Welcome back, general, and hope you had a great time! See any bald eagles?
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Welcome back, general, and hope you had a great time! See any bald eagles?
OMG, I'm not sure if the photos came out, but we took a boat out to sovereign Native American territory where the guides were throwing fish to a half-dozen bald eagles who were swooping down to grab them left and right.*Quote:
Originally posted by Elendil's Heir
* Apparently you can get in big trouble under US law for this, but they have an agreement with the tribe. And - assuming they were straight up on this - compared to the Salmon running people throwing them stuff is penny ante, so there's no danger of quote-unquote domesticating them. Which, having seen Salmon run, seems legit to me.
Heh. I understand there's a dump outside some Alaska town where the bald eagles hang out by the dozens, having grown quite accustomed to feasting off the edible portions of people's garbage. As majestic as they are, we forget that they are often scavengers in the wild.
Yay, you're back! And good lord that sounds amazing--I sure hope those pics come out. What an extraordinary experience for your family. What cruise line did you take, if you don't mind my asking?
Seabourn was the line. Smaller ships (450 people I think on ours), amazing staff. It was a good balance, too: they have a program called "Ventures" where you can get out and kayak, which was great for us. But if you're mobility impaired like my mom's companion, they have "a small casino and unlimited drinks." :)Quote:
Originally posted by SidonianGal
Interesting - never heard of that line before: https://www.seabourn.com/en_US/cruise-ships.html
Our cruise was on Royal Viking, and was quite comfortable.
Same general concept - Seabourn, Silversea, and Viking emphasize "small ship" versus 2,000, 3,000+ people...Quote:
Originally posted by Elendil's Heir
Viking looks very nice but we've become the equivalent of Seabourn frequent flyers... [Homer Simpson voice] um free laundry service :)
Which particular ship were you aboard? Any favorite things about it other than the laundry? And did you ever have the chance to visit the Bridge?
We were on the Sojourn. The schtick of the line is personal service, unlimited drinks, and fine food. And they really do deliver - if you have any type of routine, the staff are quick to learn your names and preferences.Quote:
Originally posted by Elendil's Heir
On a previous cruise on a slightly larger ship (650 versus 450 passengers) we did get to visit the bridge. I intended to post a thing that invoked Trek, but maybe I never did it - there are two seats, side by side, that are always staffed. One navigator is looking at nearby instrumentation and out the window - his or her job is "don't crash into anything." The other is looking at longer-range projections and higher-level charts. His or her job is "keep us on course and on time." The person giving us the tour said "if they ever 100% don't agree on anything, the Captain is summoned immediately anytime day or night. We're, uh, very attentive to this."
Hopefully the Captain pays more attention to the "don't crash into anything" guy/gal!
It sounds exquisite, general. A ship with as "few" passengers as those probably put your comfort and experiences at a premium, because they usually have a high staff-to-passenger ratio. I've been lusting after the Seabourne line for some time. (BTW, Sojourn is such a perfect name for a ship!) Where have your other destinations been?
EH: a very belated thank you for the July 4 postcard! I lost my mail key at some point earlier this summer and it's taken this long to get at all the advertising, catalogs, bills and two pieces of legit mail, of which yours was one. It was a lovely surprise. :)
Thanks for that, general. Sounds like a lot of fun.
And SG, you're welcome!
Well, we've been working through a bucket list of trips where "only a ship" is what pretty much makes sense for...sheesh, almost 10 years now:Quote:
Originally posted by SidonianGal
"Path of the Vikings" - trans-Atlantic from British Isles to Canada via Iceland and Greenland
The Amazon (ship went about 1,000 miles up, to Manaus)
Antarctica (best trip ever...otherworldly!)
Great Barrier Reef (Singapore to Sydney, but the point of the trip was the reef!)
Wow, I'm impressed! Take me with you next time.
We sailed the Alaskan Inside Passage in 2000 or so on a Royal Viking ship (the name of which escapes me), which was awesome, and after my college graduation my parents treated me to a cruise around the Hawaiian Islands aboard the passenger liner Constitution (the same ship which took Grace Kelly to Monaco for her wedding), which was also a lot of fun. I've been on ten or so river cruises along the Ohio, Mississippi, Cumberland and Willamete rivers aboard the Delta Queen and other small steamers, mostly when I was a kid. Good times. We're overdue to go again.
When I'm rich (ha!) and retired (somewhat more likely) I'd like to sail to Europe, or even around the world.
I'm so jealous of you both I want to spit. The only ship I've been on, admittedly no slouch, was the Queen Elizabeth 2 way the heck back in 1972 when my plane-hating mother took us over to England. (My father couldn't go for such a long trip so he went by plane and met us.) I have some flashes of it, particularly getting lost at one point, but since I was five at the time the trip is largely a blur. That said, we were there for six weeks, the time onboard the QE2 is the part I remember most. (We came back on the France, later called the Norwegian, and that was most definitely a worse experience. No offense to any Francophiles here, but the British crew on the trip over were waaaaay the heck nicer than the France's crew. (My sister and I were playing in our stateroom and accidentally pressed the service button, and the steward who arrived yelled at us for wasting his time.) Also I got seasick.
Anyway I do hope I can follow in your wakes someday. The iceland/UK/Greenland trip is to die for! And EH--isn't the Constitution the same ship the Ricardos and Mertzes went overseas on during their I Love Lucy? (One google later...) YES! It even mentions the change from Europe to Hawaii destinations. Cool!
GAME RELATED: My apologies, but there was a link error in Rangin's last post. (This is one of those "errors were made" lines. He told me the right post to point to, I screwed up the reference.) I've fixed it and you can see the reference to sixteen-year-olds. But I imagine he'll have a reply hopefully better explaining things because statistics and algorithms are beyond my ken.
Ah, thanks, and I see she was the ship in An Affair to Remember, too! Didn't know that. I also didn't know that she sank in 1997 - what a shame. We were aboard the summer of 1983 (and I was seasick at first, too!). My strongest memory of the Delta Queen as a kid was visiting the engine room at every opportunity. It was hot and loud and dirty and there was engine grease everywhere, and I was mesmerized by the movement of the giant reciprocating arms that drove the paddle wheel.
Thanks for the fixed link, too. See Rules 2 and 2b in the setup thread, though; Rangin cannot determine for himself how many kids there are on the colony. See post 1130 in the game thread, for instance, as to the many kids there.
I'll be traveling this weekend with iffy Internet access. See you late Sunday, if not before. Thanks!
Hi all - I will be in Singapore this week (sadly, working, not playing). There's no reason I won't be able to post at times, but timezone-wise things will be weird!
Work or not, that sounds incredible, general. I envy your travels! Safe journey to you.
Re the game: the real question is when this crisis is over, will they let us all be court-martialed together, so we can get a group rate on a good attorney? :devil:
Not to worry. I know a guy at Starbase 11....
Quote:
Originally posted by choie
Downside: travelling 16 hours there and 16 hours back for 16 hours of meetings.
Upside: chili crab FTW....ummmm, chili crab...
It had better've been damn good chili crab to make up for 32 hours in transit!
See the latest (December 2019) issue of Naval History magazine for a cover article on the fight to save the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, badly damaged by Japanese aerial attack, during the 1942 Battle of Midway
Hi all - sorry I was behind. We decided to travel for he TG holiday and we've been on "island time."Quote:
Originally posted by Elendil's Heir
Speaking of Midway, true fact: my wife's grandfather, Lt. Col. John Carey (ret, rest in peace) was in command of the first US aviator squadron to dive on Japanese fighters to kick off the battle of Midway. In his own words--I got to meet him twice--he knew US fighters were inferior to Zeroes and they were going to lose, but they dove on the formation anyway. He and his entire command were shot down; he survived, his plane downed and with bullets through his knees. Once he'd crash landed despite the wounds he describes screaming profanities at the anti-aircraft gunners on Midway they were aiming wrong!
Thanks, general. Not the first or the last US friendly-fire incident in WWII, unfortunately.
Didn't realize the article is available online - here it is: https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval...hting-survivalQuote:
Originally posted by Elendil's Heir
Ah thanks for that, EH--I was too embarrassed to admit my subscription to Naval History magazine had lapsed.:tongue:
Many, many apologies for the delay of game, guys. 2019 seems determined to end by smacking me around, healthwise.
Timing's a bit wonky now due to the Kylah/Rangin thing running long and having taken more time than we expected due to my health stuff and Rangin's work projects. It'll just take one more post to catch our characters' timeline up with the rest of the crew.
Again, I'm very sorry! Back to work.
It also just struck me that last Tuesday was three years since Naomi/anyrose passed away. All this time and I still feel shocked.
Ah, I hadn't realized that. Thanks for the reminder, choie. May she rest in peace.
Hope you're feeling better yourself!
A very Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it, and the happiest of holidays to everyone!
And a very happy new year to you, too, O Leader!
Legitimate LOL'ed at this. Talk about a hostile work environment!Quote:
Originally posted by Elendil's Heir
Heh. Ferguson is a real scumbag, ain't he?
Deliciously so. What's the equivalent of HR on the Yorktown, anyway? I'd love to know what's in his file!
Good question. Personnel, I guess? But I suspect he's been pretty good at maintaining a clean Starfleet record. Definitely a kiss-up, kick-down kinda guy.
Must run in the family. His cousin has a knack for that sorta behavior too!
Happy New Year, all (and apologies for vanishing during what turned out to be a particularly busy (all good, but busy) end of year).
Likewise, and welcome back, my friend!
Very very glad to hear you're well and healthy--got a little scared there! Welcome back, sir and happy new year!
(Note that if Graham checks his messages he'll hear Kylah giving an explanation that contradicts Rangin's "she's got orders" comment.)
Thanks so much...it's all good, in fact there's much goodness to the start of the year, but I needed to do some triage of attention, and I really appreciate the forbearance and grant of grace.
You deserve it, general. We're very glad to have you here.
This is the seating arrangement aboard the shuttlecraft Kaku, by the way:
BOW
Onn Graham
[entry] Bennett
Rangin Garcia
Russell Serowe
STERN
For comparison: https://www.startrek.com/article/50-...-galileo-seven
Thanks for the layout, EH!
Ugh sorry for delayed posting...was flying back from a work thing last night, and the #%^!&^ wifi wasn't working on the flight!
Glad to have you back!
Shamefully belated welcome back from me too, G_U!
EH, thanks for posting the image of the shuttle. My very favorite thing is the contrast between the standard futuristic Starfleet signage and the rather quaint retro brushwork used for Galileo. They should've gone all out with something like this or even this one...though the latter would probably be better for an Aelyrr shuttle.
Heheh. They just added the "II" after the word Galileo so they could keep using the same shuttlecraft mockup and not even have to repaint the name.
This might be more to your liking:
http://www.mardona.org/gallery/d/861...3h08m44s47.png
https://www.redbubble.com/people/pur...-logo?p=poster
Ah! Very cool. And someone's a Red Dwarf fan. :)
How so?
Because I'm an idiot. :) That 1st image, when I viewed it on my phone, looked like a model with little tiny figures of Lister (in the front left seat, as viewed onscreen--even has a little beret like Dave's), Rimmer (back left seat) and Kryten (back right seat, although now I think it's just part of the ship interior rather than Kryten's blocky pale android head.
Of course these names will mean nothing if you're not a Red Dwarf fan. But anyway I just looked at an enlarged version and that's definitely not Craig Charles (Dave Lister) in the front. Also it appears to be from Aliens, which is more to the point.
In short: never mind </litella>
Ah, thanks. Yes, definitely from Aliens - the Colonial Marines dropship from the Sulaco. In action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vESxCZe0HA
So here in Seattle the guidance is basically "don't leave your house of you don't have to" and for the last 2 days we were suffering a prolonged internet outage thanks to some kind of equipment failure on our providers' side -which is not just how I work but also how we get TV, video games, music... Can't make this stuff up. Anyway, back online, sorry for the hiatus!
Understood, general, and welcome back! Several major public events cancelled here in NE Ohio in an abundance of caution as to COVID-19 - ugh. Stay safe and be healthy, my friends.
Glad you're okay, general! I know Washington's been hit harder than most. NYC is flapping around like a headless chicken, aggragately speaking. Not to be judgey... I'm no stoic myself. I woke up today yesterday with kind of congested lungs and laryngitis. It's my annual bronchitis, most likely. (I had pneumonia is a baby and since then I've been susceptible to icky lung stuff.) Plus, the odds of my having anything to do with the virus are infinitesimal... I think I've only been in contact with about six people in a week! But for a few moments there I admit I had a bit of a fright before I confirmed the symptoms don't really match.
Anyway I really don't see how any of this will resolve without everyone eventually having some form of it and (most) recovering. I'd sure feel better if I were ten years younger. Then again... that was true before COVID-19.
Hope you feel better soon, choie, and of course that it turns out not to be you-known-what.
Very well played sir! A callback from...good heavens, a year ago! Forgot that strand of the tapestry. :bravo:
edited to add: dang, this is one time Kylah would've been useful!
^^Yeah, what she said! :devil:
Now I need a perception check. Does Nia hear that revelation?
Hmm... I'm gonna say no. A little too far away, and there are two people other between her and the speaker, who isn't shouting.
Aw rats! I figured since Dr. Bennett heard it...
Oh. I only just realized--by "The doctor looks astonished," did you mean the museum director? I didn't even think of that.
Anyway since I also took my sweet time in figuring out the ethical conundrum we're in now, if I'd posted what I originally planned for Nia (had she heard the revelation), it would've been useless. So, here's another Emily Litella "nevermind" from me.
Yes, it's Dr. Vasilyev, the museum director, who's standing right next to the guard.
LOL. Okay, now Vargas is just being a schmuck. :RAEG:Quote:
Originally posted by Elendil's Heir
Edit--hey just noticed my join date. It's my eighth anniversary, woohoo!
Edit #2--tried to sneak this question in Nia's last post, but it didn't work: What can Nia see of the two main players here? Does she see Graham's stance, or that Hutchinson's on his knees?
Heh. Vargas does have a tendency in that direction - all in the line of duty, of course. "Confined to quarters" isn't meant to be a chance to chat with friends.
Congrats on your eighth anniversary, choie! So glad you're here with us.
Onn can see only a little of Graham from where she is, and Hutchinson not at all.
Sorry for vanishing, life rolls om in tech-land, we launched a product this morning!
Yay! Man, good luck launching a product now--are you expecting there to be any issues given the lockdowns, or is your product intended for a largely WFM workforce anyway?
Edited to add: If any XP is in the offing, I think playing a woman who has to come up with soooo much double-meaning b.s. on the fly should grant me plenty. I know Kylah's LUCK is in the gutter and I doubt there's anything that can be done there, but she perhaps she can level up in INT at some point? She makes terrible choices so God knows WIS is off the table, but damn she gets difficult assignments! (I still bear a grudge for her having to make up a frickin' Elasian poem out of thin air back in Other Side of Paradise! :devil:) Can one be DEX, verbally?
Nah, I know the scores don't mean anything really, but I'm just saying... damn the situations this girl gets in keep me on my toes! And yet I admit I wouldn't have it any other way.
Yah so it's really weird - among companies using our technology are Netflix, FedEx, and a lot of online retailers or the online division of old school retailers.Quote:
Originally posted by choie
This crisis is actually good for business, which is a little uncomfortable, but, on the other hand, for businesses like Target scaling up their online sales is a lifeline!
Hope you stay nice and busy, general, but not so busy you can't post here!
Trying hard to make Yorktown a regular part of the new normal :)!Quote:
Originally posted by Elendil's Heir
(Sorry I've been a bit spotty - I've been working in a frenzy on getting tech folks from other companies that are going to grow as a result of this here (i.e., some bigger ones than ours like "Amazon," "Microsoft") to organize and off-the-clock lobby legislators for new revenue sources - Seattle is going to be like a Great Depression except where 1 industry keeps growing gangbusters, with rising stock prices. Currently we don't have (for example) a capital gains, income, or wealth tax. Even if just as temporary measures to accelerate recovery - if electeds don't do it here, it will be terrible, and also just "weird." We'll have like ~10% of the workforce being like "things are great!" while the rest stagger through really hard times.)
On another note is anyone else watching Star Trek: Picard?
IMO, OMG: Patrick Stewart. Also dark undertones masterfully done.
Hold the phone... Seattle doesn't have income tax? How did I not know that? I think I was aware that Florida's like that, mainly because of course it is--it's Florida. Anyway, best of luck with your lobbying efforts! I hope they bear fruit.
Haven't seen Picard because of an irrational dislike of Seven, and a fear that she's omnipresent the way she took over VOY (not that i really cared as I didn't watch the show past the 3rd or 4th season, it was the principle of the thing; I was a Kes fan). Is she avoidable? I admit my even bigger fear is that Picard is going down a depressing arc a la Logan and Professor X.
(Is there anyone from DS9 involved in this? I can't imagine who would be... Molly O'Brien maybe, or even Jake? It'd just be a nice nod to fans.)
Haven't seen ST: Picard yet, but it's definitely on my list. Our youngest son is now interested in ST:TNG, so we're working through my favorite-episodes list while we're on lockdown. Today we watched "Q Who," which first introduced the Borg.
I too would be interested to know if there are any DS9 links to the show. I don't mind minimum spoilers - just a name or two would be fine.
My mistake - I wrote Cromwell a few posts back in the game thread, and it should have been Cornwall. Thanks, choie, for catching that. Now fixed.
wrt Picard we're catching up - 7 of 9 just showed up. No idea how prominent she'll be.
"Borg" look to play a big role, but no solid DS9 links yet.
No joke - we're the HQ of both Amazon and Microsoft and we have neither a state income nor capital gains tax...Quote:
Originally posted by choie
It's like being Hawaii and turning up our nose at solar & wind power...
Haven't seen ST Picard yet (or ST Discovery, for that matter) but I'm sure I will someday.
Literally laughing out loud here...
I mean... I kinda love it that Rangin received that particular info. Having him know that she's in such huge trouble is awesome.Quote:
Originally posted by Elendil's Heir
But geeze! I was expecting a neutral reply like, "This user is not currently able to receive messages, your message is being sent to the officer's inbox" (or whatever nondescript autoreply would suffice).
No, instead Vargas makes sure all and sundry know that Kylah has fucked up so badly that she's one step away from the Brig. Daaamn, that is pretty frickin' harsh! She is really getting blamed and shamed here-and thus far they only know she skipped a single mission!
Don't get me wrong, this is fine with me. More fodder for Kylah drama. But Vargas's level of vindictive asshattery cracks me up nonetheless. :bravo:
Heh. Thanks, but there's another possible interpretation to the message. Think about it....
Hee, a puzzle! Hmmm... okay, is it that... she's... a Sakazombie? :) Geeze my mind's a blank. I'd say some kind of regular illness or medical situation requiring isolation (COVID-70?), but confinement like that'd probably be ordered by Villa, the CMO, and anyway she'd be in Sickbay, right? If it'll be made obvious in time, I'll stop guessing, but you've got my curiosity all a-tingle!Quote:
Originally posted by Elendil's Heir
Hey, while looking up the history for Nia's latest arch reference to Garcia's fuck-up on OCIII, I spotted this, in #3993 -- Graham catches his first glimpse of a certain female officer, a mere NPC at the time. Forgot about that!
Yes! Good catch.Quote:
Originally posted by SidonianGal
Wow major props to SidonianGal
#notworthy
Ain't no big thang, it just caught my eye while looking at the other posts! Uh, I mean, SidonianGal's eye. ;) I think I'd checked the threads when EH originally allowed me the opportunity to take on a 2nd PC and suggested Onn as a possibility. Since she'd only been mentioned that single time, it made her ripe for usage. (As she always is. :devil:) Graham's being the only one to see her is just an amusing bit of retroactive foreshadowing.
Quick question--what happened to Russell? When last we saw him, Graham had ordered him to stay on Hutchinson while Graham checked out the crowd. In the next post, Russell says "yuppers" (paraphrasing) and we're told Graham finds him dependable.
(Funnily enough, back in the aforementioned infamous OCIII mission, Russell twice messed up orders--coincidentally involving keeping track of various people he was supposed to guard. But hey, maybe he learned his lesson after all that!)
Anyhoo, point is: we don't see him enter the ship, so is he still out there guarding Hutchinson?
Russell is standing in the doorway to the shuttle, guarding Hutchinson, as I recall.
Oh, you likey, eh...?
My reaction to the appearance of Pablo Vargas and, like, an entire infantry of Security officers was a bit, um, earthier than the above meme, but I couldn't put such words into Jean-Luc Picard's mouth.
Of course Nia's first reaction might not be quite as censored. (Oh, I can guarantee that!) But I'm giving general_urko a day to hopefully get his response in first. This chilling plot twist does affect him more than the rest of us.
Do I like it? As a writer and audience member, hell yes. As a character? My thoughts are with Nia and her inevitable reference to her planet's mythological Seht'Dar's fiery balls.
An evil part of me is hoping ol' Cece Bennett was the one to rat Marala out. But I know you wouldn't grant such a boon to my competitive side, nor allow such a thorn upon your English rose.
Heheheh. We shall see.
Well, speaking of thorns... kind of a lot of them in my last post.
But, yeah, okay, so, I apologize for the ridiculously long entry--hell it's long even for me! Which is why I split most of the flashback into Apocrypha (hey, remember that?). It's important and I would love for you guys to read it, but it's not absolutely essential beyond what's strongly implied in the shorter version. I just worried that I'd included the whole story in the game thread, the weight of the thing would break the forum. Or at least make EH want to break something over my hands for shoving so much backstory into a live thread. :devil:
But the whole thing turned out to be very important info about both Nia and life on Sidonia (in this part of the planet, anyway), which honestly I wasn't expecting as I started it. It's really the first time I ironed out some ideas about what young Nia's life and society were like, and I decided to run with it. I may have run too far, because my case of logorrhea is nearly fatal. But at least it clears some things up for me, anyway.
(Wouldn't've thought I could make anyone as miserable as Kylah! But obviously she and Nia react differently to hardships.)
So, yeah. My fingers are about to fall off so I need to put some ice on them.
And man I hope this wacky plan works... but we'll see, I know!
It's all good. I'm glad to learn more of Onn's troubled past.
Thanks!
We interrupt this message because OMG OMG I am GEEKING OUT!! By some miracle of Youtube recommendations I just came across this new... sort of webseries, though it could just as easily be listened to audio only... called Alone Together, which is basically Deep Space Nine fanfic, except the fans include Alexander Siddig and Andrew frickin' Robinson, and they are playing Bashir and Garak, 25 years after the end of the Dominion war.
Like, I haven't even listened to the whole thing yet because I know I'm too tired to watch but I wanted to share with you guys because I am THAT EXCITED.
Ah okay, here's some background for it. It was part of a Siddig fan club ("Sid City," heh) gathering (virtual, obviously), and the actors did a live reading of the first episode, which was written by Matthew Campbell, with Story Editor Craig Alan.
Just in case you couldn't tell, DS9 is pretty much my favorite Trek, tied w/TNG,* and of the stellar cast my favorite character was Bashir due to his naivte and (initial) callowness developing so smoothly the longer this young doc served on DS9. And of course Garak was perfectly emblematic of the gray-shaded sensibility of the show, just a remarkable creation of clever writing and phenomenal actor. They made such a fascinating pair. I am just hyped to the gills that this is a thing.
* I've probably mentioned this before, but the way I judge 'em: DS9 is my favorite for ambitious storytelling, character interaction/shading, more nuanced look at the Federation, stellar acting and just overall quality. TNG is my favorite for likability of characters/cast, the exploration theme that's the soul of Trek for me, and the overall positive ideals of civilization and diplomacy.
Cool - I'll have to check that out! Thanks.
Weirdly both gerneral_urko and I seem to have blipped over your post (after Kylah's), EH! LOL, we both wrote stuff that is now kinda obviated now that I spotted it. I edited to reflect the sudden... lack of tension in the room. Curses, so much for my latest cunning plan. :(
Off-topic: As someone who seems quite interested in/educated about battles and history in general, do you happen to know any good nonfiction books about the French Revolution? (Preferably something not too biased in either direction. I just want to learn the facts first and then delve into others' commentaries on various sides.)
The Norton History of the French Revolution seems like a good choice but I'd love to hear any recs from you, if this is one of your many areas of interest!
I've never read an entire book about the French Revolution - sorry. Not something I'm particularly interested in. I'd probably just read or skim the Wiki article about it and then check out the bibliography at the end.
I listened to the first episode of the YouTube "Alone Together" dramatic reading - thanks for bringing it up, choie! Good stuff. Particularly interesting to learn what's become of the ol' DS9 gang since the end of the series (especially Garak and Kira).
Today is the tenth anniversary of the start of our first USS Yorktown mission, "On the Brink." Thanks for all you've done to keep the game going! I'm still having fun and hope you are, too.
https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/i...3708c69a33.jpg
YAY! Hail the good ship Yorktown and most of all to you, EH! I know we've had complete (albeit staggered) turnover of crew, but you've maintained the fun and drama and challenges going for all of us despite how difficult that must have been at times. Thank you, Admiral!
https://thumbs.gfycat.com/SingleDefi...ee-max-1mb.gif
ETA - thanks anyway re: the French Revolution! I bet Guillaume Vaudreuil would know. :smile: Just kidding--hey as an avowed Anglophile I can understand feeling apathetic about that accurs'd land across the channel.
Woohoo!
Wow....ten years. That's like...May :)
Seriously tho, awesome!
Technical/layout question: Is there an intercom or some related way to speak to someone outside one's quarters?
And if not--given the description that Rangin could just barely hear the door chime--how loud will Kylah and Rangin have to shout to hear each other? Would their voices be audible if close enough to the door?
I'm only asking here because it's something the characters would know already, so I don't want to depict Kylah pressing a non-existing intercom panel. Although in fairness, that would probably be in character for her at this stage. :devil:
ETA: It makes sense that there'd be a way to communicate, right? I know on the various show episodes they save some time by having the door chime and Picard (or whomever) yelling "Come" and whoosh, the door opens. But really, wouldn't most people ask who it is? Having to shout back and forth through the door seems weird. It'd sure make for loud corridors! I think it's just a shortcut for the production--just like how almost no one says "Goodbye" in TV or film phone calls.
There is no intercom mounted on the doorframe itself. Their voices would be audible to each other if close enough to the door. I agree as to how it ought to be, but that's not what we were shown on TOS.
Gotcha, thanks! Yeah, TOS (and TNG for that matter) didn't necessarily always do a great job of predicting the future--or at least, they vastly underestimated where we'd be in just thirty / fifty years (respectively).
I searched and searched and the closest I could find was this... thing... that appears to be a comm unit and a red alert warning panel. (And frankly looks like something Mattel would produce for 5-year-olds who want to play "elevator.") But Kirk and Spock don't seem to be standing right outside anyone's quarters. Seems like this box thingy is a plain ol' corridor unit for general announcements and alerts.
Ah well! Cool that someone replicated that and turned it into a collector's item that makes whooshing Trek door noises, though! If I were ten notches geekier I would be tempted. :)
Anyway, thank you again!
Sure! Yes, those comm units are here and there in the Enterprise's (and the Yorktown's) corridors. Similar but not identical units are mounted on desks, conference room tables, the big chair's arms on the Bridge, and on various control consoles elsewhere. See, for instance, at 0:13, 11:39, 17:05 and 31:25 here (in fact, the third bit is the same image as you posted): https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6n5g8i
Ha!! That's great. And it coming from The Trouble with Tribbles explains Kirk's "omg I am fed-up!" expression/stance in the picture I linked to.
Officious Federation bureaucrats often have that effect.
Very well played, gentlemen! What a solid scene, and kudos to Graham in particular for being much savvier with bending the truth than he would ever believe himself being. 'Twas worth the wait.
Yes, general did a great job.
Aw shucks... :)
Thanks for your patience!
As we approach the 2nd anniversary of the current game day (which dawned October 2018), and have already passed the 10-year mark (albeit with none of the original crew of PCs, alas!), I thought y'all would be interested in a look at a D&D game that's lasted 20 years! And sixty players, good lord I can't even fathom how that would work. But good for them!
It has been a rather long day at Novy Rostov, hasn't it? Thanks for sticking around.
And yeah, jeez, having 60 players is just insane. I don't know how the DM could give them all interesting things to do. That's not a party of adventurers, that's a platoon. I started playing D&D around 1982 too, while I was in prep school. I was part of a great campaign DM'd by my friend Jon. My character, a swordsman, rose to become a duke of the Elven-led kingdom he served (although he wasn't an Elf himself). Had a lot of fun. I'm playing a similar character in a LOTR D&D campaign on the SDMB now.
Hey, can someone go to Sickbay if they're hit by metaphorical phaser fire? Asking for a friend... :wth:
Heheheh. She's not only a beautiful English rose....
Hey Chief, is it kosher for me to describe Nia as heading to the turbolift? I don't think Nia and her entourage have been described as changing decks since dropping Graham off. I'm relatively sure he's been described as having one of the more popular Deck 7 cabins, vs. Deck 4, where Nia resides. (Specifically, #4A14.)
BTW I've been enjoying the Graham scenes opposite various NPCs! Well done, gentlemen.
Yes, that's fine.
And thanks!
Raising my hand again. Did the secret stowaways eat the food on the tray that Johnson left there? I would imagine they did, since Ruth was kvetching about being hungry, but want to make sure.
Another question, this one from the peanut gallery. By "monosexual" do you mean they all have a single gender, or that they're attracted to one gender? (I am, like, 99.95% you mean the former--monogendered, like the Jinaii in TNG's "The Outcast." CIAS just wanted me to double-check.)
Yes, they ate their meal. And monosexual does indeed mean they have only a single gender.
Gotcha, thanks!
Belated happy returns of the day to you, too! That's fascinating. So strange how little I associate our ship's name with the "Yorktown" battle so close to where I live in NYC. :hist:
Quote:
Originally posted by Elendil's Heir
Sorry for the delay, but I'm still reeling from the utterly disastrous choice from SidonianGal, who knowingly decided to ensure Nia's character continuity/consistency over the bigger picture, knowing Kylah and the guests' lives are at stake here. Just couldn't let Ensign Li leave, oh no, she just had to make Nia push the question of what Li felt was wrong! Arrgh. :devil:
Anyway. Both of us will need to do some major tapdancing to get out of this quicksand--assuming it's possible at this point. It's just taking me a bit to think of how to get out of this mire. I'll get it done today, but whatever the plan is, it might take every bit of Kylah's high CHA and PSI scores... And some extreme generosity by TPTB. :angel:
As always, I look forward to what you come up with!
Holiday season is upon us, and hopefully we'll have other things to celebrate. general_urko, I'm not sure if you celebrate Chanukah--EH, I know you're not a Red Sea pedestrian, to quote Monty Python--but I had to post this appropriate greeting!
http://falling-sky.com/strpg/chanukahtrek_sml.jpg
If Nia were aware of Vargas's call to Graham, she would totally be wearing a "Toldja you so" expression right now re: how much Vargas needs his ACoS despite his claim that no one was irreplaceable.
...So, lucky for her that she doesn't know about it. :devil:
No indeed, not Jewish, but I love the ChanukahTrek graphic, choie!
Trekkie Christmas to all, and to all a good flight!!!
http://www.falling-sky.com/strpg/trek_christmas.jpg
Best holiday wishes to all!
Likewise!
Sorry for the mega-scenes there. My girls had a lot of ground to cover!
What's the polar opposite of "No Drama Obama????" :)Quote:
Originally posted by choie
:LOL: Hysteria Kylah-and-Nia? No-Smiler Kylah? (The rhyme only worked in a Boston or British accent, alas.)
LOL. No apology necessary! Good stuff.
I would like, however, to bring this mission to a close in the near future. Would five more posts (or so) apiece in your characters' current situations suffice?
Hiya sorry for the delay! Enjoying our country's regime change made me lose track of time.
Yes, of course, we'll adapt as needed to end the mission. If Kylah successfully reaches Rangin they'll need a bit of a conversation but I can work on that as a joint thing w/His Nibs to save time. Thank you for your patience!
Yes, I'm very pleased and relieved by the change in the White House myself.
Huh my response didn't stick ... I said something to the effect of "sure so long as the fiendish GM doesn't throw some new curveballs our way..."
Just so long as Graham and Nia get a chance to...er, something...about what's happened either at the end of this mission or beginning of the next!
Yes, of course, I hope you will. Thanks.
Hey EH, just checking--in the Rangin portion of the dual Kylah/Rangin post, did you spot that Velir used the door chime to see if Xiang could let them in? Or was her not responding intentional?
No, sorry, I missed that. I will take another look.
Man, Graham is a lot more chill than I'd've expected him to be about Nia sending him a personal message through Rangin, of all people! :devil:
Quick logistics question: Would someone less familiar with ships and their various sounds/vibrations than folks like Nia and Graham--oh, someone like Kylah, for example--notice the fact that the Yorktown is moving faster? Is there any tug of movement when a ship changes momentum and direction, e.g., from regular orbit to warp speed? We've all seen the "tilty camera" effect when the Enterprise was hit by enemy fire--or trying to evade it. So the artificial gravity doesn't make instantaneous adjustments. But is that just for drastic changes?
Yes, the effects of evasive maneuvers or taking hits from enemy fire can certainly be noticed by everyone aboard (especially if you're thrown across the Bridge - still no seatbelts!). But moving from sublight to Warp 1 is also perceptible, or from a lower warp factor to a higher one, from what we saw on ST:TOS, by the sound of the warp drive if not from any actual change in the "feel" of the ship. I suspect a deaf person would not notice, come to think of it.
That death of Novy Rostov was some awful, sobering and gripping imagery, EH. A tiny, embarrassingly sentimental part of me held out hopes of a deux ex machina, even though that would have been so wrong, dramatically and realistically speaking. But, great writing there. All the more powerful for its almost clinical nature. Just animation on a screen, but so much more.
Thanks, choie. It was quite sobering to think through and to write, knowing what it meant, even though fictional.
I would like to wrap up the current mission soon. Please get your last posts in by Sunday night. Thanks!
Sure, thanks! I think R&V can wrap up by then in a joint post.
Quick question--how does everyone onboard know the destruction's already happened? Was it broadcast all over the ship? I'll do a quick reread, I might've missed an announcement from Singh.
No, there has been no shipwide announcement. Hmm. Perhaps there should be?
LOL--suddenly I'm imagining Singh's voice coming from the speakers like a flight attendant: "...And now, passengers, if you look over at the port side of the ship, you should juuuust be able to see the green flashy thing that got your friends and everything you knew fried and annihilated."
Sorry for the three megaposts, but Rangin & Kylah had an emotional and plot arc to tie up and to lay grounds for the future. Hope it's okay! :)
Yeah, and Nia wanted a final moment as well. So I sneaked in there. (Is it clear that she's not actually talking to Brooks yet? I didn't mean to start a new conversation at the last minute. She's just mulling all this over.)
So ends Mission #6, almost four years to the day after it started - far longer than I ever thought it would be! Thank you all. We'll start Mission #7 in a week or so with a wedding, which should lift everyone's spirits. I also have two possible new recruits for the crew, and will keep you posted.
Woohoo, that's fantastic about the possible recruits! Fingers crossed. Thanks so much for overseeing this epic mission, Cap'n! We started at a very difficult time, not that long after losing dear Naomi/anyrose, and for several months we were w/o Rangin, which changed the whole focus of the mission not to mention losing a vital partner in one of our subplots. It was painful to deal with their absences, and I think that drained some enthusiasm and creativity.Quote:
Originally posted by Elendil's Heir
I'm relieved we were able to move out of that dark period, though of course Naomi is still deeply missed. It's been a long nearly-four years (for everyone!), but throughout there were a lot of angles to play and you created plenty of obstacles for the PCs that were challenging but fun to see through. Thanks so much to you, EH, and obviously to the other gents for all the teamwork & brainstorming.
As for the spoiler tidbit... yeeeah I don't think that wedding will lift everyone's spirits. :devil: Speaking of which, how much time will be passing between now and then, in-game? Because Graham's telling Nia about all this is a huge beat to lose--I'd imagine general_urko would agree with me there. :) (Maybe we can write it as a flashback?)
Also just curious about how Kylah's breaking her confinement, and her stowaway situation, might be dealt with in a time jump.
Good points, choie, and thanks. I expect a week or two in-game will pass before we resume. Flashbacks for both scenes will probably fit the bill; I know that I, for one, would like to read them.
BTW, as always, I included five references to characters from the works of a non-ST sf author (past examples: Heinlein, Lovecraft, Asimov, Clarke and Bradbury) along the way. Did anyone spot them over the course of the mission...?
Thanks for all the work, EH, and the writing, fellow PCs. Who the hell would have guessed we'd have to carry on the story through the conditions of the last 12-ish months?
Not I! Ignorance was truly bliss on that front. But I think we did OK.
As far as guessing the names/author puzzle, I never have a clue. Even taking the authors already used above, I'd've only recognized each if the character names were Farnham, Cthulhu, ___, uh Dave or HAL, and... the lead guy from Fahrenheit 451 I guess. (I just reread it last year and already I forgot his name again.) And yes I am acknowledging that I don't know a single Asimov character even just through cultural osmosis.
I'm embarrassed that frickin' Farnham is the only name I remember, and that's just because I randomly found a 1st-edition version of Farnham's Freehold at a bookstore and my college roommate recommended it, so I picked it up to see what Heinlein was like. And immediately regretted the hell out of it because WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK is with the incest crap? (Later my roomie urged me to try Stranger in a Strange Land, which I did prefer, but let's face it, Freehold set the bar extremely low.) I still have FF just because as the daughter of a book collector I hate to toss away a first edition, even of a book I truly despise.
Anyhoo. Since the bulk of names here were Russian, I'm just gonna take a stab of the two Russian sci-fi authors I remember. And actually I don't remember their names but don't wanna cheat via Google. Is it either the Roadside Picnic author or Solaris author? Wait, was Solaris even a book?
(And I only know Roadside Picnic because i fricking' loved the videogame S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl.)
All this goes to show you that I am not a science fiction reader by nature. I enjoy it in visual forms, but readingwise I get lost in the tech stuff (if it's hard sci-fi).
Now, if you ever toss in names like Arroway, Drumlin, Hadden or Joss, I'll be able to pick that one up!
Heh. I actually included a throwaway reference to a starship Arroway in another ST writing game some years ago. (Contact is one of the very few movies that I thought was actually better than the book, and Jodie Foster was terrific in the lead role).
No, the five names came from the writings of current sf author John Scalzi, a favorite of mine:
Holloway, the capital city of Beta Antares IV, is a name from Fuzzy Nation
Ruiz, co-maker of the malfunctioning orbital divesuit, is from Old Man's War
Perry, the other co-maker, is from The Ghost Brigades
Shane, the Beta Antares IV doctor whom Dr. Bennett consulted, is from Lock In
Weinstein, the president of the NR Colonial Council, is from Redshirts
All very good books. Redshirts, in particular, is a snarky but affectionate homage to ST that I'd recommend to any Trekker.
I'm still trying to recruit additional players, so I'd like to postpone the start of the next mission for another week.
I'm now reading Patrick O'Brian's The Nutmeg of Consolation (1991), part of his terrific series of Napoleonic War naval adventures; it's mentioned that one of the crew of His Majesty's Ship Diane is a young master's mate named Bennett. Possibly an ancestor of our own navigator...?
No luck finding new players, unfortunately, but I did get four "I can't do it right now, but maybe/possibly/could be/I just might if you ask me sometime down the road" replies, and made note of them.
New mission thread to start soon.
Woohoo! New game thread! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!
Haven't heard back yet from my contacts, but hopefully this will bear fruit.
Now... how are we to pronounce "Irkhuit"? I know I'll never say it aloud, but in my brain I could use the assistance. I still have no idea how Jan Svelha (misspelled, I know) or Ruth Soerdajayaorwhatever (already forgot that name!) or Hwuen or Alyerr were meant to be said. In fairness I wouldn't be able to tell you what Nia's full name is either. SFF names are my Kryptonite apparently.
Anyway, another WOOHOO for the new mission!
Edited to add: OMG I can't believe we're still in March. Kylah's been aboard since late December, IIRC. So all her angst has taken place in just under three months? Yowsa. Then again the whole past mission (starting with the arrival at Novy Rostov) consisted of a single day. So the timing makes sense.
I feel a little better about my online serial, written from 1997 - 2015 and comprised just 2 years of fictional time. :angel:
Thanks, choie. I really appreciate your help trying to recruit new players.
We don't know yet for sure how "Irkhuit" is pronounced, but just off the cuff, I'd guess "ur COOT."
Yes, the most recent mission didn't take that long in Star Trek time: as I figure it, a day at Beta Antares IV, six days in transit to Novy Rostov, a day or so there, and now four days since breaking orbit on our way back to BA4. Time flies....
Aw rats, I guessed wrong again. I was too focused on the "huit," as in the French word for "eight." So I was going with (roughly) "irk-quee." Curses, foiled again! And my character is supposed to be a linguistic genius. :)
Thanks, EH!
Soitenly! And you probably already guessed this, but it's not a French word.
I have a colleague at work who's written a (nonfiction) book and is also a super nerd (said with profound admiration) I'll give a go at seeing if she wants to participate.
I really appreciate the story (and the humans) continuing through this last year.
Among other things my mom got COVID and she is now 100% completely OK, but...well, there was some dark time in there.
I believe it! Glad she's better now. Thanks for letting us know.
Oh gosh, that's awful! I'm so relieved your mother recovered--I can't imagine how that must've for you. I hope she's not having too many lingering aftereffects. (Or, better yet, none.)
Holy crap I had no idea Helen Noel was a "real" Trek character all this time! Wow. Coincidentally the actress, at least in the Memory Alpha photo, looks very close to way I picture Kylah. Something between her and Inara on Firefly.
https://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/...2/11/inara.jpg
(Between her and Nia, you'd think I watched Firefly! Pure coincidence though. Only Nia was directly inspired by the actress from the show, Gina Torres.)
Yes, I always liked Dr. Noel - the actress reminded me a bit of Geena Davis. I'm a big Inara (and Firefly) fan, too.
I need to give that show a try. It's funny: this is a series I was barely conscious of, but whenever I was putting together Nia's image using some Gina Torres shots, I learned enough about the characters to know a favorite would probably have been the Wash guy. And then I heard about a certain plot point. Naturally! Damn, my "every character I like ends up insane, dead or evil" curse even works retroactively!
What struck me about Noel (and I see the pun now) is that apparently she shows up in an episode with a Christmas party?! I cannot conceive of Star Trek even referencing a religious holiday like Christmas (notwithstanding Picard's fantasy in Generations).
P.S.: Does the cat helming the ship video feature the cat saying, "I'm still able to go forward... I'm not a lawyer!"
LOL - that'd be great; it should!
Yes, I think just about any Trekker would like Firefly. Check it out! My only regret is that it ended much, much too soon (only 14 eps and a movie).
Christmas has come up more than you might think in the various incarnations of ST: https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Christmas
Spacewalks aren't always fun: https://www.airspacemag.com/daily-pl...ell-180977483/
Sorry I've been absent a bit. Unfortunately I've been preoccupied with my very suddenly sick cat. I'm taking care of her but I know we'll be saying goodbye soon. I'm still grieving her mom, who died last year.
Re: the Christmases, you're right, of course. Well, I see VOY referenced it the most, and surely I can't be expected to know that because, y'know. VOY. (I only watched it till the 1st ep of Season 3.)
I guess I'm just struck by the idea that the ship itself would actually hold a Christmas party, vs. the other references (which were fictional, holodeck-based or imaginary). That's like something that belongs on Mad Men, not RoddenberryLand. I guess if they celebrate Captain Picard day, anything is possible. Sisko became a deity himself, too. Geeze Roddenberry would've hated that. But he would've probably hated DS9 altogether, esp. after the 1st or 2nd season, which is when it got kickass.
Thanks for passing along that article re: EVAs. That was SNAFU after SNAFU. I can't even comprehend what he was going through and how brave it was for him to just keep going without even telling Mission Control.
Welcome back, choie, and hope your cat is doing much better, despite predictions.
Agreed on your other points, definitely.
Sorries and sympathy for the cat, choie. I know how that feels.
And amazingly enough, my mom is 100-percent.
Now that's good news! Glad to hear it, general.
Thanks for your good thoughts, gentlemen. I'm just hoping to keep Sophie comfortable for as long as possible. Until four days ago you wouldn't have believed she's 18--healthiest cat I've ever had. Then, boom. Fucking cancer.
But much much better news from you, general! I echo EH's delight to hear about your mom's resilience! Will she be able to get the vaccine, or is there a wait after one has the virus?
Out of curiosity, what's everyone's status about that, if it's not too personal to ask? I've had my first shot, the Pfizer version. The second (which I'm kinda dreading given all the talk about how much worse the 2nd dose is) will be May 6.
Note for the latest Nia post: As I'm reading Post 2 in the game thread, the Captain's log says they'll be meeting with more ships over the next couple of days on the way to Beta Antares IV. That means they'll all still have time left traveling to the planet after the rendezvous, right? If I'm wrong and it's two days' total trip, ignore the stuff in green, please, and assume she didn't say it. I hate Nia sounding ditsy or ignorant just 'cause I misunderstood! She can't help having a player dumber than herself.
OK, point 1: I'm lost...is there a new game thread? [blush] Link for the lame?
Yeah my mom is fine...and fully vaccinated. Connecticut has been tearing it up on vaccinations. My little brother (also there) has been fully vaxed too.
WA state...not so much. You can drive into the red areas of the state where they can't give it away if you want to undertake that...I'm scheduled for next week - finally, after daily checking 10 websites for weeks - here in Seattle next week.
Aww...we lost a young cat to cancer, our "old guy" was healthy but around 17-18 just went to sleep and passed. "Keeping her comfortable" is the right thing in our experience. They don't have existential angst, but they *do* feel love right up until the time it's right to let them go.
Apparently women get shellacked by the 2nd dose more than men, says woman friend who's a doctor. But she says ~a day of ugh is typically the worst case.
Hee, the game thread is right below this one (at least, if you visit the forum through the RPG category): Star Trek RPG Mission 7: "The War-Brotherhood of Irkhuit".
I'm surprised about WA being so far behind, considering it was the first ground zero for the virus (IIRC). Then again... actually, nothing should surprise me anymore. But good to hear your mom & bro are taken care of (go Team Northeast!), and that you'll be jabbed shortly.
Thanks for the link, SG. Thought you'd already seen it, g_u. Sorry about that.
My wife and I've had the one-shot J&J vaccine and we'll hit the six-week mark tomorrow. Our three sons will all have had their second Pfizer shot by Saturday.
Apparently WA made its scheme so complicated it slowed everything down (literally there were tiers like "1-B-2"). And the split across the state slows things down - the Eastern half chronically has surpluses, while Seattle is the A-#-1 top city for intention to get it. But it's all good, it'll get done...
Also, sorry, I just missed the new thread! On it...
Attaboy!
Hey I just noticed Appleciders in the other RPG thread. Proto-Rangin! I wonder what they'd think of all the sturm undt drang Rangin's been up to since then. (AC left about 1/3 of the way through the Sakathian mission. So a lot's happened to that xenobiologist!)
Just a funny thing: While I was scanning the Setup thread the other day, I found this note about communicators after there was a reference to Kylah's "comm account" and her ignorant player asked for clarification. Changes since that time--2012, incredibly--noted in blue:
Technology has upgraded since then, as we're texting left and right! (Sorry: port and starboard.) And now we've got the crew carrying those little devices on their belts even onboard. (And Kylah still breaks or loses them! What a ditz.)Quote:
Originally posted by Elendil's Heir a billion years ago
Don't get me wrong, I think the changes in communication policy/tech is more logical anyway. How else do people get in touch with one another if not via communicators? That probably didn't arise much in TOS, having a bit less intracrew action, but I'm glad TNG had those pins that let them be instantly reachable.
IMHO the current specs of the Yorktown's tech make perfect sense from an evolutionary point of view, as a sort of bridge between the TOS - TNG methods of communication.
Anyhoo. Just thought I'd bring it up. And EH, sorry, I just remembered your question at the end of the last mission: What was the source of your names during Marala? To my shame I know very little about SFF fiction, so didn't recognize whatever the references. I'm hopeless at this. You'd have to switch to detective fiction for me to grok* anything!
* Okay, I have read that.
Ten points for whoever picks up on my recent Simpsons reference without Googling.
See post 5147 above.Quote:
Originally posted by choie
I mostly agree as to your other observations, choie, although, for all we know, our PCs are unusual among their crewmates in carrying their communicators even while back aboard the Yorktown. That was not typically done, from what we saw on ST:TOS, when Kirk, Spock, McCoy et al. were never far away from a bulkhead- or desk-mounted comm unit while shipboard.
John Scalzi! CRAP! I've been a fan since the ancient original serial version of Old Men's War. Sorry, I totally missed that post explaining it, EH.
Good lord bringing up Mr. Mayhew is a deep cut. Bravo! Carlos Alvarez would've been my guess but I love that Mayhew turns up out of the blue! One encounter and boom, she's got an admirer; must be that high CHA stat showing up again. OTOH, it's nice that she's using it to better effect on purpose, e.g., the bluff paying off with the quartermaster. Finally her CHA manages to do something other than drawing men's attention. (And possibly women's too.)
The handy-ready-at-hand comm unit is interesting...today we've all gotten used to carrying our comms device, but I think we've also forgotten how ubiquitous pay phones were back in the day (they were big money makers!) The biggest study of 911 calls back in the day - 80s IIRC - found that accress to a phone didn't significantly matter. Which is weird from today's lens of phones in the pocket, but not from the environment then.Quote:
Originally posted by Elendil's HeirTen points for whoever picks up on my recent Simpsons reference without Googling.
See post 5147 above.Quote:
Originally posted by choie
I mostly agree as to your other observations, choie, although, for all we know, our PCs are unusual among their crewmates in carrying their communicators even while back aboard the Yorktown. That was not typically done, from what we saw on ST:TOS, when Kirk, Spock, McCoy et al. were never far away from a bulkhead- or desk-mounted comm unit while shipboard.
Quick question--I have no idea if Nia used the correct lingo in my last post, trying to ask exactly what angle/direction the ASAB is coming at them from. Since it's 3 dimensions I know it's not just gonna be "from the northeast" or whatever. Is "bearing" the right term? Coordinates? Heading? It's usually "Something mark something-else" IIRC.
If I goofed, can we just assume Nia asked correctly? Maybe you could edit it with the right terminology, if you're so inclined, EH. I'd be super-grateful!
(Breathing fast and a little sweaty from changing IDs so quickly...)
You guys are probably right about the lessened need for instant communications. It just seems so elegant and simple on TNG where people can easily get in touch with each other without either a big terminal conveniently nearby, or even needing an extra device. (That's why Nia's always bitching about wanting a hands-free method of communication. :D)
It would be funny if our PCs happen to be the only ones obsessed with keeping their devices handy. Maybe Kylah's hapless experiences have made everyone aware of the benefits of constant contact.
If anyone is a poster child for the ALWAYS KEEP YOUR COMMUNICATOR WITH YOU campaign, it's our favorite Elasian.
On a family trip now - may be able to check in only intermittently.
I hope it's a pleasure trip, EH, and that you and fam have a happy, healthy time! (If it's for something less joyful, here's hoping everything turns out well.)
Thanks. We're visiting Boston so our youngest son can finally see the Northeastern U. campus where he'll begin his freshman year this fall, and then to Vermont for a family visit and then the wedding of my wife's niece. So far, so good, although very hot in Boston today.
Good choice of school. Climate aside, love Boston :)Quote:
Originally posted by Elendil's Heir
Yes, we do too!
Wait wait wait, hold the phone (no pun intended). Re this:
I think I grossly overestimated my admittedly paltry knowledge of Kirk-era Treknology. So a hail sent to a crew member doesn't go to their communicator as a matter of course? This seems like new protocol to me, or at least, I don't recall any PC or NPC saying (for example) "Bridge to Lt. T'Var's communicator" or whatever the proper lingo would be. Have we seen this before?Quote:
Rangin does not answer the Sidonian officer's call from his quarters or his Science duty station. She (or Thalen) could try his communicator, or page him shipwide.
Well, regardless of my ignorance, it is what it is, as some bozo once said. So this being the case: what is the correct order? (Nia would know it even if I don't.)
I can't recall a ST:TOS episode where someone aboard ship was contacted via his or her communicator - except for "Mirror, Mirror," I suppose, where Kirk & Co. were trying to be all sneaky-like. I might've forgotten such an incident, though. Calling someone using the ship's intercom seems to open a channel to the person's quarters (as with Kirk sitting at the desk in his quarters, talking to Spock or someone else on the Bridge) or their duty station (as with Scotty in Engineering, or McCoy in Sickbay, etc.). Onn can simply tell Thalen, "Get me Mr. Rangin" or "Have Mr. Rangin report to the Bridge on the double," and then leave it to the Communications Officer to track him down.
What do you think, general and Rangin?
Well, they're silent, so Nia just passed the buck. :)
BTW it's funny that my initial RPG missions have both used zombies! (Or, effectively zombies.)
Just your luck, I guess!
Sorry for delayed response...I find the TOS communicator thing hard to parse. It seems as if folks mostly did not carry communicators on the ship (?) and used fixed comms consoles.
This would comport with the mindset of the era where there were payphones everywhere. (Fun fact: a big study of police 911 response times in the pre-cellphone era found no statistically significant impact from "lack of access to a phone" to report crimes...payphones really were everywhere!).
I kinda think that the "not carrying" or "not using" a communicator onboard is super weird, though - what pain the ***.
I'd be down with assuming people at least sometimes, if not always, carry one and they are used onship.
Interesting point, general; I hadn't thought of the analogy to omnipresent payphones in the mid-Sixties, but that makes sense.
I could have the Captain issue a standing order that communicators are to be carried at all times aboard ship, or you could just let me know here in the setup thread what your character(s) typically do.
I feel like Graham would typically carry his communicator, unless he was trying to be "offline" (for example - working out in the gym).
I'm probably more OCD about being able to contact others for help, but I feel like other than the medical team, the security officers would be the group who'd be most likely required to be in contact 24/7. (Or 2400/?? Not sure if they go by a 7-day week anymore. Huh, I never thought of that till now.) Then again the redshirts are plentiful so there's probably enough to go around.
As for the ladies, Nia would probably keep hers at hand, if only because she'd want to be in touch with Sickbay in the (unlikely) possibility of her needing a Bilitrium refill. Also she'd want to be the first person contacted if there's a need for a shuttle pilot. :)
And, even though it's Nia who's expressed in-game her frustration with not having both hands free when using a communicator... I'm guessing Kylah will be credited for coming up with the idea of wearable comm badges. Although her first brainstorm would be frickin' subcutaneous implants.
Well, she is in Communications, so that seems reasonable....
It sounds like all current PCs will have their communicators with them while aboard ship, so I'll bear that in mind going forward. Thanks, all.
No, thank you, EH!
That and her utter inability to keep track of them. If Future Kylah's not the patent-holder of the comm-badge idea, she should certainly be cited as the prime example of their necessity!Quote:
Originally posted by Elendil's Heir
Heh. There'll probably be a picture of her in the instruction manual issued to all Starfleet recruits.
FYI just waiting on an answer from our Coridanite pal before Nia responds. Please stand by. :)
Trivia connected to the Tina plot: When I was 5, my family visited the UK via a transatlantic cruise on the Queen Elizabeth II. One day my sister (2 years older) and I were watching some dance rehearsal in the ballroom and she wanted to leave before I did. I said our mom had told us to stay where we were. Big sister was like, well, I'm going anyway and just frickin' left.
I stayed for about five anxious minutes, then got too panicky and tried to find my way back to our cabin, with no success. Got lost and wandered into a ritzy gift shop--I can still remember this amazingly crafted doll/statue/figurine of the real Queen on sale for some exorbitant cost.
Anyway, as Nia suggested here, the shop's salesperson contacted whoever would be in charge of such things and soon I heard a shipwide announcement about my having been found. The employees were so kind and friendly to me, they helped calm me down. Soon my terrified mom caught up with me. (Turned out I wasn't as far from our cabin as I'd thought.)
I've forgotten if Mom got angry with me or with my sister. Of course she was the one who trusted a 7-year-old kid to watch over a 5 year old, so, that one was on her, heh. But I still use the incident to give my sister a guilt-trip now and then. :devil:
As the baby sister, I'd say you're fully entitled to.
EH - N.B. re Nia's paraphrased questions in her last paragraph: if you want to move forward without actual answers that's fine, they're basically just me making it clear Nia's forcefully keeping up the banter with her crewmates.
(You probably remember this but the Tesla is the experimental "test-bed" shuttle Nia's been working on w/the engineers on the side. At least I'm pretty sure it was the Tesla.)