ISSUE 4: SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1999
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CAPTAINS LOG
What a month it has been!
The Friday before the last meeting, four of us took a shuttle to USS
Lutonia. We were warmly welcomed by Admiral Fazekas and his crew. Capt.
Leigh Brown, Lt. Mark Swan, the Ambassador and myself had a great time
with a really friendly club. We entered a competition and the Ambassadors
team won, while my team came 2nd, only 2 points behind them and Mark's
team came 3rd. They were kind enough to give us the questions answers to
use in the future.
Talking of competitions.
What has happened to the entries in our Newsletter Competitions? Issue 2
saw only one entry - mine! Issue 3 saw three entries, mine, John Cole and
Colin Palmers'! I am getting fed up with winning them. Not only that, I
entered two in the USS Lutonia Newsletter and won one, while I came
2nd in the other. The guys work very hard and the least you
could do is bother entering. OK, moan over.
The nest big event was of
course our Klingon Wedding. What a day it was! My thanks to all those who
came early to help set up and those who stayed to help clear up. I am not
going to name anyone, in case I miss someone out. You know who you are and
my heartfelt thanks extend to all of you.
Our Friends from Luton
attended and I see close friendships forming. We have lots of ideas for
events over the next few months, so be prepared!
The good thing about
helping to produce the this newsletter is that I get to see the articles
first. we have two very funny articles this month. Thanks to John Borda
for his article on reporting for duty, and to Jeanette Warran for for her
article called 'Jeanettes Encounter' I recommend you read them. At least
Jeanette had the figure for the dress, she looked good on the Friday night
before the Wedding when eight of us, in full Klingon dress, raided Bob's
local Pub! The enjoyed us so much, we have all been invited to a Star Trek
Night in November! These costumed events are a great way to get new
recruits.
If any of you have an
article for the newsletter, it would be handy if you send it in on A4
paper, ready for photocopying. Do not worry if it doesn't fit the whole
page, because we can fit something else on the bottom of the
page.
Don’t forget -
23/34th October - Manor House Museum, Exhibition. And on
November 7th, a visit to Ipswich Starfleet - to help them
launch their new meeting venue…… lots of Aliens have been
requested.
Also, keep the whole
weekend of the November Meeting free…. 19th to 21st
. We are planning a 48 hour Trekathon for Children in Need.
December 19th
Meeting - Starbase Concert and Christmas Party!
December 23rd -
Disco at Luton - Tickets in advance £6.00. We will be taking numbers in
the meantime.
Until we meet again, good
health and best wishes.
Captain
Anarita Jat.
P.S. I
would like to congratulate all those who were promoted last month.
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EDITORS
CORNER
Well, once again it is
another issue of the Starbase 410 Newsletter. I have created a few now and
with each one I gain more experience. I feel that last months issue was a
giant step in the right direction. The structure is much stronger and the
content is becoming fuller each month. A couple of people have come up to
me with brave new ideas and I have welcomed them. After all, it is your
newsletter as well as mine. I was also very pleased about having almost
wiped out mistakes in the last issue. I went on a crusade against them and
have continued it this month.
One thing I am really
pleased about is the fact that I actually got a response for the 'Design a
Ship' article, by only asking once! I would like more for next month
please.
What I would also like is
if groups can get together to produce an article a month between them. The
other idea and major aim is to make this newsletter self funding. I would
like people to approach me with ideas. Advertising is one and shall get
back to you with prices for those.
Mark Swan -
Editor
P.S.
WRITING COMPETITION
There is going to be a
writing competition, where you can win prizes. As far as I know, it will
be for short stories, and the best one will appear in the Newsletter.
Lookout for details in future issues.
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PERSONAL
LOG
Lt.jg
Laura-Jean Morris - Personal Log
Whoever said
that a Starbase was boring needs to come and see for themselves all the
fun and games we are having here at Starbase 410! So far, we have had 5
meetings of the crew, which include Academy Training, informative videos
and a lot more besides. I am also told that Captain Jat and her command
staff are planning lots of new things including special away
missions.
We have,
stationed at Starbase 410, a Klingon Embassy and a Bajoran Embassy. These
all appear to be thriving in the station environment. More worrying,
however, is the reported sightings of Borg drones wandering about the
place, all in different states of undress…..
There have also
been some accounts of badly behaved Klingons, but our Chief of Security
sorted out that problem ( I never knew that bulkheads were so useful!).
Commander T'Pina
recently told us that the prospects for promotion are very great at the Starbase and
has started keeping tabs on all Starfleet officers and cadets.
One of the other
things going on at the Station is the planning of a new Shuttle Craft. At
one of the crew meetings the science and engineering sections gave a brief
talk in which they went over the plans. There were two suggestions for how
we could make the base - from scratch and build it out of recyclable wood
and design it to be a flat-pack. The other idea was to find an existing
shuttle craft in need of extensive repair and refit it. The Commander said
that she knew of such a shuttle craft and would look to acquiring it from
its previous owner. The Klingon Ambassador also said he would help
persuade the owners into selling it. This offer was turned down, the
Commander prefers not to have the same amount of paperwork to deal with,
that she had the last time the Ambassadors persuading turned into a major
galactic incident!
Editors Note: I would
like to thank Laura-Jean Morris for this contribution and look forward to
more from everyone.
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7th November 1999
- Ipswich Club Meeting - Novotel
13th
November 1999 - Pub Theme Night at Sudbury
19th to
21st November 1999 - 48hour TREKATHON incorporating the Club
meeting
26th
November 1999 - presentation of cheque for Children in Need at Radio
Suffolk
17th December 1999
- USS Lutonia Meeting
19th December 1999
- 410 Club Meeting - Starbase Concert and Christmas
Party
2000
16th January - 410
Club Meeting
20th February -
410 Club Meeting |
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HOW NOT TO REPORT FOR DUTY!
So
there I was, floating in space. It was my own fault, really... it never
pays to wind up Klingons. But it was just too much fun not to, they can
be damned hard to get on with when they're trying to prove themselves
and they don't have something to shoot at. In the end, tying the bass
line of "Shake, Rattle & Roll" into the inertial dampeners in the
mess hall, and playing it full volume, got their grudging respect, even
if bloodwine and ga'akh were everywhere. I wonder if any of the ga'akh
got away and started breeding in the ventilation system?...
But
on to more pressing matters. The General, who was giving me a lift to
the station, had said the Starbase was just a "short EVA" away, and, as
he couldn't take the time to dock (something or other wanted shooting,
somewhere), he'd drop me off and let me make my own way. No sign of it,
though. I checked the SNS (Satellite Navigation System in the EVA suit)
to see where I was. The readouts wouldn't settle. It was then I checked
my speed - half lightspeed! He really didn't want to slow down! I was
going to have to burn most of my fuel just to slow down, which would
leave precious little for manoeuvring to the Starbase. This was very
much a right first-time proposition, as, if I didn't get at least close
enough for a transporter, I was going to have to wait for a shuttle to
pick me up, not the most auspicious start!
I checked the
Starbase's orbit, and cross-checked with my speed. I would streak past
the starbase on it's next orbit. I lined up the thruster, set it for a
6-hour burn, and fired. And regretted it as the full thrust winded me.
No inertial dampeners in an EVA suit! Still, I had to endure it or miss
the station completely.
 A
couple of hours of maximum deceleration later, I had run out of even
Klingon names to call the General. It was the only way to stay calm
enough not to set off the automatic stasis backup, which would have
knocked me out, to conserve air, if it thought I was panicking. Six
hours at 6g is probably the General's idea of a good time. Fortunately,
I would be on a parallel course with the station, so I didn't have to
decelerate to a full stop.
I kept busy trying to make sure I was
on the right course - a few degrees off and I'd be miles away, and EVA
thruster packs weren't designed with interplanetary distances in mind!
Whether by accident or design, none of the communications systems were
working, either Klingons weren't patient enough for routine maintenance
or the General had a more sadistic sense of humour than I
thought.
Finally, I could see a small, bright dot off to my
right. I resisted the temptation to head straight towards it. I
rechecked the intercept course. The dot grew larger at an alarming rate.
Now the temptation was to head away, as the huge starbase got closer and
closer, threatening to leave me splattered across the hull.
The
six-hour burn was up, and I could breathe again! I had successfully
matched speeds with the starbase, and had ended up a few hundred metres
away. I took a few moments to take a couple of full breaths, and aimed
the thruster, and... nothing!
That long burn had used up all the
fuel. In a few minutes, the station's curved orbit would take it away
from my straight path. I had to cover the last few hundred metres
somehow, or watch the station disappear into the distance before
suffocating slowly as my air ran out.
Air - that was it! I
disconnected one of the oxygen lines, pointed it away from the station,
and opened the valve. A jet of precious oxygen streamed away from me. I
watched, as the huge bulk of the station slowly moved closer. An alarm
sounded in my suit as the reserve oxygen streamed out, and then stopped
- nothing left! Just what I had in my suit to keep me alive. I saw an
airlock just ahead, still not close enough! I had to speed up the last
few yards. I turned so the airlock hatch was below my feet, and
activated my magnetic boots to emergency full. The boots slammed into
the hatch, the rest of me shortly afterwards. I got the hatch open, and
crawled in.
The doors closed behind me and the airlock filled
with air. I finally was able to take the helmet off and give myself a
good scratch - long hours in an EVA suit and personal hygiene don't go
together well. The inner doors opened to reveal a female Vulcan in
Starfleet uniform, Commander T'Pina, the second-in command at the
starbase.
"Permission to come aboard, sir?"
"Permission
granted. You have been assigned quarters on Deck 11, and the Captain
would like to see you when you have had a rest."
"I was
expected?"
"Yes, the General told us you were arriving."
"Then how
come you didn't beam me inside?"
"It would seem that Captain Jat had
a bet with the General. I was monitoring your life-signs and would have
had you beamed in had they started to fail. You were never in any
danger."
Only a Vulcan could have put it that way! Seems the
General isn't the only one with a dangerous sense of humour round
here.
Still, the General was in happy mood when I saw him a
couple of weeks later. It seems he'd installed my modifications to the
inertial dampeners into his brig, which had done wonders for crew
discipline, and saved him a lot of time when trying to interrogate a
Vorta he'd captured...!
Lt j.g. John Borda
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A BRIEF HISTORY OF
STARSHIP DESIGN
Between the
famous "Phoenix" flight, and the development of the "Constellation"
class starships, such as the Enterprise, a great deal of development
went on to find the best suited ship designs for faster-than-light
(warp-speed) travel. The Phoenix only proved that it was possible,
creating practical interstellar ships based around Cochrane's engine
design was not always straightforward. The "Armstrong" class ships were
the first attempt. This was basically a doughnut-shaped orbital
platform, which rotated to generate a centrifugal force to mimic
gravity, attached to an engine section. However, this did not prove to
be successful - the pylons holding the warp nacelles had to be very long
to generate a warp field around the "doughnut" section, creating huge
stresses in the pylons. The doughnut section also suffered great stress,
and, in one tragic case, sheared completely, severing all four pylons
behind it. The crew did not survive.
Armstrong
class prototype starship
A second
design using much the same components, the "Aldrin" class, had the
doughnut mounted on a huge bearing on top of a central hull, on which
only two warp nacelles needed to be mounted to generate the required
warp field. However, the "doughnut" was filled in to create a stronger
"saucer" section, which also gave more room in lower-g sections for
storage. The bridge was central, at the top, and was zero- gravity,
necessary to avoid crew disorientation due to the turning of the saucer.
The central hull could also be used for cargo storage and housed the
antimatter reactor and a shuttlebay. This design proved stable at warp
speeds, the two nacelles being a more economical design, and easier to
balance, than four. This type of ship became the basis for
"Constellation" class starships. They were the workhorses of early
Earth-Vulcan trade, which formed the basis of the United Federation of
Planets.
Aldrin class
starship
"Constellation" class starships, which
incorporated artificial gravity, inertial dampeners (which allowed much
faster acceleration to warp speeds), and (for that era) a fearsome
weapons system, later took on the role of exploration and
defence.
Lt. (jg)
John Borda - Science Officer, Starbase 410.
STARBASE 410 - Science
and Engineering
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JEANETTES
ENCOUNTER!
Well, I
had a great time at the wedding/reception despite being unable to drink
due to having to drive home; I even resisted the pressure to have some
Romulan Ale.
We left
around 19.00 hrs and due to a combination of tiredness, (late night
previously and early morning) night driving unfamiliarity of
surroundings and Ke'reth chatting away in my left ear: I drove over the
white lines (kerb-side) 3 times before reaching the A14.
Now, I
am well known for my tendency to be a bit of a lead foot, having already
acquired 3 endorsements for speeding in the past 13 years. But this time
time, due to above factors, I stayed within the speed limit. So you can
imagine my consternation, when I left the A14 and was just approaching
Cramphorns Garden Centre, to look in my rear view mirror and see
flashing blue lights! Now these weren't blue lights on a patrol car,
they were the lights on a sneaky unmarked car!
I
pulled over, praying that ther would drive past, but no such luck. Out
of the car got out this very young police officer. He approached my car
and asked me to pull in at the garden centre. He came over asked me
where we had been and when was the last time I had had a drink. I told
him it had been at least 18 hours, but I was willing to take the
breathalyser test if he wanted me to. He said yes they did but
unfortunately they didn't have one with them, so would I mind waiting
for a few minutes, while they got a patrol car to bring one
out.
I asked
them, "would it involve getting out of the car?" and he said "yes".
Ke'reth said that I was afraid that would be the answer, as I was in a
very short Star Trek outfit! The officer looked closer in the car to se
a Klingon Ambassador in the front seat and a Starfleet Officer in the
back. He found it difficult to suppress a smile when we told him that we
had been to a Klingon Wedding.
He went
back to his car and returned minutes later and asked for my name and
address. When I had given them to him, he asked had I moved recently? I
said yes. He then informed me that I had neglected to change the address
on my registration document, which in itself is an offence. It was at
this point, that I started to get a little nervous. But it was nothing
compared with how I felt when Ke'reth said it was just as well that he
wasn't carrying his ceremonial sword with him, as it was an illegal
weapon! (I could feel the rope getting tighter).
By now
the patrol car had turned up and this time it was 2 very young female
officers. It was now time to get out of the car and despite me asking
them not to laugh, they had rather large smiles on their faces. So there
I was, in Bury on a Saturday evening with a lot of traffic whizzing
past, stood in a very short Starfleet Uniform, blowing into a machine.
As I knew it would, it registered as a pass and the nice young officer
let me go and his parting words were "Let the force be with you". Why
does everyone think Star Wars and Trek are the same thing?
So I
got into my car, feeling very relieved and just a little shaken. But we
had a good laugh about it and I'm so relieved I stuck to my principals
of not drinking and driving. And Ke'reth, don't you ever try to get in
my car with your ceremonial sword!
Jeanette Warran
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FROM THE DESK OF THE
KLINGON AMBASSADOR
nuqneH
(Greetings), from the Empire.
As I write this,
the Klingon wedding we had here on the station, is still fresh in my
mind. Even though it was more than two weeks ago, I hear that they're
still finding little bits of confetti in the main hall. I raise my glass
to the happy couple and wish them Qapla'....
As this log is
being written to be distributed as part of the Starfleet News Service.
I'd like to say a "Big Hi!" to the galant crew of the USS Lutonia, who
sent a number of their officers and crew to the wedding.
A while back, a
number of noble warriors asked to be listed as Official Embassy
Personnel. I printed up some forms and handed them around but nver
got them returned. So I am requesting the completion and return of these
forms from those who have had them. Those who either need a new form or
a replacement form, should make time to come and see me at the next
meeting. I'll have some blank forms on me and will be availableto help
with the completion of such forms. Once I have the embassy personnel
listed, I'll be able to finally register the Embassy with a group
calling itself "Homeworld". This group is attempting to register all
Klingon groups and organisations existing outside the Empire.
There are
currently four Klingon vessels docked at the station, so I've been kept
busy with officer appraisals, promotions etc.... The four vessels
are:
The Vor'cha Class
- Conqueror's Fist (ghop chargh)
The K't'inga Class - Fireblade (qul
'etlh)
The K'vort Class - No Surrender (jeghbe')
The B'rel Class -
Little Killer (loQ HoHwl')
To enable some of
the Federation personnel reading this to understand some basic Klingon.
I have created some Klingo language lessons.....
We'll start with
numbers:-
| ONE |
: |
wa' |
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SIX |
: |
jav |
| TWO |
: |
cha' |
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SEVEN |
: |
Soch |
| THREE |
: |
wej |
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EIGHT |
: |
chorgh |
| FOUR |
: |
loS |
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NINE |
: |
Hut |
| FIVE |
: |
vagh |
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TEN |
: |
Wa'maH |
Please note that
"Ten" in Klingon, is made up of two words, "wa' " (one) and a new word
"maH" which means Ten. So "wa'maH" literally means One x Ten. This works
all the way upt ot Ninety, which is "Hut'maH". So Seventy Three would
written as "Soch'maH wej" and Ninety Nine would be "Hut'maH Hut". For
One Hundred, there is a new word "vatlh" so One Hundred is written as
"wa'vatlh" (vatlh is often pronounced as -
vak).
You should now
be able to count from One to One Hundred, may be even
further!
A level one
Klingon Language certificate will be given to anyone who can count to
ten in Klingon (from memory) while standing before me.
It has been an
honour to instruct you....... Qapla'
(success!)
Ke'reth
zantai Makura
Ambassador - Klingon Embassy
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EPISODE REVIEW
BY
JEANETTE WARRAN
I'm a member of
the Kate Mulgrew fan Club and this is a review I did for the Newsletter.
WARNING, it is a Season Four episode and I'm not sure if it has been
aired on BBC 2, so if you haven't seen it yet, don't read any
further.
WAKING MOMENTS
I liked
this episode, and as I hadn't read any spoilers, I didn't know that the
opening scenes were actually dreams. I found it quite ironic that
Janeway's dream took the form of her deepest fear, that she wouldn't get
her crew home. In fact, it was only boring Harry who had a dream that
wasn't about fear or dislike (mind you, that depends on how you feel
about being seduced by Seven!). I thought it was amusing that Neelix
dreamt about being boiled in a pot of Leola Root stew.
Both
Janeway and Chakotay had a very lax attitude regarding the lateness of
Tom and Harry on the Bridge, if you compare this reaction to how
Chakotay was with Tom during the story arc way back in the second
season. Chakotay said he'd decided to ive them an extra five minutes but
would call them if she wanted and all she said was "That's all right,
I'm a little late myself" even though she had just come from the
direction of her ready room. I found it difficult to believe that all
she did was nod her head when Tom finally arrived with a cup of coffee
in his hand.
There
were some good moments between Tuvok and Janeway (I like this
relationship and wish they would explore it more). The scen in the turbo
lift was amusing, where Janeway asked Tuvok what his dream was about,
then his discomfort at admitting he was in the turbo lift undressed and
Janeway trying to suppress her laughter. Ten we had the other end of the
scale with Tuvok showing his concern after she chose to go back into
engineering when a warp core breech was imminent.
I found
it an interesting concept that a species that is vulnerable to most life
forms finds a way to fight back when their opponents are at their
weakest. But if, as Tuvok said, they entered their dreams to learn about
them and discover their weaknesses, surely they would have learned, that
basically they had nothing to fear from Voyager's crew, and why not just
communicate with the crew or let them pass through their space. I must
confess though, I found the scene where Chakotay beamed down to the
planet with all the aliens quite creepy and could understand their fear
of "waking species".
Just a
couple of 'nit picks': Chakotay said he would use a picture of the moon
as a visual cue so he would know he was still dreaming, and would be
able to wake himself from his lucid dream. So why didn't he see the
picture of the moon until he was in the cargo bay with the rest of the
crew, instead of on the big screen, when the aliens made contact?
Because later in the episode, he did see the moon on the big
screen.
And how
did B'Elanna know about the aliens? In the soppy scene between her and
Tom, that we were forced to endure, she said she had just finished the
night shift. Yet, in a meeting that Janeway called about 1.5 hours
later, B'Elanna said they had all dreamed about the same
alien.
But,
being a die-hard J/C'er, I liked the J/C scene in sick bay, where
Janeway rests her hand on Chakotay's shoulder and gives him one of those
looks. It was reminiscent of the scene at the end of the first season
episode "Cathexis". And I just love to see her with a phaser in hand and
that kick-ass look on her face.
Nit
picking aside, I thought it was a good solid episode. It was nice to see
Chakotay save the ship for a change and, not being a big 7 of 9 fan, it
was good not to have here in almost every scene.
Jeanette Warran
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LAST BUT NOT LEAST!
Another
Assistant Deputy Sub-Editor Type person of this Fanzine
Presentation:
Yes,
I'm back! And as you can see, I found Ann's top secret location of where
she photocopies this magazine and I thought I would help her out (it
didn't work..... sorry!).
In this
edition I am going to discuss on how so many "MAD" people can run a
ship, and Ann's brilliant and superb idea for Children in Need..... oh!
That's "MAD" too! Which is very good!
Firstly, the away mission to the Mental Institute of Luton, also
known as USS Lutonia. If they were not mad, they were not drinking!
Apart from their fascinations with Bob the "Carnival Mascot" (it's a
long story) it was a brilliant night..... Ann said to tell you it was
well worth it! I lost at the quiz (as normal)...... guess who won.....
erm.... OK, it was Ke'reths team. And the gentle giant TRIED to be
quiet! (Along story also!). Oh... They did come to the wedding of the
century two weeks ago. If you didn't spot them (which was very hard not
to) they were the ones who were "totally out of it" on the Romulan Ale
that they brought! Anyway.... it was a great night and I am looking
forward to going there again. I would like to thank the Admiral for
having us and all his crew (if you can call them that!). Also I would
like to thank our own Fleet Captain herself for taking us there in her
very own shuttle (mainly held together by drawing pins - long
story).
Oh.....
another thing, if anyone is wondering about all these brackets (like I
am) I'd better tell you. Everything in the brackets are things that
should be (EDITED OUT!). (Moving on swiftly before Mark notices.....).
Children in Need is run by the BBC to raise money for children in
need. And our gorgeous (but MAD!!!) leader (that's Ann), has had one of
her HER ideas! Be careful.... it's good.....(ish!). We are going to
sleep, eat and live together in a shop for 48 hours.... (as long as we
are away from Laura's feet!). We could be situated either in Newmarket
or Bury but, on the Saturday we are going to scare people, sorry, Laura
and Laura are going to scare people into giving up their loose change
around the town. And if Laura-Jean has anything to do with it, there
will be a lot of change!
Anyway
that's my bit finished! Hope to see you soon in the next edition (if
Laura and Laura haven't seen me first!)
SEE YA
............. BYE
Capt.
Leigh Brown - USS Rage!
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