2001 Address

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Stardate: 237801.28 (28th January 2001)

=/= State of the Federation -- a look back on Year 2000 =/=

The last year began, appropriately, with a new hope for UFOP. Political differences were set aside, and the group saw a new potential being brought forth. Since then, we have seen a lot.

The UFOP fleet has suffered a number of losses over the past year. The StarBase 118 base, under Captain Malcolm Lysander, was forced to retire when RL (Real Life) pressures became too much for him. As well, the USS Walton was forced to fold while Y'Shirad went on leave. Captains Alder Wong and Ka'el Laang both resigned over the course of the year as well. Valarious has also stepped down from command, still SIMming in a non-command role.

One of our longer-SIMming ships, the USS Ronin, has been temporarily decommissioned until a Captain can be found for her. The Ronin was created just over two years ago, by Captain SkyFire, and then under Captain Alder Wong last year, and most recently under Lieutenant Commander Mike James, until his transfer. Rest assured that once James earns his command pips, the Ronin will once again join the other ships of UFOP.

On the other side of things, we have also seen a number of new command staff, rising to take the places that have been left empty. Commander Speed, Commander Robert Falcon, Commander Adorakon, Commander Brynn Wellesly, Commander Rachel Daninburg.

Earning not only their Commanders rank, but their Captains as well during this year, we are proud to point to the three newest members to the Captains Council -- Captain Hollis of the USS Kodiak. Captain Callen of the USS Isannah. Captain Jay Ross of the USS Wallace. UFOP is proud to have them and their vessels within our fleet.

One of the more interesting happenings in the political side of UFOP was on the USS StarWind, where a Commander Edward Kingson took the vessel temporarily, was promoted to Captain, and was immediately killed off by the writer. Total duration of his Captaincy, approximately one month.

It is hoped that no Captain will ever top his record for the shortest Captaincy ever.

More recently -- in fact, just this last month -- we have had several high-level promotions. Brian Kelly, Captain of the Ranger and the longest serving Captain in UFOP has only recently been given a long-overdue promotion to Rear Admiral. Torack Demma (CO, DS72/Defiance) has also been promoted to Fleet Captain, just a few days prior to Christmas. For ploting purposes, Demma's promotion will not take effect in character; however he will be making use of it in the adminstration of UFOP, as the newly-appointed fifth member to UFOP's Executive Council. We also recognize Hollis (CO, Kodiak) as the elected representative for the Captains Council.

This brings us to one of the biggest changes that has hit UFOP's leadership structure in the past while -- for some months, Brian Kelly has been working on a document intending to outline and expand upon some of the rules and procedures that we have been using for UFOP all this while, in the hopes that having procedures set in place would ease some of the more confusing aspects of the groups leadership. After many months of hard work, his vision has coalessed into UFOP's Constitution, which was unanimously accepted by the Commanders, Captains, and Admirals of UFOP.

How does all this affect you? As with most of our organizational changes, we've done our best to keep it from affecting much of your day-to-day SIMming. Each vessel is still organized by its Captain, assisted by its XO, and driven on by its crew. For those who dream of someday running a ship of their own, the criterion for promotion to Commander and Captain have been clarified, both by the CONST and by some by-laws -- take a look at them *here*. Other relevant points, such as new rules for general SIMming can be found *here*, and you can see the Constitution in it's entirety *here*. Feel free to ask your Captain if you have any questions, or for any official ships policies to be concerned about.

We have also made a decision -- and an important one, at that -- that we as a group are going to make sure that all potential Captains receive the training and practice necessary to run a ship before being thrust in command of a vessel. As always, our preference for this group is quality over quantity -- in this case, fewer ships with well trained Captains, over many ships without strong leadership.

Training, after a long silence, has been reinstated. Jesa Callen (CO, Isannah), or Talisan as a lot of us know her, is serving as the Fleet Assignment Officer, while Y'Shirad (Admin/Training) is the official Commandant of Training. Even now, ships are starting to fill up again with new recruits.

A special thanks goes to Ciara Randor, who ressurected the Reporter after nearly a year of silence and sporadicness.

All in all, this year begins the same way last year did: Full of hope, and promises for another fun year of SIMming in UFOP.

Keep your hands and arms inside the runabout at all times; and we hope you all enjoy the ride.

Sincerely,

The UFOP Captain's and Executive Councils

---

Stats

• Current membership of the Executive Council (EC):
• Fleet Admiral Wolf (Magistrate)
• Rear Admiral Marlin
• Rear Admiral Randor
• Rear Admiral Kelly
• Fleet Captain Demma
• Captains Representative is Captain Hollis
• Current Membership of the Captains Council:
• Fleet Captain Torrack Demma
• Lt. Commander Cas V'Harn (XO) (Author holds Capt. rank as Valarious)
• Captain Jesa Callen {aka Talisan} -- Acting as Magistrate
• Captain Hollis Calley
• Captain Jay Ross
• Captain Y'Shirad
• Captain Colin McHendry
• Captain Allen O'Malley
• with:
• Commander Robert Falcon
• Commander Landayle Speed
• Commander Brynn Wellesley
• Commander Rachel Daninburg
• Commander Servik
• Commander Slane Mortalis
• Commander Adorakon
• as observers and voters on major issues.
• Current Fleet:
• StarWind-A; Excalibur Class; Admiral Ciara Randor; Deep Space Exploration; 21 players
• Hammond; Axis Class; Captain Allen O'Malley; Search and Rescue/Support; 15 players
• Kodiak; Dauntless Class; Captain Calley Hollis; Rapid Response; 18 players
• DeepSpace72; Station; Captain Torack Demma; n/a; 14 players
• Defiance-A; Sovereign Class; Captain Torack Demma; Station Support; 11 players
• Ranger; Nebula Class; Rear Admiral Brian Kelly; Escort; 10 players
• Isannah; Nebula Refit Class; Commander Jesa Rachel Callen; Internal Support; 23 players
• Wallace; Captain Jay Ross; Exploratory; 21 players