News and Announcements!

[Daniel Howell]

Good day crew,

So it has been decided that we will not be changing mission at the end of the month, more keeping this one going until we actually finish it, so 2 month mission it looks like so lets keep up the activity and posting and get a full mission under our belt.

Lt. Cmdr. Howell

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

Hey everyone!

We have two former returning players joining us.

Acting Lieutenant Commander Steven Black is played by a longtime Shadow Fleet player. He'll be heading up the new Intel department.

Katheryn Carter is going to be joining our security team as a Lieutenant Junior Grade. She also used to be a CO back in the day.

Reminder: the current mission is going to go long, so feel free to sub-plot and post as much as you like. Pay no attention to the end of the month.

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

Good morning team,

Today marks the month mark of our current mission. Like Dan said above, it's going to go over, and I don't know how March is going to play out as far as missions. But we'll stick with it, I believe it is starting to pick up.

We've had some Returners come back recently, that I have already announced, but I am pleased to do the same for a new member. Operations Crewman Almar is now a member of the family!

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

Promotions!

For conspicuous activity, gallantry, teamwork, and all around awesomeness I hereby promote the following crew members to the next rank:

Lieutenant Michael J. Tritter to Lieutenant Commander

Ensign T'Prina to Lieutenant Junior Grade

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

Wow, that month and a half flew by, didn't it?

Killer Cove has ended. We'll be carrying forward some of its plot elements into future missions.

Seeing as how we are already in the second week of the month we will not be starting a full-fledged mission until April.

In the meantime, your second officer Michael Tritter and your plucky Vulcan science officer T'Prina have dreamed up a mini-sode for us to do!

For those of you not aware, a mini-sode in the Fleet is a more relaxed, shorter length mission. It's a chance for us to do some character development, take in a different kind of plot, and eats up gaps in a calendar between regular missions like we are doing now.

Our first mini-sode ever as a crew (!) is going to be the premiere of a concept I've been floating around called "Columbus Stories." It will be less action oriented, more focusing on your character's changing, learning and growing as people. I'm not telling you how to roleplay, but if you've ever wanted to spend more time hitting emotional pay dirt with your character as opposed to blasting space aliens this is it!

Chief Tritter will be putting up the mini-sode in a few hours, and he and T'Prina will be running it completely. I'll be here to help but I'll be more or less posting as a regular player.

I want to thank you all for your hard work and the quality writing over the past 6 weeks. We've gone through some changes as a SIMM, and a lot was thrown at everyone. But you've all handled it with the grace and style that I have come to expect of you.

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

Good day team!

We have a new player joining us. Ensign Benjamin Bennet will be helping us out in the Security department.

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

Hello Starbase Columbus,

You may notice that our motto has changed. "Adsumus" is Latin for "Here We Are." I felt the English was a stronger message and more in line with the mottoes around the site.

"Here We Are." It's a declaration. An affirmation. It's a personal message from myself and Shadow Fleet.

In the past, slings and arrows have been levied at Shadow Fleet, but we have always survived. Through thick and thin, flush and bust, for ten years we have been the number one name in Star Trek collaborative fiction. And the Starbase Columbus is the hub of it all.

We aren't the oldest or largest SIMM in the Fleet, but we are at the very center of it. We've been here a long time and we're going to continue to be. Here we are.

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

Command Level Officer Announcement

Effective April 1st Lieutenant Commander Daniel Howell will be stepping down as your Executive Officer. He will be transferring to the Engineering department as our new Chief Engineer. I'd like to thank Dan for his time as XO.

Also effective April 1st Lieutenant Commander "Chief" Michael J. Tritter will be taking over as Executive Officer. Mike brings years of Shadow Fleet experience, and Admin experience from many other sites. I have come to depend upon him and his counsel and with the Command Level Officer change he is the ideal candidate to assume XO duties.

Our Ship's Representative, Octavious Reo, has entered the Reserves. She will be getting in touch with me in a month to let me know where she stands. For now, the SR position is still hers. If she ends up leaving us for good we'll hold another election.

In other news:

This has been a busy month for the Starbase Columbus. We have had two new players, a pair of very talented writers and experienced roleplayers from another Star Trek website. I am happy to have Maxine Dainshire as our new Counselor and Mykel Kristoffer as our new security cadet.

The minisode will be moved to the holodeck tomorrow. I'd like to thank T'Prina and Mike Tritter for running the boards for the last few weeks. I think we all had fun with our first minisode.

Our new mission will start tomorrow. I think you will all enjoy it!

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

Happy July everyone!

Due to the site difficulties of last month, Pollice Verso was on a total of three different websites and servers. Despite all that, I think it was a fine, enjoyable mission. Its progress was jerky due to other circumstances, but I had a lot of fun. Hopefully you all did, too.

For the remainder of the month we'll be doing another Columbus Stories minisode. To briefly review, a minisode is a mini-mission that lasts less than a month. It still takes precedence over holodecks, Arcade, Featured SIMMs and your kid's high school graduation, but it's a bit more laid back and comical than usual. This month's minisode was written by our very own T'Prina! Yay!

Let's all enjoy our second ever minisode as we move towards our season finale in August!

HERE WE ARE

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

Hey gang!

First of all, let's all welcome Tanner Lochlyn, our newest security cadet! Welcome aboard, Tanner.

Thanks to T'Prina, we have had an amazing rest of July with our minisode!

Our season finale starts on Monday, the date I will also be moving Missing Treasures to the replimat, so get those posts in!

August is going to be Epic. Like a roller-coaster carrying thrill seekers forged from Awesome hitting a walk in freezer stuffed with Excellence. Like Thor slamming his hammer into a mountain top and a newly formed mythical creature crawling out of the womb of the red hot earth. That's our finale.

HERE WE ARE

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

First things first!

Katharoz Knox has consistently surprised me with her posting abilities, cheerful attitude, and sticking with us as a new player when we were switching servers. She's quickly becoming a Columbus staple and I feel that promoting her to Lieutenant Junior Grade along with Department Head of Ops is the least we can do. Congratulations, Knox!

Secondly, our finale is underway and I am humbled and blown away by how all of you have jumped in with both feet. You are all truly knocking this one out of the park. In case you didn't know, our founder, Admiral Newberry, wrote this mission. He has since moved on from Shadow Fleet. None of us would be here without him, however, and the Fleet would not have been a home for all of us for the past decade without Chris. And I am more than pleased to say that you are all doing him proud with this finale.

HERE WE ARE

[Naira]

Hey everyone,

I want to start out by restating, as I said in the message I sent out to everyone, August is shaping up to be our best month yet. We've gained a couple of amazing new writers and in the last few weeks we've come together to write more than we have in the last few months. I love logging in each morning to see what exciting new things all the different characters are up to and how they all work together, or against each other.

In addition to this, I also want to congratulate our newest member, E'Veece Septimus, on passing her OTC and making the rank of Ensign. With her level of posting and dedication I foresee her quickly raising through the ranks. Good job and keep at it.

HERE WE ARE 

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

Hey team!

We have officially started our second season! Time does fly. I personally can't believe it's been nearly a year since I took over command here. I have said it once and I will say it again: you are all by far the most active, talented, and most fun group I have ever worked with here on Shadow Fleet. Apologies to anyone who I have worked with prior to this; I think only Mike, who doesn't require or want any apologies .

Thanks to your hard work and some creative ideas submitted by the crew we have a whiz bang season set up. It's still very much in the works. I like to improvise on the fly, and hopefully you all will feel encouraged to do the same. I will be getting a season two mission list up and running at some point, however.

Let's all enjoy our premiere for this season! As always, if you have any issues, please see myself, Mike, or Naira.

HERE WE ARE

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

Hey gang!

Effective immediately, Michael Tritter is hereby promoted to full commander. Ever since coming to Shadow Fleet in April of 2013 Mike has been a hard charging officer who is always active. I rely on him quite a bit to help keep this SIMM up and running and the best in the Fleet. Congrats, Mike!

Jenna McKinson is hereby promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade. Jenna is also always online, always posting, and has written our next mission. Her promotion was enthusiastically approved by the admiralty. Way to go, Jenna!

Katharox Knox stuck with us as a new player through June's service nightmare. She is an excellent writer, very active, and fun to have in base chat, to boot. She also contributes to missions behind the scenes. In addition, Knox was brought on in Operations because that department was vacant, but originally wanted the Strategic Operations Officer position. I have spoken with Admiral Lafayette, who agrees that she is able to do both. Until we can get Ops filled out, Knox will be holding two positions: Chief of Ops and SOO. You can read about the SOO spot in our database. Knox will also be promoted to full lieutenant in recognition of her contribution to our SIMM.

Congratulations to all! Mike, Jenna, Knox: please remember to change your rank slides and request new ID cards.

HERE WE ARE

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

Hey team!

The command staff has hashed out our schedule from now up until January. The next four months will consist of three missions, two minisodes and another mystery for your enjoyment. With that being said, time is a factor. If you're active, online a lot, and post a great deal, don't hesitate too much when it comes to posting. Give a player a reasonable amount of time to post, clear it with Mike, Naira or myself and then post. We're on a tight schedule, but I promise you, it's worth it.

I'm not telling you to post around people after a few hours, but you're all excellent storytellers with an eye for flow and narrative. Keep the story in mind when deciding whether or not to post. And as always, see the command staff with any questions.

HERE WE ARE