General Orders Summer 2007

Volume 2, Issue 2

The newsletter of the ISS MacArthur

Summer 2007

Warp Speed, Mr. Takei George Takei doesn't sit still for long, and with the number of projects the actor is juggling, one gets the feeling he might move on to the next one at any moment.

There's probably a "Star Trek" joke in there somewhere.

Something about warp factors or beamings-up. There's no time to find it, though.

In New Orleans recently to film the teen comedy "American Summer," the actor best known as Sulu on the sci-fi series "Star Trek" was ticking off his schedule from memory during a lull on the set. After "American Summer," he was bound for Texas for a speaking engagement, then on to New York for one of his regular weeklong appearances on Howard Stern's satellite radio show.

"And then the second season of 'Heroes' starts," he said. "I have a few 'Star Trek' conventions on the agenda as well."

Takei is 70 years old, but he shows no signs of slowing down. Retirement? I'm sorry, Mr. Takei is too busy to take your call just now. Please try again later.

"I'm one of those people who thrives on working," he said. "I really enjoy it. I get a visceral joy from work. And I'm very blessed in that respect."

Chatting between takes during location shooting at Wolfe's in the Warehouse, a restaurant in the Marriott Hotel on Convention Center Boulevard, Takei was wearing a tuxedo -- his role in "American Summer" is that of a "snooty maitre d' " hired to work at a wild bordello party -- though he had temporarily traded the uncomfortable tux shoes for a pair of slippers. He's been doing this long enough to know there's no point in getting ready for the camera until the camera is ready for him.

The Shakespearean-trained Takei's acting credits stretch to the 1950s, and he's been fortunate to play one iconic character (Sulu) with the possibility of playing another (Kaito Nakamura in the NBC hit "Heroes").

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His part in "American Summer" -- a wild teen romp produced in part by "American Pie" producer Warren Zide -- is "a bit of a stretch for me," said Takei, who speaks in a distinct, resonant tone with diction so precise it makes Frasier Crane sound as if he's from the Irish Channel.

It's not that Takei has an aversion to comedy. Anybody who's heard him on the Stern show, or seen him on last year's "Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner," knows he has a well-developed sense of humor, and that he can play blue with the best of them. And then you hear him laugh -- he is prone to throw his head back and let fly with an old-fashioned guffaw -- and it's easy to tell he is not someone in danger of taking himself too seriously.

Casting directors are another matter. In his work on "Star Trek" and "Heroes" -- two of his best-known roles -- he is stoic and sober.

"My ('Heroes') character is very contained," he said. "I suggest certain qualities in the eye, or a lifted eyebrow." So playing the gatekeeper at a whorehouse? Suffice it to say many audiences haven't seen that side of him before.

"But, you know, that's what being an actor is. . . . You know the symbol of drama: You have the mask of tragedy and the mask of comedy, the tragic mask and the laughing mask. And I've been blessed to play both masks in my career."

That doesn't mean there haven't been lulls. In addition to playing such juicy characters as Sulu and Mr. Nakamura, Takei has played his fair share of bit parts identified in the credits only as "Police Captain" or "Narrator" or "Diamond Jeweler."

His longevity, he said, is the result of "a combination of preparation and opportunity. Some people are prepared and they never get the opportunity. Some people get the opportunity and they're not prepared, and they're flashes-in-the-pan.

"I used to be a Boy Scout," he added after a pause, then loosened one of those guffaws.

And perhaps he has an ability to check his ego when needed. There's no other way to explain the willingness of a Japanese-American with Takei's acting credits to agree to audition for the role of a Japanese character.

That's exactly what happened with "Heroes."

"They weren't sure of my Japanese -- you know all my dialogue is in Japanese," he said. "Actors will lie, and once you get cast, then they discover that, 'Oh, they've memorized the dialogue but they don't know what it means.' So they wanted to make sure that I genuinely speak Japanese with fluency.

"I knew some Japanese poetry, so I did it -- and they believed."

Sword fighting was a different story. Late in the recently concluded first season of "Heroes," Takei taught his onscreen son -- Hiro Nakamura, played by the engaging Masi Oka -- to wield a samurai sword. The problem: Takei wasn't as versed in swordplay as he was in speaking Japanese.

"I did some fencing in 'Star Trek' 40 years ago," he said. "But fencing and Japanese sword fighting are two different things."

But he picked it up, thanks to some coaching, and he's clearly proud of the outcome.

"I think I've got some mileage on the old machine," he said. "You don't get a 40-year-old car to go the same rate it went 40 years ago."

Not that you can tell by his datebook.

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"I just keep on 'Trekking,' " Takei said. Then that laugh.

NEW ORLEANS, BY GEORGE Technically, George Takei was in New Orleans for work, on the comedy film "American Summer." But with two weeks in town, and only a cameo role to shoot, he spent a lot of time playing tourist -- and loving every minute of it.

Here are some of his impressions: On the French Quarter "I'm a historical preservationist, and I think that the French Quarter is one of the treasures of this country. I'm a theater-goer as well, and I went to Le Petit Theatre right there in Jackson Square and I was so impressed by the sensitive and stylish restoration of that theater. It is gorgeous. This (city) is one of our great treasures, and Le Petit Theatre is one of the jewels of the French Quarter."

On the food "Eating, oh my goodness. My driver insisted, demanded, that I go to Restaurant August, and it was superb. And I had a first-time experience: I had goat for the first time, and it was incredible."

On the National World War II Museum (Takei has a special interest in the museum: As a child he was held in a Japanese-American internment camp in Arkansas.) "I told them there is a very clear and obvious gap at that museum: The all-Japanese-American 442nd Regimental Combat Team, whose own families were incarcerated behind the barbed-wire fences of U.S. internment camps. . . . They were fighting for more than Mom's apple pie. They were fighting to get Mom, Dad and the wife and children and brothers and sisters out from behind those barbed-wire fences."

On his weakness for beignets "I did the classic tourist thing: I went to CafĂŠ du Monde, and I had black coffee and you-know-what. Oh, that mountain, that snowdrift of powdered sugar. Oh I felt very guilty."

On post-Katrina New Orleans "I've been here about three or four times, but before Katrina. This is my first time since Katrina, and I was surprised because on the news you see all those wrenching pictures of the 9th Ward, and I expected to see some of the evidence of the wear and tear of Katrina in the French Quarter as well. But it's just beautiful."

From the Center Seat...

By Kirylyn Dreamer -- Greetings from the Captain. Here's what's been going on this quarter!

The command staff of the Mac have been working behind the scenes to make your experience onboard this ship more enjoyable. We have ironed out a Standard Operating Procedure, which can be found at: http://sop.issmacarthur.com We've also been working on a crew roster/database, where we can keep track of everyone, including associate members. This will help us keep better track of your involvement and give you your earned promotions.

That brings me to activity, we're always looking for new ways to help keep the MacArthur active. If you have any ideas then please submit them to either the XO, myself, or Dave as the Marine OIC. We also want you to become

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more active, log on to IRC chats, it doesn't have to be on our "meeting" night, it can be anytime, take some Academy courses, help us stay certified in VRCP, and certify more BOS's in MURP, post to the list or the website with interesting Trek/Sci-fi news, let us know what you are doing and would like to do. We're looking for active members to head up the ships departments.

I would like to take this time to recognize a few new members to the MacArthur: Jamie Delantonas - as an associate member Ryan Keaton - as an associate member Jason Taylor - as an active member Greg Trotter - as an associate member

Promotions This Quarter SCC: 53469 Jonathan Madon PROMOTED TO Major on 05/28/2007 SCC: 64101 Ben Cameron PROMOTED TO Lieutenant JG on 05/28/2007 SCC: 62171 Michele Hart PROMOTED TO Major on 04/16/2007

Academy Completions This Quarter Abe Smith : Aerospace AE-10 04/09/2007

PASS

IOAS - College of Borg Technology (IOAS:COBT) COBT 101 05/11/2007 HONORS COBT 201 05/26/2007 HONORS IOAS - College of XenoAnthropology (IOAS:COXA) AQ 101 - Alpha Quadrant Overview 05/11/2007 DISTINCTION IOFA - College of Down Under SAU 101 - Flags of Australia 05/04/2007

HONORS

IOSF - College of Federation Studies (IOSF:COFS) HOFL 102 - Federation Law 2 05/24/2007 HONORS IOSF - College of Sci-Fi Cinema (IOSF:CSFC) HHG 101: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 05/28/2007

HONORS

IOSF - College of Treknology (IOSF:COT) TNG-102 - Main Characters 05/27/2007 DISTINCTION TNG-104 - Technology 05/27/2007 DISTINCTION TNG-105 - Trivia 05/27/2007 HONORS IOTA - College of Economics (IOTA: COEC) ST 104 - Let's Make a Deal 05/17/2007 DISTINCTION

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ST 201 - Economic Potpourri

05/27/2007

DISTINCTION

IOTA - College of Genealogy (IOTA:COG) IOTA:COG-101 - Level 1 05/11/2007 PASS IOTA - College of Law (IOTA:LAW) A1 05/30/2007 DISTINCTION Jonathan Madon : IOMS - College of Security (IOMS:COS) IOMS:COS-101 TOS Rank Recognition 05/22/2007 DISTINCTION IOMS:COS-103 Early Law Enforcement History 05/24/2007 HONORS Darrell Morrison : Professional Development PD-10 05/19/2007 PASS Aaron Clark : Infantry IN-20 05/25/2007

HONORS

IOMS - College of Security (IOMS:COS) IOMS:COS-102 Basic Security Officers Course 05/25/2007 DISTINCTION IOMS:COS-101 TOS Rank Recognition 05/25/2007 DISTINCTION Jason Taylor: IOLS - Officer's Training School IOLS:OTS OTS 04/30/2007 PASS

Podcast? We have the technology!

By Dave Lowe -- I have been playing with software to make a podcast. I have downloaded Audacity, bought a new microphone, and I have successfully created a test podcast. We just need some formating issues and style and content questions settled before we can begin producing a Starship MacArthur Podcast. What will we need from members? Content, of course! You may record your segments at home on your own PC and email them for inclusion in the final podcast. Just use the "Sound Recorder" in Windows and record your pieces and send it as a .WAV file to me and we'll edit it and get it into the podcast.

Also, I am working on using Skype to give us a little interaction, such as interviews and co-hosts, etc. I am producing the "bumper" music that we will use for the beginning and ending of the podcast, plus other effects and specialty music.

So far, we are looking at producing the podcast on a monthly schedule, but that could change. It all depends on participation by the members. In other words, it's all up to you!

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Star Trek's 'Q' talks up technology The actor who played Q on three different Star Trek series says today's technology, whether it's cell phones or Second Life, is feeding off the fictional technology dreamed up by science fiction writers years ago.

John de Lancie, who played an onmipotent being in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager, gave the keynote address at the InfoSec World Conference in Orlando in March 2007.

Science fiction writers and today's high-tech innovators have some key common traits: curiosity and a sense of exploration, he said in an interview. And de Lancie said real-life developers can use sci-fi's inspiration to help them build technologies that will make people healthier and make their lives easier and more productive.

"Science fiction is a place where people can talk about things," said de Lancie, who added that he's been a Mac owner since 1986. If f there was a fire in his house, he said the first thing he'd save is his Apple laptop.

"Writers sit down and, say, come up with a way to get from one place to another. What tool is it that they need? And then they invent a tool that does not yet live in the physical world. Then people who work in the physical world can say, 'That's a great idea and we know how to do that.' " A lot of the kids who grew up watching science fiction movies and television series, like Star Trek, went on to become today's IT professionals, de Lancie noted. He said he was hooked when he first read Jules Verne's Mysterious Island. As a child with dyslexia, he said he didn't learn to read until he was about 12 and the book was an opening for him into the world of reading -- and also into the world of science fiction.

"I began reading more books and they all seemed to be the same sort of guys," he said. "They knew things and they knew how to use things and they made things better for themselves." That, he added, sounds an awful lot like high-tech professionals.

"Technologists have the tools to make it happen," said the man who doesn't think he'll live long enough to really see artificial intelligence and robots take off. "What's amazing is they are the ones who can put this all together. That's science fiction becoming science fact. It invites people to think outside the box and be bold and fearless and be explorers and get to the other side. What's exciting is the desire to explore."

Star Trek's cult hero William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk in the first series and several movies, has been outspoken in his belief that Star Trek exerted a strong influence on technology over the past 35 years. He talks about Star Trek's communicators being the ancestor of the flip cell phone, for instance. He even wrote a book, I'm Working on That: A Trek From Science Fiction To Science Fact."

De Lancie said the Second Life virtual world phenomenon looks an awful lot like the Enterprise's holodeck, where crew members could enter and actively participate with other people and creatures in fanciful virtual worlds.

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Similarly, Second Life is an open-ended 3-D virtual world that provides an online society where users can create and sell things, socialize, and participate in group activities.

While de Lancie said Second Life is an interesting development, he's far more excited about technology that will make people healthier or make their lives better. "What interests me is less of its gaming capabilities and more that they are using a version of that technology to get people to, say, relax when they're afraid to fly," he added.

"They're using it in psychiatric hospitals to create an environment you're most fearful of in a safe and controlled away. That's where I go, 'Oh, that's just fantastic.' " What de Lancie really wants, though, is for technologists to speed up their work on voice recognition, so he doesn't have to flip through channels to find his favorite TV show.

"It will truly free us up. It will be the next layer that will just make things easier," he said. "I wouldn't have to look at all the damn buttons when I change the channel on my television. I could sit down with a drink and say, 'Show me the last episode of Rome,' and it would just do it, instead of me screwing around trying to figure it out.

"I don't see any advantage of being good at dealing with the remote. Or I could get into a car and say, 'Take me to Paramount.' There is some fun in driving, but driving in traffic is not fun. That would be helpful."

The one tool or gadget that the Star Trek characters used that would provide the greatest benefit in the real world, de Lancie said, is the hand-held device that scanned people's bodies and quickly diagnosed what was wrong with them.

"It was right each time," he said. "That would be great, obviously. Of course, I'd also like to beam back and forth so I could skip L.A. traffic."

But he was quick to add that not everything about Star Trek's fictional advances were a real plus. "I have to say, though, that I never saw them have a really good meal," he said laughing.

"And I hated the colors. It all looked like a Holiday Inn. It looked like everyone was living in a hotel somewhere eating bad hotel food. There are a lot of things that are really wonderful the way we have them and that don't need to be changed." Courtesy of iT News

Marine Unit Report

By Dave Lowe -- The unit is 13 strong, 9 regulars and 4 reserves. For a Marine unit, this is huge.

Our unit is a "Combined Arms" unit with two primary Branches of Service (BOS). We are Aerospace (fighter jocks) and Infantry (ground pounders). We have certified in MURP for Aeorospace (AE) one of our primary BOS. Now all we need is Infantry to complete the unit requirement.We are also only missing 1 diploma in each of the following to be certified in these programs: Aerospace Medicine (MD-25), Special Operations (SO-30), Support (SU-30). The various branches we can certify in are Aerospace (AE), Aerospace Medical (AEMD), Armor (AR), Combat Engineering (CE), Infantry (IN), Leadership (LD), Medical (MD ), Mecha (ME), Maritime Operations (MO), Non Commissioned Officer Leadership (NCO), Professional Development (PD), Special Operations (SO), and Support (SU).

If anyone is interested in transferring to the Marines, either regular or reserve, please let me know. We are always looking for a few good men (or women) to serve.

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Walter Koenig on Chekov and Star Trek XI

From Trekdom: Walter Koenig was kind enough to answer our questions regarding the character of Chekov and Star Trek XI. Trekdom: In 1967, Gene Roddenberry told the L.A. Times that he added the character of Chekov because a Pravda writer criticized the show for ignoring the Soviet Union’s role in the space race. Yet, as many fans know, Roddenberry and others had ulterior motives, such as wanting a “Davy Jones” that appealed to young viewers. Do you believe that the writers treated the character as a serious representation of future Soviet/U.S. cooperation in space? Or, would you say that they focused more on the “Davy Jones” aspect?

Walter Koenig: “It was a sensitive time in the socio-political landscape when Star Trek introduced a Russian character. From the first, the intention was to acknowledge the Soviet exploration of space and to send a non provocative message that if the world of Star Trek was going to embrace all of mankind then certainly a Russian in its midst was appropriate to that message. However, it is also true to an even greater extent that the show wished to expand its demographic. The eight to twelve year old group might not be impressed with an Earth United but they might be drawn to a character that superficially resembled one of its pop “faves”. If you needed more proof, Gene Roddenberry was quoted as saying after the casting session that “Koenig’s accent sucks but I think the little girls will like him.”

Trekdom: Many scholars have criticized the character of Chekov as a “Russian buffoon,” arguing that, instead of depicting a future of international cooperation, Star Trek portrayed a U.S. victory in the Cold War by mocking Russian achievements (Chekov always claiming that X or Y was a “Russian Inwention”). Often, these writers go on to criticize Star Trek as an imperialistic and militaristic vision of the future. How would you respond to those arguments?

Walter Koenig: “It sounds like the ravings of Don Quixote wanna-bes. I think its preposterous to give so much significance to a television show whose principal objective was to entertain and build a following that would keep it on the air. To look for Machiavellian constructions is to joust at windmills.”

Trekdom: Star Trek XI will be a “re-imagining” of the Star Trek franchise, and executive producer/director J.J. Abrams has stated that character of Captain Kirk will appear in the film (played by a younger actor). If the writers recast and re-imagine the character of Chekov, what would you like to see, and what advice would you have for the actor?

Walter Koenig: “I’d tell him to stay out of shadows and insist on dialogue that does more than simply advance the plot.”

Trekdom: Are you optimistic about the future of Star Trek?

Walter Koenig: “I no longer speculate on the future of Star Trek. I obviously have no sense of how many lives it has. I have sent funeral wreaths on at least four separate occasions believing that a wooden stake had been driven through its heart and its internment was eternal. And still it rises, a bit paler perhaps over four decades but with no

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less a thirst. (I’m really straining for a metaphor here as if you didn’t know) For what it’s worth, if I knew of a way of collecting I’d wager substantial rubles that, in one form or another, it will definitely outlive me.”

David Gerrold Remembers Star Trek The Animated Series Hugo and Nebula Award winning author David Gerrold has never forgotten his roots in the Star Trek universe, with his latest book about the series published last year. He looks back at his various contributions to the series with Star Trek Magazine.

Here are few excerpts of the article.

David Gerrold becomes quite, er, animated when talking about Star Trek: The Animated Series. The respected sci-fi novelist actually kicked off his career by penning arguably the single most popular episode ever of the original Star Trek, namely The Trouble with Tribbles, and contributing the story for another hour, The Cloud Minders. And when ST:TAS blinked to life in 1973, it took nothing more than a phone call from D.C. Fontana – a veteran writer of the original series and both story editor and associate producer of The Animated Series – for Gerrold to beam aboard that project.

“By then, we had all been doing all the different Star Trek conventions and we all knew each other fairly well,” Gerrold remembers. “I really got to know Dorothy Fontana very well because of conventions we’d done in Los Angeles and in New York. We really hit off and had enormous respect for each other's storytelling abilities, and so even though I hadn’t worked that closely with her on the original Trek we had been on a lot of panels together at the conventions. I always made sure to defer to her expertise because nobody knew more about StarTrek than Dorothy.

But I had written the book about Star Trek [The World of Star Trek], so when we were on a panel, if somebody asked a question about the book, she’d say, ‘Go with David’s book,’ which at that time everybody felt was – and still do feel is – a fairly accurate and very enthusiastic account of Trek."

“So when they announced they were going to do a Star Trek animated show and they were going to bring in all the original writers I got a phone call from Dorothy. ‘So, are you going to do me a Tribble episode?’ I said, ‘Of course,’ and that was it. There was almost nothing to it. It was like a foregone conclusion that was going to happen. Gene [Roddenberry] and I had talked about a Tribble episode for third season Trek, but it didn’t happen, of course, because of Fred Freiberger. But Dorothy knew I wanted to do another Tribbles show, so when she started buying she called me, and that was it.”

Cut to 2007. ST:TAS is out on DVD from Paramount Home Entertainment. Gerrold’s episode, More Troubles, More Tribbles, is on it, and a standout. Even better, the DVD features several commentary tracks, including two by Gerrold, one for More Troubles, More Tribbles, and one for Bem, the other Trek cartoon he scripted during the show’s season and a half on the air. “I thought the episode held up pretty good,” Gerrold says of More Tribbles. “I’ll tell you this: one of the things I felt about the animated Tribbles episode was that I’d never been totally happy with the story structure because it was like ‘I gotta shoehorn Cyrano Jones and the Klingons and Tribbles and the this and the that back into proximity.’ So the plot always felt contrived to me. But I sat down to watch it with this perspective of time and distance, and I actually enjoyed it. There were some funny lines and some funny gags. So I had a good time with it."

Read the full in-depth interview only in issue #132 of Star Trek Magazine.

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Trek XI Rumor Mill More rumors regarding the newest Star Trek film are buzzing around the web: • • • • •

Jennifer Garner to play Spock's love interest?

Matt Damon, Adrien Brody, Gary Sinise slated to play Kirk, Spock, and McCoy George Takei suggests New Voyages Sulu for the part in the movie IGN rumors of Damon, Brody, Sinise are bogus.

Shatner and Nimoy would like parts in the film, Nimoy says "if meaningful"

Fontana Is Happy To Keep On Trekkin' From Trek Today "It was great to return to the original series universe and deal with those characters again," D.C. Fontana said of her work on the fan series Star Trek: New Voyages, for which she wrote the screenplay for "To Serve All My Days", an episode featuring Walter Koenig reprising the role of Chekov.

"The idea behind 'New Voyages' is that it’s set after the end of the original series' third season – they want to complete the five year mission – so it was a lot of fun to pick up from where we left off," Fontana told the UK's Star Trek Magazine (via Sci Fi Pulse). "It was a bit like getting into a time machine and travelling back to 1969! But the project also presented some interesting new challenges, since we had to find ways to do Star Trek within this medium that were affordable and still tell what I think is a great story."

Fontana wrote the original series scripts "The Enterprise Incident" and "Charlie X" and the animated series' "Yesteryear". She was invited by Star Trek: New Voyages to write a 40th anniversary episode in which Chekov prematurely ages due to a radiation burst, a follow-up of sorts to "The Deadly Years". Fontana noted, "The wonderful thing about returning to the original series is that there are always new aspects of those characters to explore...they were fresh and new when we made the original series and when I go back to them now, I still find freshness and great possibilities for storytelling and character growth."

It was recently announced that Fontana is writing for Bethesda Softworks' upcoming games. "I always seem to be involved with something that's related to Star Trek," she said. "It keeps coming back...Star Trek is the thing that stands out in most people’s minds." Asked why she thinks that is, Fontana explained, "The original series deals with themes and questions that continue to be relevant today and most of the stories we told were of an extremely high quality; they’re complex stories that have validity, a message and a lot of action, and are just well done...the love of the fans keeps the iterations and the original series coming back and back and back."

James Doohan Treks to Final Frontier The ashes of Star Trek actor James Doohan, who played engineer Scotty in the hit TV series, were blasted into space. Doohan, who died two years ago aged 85, requested for his ashes to be sent into space. The blast off from a site in New Mexico will see Doohan’s ashes enter the final frontier along with those of 200 other people, including the astronaut Gordon Cooper. Best known for his role in Star Trek, Doohan’s character of Montgomery Scott was originally conceived to be a minor, occasional character on the show but the Scottish engineer soon rose to the ranks of the show, leading alongside Captain Kirk as played by William Shatner.

Unfortunately, a few days after the launch, MSNBC reports the payload module containing the remains were lost in

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the New Mexico wilderness. Three weeks later, they found the payload. Organizers said the rocket and the individual capsules containing the ashes were in good condition and would be mounted on plaques and returned to the families.

Canadian-born Doohan played the starship Enterprise’s chief engineer Montgomery Scott in the original 1966-1969 “Star Trek” television series.

Houston-based Space Services Inc. Space Services Inc. charges $495 to send a portion of a person’s ashes into suborbital space and return it to Earth.

Hawking Defies Gravity For his trip to experience the effects of zero gravity, Stephen Hawking was placed on his back on the specially-padded floor of the airplane’s cabin. When the sweet spot of the parabola was reached, Hawking floated upward to the center of the cabin. The flight helped Hawking realize a lifelong ambition. “The zero-g part,” he said, “was wonderful.”

Zero Gravity Corporation, or ZERO-G, which specializes in flying planes through parabolas so that passengers can experience weightlessness, took the famous physicist, cosmologist, best-selling author and expert on gravity into the realm of zero gravity. The Zero-G Experience flight, sponsored by Space Florida and The Sharper Image, took off Thursday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Hawking, who has Lou Gehrig’s disease and can only speak via a machine, was quoted as being ecstatic. “It was amazing,” he said. “The zero-g part was wonderful. I could have gone on and on — space here I come!”

New Equipment for Fighter Squadron The fighter squadron on the MacArthur, designated VMFA 668, is getting new equipment. Well, at least in the imaginary world of the Marines. The squadron will be expanding from 16 to 24 craft. We will have 12 A-20 Strike Fighters, a warp capable craft with room for a crew of 4. We will also have 12 F-28 Valkyrie sublight fighters, these are two-seaters, a pilot and an ops/weapons specialist. These are not warp capable, yet they are more maneuverable than the A-20 and can fly circles around most fighters in a dogfight. Click on the links for more specifications on these craft, courtesy of our very own Akira Class Technical Manual.

Executive Decisions (Or, from the other seat, the smaller one, without the cup holder) By: Fleet Captain Abe Smith Executive Officer, ISS MACARTHUR It's that time again kids, time to elect a new Commander STARFLEET. June 1st marked the begining of the STARFLEET election season. This is how the process works: To be an official candidate for the CS position, a team has to receive 5 nominations throughout the fleet, however only CO's of chapters and RC's can nominate someone for the position. All candidates who receive 5 or more nominations are officially on the ballot, unless they turn down the nomination. Anyone can throw their hat in the ring for for the CS position, but only those that receive the nominations can be placed on the ballot.

As of this writing only three candidates have come forward announcing their interest in being on the ballot;

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Emmett Plant/Will Divine - Their platform and information can be found at http://www.starfleetreboot.com (yes this is our Emmett Plant) Joost Ueffing/Dixie Halber - Their platform and information can be found at http://www.votejoost.org Sal Lizard/Garrick Halverson - Their platform and information can be found at http://www.sfimembersmatter.org So, why is this important to you? As STARFLEET members you decide the future of this organization, if you don't like how it's being run now, then take action and choose a candidate that you believe has a better platform. Every STARFLEET member get's to vote in the election, so make your voice heard and return your ballot when the time comes. Now, what you can do in the meantime, pick a candidate and support them. We're a correspondance chapter, so I'm sure a lot of you have ties out to other ships in different places. Talk to these other ships and members and get them involved.

Now to bring it back to the MacArthur, you'll be seeing a couple things come up in the next couple of months. We are ironing out a standard promotion policy, this way you'll have the guidelines in your hands on how you can get to that next level. We're also going to be doing some tidying up of ship's positions. Don't get scared, this basicly means that if a position is open you'll know about it and it will go to an active member. If there is a position that is currently filled by a non-active member, we might swap up. The topic of a standardized MacArthur uniform keeps poping up, if you'd like any say in this, let us know.

Ongoing we have a couple of items: We're still doing the pop-top campaign for RMHC, if you have any tops you want to send in, let me know, we'll probably be doing it through the end of the year. We are still looking for people to contribute to the roleplay. If you don't know how to get started there are some wonderful tools listed on the website under RPG Resources. And always we are looking for articles and stories from you, for this newsletter and for the website. This club is what you make of it, if you want more out of it, then contribute.

From the Desk of the Chief of Operations By: Commander Bryan Bartlett Chief Operations Officer, ISS MACARTHUR Attention on deck!

Since this is the first "official" submission to this great newsletter, I feel I should spend the time to introduce myself, and how I came about to be on this wonderful ship we call the MacArthur.

My name is Bryan Bartlett, and I currently work as the Senior Repair Technician for Custom Computers in Columbia, South Carolina. My love for Star Trek stems from being seven years old, already star strucked, and having my first taste of the Trek universe delivered to my television on the back of the Enterprise-D. 20 years later, and I am still a die-hard Trek fan.

The circumstances of me being on this ship is a long one full of coincidence and being in the right place at the right time. I don't believe in coincidences.

My first expansion into the realm of Star Trek beyond being a movie watcher came in high school where I had began to do Dungeons and Dragons to pass the time. I liked it so much, I tried to find an online Star Trek rpg group that I could write for. I found Starbase Sigma, my first encounter with a Play by Email RPG. I played on their system for a few years, until my army life took a turn for the busier and I was unable to participate.

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Six years of the Army, and I came back to find that Sigma was no more.

I sent out my feelers, and found a few old Sigma players that said a few went to do PBEM with ASR (alt-starfleet-rpg). I joined, and was assigned to a ship called the USS MACRONIN. I read back in the archives, and enjoyed it so much, but found something interesting. The name of the ship had changed, when the captain left. Its name... was the USS MACARTHUR. A few quick google checks, and I had Dave Lowe's email address. Three emails later, and I was officially inducted into the ISS MACARTHUR's crew as an Associate member. I then upgraded my membership to bring in me, my roommate, my fiance, and her two kids onto the MACARTHUR as paying SFI members at a time where we were in danger of losing our chapter status.

The rest, my friends, is history, and look where we are now.

I have been asked before, what does a Chief of Operations DO on the ship? The official answer, is of coarse, an additional chain in the leadership if the CO and XO are unable to perform their duties. But I tend to be the jack of all trades, helping out wherever is needed, and floating between them as interest takes me. A quick look at my back-burner makes me wonder how my house hasn't burnt down yet. Every issue of General Orders, I will outline my various projects, and their status, to keep you all informed. If you see anything you would like to bring of the back-burner, let me know and I will do my best to get it done.

Current Project: Black Nova Traders BlackNova Traders is a web turn-based game reminiscent of the old Tradewars game of yore. We have our own server, where I have been working hard at adding mods to enhance the experience. Currently, I have modified the graphics to give more variety to the game. We unfortunately had to ban people from Estonia for bad sportsmanship. This however, should not keep you from having a good time.

Back-burner Projects: • Quartermaster: We are still looking for uniform ideas so we can supply you with at least the information on how to build a MacArthur sanctioned uniform. • Star Trek: MacArthur: I offer no excuses for this one :P I will get Act II compiled ASAP

A Vulcan welcome in Klingon BILL GRAVELAND Canadian Press May 16, 2007 VULCAN, AB. -- You know they're out there - in deepest Africa, frigid Siberia and likely right next door. You may even be one yourself - a Trekkie.

And if the name of your town happens to be Vulcan, the word alone is enough to light up the eyes of these fans of the long-running TV and movie franchise Star Trek. It's also an opportunity to bring in welcome tourism dollars.

The town of Vulcan, population 1,762, takes about an hour to reach by car southeast of Calgary. A roadside marker proudly proclaims the area as "Wheat Country," and other than golden fields of grain and a smattering of cows, there is little here that makes the community stand out from dozens of similar towns anywhere on the Prairies.

But what Vulcan has is a name, and from that name has stemmed a burgeoning tourism trade that focuses not on the Roman god of fire but on the birthplace of Star Trek's beloved Mr. Spock.

In the early 1990s, Vulcan decided to boost tourism and take on the more modern reference to the town's name.

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In 1995, it unveiled its own Star Ship FX6-1995-A to welcome visitors as they enter the town. Its plaque includes greetings written in English, Vulcan and Klingon. Another sign welcomes visitors to Vulcan with the motto "Live long and prosper."

Three years later, the Vulcan Tourism Trek Station was opened. The community also hosts an annual Vul-con Convention. And in the prairie tradition of rodeos and stampedes, the town also hosts an annual Spock Days Rodeo.

A space-themed water park is located on the edge of the downtown, and the Enterprise restaurant offers a Spock burger on the menu. There is a piece of land near the tourism station for sale from Starfleet Engineering.

The value to the local community hasn't been worked out, but there have been 15,000 visitors a year to Vulcan, and they really do seem to come from everywhere.

The tourism centre and most of the businesses in town do a booming business in souvenirs. Star Trek hot chocolate, costumes and even shuttlecraft mailboxes are for sale, but the most popular must-have of all are the Spock ears.

The Empire has fallen, Earth is no longer safe. For those of the ISS MacArthur, danger exists around every corner.

Allies are a thing of the past, Trust is non existent. Can the MacArthur come together and gain a foothold in whats left of the Alpha Quadrant?

Episode 1, The Beginning of the End, or the End of the Beginning?

Act II, Episode 1 -- A surprise attack from Alliance forces!

Colonel Peyton Travis looked over the instrument panel as he flew his fighter through the Badlands. The plasma storms were pretty rough, but nothing he could not handle. He had logged thousands of hours in the A-20. He knew his craft intimately. He insisted on traveling in a fighter rather than by shuttle. Kept his flight status current, to be sure. But it was also a privilege of rank to be able to check out a bird anytime he wanted to.

As he looked up, he could see the markings on the ISS MacArthur. The yellow "war paint" clearly visible as he vectored closer to the starship.

"MacArthur control. This is Steel. Under authorization of the Admiralty, requesting permission to come aboard."

"Roger, Steel. You are expected. Come about to course 117 mark 235 and prepare for tractor beam. Welcome to the MacArthur, Colonel Travis."

"Roger. Out." Travis turned to the new heading and switched his controls to neutral as the tractor beam secured him

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and began the process of bringing him into the hangar. The bay to the stern of the ship had three entry doors. The Akira class was a "through deck" design. The hangar deck ran the entire length of the saucer, with launch bay to the fore and landing area to the aft. Very efficient design, Travis noted. He looked forward to serving on the MacArthur.

The reputation of the ship was well earned. Despite the recent "promotion" of the XO, he knew that the MacArthur was a choice posting.

As his craft taxied to a stop, he popped the hatch and disembarked. A young petty officer met him on the flight deck, saluted and informed him that the Captain would want to see him straight away. He got his quarters assignment from the enlisted man, and proceeded to go to his stateroom and change from his flight suit into his duty uniform. He would meet with the Captain right after he got settled in. *** Rhane Pryde smirked to herself as she strolled to the Captain's Ready Room. It seemed that the Dragon had jumped to the conclusion she wanted and she had waved at the body drifting in space.

She nodded to the guard at the door and sauntered in, heading directly for the Captain's chair and sprawling in it Propping her feet up, she slid a dagger out of her boot and played with it. "You know, this place is SO much nicer now that it isn't so ... blue" she commented.

She glanced around and pointed at the Ocampa. "You're in the wrong seat. You need to be sitting THERE." she declared, pointed at the XO's chair. *** Rae Draconrouge entered the ready room a few minutes after everyone else, her face impassive given that she had a dead captain and CAG officer in her ... correct that, her CMO's morgue. A small smile flitted for a mere second onto the deathly white face of the Biogentics Officer. Without so much as an explanation as to why it was her and not the CMO who was attending this meet, she seated herself on the right hand side of the Dezeldi that was her mate and cast her gaze over the rest of the collected staff. She felt the crew of this garbage scourge was even more motley now then it had been mere hours ago when the last captain had still been alive.

There was no doubt in her mind that Red had partaken of the flesh of the CAG. but she had omitted to add that into the log on the “accident� and in the log of the second. Her hand slide across the table to touch lightly on his claw, a small shiver of excitement heating her blood as he lifted one of those sharp talons and just as lightly grazed it across the palm of her hand. Neither looked at each other or spoke, the dragon simply flicked his long tongue out as though tasting the very air around them, a small slick of saliva edged on his maw. Rae noted the flick was in the direction of their new captain and cast her pale blue eyes over to her.

The bloodied tongue drew Rae's attention though,* so you decided to make a trophy of it beloved*, this time a smile did touch on her lips as she glanced from it back to Draconrouge, did the woman realize the honor Valareos had occasioned on her? probably not. With practiced nonchalance Rae leaned back on her chair waiting for the meeting to commence. *** The dragon hissed as he began to speak. "The CAG hasss.... had an accident involving a malfunctioning fighter bay.

I've informed Major Thalia to ssshow up to the meeting in hisss ssstead until a replacement wasss found."

Aras looked between the dragon and the new Captain. This "promotion" could prove to be troublesome. On one hand Pryde was promoting him above the Second Officer, which could prove quite deadly. On the other hand, being promoted this way saved him the problem of having to do it on his own.

"Captain, I serve at the pleasure of the Empire and yourself, as always."

The young Ocampa moved to the seat indicated by Pryde. Passing the Captain and Valareos, the dull headache that

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continuously permeated his brain soared in intensity and a flash of blue filled his vision. As usual his limited mental abilities provided more questions than answers. Did the color blue refer to the late Captain Kubiak or to the former CAG, or yet something else entirely.

"I believe the meeting is yours now Captain. Would you like the OPS report now?"

"Proceed, XO," said Pryde.

“We are on yellow alert, sorties to the station are inconclusive. There are Alliance cargo ships in the area, but no way to know if they are actually under Rebel control. Currently, Terok Nor is at tactical alert, they have shields raised. But we could get a small team inserted easily enough.”

The Ocompa moved slightly to the right, getting more into the center of the lectern. He squared his shoulders, trying to get a little more authority in his posture. This was something the young officer would have to work on if he was going to continue as First Officer.

“The new CAG has been aboard for nearly an hour. Colonel Travis comes highly recommended and highly decorated. He has asked to meet with you, Captain, as soon as you are available.”

“We have an intelligence contact on the station, a Lyssepian named Morn. He runs the bar. He says he can get us a meeting with the leader of the Rebels on the station. But we will still need to get aboard under stealth, an assault may not be needed at all. Captain?”

Still twirling her dagger on the point of her index finger, Pryde turned her attention to the Biogenics Engineer who was sitting in for the CMO. "Dragonrouge, The CMO has informed me that he has ... decided to transfer off ship to further pursue his research. Congratulations, you are now the ship's Chief Medical Officer."

Sitting upright in her chair, the new Captain continued. "Our mission has NOT changed. We ARE going to retake Terok Nor. To that end, I'm going to go met with the new CAG. Dismissed."

She scooped up the former CAG's tongue and turned to her new XO. “Aras, you are with me.” Aras stood and followed his Captain as she exited the room. *** Location: Terran Flagship, Delta Quadrant; ISS Vengeance, Imperial Marine Commanders Office.

"Colonel McGruder, your request for combat duty has been granted." A smirk pulls at the corners of the Colonel's mouth. "You are being assigned to the 668th Marine Strike Group aboard the ISS MacArthur."

McGruder looks up, "General? Isn't that where you just sent Steel, errr Colonel Travis to take over as CAG?" The General looks up, "Is there a problem with that Colonel?"

McGruder looks straight ahead, "No, sir. Just an observation, Sir. Permission to speak freely?" the General nods.

"Why are two Senior Officers being assigned to the same unit? There are other ships needing Senior Officers and Senior Pilots for that matter. I am not questioning the order sir or the wisdom behind it, just trying to understand the Generals' thinking in this matter."

The General looks at him with a cool stare, "That is why I like you Colonel, you're not afraid of anyone or anything.

If it had been anyone else asking this question I would be busting your ass back to Private and shoving a phaser rifle in your hands and advising you to enjoy your new infantry assignment. With that said, due to recent...issues... aboard the Mac, we are trying to bolster our presence in the Alpha. We are going to build an elite fighter command around you and Colonel Travis. You are former wing mates and know how to anticipate each other. Plus Travis refuses to get out of the cockpit, so I am giving him a competent wingman." the General glares at McGruder, "Any

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other orders of mine you wish to question Lt. Colonel?" McGruder shakes his head. "Good, you'll be flying escort for the Imperial Marine Company we are assigning to the Mac. Any other questions then Colonel?"

McGruder responds, "No, sir."

The General looks back to a PADD on his desk, "Dismissed."

McGruder turns on his heel smartly and exits the office. He heads to the nearest lift and steps in, "Marine Country."

The lift descends into the bowels of the ship where the Marines are quartered. The lift stops and the doors open, facing him, is an Andorian Staff Sergeant standing there waiting for the lift, when the Andorian sees who it is he pales slightly as he snaps to attention and snaps off a very smart and precise salute as he stands aside for the senior officer. McGruder growls at the alien and pushes by him as he exits the lift. McGruder taps his commbadge, "Flight ops. Flint here, have my fighter prepped for takeoff. I'm leaving in 30 minutes." ::Aye, Sir.:: is the response from the other end. McGruder only has a small duffel of personal belongings in his quarters as he believes in traveling lite.

Once he has his duffel, he heads to the flight deck and starts his prelaunch check. He activates his comm, "Flint to Hopper 313, how soon are you going to be ready to depart over there Bus?" The pilot of the hopper responds, "God I hate that callsign, Flint. Couldn't you come up with something better?

We're ready to go over here."

McGruder chuckles, "Well, we'll give you a better one once you stop driving the kiddies around and fly something better." McGruder changes frequencies, "Flint to Control. Ready to launch on your signal."

Control replies, "Opening flight deck doors. Flint and Hopper 313 are both cleared to launch. Good hunting gentlemen. Vengeance Control, out."

McGruder kicks in his stabilizers and taxi's to the launch position and he watches as the hopper lines up with him.

"Flint to Bus. On my mark. 3-2-1-Mark." With a touch of his control pad he kicks in his impulse engine and leaps off the flight deck, the hopper is in formation just slightly behind him as they clear the atmospheric barrier and head into space. "Setting course to the Array, Bus. Alpha incursion in 60 seconds. See you on the other side. Flint, out." *** Travis walked the decks of his new ship. The Akira was a marvel of Imperial technology. All the bells and whistles, a full city in space. The very definition of a system control ship.

He entered the turbolift on Deck 8, "Bridge," he said sharply. It was time for him to meet his new CO. He had read Pryde's service jacket. His briefing by the General had informed him that the previous CO had an encounter, a fatal one, and that this woman was now in command. By the scuttle on the ship, it must have only been a few hours. He smirked, the old CO's body was not even cold yet.

The doors to the bridge parted to reveal a very efficient design. A large reptilian creature was on the command dais.

He motioned to the "dragon," the only descriptive term Travis could come up with on short notice.

"Welcome, Colonel," the dragon spoke. "Captain Pryde isss exssspecting you in her ready room. I'll announce you."

"Thank you, Commander." So this must be the XO. Maybe, Travis thought. It really did not matter, he answered only to his Captain and the Corps. And not always in that order, he mused. These underlings, especially alien ones, really did not matter to him at all.

The door to the ready room opened, and Travis stepped through. The CO, a rather striking redhead, was seated, well, lounging, behind the desk. A smallish Ocompa male was also present, seated to her right. He wore Command red, too. He must be the XO, then, thought Travis.

He cleared his throat, saluted smartly, and spoke evenly, "Colonel Peyton Travis, reporting as ordered, Captain."

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*** Location: Bridge, ISS Archangel NCC-71115 Delta shift aka dead man's watch, Ensign Monroe sits in the center seat, her second shift as watch commander. ::Hmmmm, this could be easy to get used to::, she thinks. The comm starts to flash and the Chief currently at the station looks down at the incoming transmission.

"Ensign. Message from DELCOM (Delta Command). Inbound hoppers with a single fighter escort will be making the incursion in three minutes. They request we escort them to the MacArthur."

Monroe looks back at the Ensign, "Thank you Chief. Please acknowledge the transmission and make a note in the log." She looks at the conn duty officer, "Helm, come to heading 2-3-0 mark 8-2, one-half impulse."

The helm officer responds, "Aye, coming to heading 2-3-0 mark 8-2, setting my speed at one-half impulse."

Monroe looks at tactical, "Are we far enough away from the station to drop cloak and do a full sensor sweep of the incursion zone."

The Senior Chief Petty Officer taps a few pads, "Yes sir. We should be able to drop cloak without being detected. I do recommend however going to yellow alert."

Monroe looks again to the tactical station, "Have you detected any vessels in our vicinity besides the Mac and her escort? I don't want to be the one to wake the Captain and the rest of the senior staff by sounding yellow alert."

"None detected, sir." the Senior Chief responds.

Monroe looks back to the view screen, "Helm, how long before we reach the incursion point?"

"Thirty seconds, sir."

"Helm set all stop. Tactical, drop cloak and perform a sensor sweep of the local vicinity. Tell me when you have those hoppers in sensor range." Monroe lounges slightly in the command chair.

"Aye, sir." received from both the helm and tactical.

As the lighting comes back up the ship is suddenly rocked by an explosion. Monroe sits up, "What the Hell?!?

Sound tactical alert. Helm evasive! Senior Officers please report to battle stations!" She grabs her armrests as the ship rocks again. "Who the Hell is firing at us?"

The Senior Chief pales, "Its two Alliance light cruisers sir. They were hidden by a plasma storm to our passive sensors while we were cloaked. I have a targeting solution on the nearest. Request weapons free, sir?"

Over the Comms "Ensign Monroe, who the Hell is firing at my ship?" The Captains irritated voice comes through.

"Tactical, weapons free fire at will. Keep watch for those ships coming through the incursion, they are going to be vulnerable when the transition is complete." to the Captain, "Two Alliance cruisers have ambushed us Captain as we dropped cloak at the incursion point."

"I'll be there in 20 seconds Ensign. Morrison out."

Monroe flinches and looks to the helm, "Keep those ships away from the incursion point."

Morrison enters the bridge as the other members of the Senior Staff take their stations, "Ensign report!"

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"We received a communique from DELCOM advising we were to escort an incursion sortie to the Mac. I ordered the cloak dropped and the sensors brought online. As we were decloaking we were fired upon."

Morrison glares, "Why didn't you raise our shields prior to decloaking? Never mind Ensign, we'll talk later, get to your battle station." Morrison turns and ignores her, and activates his chair comm, "CAG launch our ready fighters get those bastards off my ass. Ops open a tight-beam channel to the MacArthur, advise them of our tactical alert and see if they can spare a few fighters." Morrison looks around as another torpedo salvo hits the dorsal shields. *** Travis looked over his new CO with a little skepticism. He knew all about her orders, and that she was ultimately responsible for the death of the previous CO. But she had one problem; could she control her new command? After all, Getting there was easy. Staying there was a bit harder.

"I have some news for you, Captain. The Admiralty has ordered a company of Marines aboard the MacArthur. They all report to me. And, I am loyal to your command, sir. And they will be as well. I recommend we place them in charge of all shipboard security. Armories, brigs, and all guard posts."

"I already have a security force aboard this ship, Colonel, I see no need to make the change," answered Pryde with a semi-bored tone, playing with her dagger again.

"You think any of them were loyal to the previous command? Do you want to take that chance? What I am offering to you is the opportunity to lead this ship out of the gate with a firm hand. Transfer the Security folks to Tactical and other areas of the ship. Put my men in charge. They will follow you. Guaranteed. My Infantry Commander, Marine Captain Duncan Maddox, is a good man. A by-the-book Marine. His XO, Marine Captain Walter Brooker is also a top-notch officer. They will serve you well. I suggest placing Maddox in charge of Security. Get him in your senior staff, he'll be invaluable to you as an informant as well. He is cross trained in Intelligence, so he can feel out the loyalty of your people.

Pryde slowly spun back and forth in her chair, considering. He did have a point, plus he came with Captain Morrison's recommendation. It would be nice not to have to worry about a knife in her back. She nodded slowly.

"You DO make a valid point." she admitted.

"As for your Seniors, it looks like your XO," Travis motioned towards Commander Aras, the Ocompa sitting at the Captain's right, "is docile enough. And you have a pet dragon on your side as well, it seems. My men will insure that you have a long, prosperous command here, sir."

Pryde grinned about the aforementioned Dragon, standing watch on the Bridge. She knew if he was there, she'd hear his teeth grinding and the tip of his tail twitching violently, barely surpressing his urge to strangle the Marine Colonel for his insubordination? She refrained from from smiling, knowing Travis would take it the wrong way.

Nodding, she put her dagger away to rise and shake Travis' hand. "Welcome aboard, Colonel Travis."

Before he could speak, the alert klaxon sounded, and his communicator sounded at the same time. "What is it, I am in a meeting with the Captain," said Travis.

"Pardon the intrusion, Colonel. Distress distress call coming in from Archangel, sir. The convoy is under attack by two Alliance cruisers. Requesting assistance, fighters if we can spare them."

Aras looked up from his panel. "Captain, it was a tight beam transmission, correctly encoded. Archangel was smart not to give us away, sir. We are holding in a tender spot right now. We are engaged in surveillance of Terok Nor. Electronic countermeasures have us well secluded, but if we break silence to answer, we could give away OUR position to the Alliance forces and jeopardize the mission."

"I concur, sir," said Travis evenly. "We can deploy a flight of fighters to provide cover, however. The Archangel is

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escorting the Marines I told you about. Just the ship and a lone fighter for cover. The convoy would be sitting ducks, sir. Several transports, hoppers, and cargo shuttles, with all the unit's equipment and personnel. That's over a hundred troops. We must protect the convoy."

"Very well," said Pryde. Launch four fighters and keep another four on ready five in case they are needed. Get those birds out there, Travis, and protect your men."

"Aye, sir. Right away." Travis saluted, and turned to leave the Captain's Ready Room. He got on the comm as he left the Bridge. He ordered the fighters launched, then went immediately to the CIC to monitor his team. *** As the Marines sit aboard the transport, Walter "Bear" Brooker looked around at the faces of some of the new Marines and smiled. The hopper shuddered under phaser power. The Marines were helpless. A feeling Marines do not like to experience. ”Men I know some of you are right out of training so I offer this. Check your viewports, watch the light show for now. Because it wont be long before we are called to action. Scuttlebut being as it is I am guessing our new commanding officer will have some, shall we, say personal things that need taken care of. Remember we are Marines and we obey orders no matter what they are” He whipped out one of his hunting knives and pulled it back and forth on the sharpening stone. "Fighting time approaches, men. Prepare yourselves, ready your weapons it's almost time to work.”

With that he walks away and hears behind him as two young Marines start talking, ”Hey who is that Captain that just spoke to us, is he for real?” One of the Staff Sergeants, an old leatherneck, grizzled and seasons, looks across at them. He cleared his throat and croaked, ”Boys that there is the Bear, he is one of the most dangerous Marines I have seen in a long time. That means if it gets bad get behind him and stay on him and you just might survive.

"Some say his parents and his entire family were killed by the Alliance. He was rescued by our Marines and they raised him. Some say he has no fear , I for one believe it . I personally saw him take apart 8 Klingons by himself.

After it was all over he took their ridges as a prize.

"Of course his temper is stuff of much talk dont piss him off or as some say the Bear will come for you and from him there is no escape, And for the record his is Captain Walter Brooker, some that know him well call him Bear, Those that serve under him call him Sir at all times unless told to do other wise” The young Marine, eyes wide, took in what the old Top said. He glanced over at Captain Brooker, and somewhere in his body he believed every word that man had said to him.

McGruder watched the countdown timer on his console tick the last 15 seconds. He raised his shields as per proper incursion procedure. He felt the fighter rock slightly as the incursion completed, then suddenly something struck his ventral shields and cause him to spin. Swearing slightly he activated his comms to his hopper convoy, "Flint to Bus! Pull up immediately we have hostiles in the area incursion zone." McGruder switches his comms over to the fleet frequency, "Flint to Archangel Flight Ops. Have encountered hostiles in incursion area, request immediate fighter support."

Response from Archangel Flight Ops, "Flint stand ready to receive fighter support, CAG over here has been injured, the Captain is giving you temporary operational command. Coordinate with our fighters. Archangel out."

McGruder sends out a broadcast to the inbound fighters, "Angel flight form up on me and protect these hoppers.

Flint out." McGruder taps the control pads and adjusts his flight path and sees the 4 fighters from the Archangel form a defensive perimeter around the inbound hoppers. He brings his phaser cannons online and targets the nearest cruisers bridge and lets loose a fierce barrage of phaser fire. He is rewarded with the sensors on his board showing that the shields around the bridge have dropped by 20% and the cruiser takes evasive action to take the bridge out of

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the direct line of fire. As the cruiser is turning away from him the engines come into his sights and he locks his micro torpedo launcher and fires 2 spreads of 2 torpedoes right into the primary drive of the cruiser. he watches as the first spread temporarily overload the aft shields and allow the 2nd set of torpedoes to pass right thru and disable the primary drive of the cruiser. he watches with grim satisfaction as the ship starts leaking drive plasma from both of its nacelles. He activates his comms again, "Flint to incursion group and Angel flight, make best speed to the Archangel." Switching frequencies again, "Flint to Archangel flight ops, prepare the thru deck for a hot landing of our hoppers while the fighters form a protective screen."

"Angel flight leader to Flint. Sensors showing another group of inbound ships. IFF indicates they are from the Mac, looks like back up is here."

"Acknowledged Angel leader. Flint to inbound fighters, form a protective screen around the Archangel and keep those cruisers off her ass." McGruder finally smiles a bit. These Alliance fools dont stand a chance against us.

Finally time for some payback. McGruder swings his fighter around and accelerates to full impulse. A quick glance of his snesors shows the 2nd cruiser is still putting up a good fight. As he locks his weapons on to the cruiser an explosion on his starboard wing causes him to swing his fighter to port, "What the...?" his sentence goes unfinished as he recognizes a core breach from the fighter that was on his wing. Jabbing a finger at his comm again, "Keep it loose out there, we just lost one of our own and I dont want to lose anymore. Target weapons shields and engines."

Changing frequencies, "Flint to Bus. Put me thru to Bear."

"Flint this is Bus. I have Bear patched thru."

"Bear here Colonel. What can I do for you, sir?"

Flint gets an evil smirk on his face as he eyes the cruiser he previously disabled, "Your boys up to take a cruiser?'

Bear gets a glint in his eye, "Beats sitting in this hopper having someone taking pot shots at us."

Flint smiles, "Prepare your troops for a boarding action. I want that ship as a prize to send back to DELCOM." Flint switches frequencies, "All fighters concentrate fire on the disabled warship take out her shields so our boys can do what they do best, Flint out." Switching frequencies again, "Bus on my mark move your troops into transporter range and prepare to beam over to have them take that cruiser."

Bus grins, "Aye aye sir."

McGruder targets the aft shield generator as he watches other fighters taking out the weapons and other shield generators, he flinches slightly as another fighter explodes ahead of him. "Bus get your troops transported, Good hunting, Bear." switching frequencies again, "Ok ladies and gentlemen lets take out that other cruiser while Bear and his boys go hunting." *** Colonel Travis watched his monitors from the MacArthur CIC. He saw that the fighters he ordered had arrived in the area and were targeting one of the cruisers. One fighter had broken off and began to fire on the second cruiser's aft shields.

"Who is that, Lieutenant?" Travis asked the duty officer.

"That fighter was flying cover for the convoy, Colonel. It's telemetry shows the callsign is 'Flint.' He's not one of ours, sir."

"The hell he isn't, son. That pilot was transferring here from the Delta Quadrant. The question is what is he up to."

"The convoy has split up, one of the hoppers is getting close to that second cruiser."

"They look like they are on a run for that cruiser, perhaps to board her," said Travis with a smirk.

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"Their transporters are hot, Colonel. 30 Troopers have made it aboard the Alliance cruiser."

"Open a channel to that fighter, Lieutenant. I want to speak to Flint."

"Channel open, Colonel."

"Flint, this is Steel. You got a plan, McGruder, or you just dogging that cruiser?"

The voice came back over subspace, slightly garbled. "Bear is taking a platoon aboard the cruiser. Figure that oughta be enough to take her over, sir."

"Let's hope they succeed. Do you need the ready five fighters, I have four more standing by."

"Negative, the four you sent, plus the batch from the Archangel should have that first cruiser disabled or destroyed in short order."

While they watched the display, the seven fighters swarmed around the cruiser. Her weapons trained on the Archangel, set for large target bombardment, not configure for short snub fighter attacks.

The hull began to breach and then the explosion from the antimatter reactor came suddenly. The first cruiser was out of the way, and the fighters moved to the second cruiser.

"Travis to fighters... hold off on your attack, we have troops aboard trying to secure the ship."

The eight fighters, now complete with Flint, got into two formations of four and flew an escort pattern with the second cruiser. It would not be long for the troops to take that ship. *** As Bear and the transport Captain look at the cruiser Captain Janson looks at Bear.

"Sir you want me to land on that with a ship loaded with Marines , cant be done they will cut us to shreads" with a cold smile I didnt not say land on it I said dock with it , reaching into his nap sack he hands the transport Captain a round device with wires hanging off it ," here ya go this will make us look like a ship full of settlers men, women , and children of the Aliance , just hook this baby up and presto , take a look at your internal systems now," With a look of sheer shock the sensors now read exactly that , "How did you get that past security ?? " Bear smiles back "Tricks of the trade now for something extra if you please," with that Bear assumes the Captains chair and hits a open channel , "This is Captain Nathan Jessup of the Alliance transport ship Circa, we have women and children aboard this ship and we request emergency docking with your cruiser , we cant take this pounding , respond ," After a short slience "Identification confirmed dock starboard side ASAP our fighters will cover you in."

With that Bear makes his way to the back , "Marines time to earn that paycheck , we are about to take a Alliance Cruiser intact , listen close here is how this one goes , once we dock transporters will enguage , I am splitting us up in 5 groups , teasm will take the bridge, weapons control , engerring, and medical . You will take these areas and hold them , no prisoners whatso ever , show no mercy . We will strike at the same time as a unit , Bear smiles they think thery are getting women and children they are in for a shock , when each unit takes its area report in on our secure channel , I will report to Marine Command once the bridge has been secured, again show no quarter and no mercy , if any one does they answer to me.

With that Bear touches a toggle for a secure Marine channel "This is Bear the hunt is on , Sir if you can get some of

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our fighters to fire on this transport for effect it would help, that is all for now Sir, Bear out."

After being transported to the Alliance Cruiser Grethor, Maddox and his men began to execute the crew of the Grethor.

Maddox tapped his comm badge and began to give orders to his men. His orders were simple kill all but the captain of the Cruiser Grethor.

"Alpha squad we have the honor of taking out the bridge of the Grethor. Kill every one but the captain he is to e captured along with all logs ships and personal. Bravo squad your mission is to take over engineering. Secure any technology possible. Charlie squad your duty is to secure the Weapons Control Center. Delta squad you are to secure Medical as well as any technological devices. Otherwise kill all. Maddox out."

Maddox thought to himself for a moment we have the element of surprise here this battle should be over quickly.

"Maddox to all squads Attack!!! I repeat Attack!!!" Maddox and alpha squad took the bridge with little problem.

Maddox immediately went into the Captains Ready Room on the Cruiser Grethor. "Captain your are here by placed under arrest by order of the Imperial High Command." Maddox nodded to two of his marines and told them to take him into custody.

"Maddox to all squads bridge secure, Bravo squad how goes the battle for engineering." *Lt. Daniels here engineering secure with 2 dead.* *Charlie squad here Weapons Control Center secure with no injuries.* *Gunnery Sgt. Jameson here Medical secure with prisoners & technology.* Maddox tapped his comm badge "Maddox to Archangel. Alliance Cruiser Grethor captured with some minor injuries and 2 dead."

Maddox tapped his comm badge again "Silverskulls well done!!! I repeat well done!!! Maddox out."

As Captain Maddox ordered his crew to take their stations on the newly captured ship. The cruiser Grethor made it's way back to the MacArthur. Maddox ordered Gunnery Sgt. Jameson and two others to do a sweep of the ship deck by deck.

Maddox sent out a hail to the ISS Archangel. "Cruiser Grethor to ISS Archangel do you hear us, I am pleased to report that the Grethor is secured." *** Location-Bridge ISS Archangel NCC-71115 Morrison signals to have the hail put on the viewscreen. "Well done Captain Maddox. I just received further orders from DELCOM Ops. They want that ship back there for research. It also looks like you have been recalled for special assignment. So as of right now you have command of the Grethor. I am field promoting you to Major for the duration that you are in command of the Grethor. Again well done son."

"Thank you Captain. When should we get under way?" Maddox asks.

Morrison looks at the screen "As soon as the personnel that were slated to go to the Mac have beamed back to the hopper. We will transfer a small crew that were scheduled for rotation back to the Delta to operate the ship as a skeleton crew for you. Is there anything else then Major?"

Maddox snaps to attention, "No sir. Thank you sir."

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Morrison signals to cut the transmission, "Archangel, out." The viewer goes back to show the image of the hull of the captured cruiser. "Secure from tactical alert. All damage control teams report to your crew chiefs. Ops let me know when final damage assessment is complete. As soon as that cruiser has transitioned back to the Delta and those hoppers and our fighters are secure, cloak the ship and return to our previous position. Number one, you have the bridge." Morrison rises and rubs the bridge of his nose and goes to his ready room.

Welcome to the tenth issue of General Orders! This newsletter is published quarterly and made available electronically. This is the Summer 2007 newsletter. Submissions may be made to the Editor via email at info@issmacarthur.com -- Copyright ©2007 ISS MacArthur. All Rights Reserved. Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, STARFLEET, STARFLEET ACADEMY all ® TM & © 2007 CBS Studios Inc. No Infringement Intended. STARFLEET - The International STAR TREK Fan Association , Inc. is a non-profit corporation in the State of NC, is not connected with CBS Studios, Paramount Pictures, VIACOM, or Star Trek: The Official Fan Club, and has been in existence since 1974.

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