- Opening
- 5,000th Post
- Awards
- May Posting
- Mission Features
- Interview
- Riddle of the Month
- News Briefs
- Closing


OPENING

As usual, we've managed to put together some real news
about the fleet. Hopefully you'll be both entertained
_and_ informed. But we'll be satisfied if we
accomplish either.

Hopefully, this issue will give you some reasons to be
proud of your fleet -- certainly the approaching one
year anniversary which you've all made possible (no
matter how recently you've joined the fleet) is reason
to be excited about IndFleet and where we're going.


... Seldon


THE FLEET'S 5,000TH POST

As the fleet nears it's one year anniversary on July
4th, we have another milestone to celebrate. On June
6th, the fleet's 5,000th post was sent. Knowing from
fleet records that the event was coming, the admiralty
took to tracking down the very post which got the
honor.

It was determined that exactly 4,999 posts were sent
between the start of July 4th, 2001 and the time when
Lars Berglund sent the Patriot's Post #430. Berglund,
of course, had no idea of this until informed several
days later of what he'd, inadvertantly, done.

Here is a brief excerpt from that, the fleet's
5,000th, post that takes place as Admiral Star
confronts the Patriot's XO about the unsatisfactory
results of his surprise inspection:

* * *

[Patriot, Gelfand's Quarters...]

Admiral Star: "So please tell, Commander - is this
standard procedure on this ship or are you all just
have a 'bad day' as the Captain put it?"

Gelfand: "Certainly not, Sir, I guess you just caught
us on... ahem, that is, 'off-guard'..."

Admiral Star: "Ah, I suspected as much. And is that
what I should put in my _official_ report to Starfleet
Comm... What is that?" :: A pleasing sound is heard
from the corner ::

Gelfand: :: Tries to smile :: "What?"

Admiral Star: "That sound! What is it?"

Gelfand: (Oh heck, I might as well admit it) :: Takes
something out from under a pillow :: "It's my pet
tribble, Sir..."

Admiral Star: "You have a Tribble on the ship!?!
Marvellous! I suppose I can expect D'erak to admit to
being a Romulan spy if I ask him then... Or that
Berglund will admit to being the new head of the
resurrected Maquis..."

Gelfand: :: Slightly annoyed :: "Sir, I do have
permission to have that aboard. Besides, I inject it
on a regular basis to keep it from muliplying!"

Admiral Star: :: Obviously not convinced :: "Hmmm.
Well, let me see it" :: He takes the tribble :: "Well,
I suppose it is rather cute,
I'll give you that..." :: He cuddles it as they
continue ::

Tribble: "Purrrr"

Admiral Star: "So why are you here when you should be
on duty?"

Gelfand: "Well... I'm working on something
important..." :: He tries to avoid looking at the
device he left on the table as the Admiral enters but
fails. The Admiral notes his look ::

Admiral Star: "Oh, and what is this?" :: Picks up the
device ::

Gelfand: "Sir! Please don't touch that!!" :: He
reaches for the device, thereby activating it. A flash
shoots through the room... ::

Gelfand: "Oh Damn. What happened. Admiral? Are you
okay?"

Admiral Star: "Purrr..."

Gelfand: "Oh crap!!!!"

* * *

Our congratulations go out not only to Lt. Berglund,
but to everyone who had a part in the other 4,999
preceeding posts. Tentative predictions put the
fleet's 10,000th post, which we'll be there to cover,
occuring sometime around January 2003.


AWARDS

- Best Post

May's best post was written by the Patriot's new
Security Officer, Lars Berglund. His Post #342, one
of the longest to ever win this distinction, really
moved the mission's plot forward with its thoughtful
dialog and clever story events. It significantly
involved several characters who were depicted as
working very well together, in the best Star Trek
traditin.

- Funniest Post

Dick Phelps won his 4th Funniest Post award (and his
first since January) for his Post #362 on the George
W. Bush. The post comically shows Dick and the GWB's
XO trying to track down a rare species of palm tree to
replace a similar plant owned by Adm Star that Dick
severly injured in a prior post.

- Most Posts

Cmdr. Jasson Asuka, the George W. Bush's XO, was May's
most postous member of IDF. He posted 24 times,
earning the first Most Posts award in the GWB's
history.

- Most Improved

The player that made the largest improvement between
April and May was Julie Absecon, the CMO on the USS
George W. Bush. She increased from 9 posts in April
to 19 for May and they were longer and better
developed than before as well. Adm Star, the Bush's
CO reports that Absecon turned in an MVP-worthy
performance during the past month. "She also
encouraged others and was a big part of the GWB
leading the fleet in posting this month," says Star.

- RotM

May's Rookie of the Month, Lars Berglund of the USS
Patriot, is quite possibly the most qualified
candidate to ever win the award. In addition to
winning the fleet's Best Post award and being
nominated for Funniest Post, Berglund sent 19 total
posts, contributing heavily to the Patriot's great
success. Capt. Dragonetti writes that "all of his
posts were long and well developed, but they didn't
drag on.They were something we all looked forward to
reading."

- MVP

The Fleet's May MVP is Lt. Ingoldo of the Excalibur.
"He continues," writes Capt. McCloud, "to keep things
moving, uses all the crew, and his posting style
changes with [the] characters he posts about." Ingoldo
writes funny posts as well as serious ones. From
story-driven to action-oriented posts, this MVP's
writing ability is evident.

- Recruitment

The fleet's best recruiter last month was the Avalon's
XO, Dorian Taylor. She recruited three new members to
the Avalon via e-mail during May. She also sent out
many more requests to other persons for recruitement
purposes, and has contributed to ship recruitment
consistentally and continually.

Congratulations to all the hard award winners for May!



MAY POSTING

May saw the fleet's second best posting month ever
with 609 total posts. The only better month, January
2002, with 758 posts, was accomplished with a fleet of
eleven ships.

The George W. Bush was the fleet's most postous ship,
seeing 121 posts. That was more than enough to
capture that ship's first posting title.

The Washington finished second with 110 posts. The 97
posts that the Excalibur sent was the best ever total
for a 3rd place finishing ship. And the Patriot's 93
posts was the best ever total for a 4th place ship.

The fleet is becoming much more active and healthy as
it grows. Each of IndFleet's 9 ships saw an average
of 67.66 posts last month. That's the third highest
average in the fleet's history, behind only Aug '01
(78.8) and Jan '02 (68.91).

The fleet shows every indication of continuing strong
performance during this, her 12th month, and even
after the organization's first anniversary.


MISSION FEATURES

- USS Patriot, submited by Capt. Dragonetti

The Patriot is currently on shore leave on Nestous 10.
It is a well deserved shoreleave after what happened.
Some crew members got ahold of a tool called the
LifeSwitch. Yes, it is exactly what is sounds, it
switches people around, different people got thrown
into different bodies, and what do you know, the
entire Patriot is in upheaval. It is just Captain
Dragonetti's luck, Admiral Star decides to come and
throw Captain Dragonetti a suprise visit to check up
on her after her first month. Well the crew does
horribly trying to impersonate who they are turned
into, and Star is not impressed. But wait!! Star gets
turned into Commander Gelfands tribble, and a giant
mess explodes. Once it is all resolved, shore leave is
definitely on the doctors order.

- USS Excalibur, submitted by Capt. McCloud

The USS Excalibur is called to Qo'nos, the Klingon
homeworld, by Ambassador Worf, to investigate the
assassination attempt of Chancellor Martok. Upon
beaming three teams down to the planet, all three
teams are attacked and the Excalibur's Chief Engineer
is killed. In a bold move Captain McCloud replaces the
Engineer, not with someone from his own crew , but a
Lieutenant with a brilliant engineering mindset, who
has a problem with Command. Now the crew of the
Excalibur find themselves in a race to find answers
and just survive.

- USS Avalon, from Capt. Griffith

The USS Avalon had been on shore leave for about one
week when she assigned new orders. She was instructed
to head for a M-class planet in the Bejorian region
where there was a 3 man crewman doing a classified
survey and covert operation. But there has been no
contact with them in 3 weeks. The USS Avalon is to
locate them, collect any data they have found, and
aide them in any way they.

- USS Washington, submitted by VAdm Seldon

The USS Washington is on its way to Gab-Tuth, a
Klingon outpost planet, where they'll rendevous with
another Federation ship, the USS Milvian Bridge, and
participate in joint military exercises with Klingon
forces. There is plenty to do on the way to Gab-Tuth
though. Numerous on-ship drills (simulated warp core
breaches, mock plague out-breaks, etc) are scheduled
for along the way to keep the crew on their toes.
Excellent performance is a must, moreso than on most
drills, a news team is aboard the ship to observe and
report on the drills. The performance of the crew
will be reported back to the citizens of the
Federation and will help determine the reputation of
not only the Washington but the whole fleet.

- USS Goliad, submitted by Capt. Edwards

After the destruction of the USS Goliad and the
demotion of Fleet Admiral Edwards to the rank of
Captain. The crew of the USS Goliad NCC-18907-A sets
out on its shake down cruise. What will happen to this
new Sovereign Class Starship and her crew? We will
have to wait and see.

- USS Horatio Nelson, submitted by Capt. Britanicus

A feud is heating up between a one world Kingdom
called To'Tal 1 and the Federation. About 20 years
ago this group achieved Warp status and first contact
was made by Captain Marie Sullivan. The
To'Talitarians agreed to a stepped membership with the
Federation. However about a year ago a splinter group
took control of the government and have been pressing
for the removal of the Federation from their sector.


This is not possible as a major route from Star Base 9
passes within 2 light-years of their planet.
According to the 2350 Convention of Saturn regular
(non-military) travel must follow predestinated routes
and speeds to avoid further deterioration to the
fabric of space. These routes are closely monitored
by the Scientific community. It is imperative that
this issue concludes in a satisfactory manner. The
intelligence reports that the To'Talitarians are days
from declaring war on the Federation.

The Nelson also has the great honor of having Captain
Rook Mirtoh of the USS Washington on board. He is
acting as the Federation Diplomat in this matter and
is the Mission Commander for the Horatio Nelson.


FLEET INTERVIEW
-- Lt (jg) Lars Berglund, USS Patriot

Interviewer: Today we're joined by Lt. (jg) Lars
Berglund of the USS Patriot. First of all, thank you
for taking time out to speak with us today, Lt.
Berglund.

Berglund: My pleasure

Interviewer: I am informed that you have not yet been
told this, but you won the fleet's Rookie of the Month
award for May. Can you tell us a little bit about how
you came to join the Patriot and how you've enjoyed it
so far?

Berglund: Wow! I didn't know that. Thank you. What an
honor. Well, I've played role-playing stuff for years.
One day somebody mentioned the fleet on the
fan-fiction board of Trekweb.com where I frequently
'hang out', so I thought about it and then signed
up... Nothing more to it than that.

Berglund: As for how I've been received, well, I can
only say nice things about people on the Patriot.
Several people have left since I joined, which is a
shame, but I've had a lot of fun with the people who
stayed already, so I guess I have to give credit
there. Thanks guys.

Berglund: And gals!

Interviewer: What other sorts of role playing
organizations are you or have you been involved with?

Berglund: I'm extremely involved with keeping alive
the dead D&D world of Mystara. The Mystara net
community has been my home on the net for years and
continues to be so.

Berglund: And then I write fan-fiction for Star Trek
which a kind person from Trekweb puts on his site.

Interviewer: Ah, that must have helped hone your good
writing skills. Can you tell us a little bit about
that fan fiction? Which period of Star Trek is it set
in?

Berglund: The story begins right after the end of the
DS9 show. It's really mostly campaign logs of a Trek
rpg game I play a character in, but I add lots of
details when I write and the plots my GM comes up with
are interesting.

Interviewer: What sorts of plots do you most enjoy
writing about?

Berglund: Hmmm... Mostly political stuff, I guess...
We've played a lot of Section 31 related plots because
I was interested in it. Next to that I'd say the odd
battle or the exploration of something really weird is
the most fun, but it's difficult to think up
'something really weird' given all that has already
been done in Trek...

Interviewer: Well, in addition to earning the fleet's
RotM award last month, I hear that you have had the
honor of hitting a posting milestone for the fleet in
the beginning of this month. Can you tell us a little
bit about that?

Berglund: Yes, I understand one of my posts was no.
5000, which is quite an honor. I got that and RotM
shortly after I joined. Pretty nice for me.
Particularly after what I did to Admiral Star in that
post...

Interviewer: Yes, your post #430 (on the Patriot) was
the 5,000th post sent since the beginning of the
fleet. In that post, I understand that Adm. Star,
IDF's CinC, was turned into a tribble. How did that
come about?

Berglund: It was handed to me, basically. Our XO,
Commander Gelfand, has this pet tribble and in the
mission we all switched bodies with each other, and
naturally the Admiral had to come on an inspection at
that very moment... So as we were trying to sort it
all out, I just couldn't help having the Admiral come
to Gelfand's quarters, find the tribble, then play
around with the device that switched bodies. It was
pretty silly... to say the least!

Berglund: I won't get demoted for this, will I?

Interviewer: You'll have to talk to your CO about
that.

Berglund: Uh-oh... She wasn't too happy with me after
that mission either...

Berglund: You see, in another post I was in her body
and while meeting the Admiral I drank some beer. Only
the Captain's palate wasn't my own, so there as pretty
strong reaction to the beer... all over the Admiral...

Interviewer: Golly, it sounds like the ship had a
crazy mission! Can you tell us a little bit about your
experience so far on the Patriot? How do you feel she
differs from other ships in the fleet or, if you're
not familiar with many of our other SIMs, what do you
most enjoy about serving on the Pat?

Berglund: I couldn't tell, really. I read up on the
old Patriot missions when I joined, but I haven't
checked out the other ships, so I guess I'll just have
to say that I'm [not] qualified to answer.

Interviewer: Outside of science fiction and writing,
what other sorts of hobbies do you enjoy?

Berglund: Well, I play several tabletop RPGs
obviously, some of which I GM. I'm also quite a movie
buff, I guess.

Interviewer: What do you think most attracts you to
role playing?

Berglund: Those things are bloody addictive! Stay
clear if you don't want to get hooked, because once
you start that's it... And role-players are a little
respected minority, sadly.

Interviewer: Well, those sentiments indicate happily
to me that you're likely to remain with IndFleet for a
while, much to our benefit. Sadly, it seems that our
alloted time for the interview has expired. Thank you
for taking time from your busy schedule to speak with
us.

Berglund: Like I said - it was my pleasure.
Incidentally, if somebody wants to check out my
fanfiction, look at:

http://www.cyberstorm.ca/astrobar/literature/lit_trek.html


RIDDLE OF THE MONTH

- Last month:

You had beamed down to the vault of the First Bank of
Mars along with your ship's chief of security. The
bank had 10 crates of latinum strips but one of them
is filled with fakes, Johnny Johnson, the bank's
manager, tells you. The real latinum weighs 10 grams
per strip, the fakes only 9 grams. However, the banks
scale can only be used to take one measurement before
it would bust. Fortunately, your ship's security
officer has figured out a way to determine which of
the 10 containers has the fakes through using the
bank's nearly-broken scale only once...

"How can we determine which of the 10 crates has the
fakes if we only use the scale one time?" you ask in
disbeleif.

"Simple," replies your security officer. "We put one
strip from the first crate on the scale, two strips
from the second, three from the third container and so
on (there will be 10 strips on the scale from the 10th
container) and then take the measurement."

Johnson shakes his head. "I don't see how that will
help us find the fakes."

"There will be 55 total strips on the scale. At 10
grams each, the total weight should be 550 grams,"
begins your ship's security officer.

"Ah!" Finally understanding, you continue, "Yes! But,
we're garanteed of having at least one fake latinum
strip on the scale. If the actual weight differs from
550 grams by 1 gram, there is one fake strip on the
scale, meaning that the first crate has the fakes."

"Exactly," replies your security companion. "If the
real weight differs from 550 by 2 grams, the second
crate has the fakes. If by three grams the third
container and so on."

"Oh," answered Johnny Johnson as he stared at the
scale. "Well, this is bound to take some time, then.
We'd better get to work."

"Not so fast, Johnson," says the security officer as
they hold up a padd. "You're under arrest for
insurance fraud."

"Wha?" exclaims the bank manager.

"Our ship intercepted this illegal communication from
you to Nok, the Ferengi criminal. You set this whole
thing up to both keep the latinum and collect the
insurance money."

Upon hearing this, Johnson tries to make a break for
it. However, you react quickly and stick out your
foot, tripping up the white collar criminal.
"Gotcha."

"Oh, man," said the busted Johnson. "I wanna speak to
my lawyer!"

- New Riddle:

"This mission is really important," your CO tells you
as you prepare to beam down. "The Gordians are very
critical of outsiders and usually subject them to some
test before they'll conduct official meetings."

"Right, so we'd better be on our toes," says the XO of
your ship. "We'd should be prepared to meet any
challange they have -- this planet is very important
to Federation interests."

Upon beaming down, you meet the Gordian Prime Minister
who greets your party coldly. "You know of our custom
to require a feat of intellect from any would-be
allies. Here now is your task." He motions and an
aide brings out two long ropes. "These are isked
lines," the PM explains. "They will take exactly one
hour each to burn."

"Okay, so, what's our job?" you ask impatiently (and
get a stern look from your CO in the process).

"You must use them to measure out exactly 45 minutes
of time -- however, these lines do not burn at a
constant rate."

"You mean, they could burn 99% of their length in 1
minute and then take 59 minutes to burn the other 1%
of their length?" says your CO who starts seeing the
diplomatic mission ending in failure.

"That is correct," says the Prime Minister. Cutting
them or measuring the rate at which they burn will do
you no good."

Your ship's first officer takes a book of matches from
the Gordian aide. "Looks like this mission won't even
get started..."

It's up to you to figure out how to use the two lines
to measure 45 minutes of time!


NEWS BRIEFS

- With the GWB's win of May's posting title, Adm. Star
is now the first CO in IndFleet history to lead two
ships to a posting title. The other was the USS
Avalon, NCC-3002 (DSE) which won the title in January
of 2001 with 108 posts.

- The Horatio Nelson on May 7th conducted the fleet's
first known "live post" via AIM. At 11:15 Eastern
time, several of the ship's crewmembers met via AIM to
plan out and write the opening post to the ship's
mission. Capt. Britanicus along with crewmembers
Sacket and MacGyver were in attendance. The resulting
Post, #85, circled around a bowling tournament on the
Nelson.

- July 4th, 2002 will be the fleet's one year
anniversary. A special issue of the Fleet Newsletter
and several other events are planned to commemorate
the occassion.

- The fleet also wishes to recognize two of its
members who are graduating either this month of last.


Sheila Stading (a.k.a. Ronnie Eckel on the USS
Washington and Randi O'Leary on the USS Goliad) will
be graduating from Cleveland Hill High School on June
26th. She will be going to Rochester Institute of
Technology in September. She claims to be "da bomb!!"
As of press time, she was unavailable to clarify if
she was nuclear or conventional.

Also, Alan, who plays our Fleet CinC, Charles Star,
graduated from Roanoke Bible College with a 2 year
degree in May. He intends to continue his education
at the University of North Carolina in the fall. He
has not yet decided on a major.

Congratulations to them and all the rest of the
graduates and scholars in our fleet!


CLOSING

Well, look for a special, anniversary, addition of the
Fleet newsletter to come out on July 4th to
commemorate the great event.

The admiralty will also be releasing a fleet quiz so
you can all test your knowledge of IndFleet and an
updated History of the Fleet, both about a week before
the anniversary.


VAdm Robert Seldon
CO: USS Washington, NCC-11988
Dir: Defense Response Force
Chief of Fleet Operations