[Announce] Fleet Address

[Robert]

Greetings fellow TFE members!

This Fleet Address is a little overdue, and there's a lot to cover, so 
I'll jump right in and get it done.

First off, I want to say that I believe the Fleet Plot to be a success. 
  It wasn't without its challenges or imperfections, but overall I 
believe we successfully told the story of the beginning of great changes 
in the Star Trek world.  The Earth-Romulan War is a significant event in 
Trek history, and we have the opportunity to /make/ that history.  I'm 
not yet speaking of it in the past tense, because such an important 
event isn't concluded quickly or easily -- thus we're not quite done 
with it.  Many sources cite the Earth-Romulan Wars (plural) which ended 
with the Battle of Charon in 2161.  So we're only halfway to the end, 
currently transitioning into a cold war period in which we try to 
regroup the Coalition and destabilize the enemy's alliances at the same 
time.  Not all SIMs and crews will be directly involved in this, but all 
will ultimately be affected in some way.

To the extent of the War's effect on the Fleet, many of you have already 
heard that Challenger and Meridian will be undergoing a major refit 
which will turn them into Freedom-class heavy cruisers.  That doesn't 
mean they will no longer be exploring, only that they can and will be 
called upon for more aggressive situations in this post-war, cold war, 
inter-war period.  Yorktown will remain an Enterprise-class (formerly 
"NX-class") explorer, and resume Starfleet's original mission of 
peaceful exploration.  Forrest Outpost is becoming a "strategic 
location" with the construction of our newest shipyard well underway, 
and New Darwin Colony is invaluable as well with the addition of both a 
new Academy campus and Starfleet Intelligence compound.

In addition, I'm happy to announce the return if /Intrepid/ as a full 
TFE SIM.  She'll be commanded by Captain Sandra Milikan, as played by 
Suzy (RAdm Batenburg).  This appointment carries a great responsibility, 
as the SIM is being resurrected from the ground up.  To help her in 
this, Suzy's brought on another long-time TFE SIMmer that many of you 
may have written with in the past.  She's appointed Rick Hunter (Warrant 
Officer Roy Fokker, Lieutenant Benjamin Tsang) as her XO, Commander Wu 
Janjin.  I've been informed that they're planning on getting up to full 
speed around September, giving them plenty of time to get the SIM set up 
OOC and IC, and recruit for positions.

Speaking of recruiting, Chris has stepped down from running our 
Recruiting Command, but not before providing us with a plethora of 
published advertisements and some tools to work with.  Being Summer, 
there's a natural slump (hence why Intrepid is looking at September), 
but we'll be coordinating a recruiting push soon to help fill our ranks. 
  If you'd be interested in volunteering for the Recruiting Command, do 
let us know and we'll certainly make use of you!

Other fleet-level positions deserve mention as well.  Fleet Operations 
is currently being headed up by Rachelle (Capt Reece Morgan, LtCmdr 
Talia Brennan) as FCapt Douglass Michaels.  Our Academy, as you may 
recall from Suzy's previous announcement, is being run by Josh as LtCmdr 
Kjell Lindstrom.  By now, neither of these staff members are strangers 
to their respective positions, but I expect to /really/ put them to work 
as we build TFE up, so please give them all the support you can.

In other news, we've got a new website!  The old one served us well for 
years (literally), but it was high time for a facelift.  As an updated 
website to keep up with the other SIM Groups out there, it should help 
out as a primary recruiting tool.  Plus, it's really a source of pride 
to have a web presence that (I believe) demonstrates both our creativity 
and professionalism.  http://www.firstera.net/

And found on this new website is an addition to our Officer Exchange 
Program.  As shown by the series finale of /Star Trek: Enterprise/, by 
2161 Starfleet had undergone several changes as it transitions from a 
civilian science and exploration organization into a more military 
defense and peacekeeping force.  In that vein, we're allowing United 
Earth Military soldiers to serve on our SIMs.  This is a unique 
opportunity, however, and only members with six months good standing and 
CO approval will be eligible for a UEM soldier.  More information can be 
found under the revised Officer Exchange Policy:
http://www.firstera.net/policy_oep.htm


AND NOW, SOME AWARDS!

To start, a new award has been added for the Earth-Romulan War Campaign 
Ribbon.  This is hereby awarded to all personnel whom participated in 
the fleet plot.  Well done to all!

The Expeditionary/Campaign Medal is another fleet plot related award for 
contributing to the overall success of the fleet plot.  Thus the 
Campaign Medal is hereby awarded to all SIM Command Teams actively 
serving during the Fleet Plot.  Congratulations to our senior officers!

The Michael Thompson Memorial Award is given quarterly to TFE members 
whom have contributed to the group in a manner that defines the phrase 
"above and beyond".  It's been a year since we've given this award out, 
and since we only had two nominations this time, we're awarding both 
members.  The first goes to TC (LtCmdr Robert Casey, LtCmdr George 
Boyle), who has been involved in several SIMs, coordinates the Wiki, is 
a valued member of the Engineering Corps, and has performed admirably as 
Yorktown's XO.  The other goes to Kate (Lt Jia Cassidy, Adavarre' 
Rahndi) who has also been involved in several SIMs, the Wiki, the 
Podcast, has been instrumental in developing the Daliwakan people on New 
Darwin, and has stepped up to CO of New Darwin to answer the challenges 
the SIM is currently facing.  These two members have consistently 
demonstrated initiative, creativity, and leadership.  Congratulations to 
TC and Kate!

Next is the Star Award of Excellence.  This award is for excellence in 
SIMming, and is a high honor for TFE SIMs.  The Star goes to the 
Challenger crew for their dedication to creative and interesting stories 
written with much thought and, most importantly, great fun. 
Congratulations to Challenger and her crew!

Finally, the TFE FlagSIM:  Formerly held by New Darwin, this award goes 
to a SIM that has demonstrated high standards in SIMming, and 
consistently meets those standards, as recognized by the TFE staff 
(including the COs of all SIMs).  The FlagSIM for 2159 is Forrest 
Outpost.  Congratulations to Forrest and her crew on a job well done!


With everything going on, it's a great time to be involved in TFE! 
We're a great group of writers, of good people and friends, eager to 
tell a good story with each other and have fun doing it.  We hold 
ourselves and each other to high standards because we're serious about 
our hobby, and that's what draws in and keeps such great people involved 
with us.  "You get out what you put in," I firmly believe, and though 
many of us don't have the time to put in as much as we may wish, I like 
to think we're all satisfied with what's returned.  That's my goal as 
organizer of this group at least, and any questions, comments, or 
suggestions you may have to aid in this goal, I'm more than happy to 
talk with you.

Thank you all,

Robert
"RAdm Garroway"