The Pioneer Fleet Report - June 2020

USS Athena

Commanding Officer: Lindsay Bayes

Crew Posting Level: 6
Senior Staff Posting Level: 6
Overall Ship Health: 8

Ship Status: We’re chugging along and are in the final scenes from our very high-stakes main sim. We have a lot of new crew to get on board so the inter-sim period looks like it will be really busy. It’s a bit slower right now, for various reasons, but I have no doubt that will change soon enough. We’re also talking about the idea of a cross-over between the Athena and the Ogawa because both ships will be at Starbase at the same time. We’re currently discussing the logistics.

Welcome to River who joined the crew recently and is getting her character involved in things on the Starbase while they try to figure out what happened to their ship.

Spotlight: I’m really enjoying all of the Starbase threads. To chaos in the labs, to a chase of someone who probably knows something about what happened to the Athena, things are definitely lively in those threads! Thanks to all the new crew for doing their best to stay active in a weird circumstances where the end of the sim does impact what happens to their character before they board. They’ve all been troopers.

And thanks to the rest of the crew for being patient and and trying to keep up while we pushed things ahead towards the finale. You are all very much appreciated.

Vacancies: None. Aside from one position that may be taken, we are full.

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Executive Officer: No report submitted

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Gamemaster: Ian Kerby

Crew Posting Level: 7
Senior Staff Posting Level: 7
Overall Ship Health: 7

Sim Overview: It’s a race against time to repair the Mirror Orb of the Prophets before the Pah Wraiths manage to bridge the space between the Universes and make their way from Mirror Risa to ours.  

The fate of both Universes hang in the balance as the Athena and her crew try to help their Mirror Counterparts restore the boundaries that should never have been broken, to fix the Broken Mirror.

Spotlight:

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FComm’s Comments: The ship is holding a positive trend with regards to activity at almost double the minimum needed posts. A few AWOL’s popped up here and there, but they were addressed in a timely fashion. As is the norm, the Athena quality of writing is definitely above average.

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USS Atlantis

Commanding Officer: Kate O’Neill

Crew Posting Level: 10
Senior Staff Posting Level: 10
Overall Ship Health: 10

Ship Status: Holy Smokes Batman pull up the gangplanks I think we are being overrun....by some of the most amazing writers in the club.    I have joked about filling every room on the floating palace that is a Mythology class ship however the crew is doing their darndest to make that a reality.   June has seen an influx of new writers with amazingly creative visions that make every day exciting to open up the boards and see what is going on.

Luke Hung, the GM, has created a detailed sim update which is located in the Atlantis MOTD.  In a nutshell there are two main branches of the story.   One has the Atlantis dealing with a pirate ship in an asteroid field.   The other has an away team aboard the freighter that was attacked by the pirate ship.  While my synopsis is brief Luke has done a masterful job creating a spot in the main sim for all the crew to slide in as if they had always been there.

The crew is starting so many side sims that involve promotions, greetings, and drinking…oh my :)    Stay tuned for the updates on them.

Spotlight: Okay, so this is one of my favorite parts of a fleet report.   Typically I would spotlight the award winners but I thought now would be a good time to spotlight all the amaing new writers on the Atlantis.     So as to new people. If I get something wrong introducing you just let me know.

J Ridgly (aka Minty Narwhal) is joining us as Ensign Oliver Loughty Science Officer Botany & Ecology His bio is super cool.  He is a botany and ecology expert. He also was a professor so looks like we have our substitute for the high school science classes.  Right now he is busting out his pirate gear in a thread so I am not sure if he wants to breach into history of the Caribean too or not.  I will follow up on that.    All jokes asides Jake is an amazing writer and I am so happy he is part of the crew.

Terry Sullivan is joining as Commander D’Vash Odinson Chief Intelligence Officer. Terry is the Captain of the USS Wolverine and my first placement out of the academy. I also had a chance to RP with him on the Olympic for a while. He is super creative and a blast to RP with. His character was an XO on a previous ship so we are still working out cool storylines for Odinson. Terry has tons of experience and great ideas so if you are looking for someone to run a story with about intelligence and other fun stuff like that hit him up.

Rusty Boshankles is playing Ensign Three of Five (William McRaven) Engineering Officer. This character has an incredibly cool backstory that he wants to RP out and have some creative fun with. I am so excited about some of his ideas. It should keep the crew active and give you a place to explore some writing if you ever wanted to try something different or fun as he develops his backstory.

Just to keep the list going and for the new guys, I am going to say that Gene Gibbs is fresh off the shuttle transfer as the new Commander Garinder’Jen th’Jir Executive Officer. His welcome is a few threads back so no you are not going crazy but I thought since we were talking new crew I would mention him.

Russell Watts is changing characters to help out in the medical department. He is playing Crewman Taw Yllek Nurse. If you recognize the name it is because he played this character before life got busy. I rolled the dice and just kept it hidden praying Russell would come back and he did !!!!   It is true…the best things in life do come back around.   Never fear…his bartender is still around and going strong as an unrostered person.

Jennifer Ward has hit the ground running and we are all chasing after her in a very good way.  Her story ideas are all-crew encompassing so just about every member of the crew can have at least one spot in a thread.  If you can’t I am sure she will have a great idea to RP out with you.   She is officially a  counselor but also has non rostered roles of teacher and morale officer.   FYI the flyers for the ship-wide karaoke contest are being placed in every turbo so you can not say you did not see them.  They are the large yellow sheets of paper with the word MANDATORY FUN.   If you choose to not attend there will a TED talk on something from HR.  It is your choice so make sure you sign up for one or we will sign you up for one.    

All jokes aside I am thrilled to see all these new writers and can’t wait to join their RP adventures.

Vacancies: If you have an idea we have a spot…or we will make one.

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Executive Officer: Gene Gibbs

Crew Posting Level: 7
Senior Staff Posting Level: 7
Overall Ship Health: 7

Ship Status: The ship is bursting at the seams and that is a good thing. I’m one of the new kids on the Atlantis block and am working at getting myself in place there - and to see that the troops are involved. In that this month I’ve mainly been working with Luke and Kate to be able to help myself and others look at the big map on the board and find the bright red dot saying ‘you are here’. Kate moves at such a pace that I feel as though I’m hanging onto her shirttails trying to keep up. I suppose that is not a bad problem to have on a ship. I’m honored to be here and am hopeful that I’ll be a help to the ship and crew and Luke our stalwart guide. More on the ship ‘things’ next month.

Spotlight: The more I dig down the more I see the complexity that Luke has put into this sim that I’m only now dipping my furry Wookiee toe into. Huge kudos to him.

Vacancies:

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Gamemaster: Luke Hung

Crew Posting Level: 8
Senior Staff Posting Level: 7
Overall Ship Health: 8

Sim Overview: The sim is moving along two different paths slowly. The upside there are a half of dozen side sims going on and the crew seems to being getting more engaged with the happenings. There was a very creative solution for engaging a warship hiding in an asteroid field. I’m a big fan of big brains…

Spotlight:

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FComm’s Comments: The Atlantis is running along very well. The influx of new characters, the generous amount of side sims has led the ship to another consecutive month of doubling the minimum needed posts for the ship. Many accolades landed on the ship during the Awards program as well, indicating a strong level of quality writing. I would like to see a bit more focus set on the Main Sim, however.

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USS Dresden

Commanding Officer: No report submitted

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Executive Officer: Joana Ribeiro

Crew Posting Level: 7
Senior Staff Posting Level: 7
Overall Ship Health: 7

Ship Status: June brought a few changes to the Dresden with it, the major of which was the resignation of Jerome, our CO, due to RL time constraints. The current plans are to play his departure IC and have his character being moved to a different position on the roster as Jerome wants to stay on board, which are great news!

Even thought there were some departures, June also brought us some new crew members. We now have a new Chief Science Officer in the form of Melissa Aragon. Her check in posts are amazing, and I am looking forward to write with her and to see how Lt. Priscilla Simms will interact with the crew!

All in all, the Dresden remained fairly active, with her crew keeping up side sims and moving them along. I don’t see posting speed slowing down even while the CO’s vacancy is being filled, and hopefully once we have a new CO, things will speed up a little.

Spotlight: This month I would like to spotlight Charles Stevens for his portrayal of Ensign Clinton “Stores” Reed. Charles is a recent addition to the club and he has already won the Best Engineering JO award. His posts are funny and well thought out and his character incredibly imaginative! His creativity never ceases to amaze me and I have been enjoying thoroughly both reading his posts and roleplaying with him!

Vacancies: CO // GM // CMO // Science, Medical, and Security JOs

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Gamemaster: No report submitted

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FComm’s Comments: The Dresden has hit a bump or two, and the resignation of Jerome Davis as CO was a blow to some of the crew. But even with that, the ship managed to do almost double the number of required posts for the ship. Without a GM, Side sims have been progressing along nicely, and a new crew member or two may also help get the ship on smooth sailing going forward.

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USS Ogawa

Commanding Officer: Calé Reilly

Crew Posting Level: 9
Senior Staff Posting Level: 9
Overall Ship Health: 9

Ship Status: The owie has had a lot of fun this month with our current sim. Some great posts going on as well as some exciting side sims coming about. I am loving the transition thread from Linds and Joe and feel somewhat concerned about their poor characters leaving a nice stable ship to come to wonderland IC :p

Spotlight: Lind’s and Joe, Matt and Silke, for their amazing side sims. Melissa who just jumped right into things IC. Amber who’s turning if the alert system will no doubt cause issue later on. Also Ty and Lori who’s character interactions I have really enjoyed.

Vacancies: Roster closed at the moment

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Executive Officer: Lindsay Bayes

Crew Posting Level: 8
Senior Staff Posting Level: 8
Overall Ship Health: 9

Ship Status: The Ogawa is hopping! Our new sim is keeping people busy and there are lots of great side sims happening. We’ve had some new crew members join us (welcome!) and they are doing their best to get stuck into the fray. We’re in an Alice in Wonderland themed sim and my poor Xo character is looking at the crew she just joined and wondering if this was such a great idea, lol.

Spotlight: Matt and Silke have a great storyline going about an evolving relationship and the complications that come with it.

And I basically have to give kudos to our Gm, Geoff, and everyone involved in this crazy sim for making me laugh regularly. I’m loving all these scenes!

Vacancies: None. We’re all full up!

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Gamemaster: Geoff Joosten

Crew Posting Level: 9
Senior Staff Posting Level: 9
Overall Ship Health: 9

Sim Overview: The starbase has been thrown into disarray as the number of afflicted has escalated and grown more and more scandalous.

The XO and CE are making a move to secure the merchant area and move formulate a plan to contain the insanity plaguing the crew. How many have been snorting the good stuff?

Science has become the epicenter of the mad hatter’s tea party with the vast majority of the science staff having joined into the tea party being thrown by Ensign Riani and CSO Petrakos. There is clearly a dormouse missing. Who oh who could it be and what are they plotting? What is in that tea anyway?

The white rabbit has been detained by the the Chief of Psychiatry and a virologist, causing him to be late fore a very important date by transporting him to sickbay for an examination trying to get to the bottom of why everyone is acting so strange. In the end it doesn’t matter, he’s late and the queen will collect his head if he doesn’t make it to her on time.

Speaking of the Queen of Hearts, she has begun to hold court with a poofy dress and blood in her eyes. Don’t get caught wearing yellow if you seek an audience though! It will be off with your head and then you will be required to paint the roses. Who plants white roses on the promenade anyway?

The CSO with her Cheshire grin has started playing croquet in the Holodeck with some of the security staff. How are the going to respond to the Red Alert, wait yellow alert, wait was it code orange? Who knows!

Our crusty Chief, who works for a living, is having to deal with an overweight lieutenant believing he is a walrus, looking for a carpenter to enjoy his oysters.

The grim specter of the Jabberwock has settled in the twisted mind of Dr. Jarvis leading him to begin a series of macabre experiments on or with Dr. Black, no one knows for sure with Dr. Black.

Alice has been strangely missing from all of this. Is she the key? Where is the Caterpillar, that hookah must be behind it all! Try the oysters, but remember one makes you bigger the other makes you smaller.

Spotlight: I have to throw out kudos to my unwilling volunteers who have carried this sim with true grace and hilarity:

Achilleas Petrakos as the March Hare
Iyun Riani as the Mad Hatter
Brad Walker as the White Rabbit
Willow Taylor as the Queen of Hearts
Zoi Haven as the Cheshire Cat
Duvosa as a Playing Card

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FComm’s Comments: The Ogawa is literally killing it with activity. Almost a full four times the minimum level of posts, and all the crew is immersed and participating. This past month, the ship really set the bar for how to measure a ship’s health.

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Outpost 42

Commanding Officer: Adam W.

Crew Posting Level: 10
Senior Staff Posting Level: 9
Overall Ship Health: 9

Ship Status: June was busting out all over on Outpost 42.  With 409 posts, this was the month with the most activity in the last three and a half years that I’ve been tracking it.  Much of the activity was driven by James and Melissa and the tension between their characters that turned to awkward romance, but they managed to do a lovely job of bringing others into their fast-paced storyline.  I managed to break out of my roleplaying lull.  There was plenty of activity in the main sim as part of the crew fended off hostile invaders in the promenade while the rest figured out how to protect the second artifact that the alien force would be after next, which involved some delightful arguing.  GM involvement was enough to allow others to keep going, which I hope will continue.  Overall this was an excellent month that was a ton of fun.

Spotlight: I don’t think I can say enough about the excellent job Melissa Aragon did on Outpost 42 in June.  She personally helped me get excited to roleplay in a way I hadn’t in a very long time, which I’m grateful for.  She threw a great twist ending into the side sim about trying to get some fry bread to eat that I didn’t see coming.  I’m looking forward to the aftermath thread.  Also I didn’t anticipate lying to a superior officer in the main sim.  Melissa’s done a wonderful job playing Toveka, particularly with portraying her discomfort with having romantic interest in her, which is highly amusing.

Vacancies: All key positions have been filled.

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Executive Officer: Kate O’Neill

Crew Posting Level: 8
Senior Staff Posting Level: 7
Overall Ship Health: 8

Ship Status: The Outpost is doing well.  Many people have side sims going that are very character-centered.    I love story lines where the crew do character development stories.  It allows us to see what the writers envision for themselves and creates ways for us to interact with them so that we can highlight these strengths an personality traits.  The main sim is a bit slow but still making steady progress.    The gunfight in Evie’s cafe is now involving rolling pastry carts which is an approved activity for kids in the 1980’s.

Spotlight: I want to spotlight Adam W.  While he, like all of us, has been busy over the past few weeks, his continued support of the crew and trusting the vision of his writers make the Outpost a jewel of the site.   Thank you for giving us a chance to shine, enjoy, and make the Outpost a place we love to write and spend our time.

Vacancies:

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Gamemaster: No report submitted

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FComm’s Comments: The Outpost is picking up speed steadily. From a Main Sim that has people running all over the station, to various side sims and in-depth character building; the Outpost is drawing attention in a most positive fashion. And as mentioned in the CO report, the number of posts this month was extraordinary for the station.

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