TNG)
01.20 DeForest
Kelley (Dr.
Leonard H. McCoy, Star Trek)
01.27 James Cromwell (Zefram
Cochrane, "Star
Trek: First Contact")
01.10 Lemone Jhelloh Chief of
Sciences USS HORATIO NELSON
Dr. Toni Ann Cattivo Chief Medical Officer USS WASHINGTON
Reminder: I still need birthdays from a lot of the
crews. You can send your birth date to my at: [email protected]
Thanks. Capt. Storm
Happy Birthday to all!
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Star Trek News
"Divergence" Concludes Klingon Conundrum
In an
upcoming episode of “Enterprise”, a number of elements drawn from several
aspects of Star Trek history come together to explain how Klingons
lost their forehead ridges for the better part of a generation in
"Divergence," the conclusion of a two-parter beginning with "Affliction."
“Affliction” is scheduled to air Feb. 18th,
with the conclusion, “Divergence” airing Feb. 25th.
The writing staff of “
Robert ("Tomar") Fortier Remembered
Robert Fortier, who appeared in the Original Series
episode "By
Any Other Name," passed away on New Year's Day. He was 79.
Fans will remember Fortier as Tomar,
one of several extra-galactic Kelvans
from the Andromeda
Galaxy who attempted to commandeer the U.S.S.
Enterprise for a return voyage to their homeworld. We saw Tomar eating
and enjoying an appetizing plate of red, blue, green and yellow cubes, which
gave inspiration to Kirk
and crew on how to defeat the hostile aliens. In their assumed human form, they
were susceptible to human weaknesses which in turn provided Scotty
with inspiration. The engineer used alcohol to weaken Tomar's defenses, which,
after the fourth bottle — including the "green" one — the alien
fainted. Not surprising after polishing off Saurian
brandy and Scotch whisky, among others.
Make it so! (Desperately
seeking the real Zefran Cochran.)
By Sushil Jantika; aka
(Claire)
Boldly going where only star
trek has gone before, got that bit closer to being a reality in November.
Thanks to a probe no bigger then the standard household washing machine.
Smart-1 successfully cleared
the "lagrangain point" (the point where the gravities of the moon and
the Earth are in Balance) on
This was no ordinary probe.
Powered by a revolutionary ion engine, that is ten times more efficient then
conventional chemical rockets. A stream of ions accelerated Smart-1 at just 0.2
millimetres per second. Not exactly warp speed. However using sustained
acceleration in space meant that, Smart-1's final speed reached 10 miles per
second, or 36,000 mph. It's Journey taking fourteen months from its
initial launch at Kourou in
Using electricity collected
by solar panels, the ion engine charged atoms of the element xenon (a noble
gas, symbol Ne, periodic table number 10, colourless and a gas
at 298K). The ions were then shot into space at a speed of 1,000mph creating
thrust.
Once past the
"Lagrangain point" Smart-1 completed the last part of its journey
using the gravitational pull of the moon. Then on Monday 15th
November an orbit of between 185 miles and 6200 miles from the Luna surface was
established, guided by a four and a half day burn of its ion engine. Smart-1
will now begin its nine month mission to study the moon's formation, using a
D-CIXS x-ray spectrometer.
All of this technology
doesn't come cheap. At a cost of £77 million (US $140 million) or £1,771,000
per month ($3,223,220 US) future missions will be expected to yield results. A
planned flyby mission to Mercury in 2009 by the European probe BepiColombo
would take between two and a half years, to three and a half years using the
ion engine, half the time of a conventional chemical rocket.
*************************************************************
Fleet News
A note from Admiral Britanicus
This
is going to be hard for me. I have been simming with some of you for a very long time and I truly count
you as friends but my time simming has drawn
to a close.
As with many things in life I have always said that I will do something
only until it is no longer
fun or becomes a challenge. For a while now, actually quite awhile simming has been a
chore and I have grown to resent the time spent
on it.
The thing I wish to express is that I know that the Fleet will be fine.
When Russ, A.J., Jade and I conceived this we agreed to a style that
would allow for a person to
leave without leaving a power vacuum. As all the Captains have a vote and I have only one vote as well it
changes virtually nothing. I will
simply fade to black. Well, not entirely. I will be unsubscribing from all lists except
Far Point Fleet where I will read about the
ongoing growth and development of the Fleet and it's members.
I hope you understand and forgive me. I will continue to be online
occasionally as Britanicus99 and would love to chat.
With Respect and Friendship,
Chris Clysdale
aka Adm. James Britanicus
ps. Russ, AJ, and Jade,
Thanks for the 4 wonderful years.
Love always
Chris
Chris, I’m sure I speak for all in the fleet when I say;
we wish you luck in what ever lays ahead of you. I hope someday that you find
your way back to us and that the game is fun for you once again. And also I
wish to say thanks. For your work in starting this fleet and seeing it grow to
become what it is today. I hope we can all make you proud by making it grow
beyond what ever you thought it could be when it first was born.
All the best,
Capt. Ryan Storm
USS Horatio Nelson
CMO Jasmin Que takes an LOA. Former AMO Morgana Whitman
steps up as acting CMO and accepts a promotion to Lieutenant Junior Grade.
Former counselor Devon Marks assumes AMO duties.
USS Washington
AJ Cirella has been promoted to the rank of Commander
and has filled the position of Executive Officer after Commander Tovik resigned
from the simm.
Danen Lrunin has been promoted to the rank of Lt.
Commander and is now the Second Officer / Helm Officer / Shuttle Pilot,
replacing AJ Cirella.
Congratulations to both of you!
For a period of several weeks, we thought we had lost
Commander Cam Circuit. In his absence, another Chief Engineer was
appointed. Cam has returned to us, and has chosen from the available
positions at the time of his return. Cam is now Assistant Chief of
Engineering.
USS Excalibur
The Excalibur welcomes three new crewmen to the sim.
Ensign Echo Talon, Lt. Dominick Chauncey, and Lt. Carl Alexander Jarvis each
has already made an impact
to our mission and crew.
USS Alliance
Promotions
Lt Amman Desai (XO) to Lt.Cmdr
1st Lt Slaine (2O/Marine) to Marine Captain
Ensign Randie Janice (yeoman) to Lt (j.g)
Ensign Iris McCoy (CEO) to Lt (j.g)
Ensign Wade Wilson (CIO) to Lt (j.g)
New Crew Members
Ensign Wraeth Nytes (Ops)
Dr Noughn Verse (CMO)
*************************************************************
State of the Fleet
This is a new section I am adding this month. Let me
know if you would like to keep it.
Of the four ships I got post numbers for, two had very
good months. The HN had another great month with 144 posts and the Washington
had a good month with 49.5 posts. The Alliance saw a slight rise in numbers
with 31 and the Excalibur had is poorest month since her start with 24. The Alliance
has already picked up the pace for the new year and with the addition of three
new crewmen so has the Excalibur.
*************************************************************
Current Missions
USS Horatio Nelson
The crew of the HN are snapped by a member of the
Q continuum onto an unknown planetoid in a galaxy far far away. Far worse than
that, is that no one has any memory of their lives in Starfleet. Aside from
their skills, they have no indication of who and what they are and the crew
must valiantly fight an unknown enemy. Towards the end of the month, we
returned to SB25 for some much needed down time.
USS Washington
December found the Washington working on completing our
November mission. Transporting the Romulan Tal'Shiar was interrupted
by a distress call which turned out to be a ploy by her comrades-in-arms.
While the W crew tried to rescue the "survivors" before the ship in
distress suffered a warp core breach, the previously brain-washed Chief of
Security MacGregor sprung the Romulan from the brig. The Washington
returned to SB25 in time for Christmas, however, and found Tribbles in
their stockings. Everyone knows how that story ended.
USS Excalibur
The Excalibur is given a Milk Run. They are to return
the Rigel Ambassador to Rigel IV. Once they arrive they find that the
Ambassador doesn’t know why he’s being recalled, the government doesn’t know
why the Excalibur has entered orbit, and the village where the Ambassador grew
up has been hit by an unknown disaster. Storm and his crew must unravel a
mystery on what started out as an simple taxi mission.
USS Alliance
This month saw the conclusion of the alliance's mission
to rescue
professor Farnstrom, unfortunately the now quite mad professor
kidnapped two personnel. The Alliance was also attacked by the
Guardians of what seemed a pre warp society, in fact
an incredibly advanced cybernetic life form. After an unfortunate
encounter the situation was resolved peacefully and the Alliance
left having completed their mission. Upon returning to the
Starbase the crew had trouble with tribbles.
*************************************************************
January Award Winners
Best Story Post:
W#3318- Cheree
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/uss_washington/message/849
Best CD Post:
SB 25 post#538 A post#414-Wade Wilson-Ambition Overload
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/starshipalliance/message/809
Funniest Post:
Lieutenant Steve Latinner/Lt. Commander Shyloe Townsend:
#2864 Cyber Dude in Paris
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/horationelson/message/5018
Genesis Post:
Captain J’Dem/Captain Kyle Lamorak - #2777 Mission
Kickoff Part II Hypothesis
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/horationelson/message/4925
MVP:
Lt. Commander Shyloe Townsend – Chief Communications
Officer and Second Officer.
We aren’t supposed to give a nomination for this award
unless a player truly deserves fleet wide recognition. Therefore, when I
nominate Kay for the award, I do so with pride. Kay not only doubled her
posting frequency this month over November, but she also took over the running
of the Horatio Nelson while I was out of touch on vacation. I couldn’t have
done it without her and she did a fantastic job in my absence! Thanks again so
much for all your hard work Kay. If anyone deserves this honor, it’s you.
Congratulations to all winners and nominees.
*************************************************************
A new Science Fiction contest
The Clarke-Bradbury International Science Fiction Competition for 2005
About the Competition
The Clarke-Bradbury Science Fiction International Competition for 2005 is an
international contest which aims to:
- Promote innovative ideas for future spacee technologies,
- Recognize and pursue viable space technollogies found in science fiction,
- Provide a link between imaginative writerrs and the space community,
- Encourage young people to become more intterested in science and physics,
and
- Share the ingenuity and creativity of youung minds with the general public.
Theme for 2005
unlike the previous year’s competition, a specific theme has been selected
for the current contest, namely the Space Elevator.
Prizes
The Winner in each category will receive a cash prize of $600 and the
Runners-up in each category will receive $300. They will also receive
complementary copies of three ESA publications...
It is anticipated that the winning stories and artwork will appear in a new
book on the Space Elevator by Dr Bradley Edwards due to be published in the
summer of 2005.
<http://www.itsf.org/contest/about.html>
I don't recall ever seeing a Space Elevator featured in Star Trek but I must
admit it is one of my favorite (and perhaps most likely) new technologies.
Sharpen your pencils; you've only got until the February 25th!
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Engineer's Corner by Scott McCoy
Welcome to the second installment of the Engineer's Corner. No one has
contacted me since last month's newsletter with any updates; remember that this
column exists so that _you_, other writers, can showcase your writing talent by
telling the rest of the fleet about what
technological creations you've come up with for your own ships. Remember; email
your technological ideas to [email protected].
This month I'll discuss the diagnostics that occur in Engineering.
Whenever something goes wrong with the ship, or something is perceived to
possibly be wrong, system diagnostics are employed.
However, there are different levels of diagnostics available, with the usage
determined by the severity of the situation.
Level 1 Diagnostic -- This refers to the most comprehensive type of system
diagnostic, which is normally conducted on ship's systems. Extensive automated
diagnostic routines are performed, but a Level 1 diagnostic requires a team of
crew members to physically verify operation of system mechanisms and to system
readings, rather than depending on the automated programs, thereby guarding
against possible malfunctions in self-testing hardware and software. Level 1
diagnostics on major systems can take several hours, and in many cases the
subject system must be taken off-line for all tests to be performed.
Level 2 Diagnostic -- This refers to a comprehensive system diagnostic protocol
which, like a Level 1, involves extensive automated routines, but requires crew
verification of fewer operational elements. This yields a somewhat less
reliable system analysis, but is a procedure that can be conducted in less than
half the time of the more complex tests.
Level 3 Diagnostic -- This protocol is similar to Level 1 and 2 diagnostics but
involves crew verification of only key mechanics and systems readings. Level 3
diagnostics are intended to be performed in ten minutes or less.
Level 4 Diagnostic -- This automated procedure is intended for use whenever
trouble is suspected with a given system. This protocol is similar to Level 5,
but involves more sophisticated batteries of automated diagnostics. For most
systems, Level 4 diagnostics can be performed in less than 30 seconds.
Level 5 Diagnostics -- This automated procedure is intended for routine use to
verify system performance. Level 5 diagnostics, which usually require less than
2.5 seconds, are typically performed on most systems on at least a daily basis,
and are also performed during crisis situations when time and system resources
are carefully managed.
Obviously, a Level 1 Diagnostic is only performed in the event of serious
suspected or real damage to ship wide systems when time allows, in less
demanding situations, or when timing is crucial, lower level diagnostics are
used. Consider that the higher the number, the less thorough the diagnostic is,
with level 4 and 5 diagnostics being fully automated, and level 3 and above
requiring human verification of systems.
This month's survival tip comes from my favorite TNG episode,
"Relics."
In the event of a catastrophic ship or shuttle failure, and the odds of a quick
rescue are small, a transporter's pattern buffer can be rigged
to put a crewmember into a form of stasis until help can arrive. To perform
this procedure:
1. Reroute all primary and auxiliary power to the transporter systems.
2. Access the command override protocol for the transporter console and disable
the rematerialization subroutine and its redundant fail-safe backups.
3. Connect the phase inducers to the emitter array; this will allow the phase
inducers to act as a regenerative power source, and they also will compensate
for minor quantum variances in signal integrity.
4. On the underside of the transporter console, open the maintenance panel and
physically remove the override circuits. This will prevent the console's
automated diagnostic routines from disabling our modifications.
5. Return to the main transporter control interface and access the command
routines for the pattern buffer.
6. Lock the pattern buffer into a continual Level 1 Diagnostic (See above) to
monitor and maintain pattern integrity. This will engage the phase inducers to
route the matter array through the buffer, maintaining the closest possible
quantum balance between the subject's matter and energy signatures.
Diagnostic info from _The Star Trek: TNG Technical Manual_ by Rick Sternbach
and Michael Okuda, 1991, as transcribed by DITL.org. (p. 49)
Survival tips are taken from _The Starfleet Survival Guide_ by David Mack, 2002
*************************************************************
Well fleet, that wraps up another Newsletter. I would
appreciate any feedback any of you would like to send along. Is it too long,
too boring, would you like to see other articles, does it keep your interest?
Please let me know how I’m doing.
Until next month,
Captain Ryan Storm
CO USS Excalibur NCC-4399
