The Federation Tribune - November 2005

[Rob Versteegt]

                  ==== The Federation Tribune ====
                       ==== November 2005 ====


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Chief Editor's notes
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Once again -a bit late perhaps- here is the Federation Tribune, this time
the November edition of the year 2005! This issue includes an article about
the search for aliens, another legendary post, a part of the Jalando story
(with an interesting plot development, if I say so myself. <G>), and of
course the various summaries.

Remember, only one month (and maybe a week :P) to go until the christmas
edition! So if you have articles which you'd like to have put in the
Christmas Edition of the Tribune, then please, mail those articles / stories
/ quotes / etc,. to me. I'll make sure they'll get put in the special
Tribune.

Anyway, have fun reading this!

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USS Calhoun Status Report October 2005, by Adrian Rodd.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

STARDATE 2392.04.25
LOCATION of the Calhoun: holding position near Starbase 32.

Episode 25: "The Explorers' Fifteen"

The USS Calhoun has been assigned to hold position near Starbase 32, by the
Tholian border, due to indications of possible suspicious activity within
Tholian space. Moments after the ship arrived at the starbase, a
micro-subspace rift opened on the bridge, snatching away Captain Sarin.
Minutes later, a second, much larger rift was detected in space nearby, and
four shuttles were sent to investigate.

The shuttles were pulled off course mysteriously, propelled through an ion
storm, and crashed on a planet in a calm area in the storm's centre. The
fifteen survivors are now attempting to organise themselves, and to limit
violations of the Prime Directive after technologically primitive natives
have made contact.

Meanwhile, Captain Sarin finds herself in captivity along with her fellow
captains, and seemingly accused of genocide. . .

--------------------------------------------------------------------
USS Odyssey Status Report October 2005, by Dennis Church.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Stardate: 2391.09.08

The wedding finished when the happy couple kissed and the best man
(Commander Denebris) made his speech.

Stardate: 2392.04.25

The refit is finally done; and the Odyssey is ready to make their first ever
jump into transwarp. The make their initaial test run to the Maelstrom
system, where they were going to do a combat simulation as part of their
initial transwarp shakedown. However, before they got too far into the
simulation, Commander Nerfertii detected a spatial anomaly on long-range
sensors. Captain Bennek decided they should head to the anomaly, so the
Odyssey jumped into transwarp to make it a short ride.

When the Odyssey was about to arrive at the anomaly, Lieutenant Davis found
that she could not drop the ship out of transwarp. Soon afterwards, the ship
starts accelerating, and shaking as if under attack - and in a mysterious
white flash, Captain Bennek is taken from the bridge, through a subspace
rift of some kind, where he is now being held captive with the other
Captains and Command team of this recently created "Frontier Fleet".

Now, the valiant crew of the Odyssey needs to find a way to drop out of
transwarp before the speed gets too great for the ship to handle...to say
nothing of getting their Captain back.

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USS Valkyrie Status Report October 2005, by Rick Clogston.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

(USS Valkyrie - CSO's Log - 2392.04.25, 1625)

A subspace rift opened briefly in the Captain's quarters, and Commander
Maiek has disappeared. Science has begun wide-spectrum scans, and has
discovered hundreds of very small subspace fluctuations in general proximity
to the Valkyrie.

Petty Officer B'ahb and I joined two security crewmen in the Captain's
quarters. We scanned the room with tricorders and internal sensors, and even
set up pattern enhancers to see if any transporter signature residue could
be found, and came up with nothing new. I recommended to the Second Officer,
who is now in command on the bridge, and the new ACEO, a Mister Finlay, that
the following precautions be taken.

First, that probes be prepared in case of more sub-space rifts. Commander
Byrne recommended class 5 probes, and ordered them to be prepared. Second,
that Engineering shield the dilithium matrix against metreon radiation,
which is a common result of subspace anomalies. And third, that the
deflector dish be reconfigured to emit anti-leptons, which could be useful
in disrupting any potential attack through subspace.

Ensign Anita Alvarez is currently leading the analysis of the data from the
Captain's quarters, and from the ship's external sensors.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Pandora Station Status Report October 2005, by Rob Versteegt.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

===============
Summary: Episode 12: Holowe'en.
===============

Following the long 6-month shore leave the crew had, it was finally time: On
Stardate 2392.04.11, the Fleet Command Team and all the crews of the
Frontier Fleet dutystations came together at Pandora Station, to celebrate
the formation of this fleet. Speeches were held, crews of different
dutystations met, and everybody was happy about the launch of this fleet.
Well. . . not everybody. There were some protesters, who disliked Transwarp.
. . but not a lot of people paid that much attention to them.

On Stardate 2392.04.25, the only transwarpships which were still docked at
Pandora Station were the USS Solstice and the USS Epimetheus. Things seemed
to be going well. . . there were no problems, no worries, and life was going
on as usual. And even though the Station crew did receive extra reports,
extra traffic and extra work, there was still time for Captains
Janssens,Kane and Commander Jalando to relax in the holodeck. While their
choice of program was by some considered quite silly, this pirate program
they were in helped them relax. However. . . their relaxation didn't last
long. Pretty soon, holographic pirates which weren't part of the original
program, kidnapped both Captains. When the program ended, there was no sign
of the Captains. . .

But these two Captains weren't the only ones to disappear. Admirals Barclay,
Tir and Graag of the Frontier Fleet's Command Team had also been taken away.
Where to, nobody on the Station knew. All they knew was that following their
disappearances, subspace rifts appeared all around Pandora Station and the
USS Epimetheus, which was docked at the station. These rifts didn't allow
any communication to or from Pandora Station, or the Epimetheus. Even
between the Station and the Prometheus class ship, there were problems with
communications. Luckily, Ensign Gatto and Lieutenant Arquette had gone to
the Epimetheus to make sure that the Station and the ship would be able to
communicate with each other. . . Also, these two officers started scanning
these subspace rifts, from the Epimetheus, in order to see if there was any
form of communication going on *between* those rifts.

In the meantime, Lt. Vrass and Lt. Kingston were ordered to prepare and
launch several probes. Lt. Vrass went to Stellar Cartography to work
together with ACSO Ensign Greinlen, to stand by to receive the probe's data.
Before any probe was launched though, these two discovered an object at
drift nearby one of those subspace rifts. . . it seemed to be a Starfleet
Probe! But Pandora hadn't launched any probes yet, and neither had the
Epimetheus. . .

But this wasn't the only thing to happen on the Station. ACEO Morabulu had a
rather unpleasant encounter with one of the protesters, who wanted Starfleet
to abandon the Transwarp project. This person became unwell though, and was
quickly transported to Sickbay, to Pandora Station's neurosurgeon, Dr.
Carredeau.

Dr. Truesdale also had an unpleasant encounter, but of a different kind than
Mr. Morabulu had. Yes, the 2O/CMO Lt.Cmdr. had actually been assaulted by a
person who was presumed dead. In panic, she ran away. . . but when she
looked back, this man was gone. . .

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USS Atlantis Status Report, October 2005, by Ben Versteegt.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

- 2391.09.21 / 2391.09.22

Lieutenants Andersson and Jomorr made an emotional visit to the family of
the deceased security officer Oscar Rönqvist. They returned to the Atlantis
the following day.

- 2391.12.24, 2391.12.31 and 2392.01.01

On one of the Utopia Planitia space docks, Lieutenant Rofellian met Ensign
Imala, who was going to become a counsellor on board the USS Atlantis. On
2391.12.31 / 2392.01.01, there was a new year celebration on the station,
which Lieutenant Rofellian and Ensign Imala attended.

- 2391.04.01

ACMO Dupre leaves his previous post, the USS McCoy, in order to transfer to
the USS Atlantis.

- 2392.04.10

After six months of refitting, tinkering and modifying, the USS Atlantis was
finally ready to leave space dock. One of the few ships to be equipped with
a transwarp engine, the Atlantis was to report to Pandora Station to attend
the reception that was going to be held there. At normal warp, it would take
the crew days to get to the station, but at transwarp, it took them a little
over an hour. Although some difficulties were reported, the transwarp drive
worked satisfactory.

At Pandora Station, the crew of the Atlantis attended a reception to
celebrate the official launch of the Frontier Fleet, consisting of six
transwarp capable starships, with Pandora Station as the Fleet's
headquarters.

- 2392.04.25

Using transwarp, the USS Atlantis had traversed many light-years of space
and was back on her original mission of exploration in the Gamma Quadrant.
While the ship was holding position near a star system, a subspace rift
appeared in the turbolift which Captain Torn was using. When it had closed,
the Captain was gone.

Not long thereafter, more subspace rifts appeared, this time outside the
Atlantis. From these rifts torpedoes were launched towards the Atlantis. The
weapons were not extremely powerful on their own, but they could do -- and
in fact did -- a lot of damage to the Atlantis in high numbers. Faced with
the ship's imminent destruction, the crew of the Atlantis was forced to
fight back, and although the ship's weapons were able to close the subspace
rifts, new rifts continued to appear whenever a rift was closed.
Furthermore, they seemed to follow and surround the Atlantis wherever the
ship went.

It was clear that this was a fight that the crew couldn't win. A course was
set towards a nearby nebula that seemed to distort subspace. Hopefully, the
distortion field of the nebula would make it impossible for the rifts to
appear there -- it was the crew's only chance to survive. Unable to go to
warp, the ship crawled towards the nebula at full impulse, while continually
being pounded by the rifts' deadly weapons. Hoping to gain more information
on what exactly was attacking them, Lieutenant Jomorr managed to launch a
probe into one of the subspace rifts. Unfortunately, contact with the probe
was lost only moments after it entered the rift.

In an attempt to buy the Atlantis some time, the Gamma Flyer Borhyas was
launched. Thanks to the Flyer's distraction, the Atlantis (and the Flyer)
made it into the nebula safely, although heavily damaged. Initial sensor
readings of the nebula proved to be correct: subspace distortions inside the
nebula make it impossible for any subspace phenomenon (including the rifts)
to appear, and the Atlantis now has to do without warp or transwarp.
Subspace communication is also not possible inside the giant cloud, and
sensor efficiency is down to 50 percent. Now, the crew has to find out where
they are exactly and what the subspace rifts that attacked them are. If the
crew has any hope of finding Captain Torn again, they have to find out how
to deal with the subspace rifts first.

Meanwhile, all captains and admirals of the Frontier Fleet had been abducted
and were put together in an empty room. They found out that they were being
held by aliens who claim that Starfleet has been attacking them by using the
transwarp engines as a weapon.

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PR Status Report October 2005, by Rob Versteegt.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

This month was an interesting one, PR-wise. The last few months, we didn't
get any more than. . . let's say 12 signups, and only a few of those were
good enough to be accepted. This month though, there were 20 signups, and a
full 9 of them were accepted into Frontier Fleet! In fact, some of them have
already graduated!

Here is where these 20 signups found us:

2: Searching on the net.
5: Google or another search engine.
6: A voting site / advertisement site.
4: By a friend.
1: A former member of FF.
2: unknown.

Woo! This is great! Again, a lot of people found us via Google or another
Search Engine, but this time, quite some people also found us via a voting
site, or a site where I place Frontier Fleet's advertisements. Thanks to
everyone who voted, and keep on doing that!

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SF Academy Status Report, October 2005, by Rob Versteegt.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

==================
Active Instructors: (6)

Chief Instructor Sedaq, played by Adrien Rodd
Instructor Vivienne Creenan, played by Rob Versteegt
Instructor Argl, played by John Hardy
Instructor Liz Bronson, played by Laura Elliot
Instructor Sophie Jaune, played by Rob Verlinden
Instructor Randy Orsolo, played by Dennis Church.

==================
Instructors on LOA: (2)

Instructor Joran Moore, played by David Susman.
Instructor Miranda Winter, played by Ben Versteegt

==================
Instructors gone: (1)

Instructor Abena Kwanu, played by Jeremy Beeler

==================
Cadets lost: (2)

Cadet Killian Malachi, played by Robert Bolton
Cadet Damon Kaper, played by Matt Burton

==================

New Signups: 20, and 9 were good enough to start the Academy.

==================
Individual Cadets: (9)

Cadet Alisa Alexander, played by Tiffany Boggs (Bobby)
Cadet Adam McKinney, played by Shawn Ruden (Bobby)
Cadet Alexic Freeotha, played by Timothe Loya (John)
Cadet Ramon Vos, played by Ramon Vos (Bobby)
Cadet Megan Richards, played by Stephen Clark (Laura)
Cadet Tvork, played by Carlisle (Laura)
Cadet Thorne, played by Spencer Beacock (Bobby)
Cadet Ikov Darvinski, played by Joe Smoe (Bobby)
Cadet Michell Weltion, played by Shawn Cartier. (Adrian)

==================
Graduates: (5)

Cadet Rabel Droge, played by Michael Calgano => ACONN Ensign Rabel Droge,
USS Valkyrie.
Cadet Thomas Greinlen, played by Chad Harris => ACSO Ensign Thomas Greinlen,
Pandora Station.
Cadet Marcus "Finn" Finlay, played by Nick Bartkowaik => ACEO Ensign Marcus
"Finn" Finlay, USS Valkyrie.
Cadet Morgan Kadar, played by Morgan Kadar => ACMO Ensign Morgan Kadar, USS
Atlantis.
Cadet Davert Palder, played by Mathew Huffman => ACMO Ensign Davert Palder,
USS Odyssey.

==================

Well, thanks to some good instructoring and some great signups, there were 5
new Cadets who graduated! Also, Dennis Church has decided to come back as an
Instructor. Welcome back Dennis!

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Promotions October 2005, by Rob Versteegt.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

>From Cadet to Ensign:

Cadet Rabel Droge, played by Michael Calgano => ACONN Ensign Rabel Droge,
USS Valkyrie.
Cadet Thomas Greinlen, played by Chad Harris => ACSO Ensign Thomas Greinlen,
Pandora Station.
Cadet Marcus "Finn" Finlay, played by Nick Bartkowaik => ACEO Ensign Marcus
"Finn" Finlay, USS Valkyrie.
Cadet Morgan Kadar, played by Morgan Kadar => ACMO Ensign Morgan Kadar, USS
Atlantis.
Cadet Davert Palder, played by Mathew Huffman => ACMO Ensign Davert Palder,
USS Odyssey.

>From Ensign to Lieutenant Junior Grade:

CONN Ensign Kyler Fletcher, played by Alonzo Soban => CONN Lieutenant junior
grade Kyler Fletcher.
ACONN Ensign Una Andersson, played by Hanna Brunefeldt => ACONN Lieutenant
junior grade Una Andersson.
AOPS Ensign Solan Arquette, played by Scott Rick => OPS Lieutenant Junior
Grade Solan Arquette.

Congratulations all!

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Posting Status October 2005, by Rob Versteegt.
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USS Calhoun players: 134 posts.

Adrian Rodd: 49 (Cal 21, Ody 2, Panda 22, Atly 4)
Kelley MacKinnon: 37 (Cal 37)
Laura Elliot: 14 (Cal 14)
Mark O'Bannon: 13 (Cal 13)
Aaron DeLay: 0
Jake Hanlon: 18 (Cal 18)
Angelic Noble: 11 (Cal 11)
Neil Langston: 9 (Cal 9)

USS Odyssey players: 48 posts.

Rob Verlinden: 2 (Ody 2)
Dennis Church: 9 (Ody 9)
Martin Miller: 16 (Ody 9, Atly 7)
Dawn Johnson: 1 (Atly 1)
Abby Leib: 2 (Ody 2)
Daniel Balding: 2 (Ody 2)
Jovan Gegov: 7 (Ody 7)
Jonathan Healey: 0
Davert Palder: 0

USS Valkyrie players: 50 posts.

Brandon Allard: 3 (Valk 3)
Jonathan Hardy: 6 (Ody 1, Valk 4, Panda 1)
Richard Clogston: 13 (Valk 13)
Ann Montague: 7 (Valk 7)
Nick Bartkowiak: 1 (Valk 1)
Ruben Hilbers: 39 (Valk 16, Atly 13)
Michael Calcagno: 1 (Valk 1)

Pandora Station players: 107 posts.

Bram Peeters: 29 (Cal 1, Ody 2, Panda 23, Atly 3)
Rob Versteegt: 74 (Cal 14, Ody 7, Valk 6, Panda 32, Atly 15)
Sussie Andersson: 2 (Panda 2)
Gael Imaddedine: 3 (Panda 3)
Scott Rick: 20 (Panda 20)
Donald Johnston: 3 (Panda 3)

USS Atlantis players: 110 posts.

David Susman: 6 (Panda 1, Atly 5)
Ben Versteegt: 17 (Ody 4, Panda 4, Atly 9)
Alonzo Soban: 6 (Atly 6)
Mike Sheinin: 5 (Atly 5)
Hanna Brunefeldt: 20 (Atly 20)
Patrick Buidin: 22 (Atly 22)

FCT:

Guido Dorssers: 3 (One fleetwide post counted as one, Panda 2)
Clare Bradley: 0

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Legendary posts, by Rob Verlinden.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

One of the highest rules in our game is to never let a character of another
player be killed. During this particular joint mission of the Valkyrie and
the Odyssey in June 2003 several players of the away team hadn't posted in
months. Brandon, in one of his unconventional moods, killed off most of the
characters on his team. One way to say: post or die...

>From the Valk's status report:
ACMO Nataliya Ruschak -- MIA (Missing In Action)
ACEO Bertok -- MIA
ACONN Bast -- MIA
ASTC Ra'Los -- MIA
May they rest in peace.

Subject: CSO Giellun Maiek

(New Amsterdam colony - Balsat / Landing site - 2391.01.24, 1140)

=/\=Any member of the Valkyrie away team please respond, this is the shuttle
Griffin from the Odyssey. We are here to offer assistance.=/\=

"This is Lt Maiek of the USS Valkyrie. We are in need of assistance."

(reply Griffin)

"We have lost contact with the Valkyrie can you update."

A second earthquake shook the planet putting the conversation on hold. A
much larger one than before. A theory of cloaked ships targeting tractor
beams at the continent was fleeting. Returning to his feet for the second
time in so many minutes Giellun resumed the transmission.

"It seems this planet doesn't appreciate our presense. I will gather the
remaining crew together. Stand by."

Immediately upon leaving the Valdor Ensign Bast, tricorder still in hand was
laying in a most uncomfortable position at the entry ramp.

"Ensign?" Giellun tugged at the human's sleeve to provoke a response. There
was none. Turning him face up, it was clear that the last quake had caught
him in a bad position. In falling from the ramp, he managed to break his
left arm in at least three places and impale himself on a loose and jagged
corner of tile from the courtyard. Just as well. Human medicine was hardly
his specialty.

"Luu Lieutenant.." Bertok pulled himself to the entrance of the Rota
collapsing once he had reached his goal.

"Ensign? What happened?"

"Ear.. earthquake."

"I am aware of that ensign. What happened to you specifically?"

"Tried to salvage.. com..ications power relay..." He was fading in and out.
Obviously in a good deal of pain. "ra'Los tried to pull it from console...
lost balance. Hit his head... pushed me as I was.. burn the connections.
Bad... timing."

Gilleun peered into the Rota. Ensign ra'Los had indeed hit his head. Hard.
Even the Klingon skeletal system was vulnerable in the right spots. The
impact was dead on at the base of the skull. No point in tending to him. He
scanned Bertok. A self inflicted phaser burn through most of his abdomen. Or
what was left of it. Lacking the containment of a rib cage, the Klingon's
entrails had trailed from his original point of impact to his crawl along
the floor.

"Sir.. you must end this.." His hand fell to where his side should have
been, but instead rested on the shuttle's floor.

There was no point in arguing. There were no medical supplies, and even with
the arrival of a working shuttle his survival was unlikely. Maiek backed
away from the Rota. Bertok's mouth hung open without the strength to close
it.

"I have little understanding of your rituals, but I assure you, somebody
will howl for your death before the day is over." With that he drew his
disruptor and fired into the bulk of his crew mate. Reduced to sub atomic
particles, within fractions of a second there wasn't even a vapor cloud
left. He reluctantly holstered his weapon. It had been far too long since he
last fired it.

"Lieutenant!"

Looking into the place where a crowd had been gathered only minutes before
it was hard to tell that it was the same area. Most of the surrounding
structures had ceased to be structures and now littered the courtyard. Then
a flash of gold and blue caught his eye. Korel, one of the medics was
supporting al'Evering, part of their security escort.

"The others, they didn't make it. An underground tunnel collapsed as they
were tending to the injured from the first quake. Part of their power
transfer maintenance system. We were almost pulled in with them. Guile tore
up his leg pretty bad when we started to slip in."

More bad news. But not unexpected given what had happened to the other
members of the away team. The pair continued to head towards the shuttle,
trying to keep an eye out for more holes about to open up under them.
al'Evering pointed out a clear looking route following along the outside
area of the yard, near a section of undemolished buildings. Altering their
course they made it to a sidewalk in good condition quite quickly
considering Guile had to hop the distance leaning on Korel's shoulder.
Giellun guessed the distance at being short enough to begin speaking without
the need to shout.

"I do have some good news for you though, we have reinforcements enroute.
The Odyssey has come to our aid. They have a shuttle in communications
range."

"The Odyssey? Was the Valkyrie in battle?" The Klingon was nearly dragging
the El Aurian behind him now.

"They did not say. However we will find out shortly." He began heading for
the pair to lend a hand.

Had he left approximately two seconds sooner he would not have been alive to
ponder his good fortune. Just as he was about to extend his hand to bear
some of the weight of the injured security chief the still standing building
bordering the sidewalk took the opportunity to relieve it's support
structure of it's top two floors.

Once the dust had parted, he opened a channel on his commbadge and began the
futile attempt to dust himself off.

"Maiek to Griffin. We are ready to be beamed up at your convenience."

(Reply Griffin, any)
(Posted by Brandon Allard)

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Searching for Aliens, by Bram Peeters.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

(] Searching for aliens, pulsars and other stuff [)

In May 2002 (yes, quite long ago), Guido wrote an article about SETI for the
Tribune (http://www.frontierfleet.net/lcars/page/54)

What that article didn't mention is that without Star Trek and Gene
Roddenberry, SETI at Home would never have been possible.
More about that can be read here:
http://planetary.org/star_trek/enterprise_022405.html, or buy ST4: The
Voyage Home - Special Edition, one of the extras is about SETI and its
relation to Star Trek <G>

Anyway, there have been some changes since then. For quite some time
already, there's been a newer version of SETI, using a program called BOINC
(Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing). With BOINC it is
possible to participate in more than one project like SETI (and it's already
no longer possible to create an 'old' SETI account, and according to their
website, it should already have been no longer possible to even get and
return work units), and there are indeed several other projects you can
donate your computer time to. BOINC is also available for other operating
systems: Linux, Windows, Mac OS (although not all projects may support all
of those).

Some of these projects are:
- Climateprediction.net (study climate change)
- Einstein at home (search for gravitational signals emitted by pulsars)
- LHC at home (improve the design of the CERN LHC particle accelerator)
- Predictor at home (investigate protein-related diseases)
- Rosetta at home (help researchers develop cures for human diseases)
- SETI at home (look for radio evidence of extraterrestrial life)

At the moment, there are teams of STFF members for SETI (11 members, 3
active) and Einstein (1 member). I've also tried Climateprediction, but the
work units that are sent to your computer are big, when running it needs
over a hundred MB of disk space (and it caused my computer to be very
unstable).
I haven't checked any of the other projects yet, so I don't know how much
disk space they require, but for SETI it's only a few MB, Einstein needs a
bit more. It is also possible to limit the disk usage; although some
projects may require a minimum amount of space to be available
(Climateprediction for example won't work if you only allow it to use 50
MB.)


(] How does it work? [)

To participate in a BOINC project, you need to create an account for that
project, and you need to install the BOINC software.

To create an account, go to the project's website (see end of article for
some URLs) and find the link 'Create an account'. Fill out the form, and
you'll get an email with the account key that's needed to add it in BOINC.
The project's website is also where you change the settings for BOINC (to
limit memory and disk usage).

Then download and install the latest version of the BOINC software and add
the project with the URL and account key that you got when creating the
project account and that's all. Your computer will do the rest: It will
contact the project's server to request work, it'll receive work (if some is
available), and then it will start working. After several days (or longer,
depending on how long your computer is active) the work is done, and it is
sent back. When the result is verified you get credits depending on how much
computer time was spent.


(] Additional info [)

Because BOINC will need to use part of your computer's CPU power, disk space
and network bandwidth (this can be controlled however), there are some
things to consider.

Only run BOINC on your own computer, or for which you have permission from
the computer's owner. Companies and schools usually don't like it when
something like BOINC is installed on their computers.

So when your teachers, employers or parents get angry at you for installing
BOINC, do not blame STFF ;-)


(] URLs [)

The SETI Classic team:
http://seticlassic.ssl.berkeley.edu/stats/team/team_127658.html

There still seem to be a couple of active members there, but remember: SETI
Classic is scheduled to be shutdown some time in the future. It is listed
here because the URL changed, and the one in the COMM section of the site is
no longer working ;-)

BOINC info and downloads: http://boinc.berkeley.edu/ (also has links to
several projects)
SETI at Home: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/
Einstein at Home: http://einstein.phys.uwm.edu/

Star Trek Frontier Fleet BOINC teams:
SETI: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/team_display.php?teamid=38831
Einstein: http://einstein.phys.uwm.edu/team_display.php?teamid=3319

Both have a link to create an account that's part of the team immediately
(if you already have a SETI or Einstein account, feel free to join the STFF
team of course <G>)
If you already have an account for another BOINC project, let me know. I am
planning to test a few of the other projects as well, and if there are
enough members who also participate for those projects, we could create a
team for STFF.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Back to the Calhoun, part 4, by Rob Versteegt.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Summary: In the past, on board the USS Calhoun in 2390 during its very first
mission, Jeff Jalando struggled to keep the Calhoun in one piece. He was,
after all, accused by Starfleet's Temporal Security with the destruction of
this ship. . . when he got sent back in time because of a reason Jalando
still doesn't understand, he was determined to do whatever was necessary to
protect the Calhoun. And so far, that seemed to be a day-time job. The
Calhoun was attacked by transwarpcreatures which seemed to see the ship as a
mate, the Engines overheated, CEO Baugh died, and an artificial virus was
set free on board the ship. Jalando too got infected with this virus, but he
managed to get out of Sickbay to find out what was going on. By sheer
coincidence, -or just by following STC Logix- he discovered a room filled
with canisters with contained this artificial virus. Nanoprobes and Xenexian
grenades also seemed present. This wasn't a storage room. . . it was an
armoury!

When STC Logix went away to report this, Jalando stayed behind. . . only to
encounter someone he already knew.

And now the continuation:
Part 4 of: Back to the Calhoun.

"You?" Jalando managed to get out. This wasn't possible, was it? There, on
the other side of the room, stood a man whom Jalando knew already. A man who
was as much out of time as Jalando was. A man who could very well be
responsible for Jalando's trip back in time. . . his trip to the launch of
the Calhoun.

"Me." The man said, nodding to Jalando. "Good to see you Jeff. I hope your
little trip through time hasn't confused you too much?" This sentence. . .
this small, little sentence, was enough to let Jalando yet out a yelp of
surprise. Yes, from the moment he had seen this man, he had realised that it
was possible for this man to have been responsible for his coming to the
Calhoun, but to actually hear it from him was both disturbing and a relief.
It answered a couple of questions, but it raised much, much more.

"Kevin, isn't it?" Jalando could finally say, after a moment of trying to
calm down. He had seen this man before indeed: 'Kevin', as he had been
called before -or. . . would be called, whatever- had been on the Federation
Timeship Eternity, when Jalando had been transported to the Calhoun in the
past. Had this man been responsible for this? That would explain his
presence here of course, but. . . they had seen Jalando as a criminal, had
they not? Then why would this Kevin come back now?

Kevin nodded. "Kevin DeSerre to be exact. I am, was and/or will be the First
Officer of the Eternity." He smiled a reassuring smile. "It's best not to
think about that too much. . ." He then started walking around the room. "My
my, you certainly have discovered something. . . interesting here, Jalando."

Now it was Jalando's turn to nod. "Indeed." He said, still not understanding
what this Mr. DeSerre was doing here. But since that First Officer of the
Eternity hadn't imprisoned him just yet, he couldn't be that bad. . . could
he? "It seems as if this is the source of the mysterious illness which is
spreading through the ship." He held up his hand, where there were still red
dots present. "Also, there are enough explosives here to. . ." he paused,
and shook his head while trying to come up with the right words. "To destroy
the Calhoun!" He finished.

Kevin tilted his head sideways, and smiled faintly. "Really?" He asked.

"Yes, and I have no idea why they are here." Jalando continued. "It makes no
sense that. . ." he now paused, frowned, and looked up at Kevin. "What did
you just say?"

Kevin DeSerre was now the one to shake his head. "My dear, innocent,
gullible Jeff Jalando." He started, grabbing his phaser from the holster.
"You really have no idea what is going on here, do you? Tell me, honestly,
what you think had happened to you. Why you had travelled back in time to
the Calhoun. Hmmm?"

Jalando blinked. This certainly had not been what he had expected. "I. . ."
He started, recognising the face he was staring in right now: it was the
face of danger. He had stared in this face before, back on Sigma Altair IV,
the colony where he had lived during the Dominion War. The face of Danger
was then a Dominion Soldier, aiming his weapon at little Jeff and his two
older sisters. Adriana, his oldest sister who had just graduated from the
Academy, had protected the children, but she herself had paid a horrible
price: she got vaporised by a Jem'Hadar weapon. In time, Jalando had
realised that Adriana had sacrificed her own life for that of her family.
She had rescued him.

But there was nobody to rescue him now. No one else. He was alone. And he
knew that his days were over: he would die. And that scared him. "I thought
I was sent back to prove my innocence. . ." Jalando explained softly. Not
that it would help: he knew his end had come.

A grin appeared on DeSerre's face. The same kind of grin which appeared on
the faces of lousy-written holo-villains, just before they were to unveil
their masterplan: after all, they were sure that they would win, even though
'good' always triumphed over 'evil'. Not that those holo-villains knew that
though: they were always convinced of their own victory.

The difference between a holo-novel like that and the situation Jalando was
in now, was that this was no lousy-written holo-novel. . . this was real.
And DeSerre had every reason to be certain about victory, since there was
nobody to stand in his way. . . except Jalando. And he couldn't do too much
either, since he was looking into the firing-end of a futuristic looking
phaser.

"You're right." Kevin DeSerre, who turned out to be a characteristic
bad-guy, said with that grin of his. "Well, part right, actually. You see,
you were sent here to prove someone's innocence. . . but it's not your own.
It's my innocence. Remember when we arrested you? We said that we have found
evidence in the past, that the Calhoun was blown up because of you. That we
had found your DNA. And we had. Or rather, we will have."

Jalando swallowed, realising what had been happening all along. "You set me
up." He started, looking Kevin DeSerre in the eyes. "You transported me to
the past, so that you could fabricate your evidence there, to destroy the
Calhoun and remain out of harm's way at the same time. . ."

"Clever, aren't you?" The man said, smiling still. "Once the Calhoun
explodes, Starfleet Temporal will find you there, and that will lead to your
arrest, which will lead to you being transported into the past by me, which
will again lead to the Calhoun's destruction." He grinned. "Don't try to
understand it Jalando. Just accept it. It's fate, live with it."

He now stretched his arm which held his phaser. "Or better yet, die with
it."

An orange phaserbeam struck Jalando in the chest, and he fell down to the
floor, right next to these containers of explosives. The pain was too much
to bare. He wanted to scream, wanted to move, wanted to do anything. . . but
he couldn't. The beam paralysed him. All he could move were his eyes. What
had this man done to him? Jalando wasn't dead, but. . . this wasn't being
alive either.

>From where he was lying, Jalando could see DeSerre grinning at him. That
grin. . . that terrible grin on that face of Danger. This time it wasn't
Jalando laughing in the face of Danger, it was Danger laughing in the face
of Jalando. "Oh don't worry, I won't kill you." The man said. "Well, not yet
anyway. In fact, you will kill yourself."

Jalando couldn't say anything back. He tried to, but he couldn't. He wanted
to stand up and stop this man, but there was no way for him to do that. All
he could do was look helplessly, knowing that his chance of saving the
Calhoun, and thus the entire transwarpproject, were now lost.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" DeSerre asked with a smile. "Go
on, do something to me. I dare you."

But Jalando was unable to do anything, and DeSerre knew that. With a loud
laugh, he turned away from Jalando, only to turn back again a moment later.
Now, the phaser he had fired was no longer pointing at Jalando. In fact, he
was handing the phaser to the paralysed First Officer of Pandora! Yes, the
man was putting that weapon in Jalando's hand! But. . . why?

Jalando heard soon enough. "I've programmed this phaser to fire
automatically in about a minute." DeSerre started. "In the direction it's
facing now, the phaserbeam will hit these containers. . . and we both know
what disastrous reaction that would have. The Calhoun would explode if that
would happen, would it not?" He grinned. "Well, it will. And the best thing
is, this way people will think you did it. You'll get all the blame, and
nobody will expect me to be the one responsible. Isn't it great?"

But Jalando said nothing. He just stared at the phaser in his hand, trying
desperately to move it. But. . . it was to no avail. He was unable to do
anything.

"Well, if you don't mind, I'll be going now." Kevin DeSerre said with a
smile. He stood up, and gave a mock-bow. "Mister Jalando, I hope we never
meet again. But then again, there isn't that much chance of that happening,
now is there?" He smiled. "Au revoir." With those last words, he tapped a
device fitted on his arm, and quickly beamed away.

Jalando was left all alone. . . in this cargobay, with the futuristic phaser
in his hand. He had to move, had tried to move, he tried to do anything, but
he couldn't. He couldn't! A single tear showed his anger, fear, sadness and
despair. A single tear. . . and then his time was up.

The phaser fired.

The phaserbeam wreaked havoc on the containers which were present in this
room. These containers, filled with explosives and other terrible weapons,
could not stand this violence. The only thing these explosives could do now,
was to do what they were created to do. To detonate.

At that moment, Jalando closed his eyes: it was all he could do to protect
him from the incredible explosion which followed. Pain surged through
Jalando's body for just a moment. . . before the violent explosion vaporised
him. Due to the force of the explosion, waves of fire, heat and immense
destruction quickly found their way through the entire deck, feeding on the
systems and personnel which they encountered. Just a matter of seconds
later, minutes at most, the Sovereign class vessel USS Calhoun -the pride of
Starfleet- exploded.

*****

Stardate 2390.06.28.
Starfleet Headquarters.
Admiral Morgana reporting.

Begin log.

There are no words to describe the terrible tragedy which has happened.
After extensive search, Starfleet's Scientific Department had determined
that the USS Calhoun, Starfleet's first functional transwarpship, has indeed
been destroyed. Starfleet has been forced to agree with what Talaxian
government already stated: after coming out of Transwarp, the USS Calhoun's
engine must have overheated. All that was needed was a single spark to let
the entire ship explode.

The Calhoun's destruction will have an impact on us all. Not only have some
of us lost close friends and colleagues, but it has been decided that
Starfleet's transwarp project will be halted, indefinitely. After this. . .
accident with the Calhoun, Starfleet will not take any chances. Maybe we
weren't ready for Transwarp at all. Maybe we rushed into things. We might
never know if the Calhoun's destruction could have been prevented, but one
thing is certain: we will not let something like this happen again.

The USS Calhoun has been destroyed. The transwarp-project has been halted,
and our relations with the Talaxians and Vidiians have come to a similar
stop: while they do understand our position, they feel that just talking
over subspace with a lot of delays is not like they expected from a
diplomatic relationship with the Federation. It seems as if the Calhoun's
destruction has not only caused countless deaths, but a diplomatic crisis as
well.

To conclude this log: the USS Calhoun was important. To all of us. Its
destruction is a serious blow to morale, technological advancement and
diplomatic relationships. And on a personal note, the loss of the Calhoun
means the loss of several close friends, and some damned fine colleagues.
They will be missed.

May they rest in peace.

This is Admiral Morgana, Starfleet HQ,
End log.

=====