My first twitter post isn’t all that exciting. It’s not a, “Hey, I’m trying out this twitter thing” or a “Hello world” post. It’s simply a blurb that exists and has some meaning in that moment.  Something that I expressed in well under 160 characters but in retrospect could have used more of them to place it in context.
Simply:
Sitting in Michael’s office.
2:48 PM Apr 11th, 2007 via web
I made Lt. Commander last night in Star Trek Online. This is a milestone event. This is the first time you get to pick your new ship, the second specialization you make after creating your character. I was looking forward to leaving the Miranda class light cruiser behind. The Lockheed had served me well for the first phase of my career in Starfleet, but I felt a new ship calling.
Mainly because I didn’t play enough of the beta to make it to the first tier ship selection.
So I did what any Star Trek fan would do if they were going to get a starship. I started to obsess. Continue reading
Lieutenant Karina Prax, of the USS Lockheed.
Captain’s log, supplemental.
Our assignment was simple, scan Gorn facilities in this remote asteroid belt to make sure that they weren’t stockpiling weapons of mass destruction of any sort.
The Gorn, of course, were having none of it, and we found ourselves on the receiving end of a volley of disruptor bursts after attempting to scan the first outpost. Calling on my background as an engineer I rotated the shield frequencies before the impact.
The Lockheed’s shields held gracefully. Rotating the frequencies had the desired effect and managed to mitigate most of the damage to the shields.
But there were still three ships. I ordered engineering officer Ensign Kort to reroute EPS systems to boost the shield systems while I sounded the red alert.
Shields were holding, but I could see that there was another incoming volley of disruptor fire, plus photon torpedoes. I reinforced the fore shields and told tactical to open fire on the lead Gorn cruiser.
The Lockheed’s heavy disruptor cannons locked onto the Gorn ship and opened fire. Their shields dropped quickly, and without shielding the disruptors quickly ate through the rest of their hull. The Lockheed was too close, and the shockwaves from exploding cruiser shuddered through the ship. Thankfully there were no major casualties.
We moved to three quarter impulse and engaged evasive maneuvers. Full power to starboard shields soaked a torpedo volley as we brought the Lockheed around in an arc to end up behind the second cruiser.
My science officer Ensign Sadi jammed the targeting sensors of the third Gorn cruiser, preventing them from targeting us for some of the fight although she warned that it was but “a fleeting dream that wouldn’t last forever.” She could have just told me nine seconds.  I forget that her previous host was a poet.  Note: I need to speak with her regarding combat expediency.
My tactical officer, Ensign Noros prepared a high yield torpedo burst to impact just as their facing shields were dropped. Commendations for Ensign Noros for her impeccable timing.
To this day, many Starfleet officers protest the academy’s admission policies from some of the more controversial systems, such as Ferenginar, but every day, new recruits like Ensign Noros continue to prove them wrong.
One on one the last cruiser was no match for the crew of the Lockheed. We scanned the installation and moved on, although it was not the last of the Gorn we would see that day.
In the pilot episode, Trill Karina Prax becomes captain of the USS Lockheed. After a surprise Borg attack kills off all other senior officers, she is surprised to find out that she is the highest ranking personnel remaining on board the Lockheed. Unfazed (or should that be unphased) by this development, she finds a way to repair the critically damaged Lockheed, save the crew, and take part in a counterattack against the Borg incursion into Federation Space by destroying several Borg probes, a cube, and a sphere.
Considering that she’s an ensign, it looks like Starfleet academy started offering courses in Astroasskicking.
Upon her return to the Sol System, Admiral Quinn expresses his confidence in her and in a surprise move that shocked viewers everywhere, promotes her to Lieutenant and assigns her as the permanent captain of the Lockheed.
It’s yet another Cryptic Studios product, (City of Heroes, Champions Online) and a lot of their usual design can be seen throughout Star Trek: Online.
The ship to ship combat is a lot of fun. There is something satisfying about rerouting power to the starboard shields and coming about to give them a broadside from both phaser arrays that takes down the facing shields just in time for a high yield photon burst to strike the unshielded side of an enemy vessel.
Away team missions are your standard MMO fare, with a third person point of view and a the usual take out X number of enemies or interact with Y, then report to Starfleet. The ground combat tends to focus on the various firearms and their abilities found in the Star Trek universe, although that may be because I didn’t roll a tactical officer.
I’m playing the beta when the servers aren’t flooded, but so far I’m having a good time.
Protip: Enemy ships explode, and can destroy your vessel.
The plaster walls are off white, the color that white gets when a last minute paint job has been slapped together to sell a house, or in this case a condominium. The dappled sunlight leaks in through the windows from over the trees, the windows barely bring in enough air in this too short spring, the one week period that Spring graces the District.
I look at my laptop, an aluminum piece of jewelry. It barely fits into a backpack but the AC adapter is tiny. I can only edit photographs for a couple of hours before it complains to me about being on reserve power.
I flip open the lid and connect to my wireless network. There’s a server, somewhere, but damned if I know where it is.
One of these days, I’m really going to have to purchase a color calibration system. Photos may be coming out just a little over saturated.
I adjust the equalizer to classic as Freddie Mercury hits one of his upper octaves and listen carefully as the changes subtly alter the performance over the music streaming to the home theater system. My bookmarks load, tab after tab, flickr, YouTube, Google Reader, and a host of other sites. I am assaulted by images and video and music and text.
I open up GameFAQS and read what strangers have written about Street Fighter IV. Then I watch some tournament play videos. I do a couple of searches and read up on what people have said about a couple of games that I’m interested in. I read my email in a different application. Then I read up on what my friends had for breakfast.   I make a few comments to no one in particular, although I like to think that everyone at least listens a little bit.
I think nothing of it.