April Calendar Image news

The 2011 calendar will return shortly. This mfonth is my first serious attempt at a comic strip. I have four simple, no color, sparse on detail framed drawings. Stan Lee has nothing to worry about. All I have left to do is an opening, kind of establishing shot. Then scanning onto the computer and posting The plan is to have four frames a month in an ongoing story. Anyway, I expect to have the first attempt up by Thursday at the latest.

USS Remillard Stardate 0311.18 Captain Bindi McKinnon

There are still jokes in some circles about red-shirts, despite the fact that security personnel have swapped colors with command and now wear gold. In some cases, especially among those of us in the command path, that joke is a bit of gallows humor we keep to ourselves. But I tend to keep a very tight rein on that particular joke. No member of an away team is expendable, and there are no missions so routine that I don't think about that as we are released by the transporter beam. So naturally I could think of nothing but the bright red of my uniform as we beamed into the smoky, oily gloom of the crippled Korax class light cruiser. No matter your intentions, Klingons never appreciate you beaming onto their ships uninvited.

The floor was sticky. All four of us, two security specialists, chief engineer Brandon and I noticed it at the same time. Tricorder analysis showed that it wasn't because of any substance that had been spilled or spread on the deck. The deck plating itself had undergone a molecular change as a result of being subjected to extreme heat. Fortunately, the heat source was no longer present, so we didn't have to worry about our shoes melting. But there was also nothing known of this particular region of space that would do this to a klingon ship. So we were looking at either an unknown environmental hazard or exotic alien with a grudge against the klingons. Neither alternative sounded conducive to an uneventful survey.

USS Remillard Stardate 0311.14 Captain Bindi McKinnon

The Korax is a deceptively simple design, essentially the same tried and true space frame that has worked so well for them for more than two centuries. It has a single hull with outrigger nacelle struts that swing up and meet on top with a torpedo launcher integrated into a single warp nacelle. While l am not familiar with the capabilities of the Korax. it certainly resembles the Relentless class of the 23rd century; a ship almost legendary for its ability to withstand extreme damage and still make it home under power.

So I wasn't really surprised to find that there was enough of the ship intact and maintaining an atmosphere to warrant investigating. Unfortunately, there is so much interference that we can't determine any life readings. So in the grand tradition of starfleet crews since there was a starfleet, we're going in blind.  

USS Remillard Stardate 0311.02

The debris we discovered led us to a nearly intact Korax Class Klingon light cruiser. Our transmission to Starfleet was greeter with deafening silence. We finally heard back with word that again will delay our mission to Tholia. The Klingons deny having any ships near Tholian space, and seem furious at us for having found one of their new ships out here. So we've been ordered to board and investigate. I have to think that the Klingons aren't going to be happy about this no matter how it turns out. Great.