Independence Fleet Newsletter
January 2003
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INDEPENDENCE FLEET NEWSLETTER
JANUARY 2003
I hope everyone had a good and safe holiday season. I
was able to spend a couple of weeks with my family and
some friends back home in Tennessee. It was
definitely a good break from school and all. However,
now it’s time to get back to work!
- News and Happenings
- December Award Winners
- Genesis Award
- Mission Features
- Special Guest: Ace Decade
- Final Fantasy Football Standings
- Closing
NEWS AND HAPPENINGS
- The SOD launched its first expansion ship, the USS
Conqueror, on January 1st. She is commanded by
Captain K'lar Rasmehlier. The SOD also welcome the
USS Sunfire back into the fleet. The Sunfire is
commanded by Captain Audra Murchadh
- The USS Legend, commanded by Captain Damien Hawkins,
has been dropped from Independence Fleet’s listing.
This ship is no longer supported and backed by IDF.
- VAdm. Robert Seldon (ret.) has begun work on an
exhaustive history of Independence Fleet. He is going
through old archives and records and plans to
interview as many as 20 people for his research.
Seldon’s “The History of Independence Fleet” should be
completed sometime within the next couple of months.
More info will be published at a later date. If you
feel you have information related to the history of
the fleet, please email the editor.
- I would like to take this time to personally
congratulate Captain Krol, also known as Greg, on
behalf of the USS Patriot, the Defense Response Force,
and myself. This last weekend Greg auditioned for the
Missouri All-State Band, and was admitted as the first
chair French Horn player. A feat that is extremely
difficult to receive. He was up against all of the
best Horn players in the state. I congratulate you on
your excellence Greg, keep it up. – RAdm. Felicity
Dragonetti
DECEMBER AWARD WINNERS
Best Story Post: Lt. Cmdr. Paula Fredricks, CMO, USS
Excalibur, Post #1621. Dr. Paula Fredricks has been
one of the most important players on the Excalibur for
quite a long time. Her superior writing ability has
been commented on by many of her fellow crewmembers.
Now, she finally gets the recognition.
Best Character Post: Lt. Cherry Corday, CEO, USS
George W. Bush, Post #1011. Miss Corday has always
been well known for her whit on the GWB. Her posts
always bring a smile to your face. While #1011 was a
little bit different the usual Corday posts, it was
still very good and one of the best posts of the
month.
Funniest Post: Lt. Cmdr. Dusty Redroi, COO, USS
Excalibur, Post #1726. This post was funny. It’s
hard to put it any other way. Just image... Star Trek
and Leave it to Beaver. I never thought I would see
those two together in anything, but Redroi found a way
to do it and it was quite humorous. Check it out.
Most Posts: Lt. Cmdr. Mira Rodale, CCO, Starbase 10,
81 posts. 81 posts!?! It is easily a new record. 81
would be a good total for a whole ship, let a long a
single player. Anyway, IDF hopes to have a top simmer
like Rodale in its ranks for a long time to come.
MVP: Lt. Cmdr. Zingela, XO, USS Washington.
Congratulations again to Mr. Zingela. He becomes just
the second person in IDF history to win two MVP awards
and the first to win them back to back. Zingela is
the model simmer. He posts very frequently, while at
the same time, allows others to enough time to add
their input. And his quality cannot be disputed – he
is a great writer. A true first-rate simmer.
Rookie of the Month: Lt. Andrew Clifford, CSO,
Starbase 10. Clifford made an immediate impact upon
joined SB10. According to basemates, Clifford jumped
right into the action without hesitation. He
contributed to the storyline and helped further
develop both his character and others on the starbase.
A great addition to the sim!
Most Improved: Lt. Scott McCoy, MS, USS Excalibur.
During December, McCoy doubled his normal posting
output. In addition to that, he improved the quality
of his posts. His captain commented on how well he
added to the missions, bring up new and unexpected
twists. A great asset to his ship.
Recruitment: Lt. Cmdr. Mira Rodale, CCO, Starbase 10.
This is Rodale’s second Recruitment award. She was
able to bring three quality players onboard the
starbase, including December’s Rookie of the Month.
Not only does Rodale excel at posting, but she helps
her sim out in many other ways. This is just one
example.
Note: Through 18 months, IDF has given out 125
different awards!
GENESIS AWARD
Hi all, RAdm. McCloud here. Seems there was a little
trouble with getting the Genesis Award this month, so
Admiral Star asked Captain Jeremiah Griffith and
myself to take over for Lt. Cmdr. Zingela. As the
quality of writing has greatly improved over the last
couple of months, it was not an easy decision, but
here is what we came up with.
There were five posts nominated for this award and the
winner of this months Genesis Award was Post #1009,
written by Captain Jasson Asuka, CO of USS George W.
Bush. Jasson was able to get most all of his crew
involved in the post and left it open so that anyone
of his crew could take it in any number of different
directions. I feel this is the mark of a good mission
start and creates the foundation for the best
missions. A simple sounding mission to re-chart a
dust cloud, near a potentially hostile race, that
could turn into a very complicated situation. You can
find the post here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/USSGeorgeWBush/message/1405
The runner up spot goes to the Excalibur's Post #1619,
written by, well, me. Captain Griffith and I both
agreed that the runner up should go to either the
Excalibur or the post submitted by Captain Sprague of
the USS Washington. To quote Captain Griffith, the
Excalibur's "just had a little more kick to it than
the Washington's." A mission to DS9 to handle a flu
outbreak, brought to the station by the diplomatic
representative of a planet with highly advanced
medical technology. Again, a mission that can be
taken in many different directions by any of the crew.
You can read it at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/uss-excalibur/message/1996
Everyone has done an outstanding job this month. If
the quality of the posting gets any better, voting for
the awards will become next to impossible and we may
just need to expand the number of awards. Keep up the
great work.
I would like to thank Captain Griffith for his help
and hope that Lt. Cmdr. Zingela is back next month
with his team to pick this award.
Rear-Admiral Steven McCloud
CO USS Excalibur NCC-2997
Director of the DSE
In closing... as an addendum to the Rear Admirals
notes... I would like to extend my thoughts to each of
you. I have been a part of ID fleet for almost a year
and a half now... in which time I have read a great
many posts and I have watched each of you grow and
learn. As I sit here this month reading these posts I
realize this... ID Fleet is not just a sim, it is a
creative writing workshop – it allows those of us in
the fleet who write to better our skills. I have seen
this happen through the Genesis award... these posts
are equally marvelous.
I look forward to serving along side of each of you,
and I wish you and yours the best in all that you do!
Keep up the excellent work group!
Captain Jeremiah Griffith
Fleet Captain, DSE
CO USS Liberty NCC 91101
MISSION FEATURES
USS Conqueror, submitted by Capt. K'lar Rasmehlier:
The Conqueror is finally out of Dry Dock, with a new
refit and new crew. A shakedown cruise is in order.
The new fighter squadron aboard, gets a bit of an
unexpected workout, early in the mission, when the
ship is attacked by a flight of Reman light attack
ships. Also during the shakedown cruise, en route to
Starbase 10, An uncharted planet appears, and it is
decided to investigate it. The planet has some strange
pecularities, including it is in the stage, equivalent
to earth's Jurassic period. Trexes, and Brontos and
Raptors, oh my. Strange occurrences, leave the away
team stranded on planet for a while, until the ship
returns to the rescue. Left to their own devices, and
a de-powered shuttle, will the away team survive the
local inhabitants or not? Even with a Klingon Captain,
and a living Rock for a Chief Science Officer,
(Horta). Are the modern crewmembers up to living in a
prehistoric world? Will they ever make it to SB10?
USS Excalibur, submitted by RAdm. Steve McCloud:
The Excalibur receives a distress call from a ship in
trouble near Dreon VII and goes to investigate.
McCloud finds an old friend from a group known as The
Watchers who has come to warn him that he is in
danger. Before he can warn Mac a second distress call
comes in from the planet. When the Excalibur enters
orbit, Mac is abducted. Commander Tolbin begins a
search for her friend and CO, only to have the search
halted by Starfleet. The Excalibur is ordered to
investigate a possible Borg threat. Will the Excalibur
and crew be able to stop the borg and still save their
CO? You'll have to read the posts to find out.
USS Goliad, submitted by Capt. Shawn Edwards:
The USS Goliad has been on an urgent mission in order
to apprehend three rogue Section 31 agents led my Eric
Nordenstum. They tracked them to the Terran System
where Nordenstrum created a temporal distortion field
with his ship in which he and Goliad were caught in.
When they emerged they find out that they have been
transported to the 21st Century. Captain Edwards and
his stalwart crew must find away to find Nordenstrum
and his people, find out what they are doing, and most
importantly, how to get back to their own time.
USS Washington, submitted by Capt. Dick Sprague,
The USS Washington has been dispatched to an empty
section of space to investigate the disappearance of
four freighters. There are no inhabited planets,
colonies, starbases, or outposts in the area, only the
trade routes. Could it be space pirates, something
temporal, another type of anomaly, or just simply foul
play? The crew of the W is about to find out!
SPECIAL GUEST: ACE DECADE
My Favorite Episode of Trek...
I don't really now if I have a favorite episode, but
if I did I guess it would be "Q Who" from the second
season of The Next Generation.
So What's it About?
Q wishes to join the USS Enterprise and of course,
Picard denies his request. Thus, Q hurls the
Enterprise across the galaxy and into Borg territory.
Picard then has to beg Q to help him out for the
Enterprise to return on their present course.
So Why's it so Good?
Well the main reason it's so good is because Q is in
the episode. I think Lancie is a great actor and most
of my favorite episodes involve him. It also was the
first tiem in Trek history that the Borg is introduced
and no one on the vessel knows what to think about
them.
- Real name?
Adam Renfrow
- Where are you from?
Pleasant Ridge, Kentucky
- What do you do (work/school, etc)?
I start college in February and I currently am a
manager at Papa John's.
- How'd you get involved with IDF?
Wow, I've told this story maybe a hundred times, lol.
It all started back in February of 2000 when I was
asked by Commodore Jay Robertson to join the USS
Sunfire. I accepted and was confused on what the hell
simming was exactly, but I quickly caught on
nonetheless.
Lets skip a year later to June of 2001. I IMed Charles
Star who asked me to join the USS Avalon. I was fired
from the Sunfire a few months before hand due to
conflicts with West and Seldon and I was suprised when
Star asked me to join. He explained to me that a new
fleet was starting up and that three of my old pals,
Alan (Star), Jacob (Seldon) and Lee (West) each had
there own little divisions. I thought it would be fun
and I joined.
From there I was promoted to Captain a month later. I
commanded the Liberty for a year and four months
before stepping down on January 1, 2003. I won the
first MVP award and lead the Liberty to five posting
titles.
If I hadn't have IMed Alan that day when I joined,
because we never talked much after I was fired from
the Sunny, I may have never been in IDF and Ace Decade
would have never gotten the second chance that he did
and I thank Alan for that.
- Where did you get your character name from?
Ironically, I first heard the name Ace Decade in a
Scooby-Doo cartoon. In the episode, Mystery Inc. gang
had to solve the mystery of the "Rock and roll"
phantom. One of the characters in that episode or
suspects rather, was Ace Decade the music producer of
the studio. I thought the name was catchy and fun and
so I went with it.
- How similar/dissimilar are you to your character?
I don't think that Ace and I are really that similar.
We're both good looking and that’s about it, LOL. Ace
is more of a womanizer to where, I'm not all that
out-going. Ace is a warrior, and a martial artists, to
where I've never studied martial arts but I've always
wanted to.
- Which Star Trek characters do you most like? And did
you model any of your SIM persona's traits on any
canon characters?
My favorite Star Trek character has to be Q. There is
none better nor smarter. Q is a very interesting
character who keeps your eyes open because you never
know what he's going to do next.
I didn't really model Ace after any character from
Star Trek. Some would argue as Ace is a duplicate of
Kirk or Riker, but I don't think so. Riker was a wimp
and Ace is much smarter and tougher than Kirk. I
actually got Ace's persona from Don West on the movie
Lost In Space. I thought Matt Le Blanc did an
excellent job in that movie, thus I used his picture
for Ace's bio on the Liberty's webpage.
- What has been your favorite mission during your
SIMing career?
I have been simming for three years now and as tough
as it is, I liked the joint mission with the Sunfire a
year ago when we were stranded on this prehistoric
planet. It was like Star Trek meets Jurassic Park. It
was very fun and original and I think everyone had a
great time writing that mission out.
- What types of missions do you enjoy and would you
like to see more/less of in the future?
I like missions that are knock down drag out fights. I
know it's easy to write about but it is still the most
fun.
- What other sorts of hobbies/activities do you enjoy?
I love sports so I enjoy almost any kind of sport.
Wrestling is my favorite of course and then comes
basketball. I also enjoy reading the Star Wars novels
from time to time.
- What do you want to be doing 10 years from now?
I always saw myself as an actor and appearing in at
least one of the Star Wars films. There is only one
more to go so cross your fingers. LOL. Actually, I see
myself married with a family in ten years.
- Who's going to win the Super Bowl this year?
I am going to say the Buccaneers. I like the Titans
though.
FINAL FANTASY FOOTBALL STANDINGS
1. Fruitland Firecrackers – 158,819
2. Bleeding CarolinaBlue – 151,921
3. Houston Heroes – 137,533
4. Summerfield Satists – 137,455
5. Bath Tubs – 124,222
6. Salisbury Imperials – 123,661
7. North Carolina Wolverines – 118,420
8. Lucky Stars – 121,438
9. Hagerstown Howitzers – 100,720
10. williamston bulldogs – 93,054
11. Harrisonburg Plungers – 88,991
12. Cheektowaga Flamingoes – 79,915
13. Danzig hohenzoellers – 76,451
14. Baltimore Patriots – 33,787
15. K.L Troopers – 31,429
Congrats to all who participated! 2002 was a fun and
wild season. We’d like to have more people next year
– keep it in mind.
CLOSING
Thanks for reading! See ya next time!
Admiral Charles Star
Commander in Chief
Independence Fleet
