• Welcome to the New Year & the New Newsletter
• Spotlight on the Members of the GFC
• The Meridians
• Transparent Aluminum - A Reality
• Ships Logs
• SIM Times & Names

Lieutenant Blythe Drake
Editor in Chief
SFHQ

Welcome to the new year and the first issues of COMLINK. I trust everyone had a wonderful holiday season and are looking forward to an even better 2007. I would like to extend congratulations to the crew and command staff of the U.S.S. Valkyrie on their 8th anniversary, 06 January 2007.

The last year in the Galactic Freedom Command brought us the bi-annual Fleet Wide Sims.  Overall the Fleet Wide was a rousing success with the active participation of the fleet.  The overall plot was one of conspiracy with many subplots to buoy the main story line.  We saw members kidnapped and replace with clones, skirmishes on planets and in space alike and in the end the death of a villain who has haunted several SIMs over the past ten years.

Our role playing group includes people from all walks of life.  We’ve made new friends this year and lost some of the old friends to the ravages of real life.  Some of our numbers gathered this summer to experience Shore Leave and had a wonderful time.  With luck, Shore Leave 2007 will show an even bigger group.

As we head into the new year I can’t help but wonder who will we add to our numbers this year? What friends will we discover along the way and will real life allow those that had to take a break to come back into the family?  Whatever it brings, I know that we will grow and become stronger for it. We, the staff of COMLINK, will do our best to bring you something every month that you can be pleased to read.  We look forward to your feedback as well as your participation.

Happy New Year and may the days to come be filled with happiness, growth and fulfillment.

Fleet Admiral Mychal Dar

The GFC was created several years ago by a dedicate group of people that wanted to have a safe and fun rpg. Sadly over the years that dream faded as real life snuck in and stole one member after another. The numbers got smaller and smaller as the months passed. In 2002 there was a revival of sorts and the GFC emerged a strong RPG with eight games running through the week. It is true that some of those sims have not survived. We remember Stark, Discovery and Night Wing Medical Center. In the past year Legacy has had to go on a sort of hiatus and we hope that this year she may once again join our active ranks.

The GFC is not all about just one member, it is a group of Role Players that continue to bring excitement and new life into the group. We are actively seeking new members and RPGs to keep the spirit of Star Trek alive. That spirit is not always molded from strict adherence to one form of role play or rules of the franchise that owns it. We strive to allow players to expand their fun and creativity while sticking to a guideline that we consider the spirit of Star Trek.

Within the GFC you will meet many varied people. We have men, women and children of all ages. The careers of our group are everything from Electrician to Teacher, Constuction worker to Factory workers, Medical clinic employees to Soldiers. We are proud of our players and what they bring to our game. Each person is important and should feel that they are able to contribute to the games if they wish.

This first spotlight is dedicated to the people in the game. Thank you for making the years we have spent together wonderful and we wish you all an enjoyable time in the year to come.

Lieutenant Blythe Drake

Meridians are from the planet Meridian. There are approximately 30 remaining Meridians. They have distinct rance by Trill-like markings about the outer corner of the eyes. They are descended from survivors of an expedition stranded on Meridian almost a millennia ago. There, the small group was trapped into shifting back and forth between two intersecting dimensions: one of pure consciousness, and the other a mysterious corporeality with a steadily decreasing timeframe. The group only aged and experienced physical sensation when in corporeal form, and as a result, procreation has not been possible. After a startling initial burst, the population since has been suddenly dwindling, with the children present appearing to be around the ages of 6 or 8 "years" old. When discovered by the U.S.S. Defiant in 2371, the invaluable corporeal window was only open for 12 days every 60 years. After a trigger for the rapid shifting in the sun's core was discovered, the window's next appearance was expected to last some 30 years and allow for more stability. The group was informally led by Seltin Rakal. Dax had wanted to join the Meridian after falling in love with one of the members of this society. Although Dr. Bashir did his best to help her be able to experience the shift, it nearly destroyed the planet with destabilizing the shifting ability. Dax was rescued by her crewmates who had stood by to make sure things went according to plan. As soon as Dax was beamed off the planet, Meridian was able to shift into the noncorporeal form as it had before.

The information in this article was verified using www.startrek.com.

Fleet Admiral Mychal Dar

As I was trying to decide what to put in the first article of the COMLINK I was thinking over all the things that Star Trek considered science fiction and are now our realities. Technology that strongly resembles the data collectors in The Original Series (TOS) have been realized in the floppy disk and recordable/rewriteable CD's and DVDs. Some cutting edge hospitals are using communication devises that work on the same voice activated technology as the communicators from the series.

Now the military is exploring the use of ... hold your hats folks and fans of the much acclaimed and best known Star Trek film - Voyage Home (Star Trek IV) ... Transparent Aluminum.

Yes there is now such a critter. It is marketed under the name of ALON. The product is much like glass in the fact that light can filter through it without much distortion but is four times stronger than glass and reportedly three times stronger than steel.

ALON begins as a powder and is made much like normal ceramic. There are three different processes to make the product bu the end result is the same. Something lighter and thinner than glass but stronger. ALON is the trade mark name through Surmet. It can be made to order and is useful in a wide variety of environments including medical.

If you wish to learn more about ALON visit the Surmet website at http://www.surmet.com/alon.html and look it up in the wikipedia. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transparent_aluminum ).

Who would have imagined back in the early 60s as the fledgling franchise was just beginning to cultivate a following that it would not only become one of the most popular themes of the 20th century but also be responsible for so many people joining the scientific and engineering fields and as a basis for so many time saving and enjoyable technologies.