Independence Fleet Newsletter

January 2002

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INDEPENDENCE FLEET NEWSLETTER

JANUARY 2002

Hello to one and all! I hope that everyone had a safe
and happy holiday season this year; I sure did. It
was nice to be able to go home for a few weeks just to
relax and be with family and friends. However, now
it’s time to get back to business. I trust that you
all are back into the swing of things now; whether
that be work, school, or both. I’m back at school and
hitting the books again. Well anyway, it's time again
for our monthly newsletter... enjoy!

Incase you don't know, this is VAdm Star. RAdm Seldon
will continue putting together the newsletter in
February. There are no changes in responsibilities
with ID Fleet command, I'm just relieving him of this
duty for a month for no particular reason. Some
things may be a little different, but as a whole it
should be mostly the same.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

- News and Happenings
- December Posting Awards
- 2001 Posting Info
- Ace Decade
- Mission Feature
- Interview with RAdm Seldon
- Book & Movie of the Month
- Closing

NEWS AND HAPPENINGS

- Captain Ace Decade, CO of the USS Liberty has been
promoted to Commodore. He joins the Admiralty as the
first Commodore in ID Fleet. Comm. Decade’s story is
included below in the newsletter. Congratulations to
Commodore Decade!

- Captain Myst of the USS Griffin would like to offer
her thanks to Commodore Decade for his help in making
the Griffin’s post archive open to the public.
Captain Myst welcomes everyone to read the missions of
the USS Griffin. A link to the archive can be found
at the Griffin’s website.

- Since the last newsletter, the USS Patriot NCC-26782
(DSE), USS Destiny NCC-443 (SOD), and USS Chesapeake
NCC-18907 (DRF) were launched. They are commanded by
Captain Thomas Dupont, Captain Jeremy Ross, and
Captain Shawn Edwards, respectively. All three ships
are off to great starts.

- There is buzz around the fleet about starting an
Academy for new players who wish to learn a little bit
about Star Trek and simming before actually joining a
ship. Send your suggestions and opinions on this to
Admiral West and Rear-Admiral Seldon.

- All CO’s are required to post a content rating (G,
PG, PG-13, or R) for their ship on their website. All
players need to be mindful of their ship’s rating.

- All CO’s are also to put a link to their ship’s post
archive on their website. Their crewmembers will not
be eligible to win the “Best Post” or “Funniest Post”
awards without this link.

- Captain Sutak has begun a monthly newsletter for the
USS Avalon. The Avalon becomes the 3rd ship to
introduce a newsletter, following the Liberty and the
Washington. Lieutenant Heliel N’Yel is the editor for
the new newsletter.

- The USS Liberty and USS Sunfire have embarked on a
historic joint mission. This is the first
inter-division joint mission in ID Fleet history,
bridging Deep Space Exploration and the Special
Operations Division.

- A piece of news from real life: Larry Moon (Lt.
Lancaster of the USS Chesapeake) was married to Kerry
Schlowinski on January 12th in a traditional Scottish
ceremony. Several crewmembers of the USS Chesapeake
were in attendance. Pictures from the wedding will be
on the Chesapeake’s website soon.

- Also, I challenged my traffic ticket in court and
won my case. I was charged with “failing to stop at a
duly erected flashing red light.” Our justice system
in action.

DECEMBER POSTING AWARDS

- Best Post: Lieutenant David M. Kovich, CTO of the
USS George W. Bush for Post #27. Lt. Kovich was a
rookie in December, but he didn’t post like one. From
the beginning, Kovich produced excellent posts. They
included many characters, had tension, and were paced
extremely well – #27 is just one example of his
superior work. New players should take a look at it.

- Funniest Post: Lieutenant Dick Phelps, CIO of the
USS George W. Bush for Post #11. Dick Phelps wins his
second “Funniest Post” award from ID Fleet. The first
time he won the award was as a crewmember of the
Avalon, back in October. He now brings his humorous
talent aboard the George W. Bush. Dick is well known
for his comedic posts.

- Most Posts: Lieutenant Zachari Vrona, SS of the USS
Sunfire with 22 posts. Lt. Vrona was ID Fleet’s most
prolific poster during the month of December. His 22
posts are short only of Cmdr. Tavik’s marks of 24
(August) and 23.75 (July). Vrona’s activity sparked
the Sunfire to its best posting total ever, 80 posts,
finishing 3rd in the fleet for December.

- Most Valuable Player: Lieutenant Commander Hank
Logan, CS of the USS Washington. Cmdr. Logan sent 20
posts for the Washington in December, helping her
finish 2nd in ID Fleet with 106 posts. All of his
posts are well written and include new and fresh
ideas. Logan’s work has been excellent ever since he
joined the Washington.

- Rookie of the Month: Ensign Steve McCloud, CEO of
the USS Patriot. Ens. McCloud didn’t start his
simming experience until December 21st – when the
Patriot launched. Despite only having 11 days,
McCloud still wrote 7 posts and helped propel the
Patriot to finish the month with a very respectable 52
posts. McCloud was a great asset to the Patriot in
her first month.

- Most Improved: Lieutenant Commander Talin
Southbranche, CAO of the USS Liberty. Lt. Cmdr.
Southbranche posted 12 times during December and also
had the privilege and honor of starting a mission for
the Liberty. Southbranche stepped up his game from a
not very active player to a valuable crewman of the
USS Liberty.

- Recruitment: Lieutenant Mezoti Kestra, CTO of the
USS Liberty. Lt. Kestra was a rookie in December, but
that didn’t stop her from recruiting for her ship.
She rigorously searched for and found new people to
join her ship. Despite being new, Kestra was still
able to get 2 new people to join the Liberty. She
will continue to use her recruiting ability on the
Liberty for a long time.

2001 POSTING INFO

Now that 2001 is over, I thought it might be
interesting to look at some of the stats and numbers
from ID Fleet over our first six months in action. I
am the Fleet Historian, so you should have expected
something like this.

- Individual Awards Won By Each Ship:

USS Liberty: 10
USS Washington: 8
USS Avalon: 7
USS Sunfire: 6
USS George W. Bush: 2
USS Goldeneye: 1
USS Griffin: 1
USS Patriot: 1

The Avalon saw its fleet record streak of 5
consecutive months (July-November) with a fleet-wide
award come to a halt in December when she failed to
win one for the first time in ID Fleet History. The
Liberty matched the Avalon’s mark of 5
(August-current) in December and her streak is still
alive.

- Ship Posting Titles:

July: USS Avalon, 108 posts
August: USS Liberty, 173 posts
September: USS Liberty, 98 posts
October: USS Washington, 112 posts
November: USS Washington, 81 posts
December: USS Liberty, 116 posts

- Top 10:

1. USS Liberty, August, 173 posts
2. USS Washington, August, 130 posts
3. USS Liberty, December, 116 posts
4. USS Washington, October, 112 posts
5. USS Avalon, July, 108 posts
6. USS Washington, December, 106 posts
7. USS Liberty, September, 98 posts
8. USS Avalon, October, 97 posts
9. USS Washington, November, 81 posts
10. USS Sunfire, December, 80 posts

ACE DECADE

With Mr. Decade’s big promotion and all, I thought it
appropriate for us to learn a little bit about him and
his history with Star Trek role play by email. I
asked Comm. Decade to write a short biography about
his travels in the world of simming. Here is his
story, unedited:

It all began in February of 2000. I received an
e-mail from Jay Robertson of the USS Sunfire to join
his role play by email ship. I didn't even know what
simming was or how it worked. I figured if it had
something to do with Star Trek, then it must be cool.
I was the ships Small Craft Pilot and was given the
rank of Ensign.

A few weeks later the sim began. It was in the fleet
known as Utopia. At the beginning were so many posts,
I didn't know where to jump in. I waited a few weeks
for a good spot to introduce Ace Decade. The time came

when, Commodore Robertson was in trouble. I had Ace
save him.

Not a good idea. It didn't go well with a few on the
ship, and my first post was scratched. After receiving

this news, I nearly left. I didn't understand why it
was scratched. But, Robbie talked me into staying. He
said I had potential as a writer and wanted me to stay

to develop my writing. So I stayed and my career on
the Sunfire went on.

A few months past and I was really getting the hang of
simming. I would read what others would write and
try to play off them. I learned a lot from the members

on the Sunfire and owe them a lot of thank yous.
However, every good ship has their problems. It was
getting to the point of no return. We would send angry

e-mails through the group list yelling and cursing at
one another. Then, to top it all off, in June 2000
Commodore Robertson resigns.

To me, that was a tragedy. But he didn't really have
the time to command a ship. Needless to say, James
West took over and it was a turn for the better.
Nearly half of the original crew quit due to the
arguments and tension on the ship.

The new Sunfire took off really quick. I was
promoted to Lieutenant and was the new Chief
Engineering Officer. I was having fun. I helped West
recruit new players to take over the old ones.

Unfortunately, one individual seamed to stomp on my
nerves. Chief Science Officer and now the 2nd officer
of the newly re-launched Sunfire, Robert Seldon. It is

no secret. Seldon and I never ever for a split second
saw eye to eye. It was always; My ideas are better
than you, Your post was totally out of whack and
didn't go with the story, your ideas are stupid and
not good for the sim, etc. It went on and on 'till the

point we started sending very inappropriate things in
posts about one another.

Afterwards, I wasn't as involved as I was in the
past. In fact, I quit posting and still argued with
Seldon on various things. I was dissapearing from the
scene. new people were coming in and erasing my name.
Ashla Bogan, Thomas Dupont, Krol, and Dick Phelps to
name a few. People more dedicated to the sim than I
was. I was one of the last originals left. Alongside
James West, Charles Star, Robert Seldon, Sutak and Wil

Parks.

During this posting drought I had, I was given the
privilege to Captain my own ship. The USS Liberty.
Excited as I was, I forgot about the Sunfire. I was to

busy recruiting my own crew and getting back my long
time friend, Sutak. I also talked Wil parks, who is
also my best friend online to join the Liberty. In
order to have Parks reunite with Ace and Sutak, he had

to change his character on the Sunfire. Ron Bennings
was born and Wil parks transferred to the Liberty as
my Executive Officer.

Shortly after, Captain West took the Sunfire away
from Utopia Fleet and went AWOL. It was becoming clear

that Utopia Fleet was crumbling and I new I had to do
something about it. Before that happened, West
contacted me on September 11, 2000 at around 3.00 A.M.

in the morning, informing me of my termination on the
Sunfire after a letter I sent to Seldon through the
groups lists. At the bottom of the letter, I signed it

Captain Decade and that didn't set good with West. To
be honest, it was more than informing. He lashed out
on me and told me I wasn't the same player as I use to

be when Robertson was in command. He told me never to
talk to him again and to not even reply to his e-mail
because it will be automatically deleted. At the same
time he fired Sutak for the same things.

The fact that I was fired didn't phase me, but I was
furious at West for his e-mail and verbal language.
With that behind me, I concentrated on the Liberty.
Things took off slow but everyone was having fun and
getting along. With Parks as my XO and Sutak as my
Second Officer, things were going great. Until, an
individual I served with on the Sunfire, who was know
an XO of a ship called the USS Majesty Captained by
another former Sunfire member, Allistar MacGregor.
Jeffrey Tolwyn, had e-mailed Utopia Fleet Admiral
Annika McKenzie because I had more than one character
on my own ship. When I first launched I let Tolwyn on
board the Liberty because I thought he was my friend.
Little did I know he was a JAG Officer waiting to bust

me. He e-mailed my crew saying I was a bad Captain and

I broke fleet regulations. Which was true. But before
McKenzie heard my part of the story she suspended me
and made Wil Parks take over the Liberty.

This did not set well with me, and I don't know how
Tolwyn became a JAG Officer since he was a good part
of the destruction of the first Sunfire.

When McKenzie suspended me, I became fed up with
Utopia Fleet and in October 2000 took the Liberty and
went AWOL. I thought and still think, that McKenzie
was a poor Admiral and the split in UF shows. My crew
was more than happy and the Liberty went on.

In December 2000, the Liberty's gas, ran out. Due to
no posting I decided to close the Liberty down. I gave

up on simming and decided to focus on school.

Months past and I was talking online one night to my
former Captain, Jay Robertson. I was looking to
getting back into the simming world, but I didn't know

of any fleets. He told me to go to the FSF Fleet web
site and sign up on the USS Collegial. He said it was
a decent ship and that he enjoyed serving on it.
Excited, I contacted Sutak and told him about it. We
both agreed to join and in April of 2001, we both
became members of the Collegial. However, we were both

giving the rank of Ensign. This did not suite us as we

both knew we were much better than that. But the
policy on that ship, which the Captain failed to
mention to us, stated that everyone starts out as an
Ensign no matter what.

Well, we lived with it and tried to make the best of
it. However, a certain XO seemed to make us reminisce
the glory days of the Sunfire. Drake was his first
name, and I can't remember his last, and I really
don't care. Sutak and I wrote a joint post for the
ship. It was my first post on the Collegial and my
last. Drake shot down the post because in it, we had
Drake getting hit in the head by a spy. He claimed
that this made his character look like a sissy and
deleted it. And the good ol' Captain didn't do a damn
thing about it. Shortly after, Sutak quit and two
weeks after that, I was let go.

Two months later in June 2001, I contacted Charles
Star. I was talking to him and seeing how he was doing

when he informed me about the new fleet that West,
Seldon and himself were starting up.
Independence Fleet.

He asked me if I would join his new ship, the USS
Avalon. I said sure, I figured it would be a decent
ship and I would have no problems this time.

On July 4, 2001, the USS Avalon launched along with
the rest of ID Fleet. It was a good crew with a lot of

new faces and a few familiar ones. I met interesting
people and got to become pretty good friends with
them. Tavik, Damien Hawkins, Jon Butlier, Matthew
Seresin, etc. I even reunited with Sutak as he joined
a few weeks after.

In the opening month, the Avalon set a record of 108
posts in a months time. I was also the very first,
brand spanking new, Most Valuable Player in ID Fleet.
That was something I wanted to accomplish as I knew my

writing abilities were growing stronger and stronger
by the day. I was also nominated for the Recruitment
award which fell short to the loss of Commander Ashla
Bogan of the USS Sunfire.

Just when I thought things couldn't get any better,
Vice-Admiral and Commanding Officer of the Avalon,
Charles Star requested that I be promoted to Captain
and given my own ship, the resurrection of the USS
Liberty. Star even let me hand pick the members I
wanted to bring with me. This included; Sutak, Tavik,
Matthew Seresin, Damien Hawkins, Jon Butlier and the
current XO of the Avalon, Gorath.

On August 1, 2001, the Liberty launched, setting a
record 15 posts on the opening day. Old faces joined
up when I recruited; Rynn Bannister, Talin
Southbranche, Allistar MacGregor and my long time
friend Wil Parks. All former simmers of the original
USS Sunfire.

The Liberty broke the record for most postous ship,
which was set by the Avalon the month before. We
dished out 173 posts, a record that still stands!

In November, we had our first joint mission with
Captain Sutak's USS Avalon. It was a lot of fun and an

old face showed up as a special guest. Commodore Jay
Robertson made an appearance in the mission and helped

out on posting. This was a treat for me and the rest
of the crew who was on the Sunfire during his time of
Commanding.

When 2001 ended, the Liberty had won 3 most postous
ship awards and eight different fleet awards
individually. More than any ship in ID Fleet.
2002 is now here and the Liberty has just began the
fleets first ever, inter-division joint mission with
the USS Sunfire, my first ship. I am currently getting

along with Admiral West and Seldon for that matter.
The joint mission is going really well and the Sunfire

crew are superb.

I have now had my biggest promotion in my career,
just recently being promoted to Commodore. I am
looking forward to serving on the Liberty for a very
long time and continue to make it one of the best
ships in ID Fleet.

Special Thanks Goes To: Admiral James West for
pulling my head out of my ass when it needed to be
done. Vice-Admiral Charles Star for being a great
Captain and a friend on the Avalon. Rear-Admiral
Robert Seldon for sending all those lovely e-mails
about me during the Sunfire mission and for turning
out to be a great friend in ID Fleet. Commodore and
ex-commanding officer of the Sunfire Jay Robertson for

staying in touch and becoming a father figure to Ace
and encouraging me to do my best. My two best buds,
Sutak and Wil Parks for always being there. You guys
are the best. Gorath for being a helluvan Executive
Officer. Tavik for all those great posts and becoming
one of my friends online. My best girlfriend, Usagi
Setsuna, your the greatest babe. I am glad we are
friends not only in the sim, but in the outside world.

And thanks to all those simmers in those late night
chats that put up with my arrogant ass. You guys rule!

And last but not least, God. Oh yeah, the man up
stairs. Without him I couldn't have this great
computer, these excellent hands for typing and these
good looks. God bless everyone! Thank you.

Thanks Commodore Decade!

MISSION FEATURE

The following was submitted by Captain Sutak, CO of
the USS Avalon.

On stardate 45092.4, Lt. Commander Geordi LaForge and
Ensign Ro Laren of the Federation Starship Enterprise
(NCC-1701-D) where accidentally cloaked by a new
Romulan cloaking device which dematerializes the
object that is cloaking, making it permeable. Both
LaForge and Ro where believed dead, because ships
sensors could not register them while they were
cloaked.

Now nearly a decade later the USS Avalon is sending
one of their own in a deep cover covert mission. The
objective is to see if the Romulans are still trying
to work with this technology. If so the crew of Avalon
is to bring it back to federation space or destroy it.
Commander Rynn Bannister, the Avalon's XO, is going
undercover as she is the closest to a Romulan on
board.

Now it's a race against the clock to find the cloaking
devise and return to rendezvous with the Avalon. If
she fails this mission the future of the federation
will be questionable.

It looks like the Avalon is off to another exciting
adventure...

INTERVIEW WITH RADM SELDON

This past week, we were able to sit down with RAdm
Seldon to ask him a few questions...

Interviewer: Good evening, RAdm. Seldon and thank you
for joining us.

RAdm Seldon: Why, thank you. Its a pleasure to speak
with you.

Interviewer: Your ship, the USS Washington just
finished with another strong showing for the month of
December, placing second in ID Fleet, with 106 posts.
What do you see as the reason for the W's successes?

RAdm Seldon: Any CO will tell you that it comes down
to the ship's crew. The people on the W really enjoy
SIMing and have created some fantastic and interesting
missions. The more you put into it the more you'll
get out in terms of enjoyment and the numbers reflect
that. We've also had members who have recruited new
people to replace those who have been transferred.
We've always had a good number of crew serving on the
Washington.

Interviewer: That sounds pretty good to me. I also
understand that yourself and Lt. Johnson are the only
crewmembers remaining since the W's launch this past
summer.

RAdm Seldon: That's right. Big Johnson and myself are
the only characters who have been here since July 4th.
We transferred crewmen to both the Potomac and the
Chesapeake to start them off. And, of course, there
has been the normal attrition of people having to
resign for time reasons. That's part of why
recruitment is so important, it allows for stronger
ships (which are more fun to serve on) and allows for
fleet growth to. Its also been very interesting to
see just about the whole crew of the ship turn over
since then for me.

Interviewer: What have you and your crew done to keep
new people coming in?

RAdm Seldon: Well, my crew has done very well just by
inviting people that they know who like Star Trek to
come join up. And I've sent out e-mails to people
I've found through Yahoo! who look like they have
interests in Star Trek or in Role Playing. A lot of
those people are really excited to have an opportunity
to join a group like this and decide to sign on.

Interviewer: The Washington is the most prolific ship
in the fleet, you guys must be doing something right
over there. How is the month of January treating you?

RAdm Seldon: We're doing very well. To date, we've
averaged 4.25 posts per day. If kept up through the
month that'd be 132 posts -- a new ship record. Of
course, quantity doesn't matter if you don't have
quality. And we've done very well with that too.

Interviewer: You're right about that, quality is the
important thing. Speaking of which, what do you
stress to new players about posting?

RAdm Seldon: Try to include several other characters
in your posts -- not just your own. Always try to
move the plot forward, be relevant to the story. Try
to be original, don't take the path of least
resistance and just post the most obvious solution to
a problem. But don't be afraid to solve problems or
to create new ones. But try not to let the mission
get to cluttered. It sounds intimidating to do all
that but I also tell them to not worry about making
"mistakes" -- you only get better with practice.

Interviewer: That truly is sound advice for the ages.
The Defense Response just launched its 3rd ship, the
USS Chesapeake earlier this month. How is that going?

RAdm Seldon: Capt. Edwards is doing a great job. He's
been able to recruit a few new characters and if they
keep posting at the pace they're going now they'll end
up with about 67 posts. I SIMed with several of the
Chessie's crewmembers on the Washington, they've got
some really sharp people over there.

Interviewer: That's good to hear. Can you tell me a
little bit about any of them?

RAdm Seldon: Yeah, Edwards, Carroll, and Hagan are the
most prolific of them. Together they won several
posting awards on the Washington and two fleet awards.
Actually, all three of them are from the Houston area
and know each other in real life, along with a few
other members of the fleet. But they always put up a
good volume of posts and each had different, distinct
styles of doing things.

Interviewer: That is very interesting. What is the
theme behind the names of the DRF ships?

RAdm Seldon: Well, so far there is the Washington
(named for both the president and the American
capital). It is situated on the Potomac River which
empties into the Chesapeake Bay. The next ship in the
Defense Response Force will be the USS Annapolis, to
be named for the capital of Maryland. So, they're all
named for either cities or bodies of water in and
around Maryland.

Interviewer: That's quite fascinating. Why this
theme?

RAdm Seldon: I am from Maryland myself so I've decided
to name the ships after things I'm familiar with --
and which are great in their own rights.

Interviewer: Admiral Seldon, where do you see ID Fleet
going over the next 6 months, or even the next 12
months?

RAdm Seldon: Well, I obviously see new ships being
added to the fleet. But I'd also be interested in
seeing a Starbase SIM started and an Academy. Both
would provide totally new story settings for missions.
Of course, in about 6 months, July 4th to be exact,
the fleet will turn 1 year old. I'd be interested in
having some cumulative awards given out then, for
things like best CO, best Ship, and the like. And
I've talked with a few people about possibly doing a
homepage competition between all the ships. It'd be a
lot of fun and would provide great motivation for
everyone to update and work on their sites. And I'd
also, in the short run, like to see more people using
our fleet forum to discuss new ideas like these -- and
of course absolutely anything else worth discussing.
In any event, I see a lot of potential in IDFleet and
I know that we're really moving up in the highly
populated world of online Star Trek Role Playing
Fleets.

Interviewer: That does sound like where we want to be
going. ID Fleet has grown into one of the premier
Star Trek role play by email fleets on the net in only
6 months. To what to attribute this quick success?

RAdm Seldon: I think that our captains are the
backbone of the fleet. For the most part, they've
managed to build up strong ships with lots of members
engaged in interesting missions. The admiralty has
created a solid infrastructure in which each of those
ships has a lot of leeway to set up most things how
they like. But the admiralty is always there to hold
anyone not performing up to par accountable. That
accountability and the friendly competition between
ships gives everyone motivation to excel. And I also
think that the newsletter and fleet forum, the only
two entities common to all ships besides the fleet
website, really help to cement things together.
That's what has helped us to grow from 15 members back
in June 2001 to nearly 110 members now -- that's
individuals, not characters.

Interviewer: It really is a great system. ID Fleet
has accomplished a lot in a relatively short period of
time. Do you have any last bits of wisdom for your
readers before we sign off?

RAdm Seldon: Well, I think that there are things to be
learned whenever you're interacting with a large group
of people. Be sure to keep your eyes open for lessons
you can learn here to apply to real life.

Interviewer: Those are words of wisdom to take heed
to. Thanks for your time, Admiral Seldon and good
luck to you and your crew.

RAdm Seldon: You're welcome. I appreciate this
opportunity.

BOOK & MOVIE OF THE MONTH

This is a new section to the newsletter. Each month
the editor will select a book and movie for you to
read and watch for enjoyment. It is not related to
Star Trek or simming. The book may be fictional or
nonfictional; the movie maybe be a comedy, drama, or
even a documentary. Without any further ado, here is
our first book and movie of the month:

- Book of the Month: The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit, liked his simple and
uneventful life. He lived a life of peace and comfort
in his hobbit hole. However, the wizard Gandalf
arrives at Bilbo’s door with a band of dwarves. Bilbo
is then reluctantly dragged into their adventure,
fighting against the many evils of middle earth. At
the end of his quest, Bilbo must defeat the great
dragon, Smaug, all by himself.

- Movie of the Month: Sneakers (1992). Computer
expert Martin Bishop (Robert Redford) leads a team of
renegades who are regularly hired by banks to test
security systems. His band consists of an ex-CIA
employee (Sidney Poitier), a technical wizard (Dan
Aykroyd), a brilliant young hacker (River Phoenix),
and a blind man with perfect pitch (David Strathairn).
Bishop is blackmailed by government agents into doing
a job for them: retrieving a black box – it seems easy
enough. However, Bishop is then set up by an old
friend (Ben Kingsley). With the help of his
ex-girlfriend (Mary McDonnell), Bishop and his team
embark on a dangerous adventure to set everything
right.

CLOSING

I guess that’s the end of our newsletter for January
2002, I hope you found it both informative and
entertaining. RAdm. Seldon will take over as editor
of the newsletter next month. Until next time...

Vice-Admiral Charles Star
Independence Fleet Historian
Director of Deep Space Exploration
Commanding Officer, USS George W. Bush NCC-2004