Memory Book/Irina Pavlova (Andrew F)

Hello! My name is Andrew and I will turn 50-years-old this month (I'm a September 1967 model). I've been a Star Trek for over 40 years, but I really identified with the series Enterprise as I favor stories that deal with long periods of time and looking back through history. Enterprise was special to me for its place as a sort of origin story for the Trek universe.

My primary character, Irina Pavlova, is a human female who was a marine and the chief armory officer on the Enterprise era USS Columbia, NX-03. She reported to the Columbia on July 20, 2169, the bicentennial anniversary of humankind's first landing on earth's moon, and was listed as missing in action, presumed dead on November 13, 2171. Most of Columbia's crew were either dead or in cryostasis, but Irina and 31 others were actually alive on the surface of the planet Kjenta II, which similar to Ba'ku has regenerative properties that kept and her away teammates alive for the 219 years until their rescue by the USS Discovery-C

Irina started out as an Mission NPC in a mission I ran for the USS Discovery C, and from there became my secondary character and ultimately my primary. Previously I played Lieutenant Commander Hsina Amman as my primary, a science officer who later became a security officer.

For additional information about me, check out my user page  found here

Characters

Real Life information

As I stated above, I am 50-years-old (as of September 2017) and have been a Star Trek fan since the early 1970s watching ToS in syndication. I've seen every single Star Trek move as a new release in the theatre from Star Trek: The Motion Picture through the latest Star Trek: Beyond.

I live in central California and work as an attorney defending non-citizens in both immigration and criminal courts. I am also an officer in the US Army Reserve (Major) with 33 years of service, and counting. I am happily married with my 24th anniversary rapidly approaching and have a 22-year-old daughter who is a recent college graduate.

I completed my JD degree in 2004, an MA in Asian Studies in 2000 and a BA in Asian Studies in 1993. I am also fluent in Spanish and conversation in Korean and Japanese, but sadly have forgotten almost all of my French.

I am also an avid amateur photographer and mostly enjoy travel and street photography, mostly using fast prime lenses in low light.

How you came to UFOP: SB118

As previously stated, I've been a Star Trek fan almost my entire life, and as teenager and young adult was heavily involved in pen/paper/dice roleplaying games, starting with Dungeons and Dragons and moving on to a Star Trek RPG by a company called FASA. When the internet became a mature platform I started simming, mostly in Star Trek, at first with an independent group that lasted from the mid 1990s though approximately 2008, and then kind of bounced from group to group, never really finding what I wanted until I came upon SB118 just doing a Google search in August of 2012, and the rest is history (my favorite subject).

History

Where were you first placed? What was it like starting to sim on your vessel?

Upon successfully graduating the academy, my first character Dr. Hsina Amman was placed as a civilian at Starbase 118 OPS. At that time the simming pace was just too fast, and I was reassigned after a few months as a science officer on the USS Discovery C. I was quickly promoted through the ranks and remained on Discovery C until she was decommissioned.

I adapted a mission NPC into a Secondary Character and Marine Captain Irina Pavlova was assigned to the USS Vigilant. Upon Vigilant's decommissioning, Irina moved to Duronis II Embassy where she remains today, as both my primary character and the embassy's chief of security.

What have been your greatest challenges in this group?

A big challenge for me is my continuing military obligations which send me overseas twice per year for three weeks per trip, with very limited internet access. That, and being an attorney in private practice means that my days are very busy, and sometimes I can fall behind on the action in my unit.

What have been your greatest achievements in this group?

I think my greatest achievement so far was in character development. My character Irina Pavlova started out mostly an officer out-of-time, more than two centuries out-of-date and on the run from darker interests within the federation. From these beginnings, she has slowly grown, modernized, and her place in the universe. Most recently she married another officer, and was influenced by a teenager she once rescued on an away mission to the point where she is having serious doubts about what she does for a living, and how to do it.

Irina is an expert sniper and a prodigal soldier, but recently has come to abhor violence, which presents serious challenges to a former marine.

What do you hope to ultimately accomplish?

As far as IC, I would like to become a first officer as that is both the role I enjoy most in Trek movies and TV, and also the role I always enjoyed playing the most in other groups. I have commanded ships before in other groups and might like to do so again here at SB118, but my current real life schedule probably won't allow that for that time being.

Where do you see this group in five years?

I think the entire simming community has been struggling in recent years, and I'd imagine that even with active recruiting that our community might end up a bit smaller than it is today, though I hope for the opposite. My hope is that whether we expand or contract, that we maintain the same levels of quality that all SB118 units appear to have.

How do you think this group has contributed to Star Trek's legacy? How has the group contributed to the internet community?

What can I say? I think we've taken the Star Trek Universe boldly where it has never been before, and will continue to do so. There are dozens, if not hundreds of Trek groups out there and I've tried many, but none have had the level of consistent quality of SB118.