Dekas

Stats

• Name: Ace.
• Joined Starbase 118: February 2021
• Gender: Gender-fluid. (Preferably They/she. But people do use he/him around here because of my character. Which is fine. For now.)
• Age: 27
• Occupation: I work in a group home for people with disabilities.
• Location: America
• OOC Rank: Lt. Commander
• Hobbies/interests: Writing, reading (I love Urban fantasy, psychological thrillers, sci-fi, and books that sit in a genre I don't know the exact term for but are somewhere between a mystery and an abstract, borderline magical realism? I'll read anything so long as the story is fun, or the topic intrigues me, though. I also love a good fanfiction. Or a bad one. Sometimes they're good for a laugh.) I also like roleplaying/simming, Star Trek, TTRPGs, Cats, and most other animals.
• Favorite Trek series/movie: DS9, Enterprise, and Lower Decks. Runner up: TNG because I love Data with my entire soul.
• Writer ID: J239802D12

How I came to SB118

I started roleplaying through various mediums and fandoms around the age of 15. But my exposure to the Star Trek fandom was extremely limited for the majority of my roleplay experiences. Because until I gave the 2009 JJ Abrams Star Trek a chance around age 13, I was stubborn about really disliking it as an attempt to say I was different than the other people in my house who already really liked it. And even when I could admit it was alright, I still wasn't into it yet. But friends did eventually start writing in the fandom where I could see it over the years, and that's when I decided to give it some chances. It still took a number of years to get anywhere near attached, and up until 2020 to binge a good number of the series one after the other.

Even as it was becoming a special interest, I still wasn't writing in the fandom, though. I wasn't quite ready to shift out of the fandom community that I'd been part of for many years at that point. I had friends and attachments to it all. Even though it had long since started to go from something that made me happy, to something that I almost dreaded. But I was enjoying Star Trek in my own time, and enjoying the many conversations with my dad about it about which ones we liked and why. It was nice to be able to comfortably talk about it.

Then at the end of 2020, my dad died very suddenly. I was grieving. Understandably unhappy. And I knew pretty quickly that I could not stay in the community I was in if it made me unhappy to be there when I was already sad enough. But I also really didn't want to give up writing or roleplaying. Despite the community issues, it was still a comfort to me. So I looked into Star Trek writing groups as a comfort for the grief and the community. There were a few others I was considering, but 118 stood out as well-established, welcoming, and possibly the least confusing setup of the ones I was looking into. I also love a wiki deep dive. So I gave it a try, and here I am!

History

• Where were you first placed? What was it like starting to sim on your vessel?: My first ship was The USS Juneau under Captain Oddas Aria. (The crew officially transferred over to Denali Station in May of 2022) But I came in at the end of a mission called Visitors in the Night. I'll admit, I started out on a rough note. I was in the very beginning stages of grief, among other things. Grief isn't very conducive to keeping up the way I wanted. So I ended up taking an LOA for a few months to make sure I was focusing on my mental health and getting better. I came very close to not coming back. I didn't want to cycle through the motions. I was ready to just let it go. Then the Captain emailed me around the end of the timeframe I said I needed the LOA, which I didn't expect. It forced me to re-examine what I wanted, and what I felt capable of contributing now that I'd had some time away and more therapy. I didn't immediately return. Life was a little too busy for about another month. But once it eased up, I gave it one more round of thought, emailed the captain, and said I was ready. I'm really glad I did.
• What have been your greatest challenges in this group?: There are a number of things I struggle with at any given time. But currently, the hardest thing in the world for some reason is personal, out-of-character emails and messages. Especially if I have a question. Submitting to the mortifying ordeal of being actively perceived is sometimes very scary. I'm working on it and doing better about it by a small degree in recent months. Thanks, therapy.
• What have been your greatest achievements in this group?: Dekas' Assimilation Arc. There were elements of Borg things during "The Silent Monster" mission on the Juneau. The majority of the members of the team I was part of had taken sudden LOAs right at the start, and I wanted to try something interesting that I had an idea for. The Captain gave me the go-ahead to allow Dekas to get assimilated at the end of it. And it has led to very interesting character development and a boost in confidence about what I bring to the table. I also feel proud of the sheer number of appreciations I post on the forums. Also how quickly I've moved up the chain of command to some degree, I'm honored people have enough faith in my potential.
• What do you ultimately hope to accomplish?: I'd like to do all that I can to be an excellent supporting player on Denali Station and any ship or base I might be on in the future. I want to be able to help new players feel as secure and appreciated as I've felt with the command staff of Denali, and I want to help people find those moments where they can have their character or their writing style really shine and be awesome. I think I'd feel really good if I could just manage to do that much.

Player Characters

• Dekas

PNPCs

• Nieda Zivon

Cadet Training Character

• Vanya

Ships

• Denali Station
• USS Juneau (Previous Ship)

OOC activites

• Wiki Operator on Denali Station. (A role I share with John Kendrick)
• Mission Archivist on Denali Station (Another role I share with ya boi John Kendrick <3 )
• Member of the Denali Staff & Mentor
• Member of the Training Team
• Potentially more to come... eventually.

Contact

(It should go without saying that this is for people in the group to reach me only. But if you need me, this is the email to reach me at)

• cosmo.cosmm@gmail.com