Despite this setback in stealthiness, we proceed with a full landing party on Saturday. Since our Friday recon mission had already been spotted, we decided to forego any further charades and went in full 24th-Century Starfleet duty uniforms. With eleven officers in our away team, we stormed the convention: not long after our entrance we set up a public round of something we call “Pop-Up Artemis” in the lobby. Using a portable holoemitter (disguised as a standard PC projector), a wifi router, a netbook, and 5 iPads running the Artemis Starship Bridge Simulator, we conducted a public demonstration of how a real Starfleet bridge crew handles a tactical situation. Needless to say, this display drew some attention from convention goers and the press alike, luring photographers from SFWeekly and VICE.

After a few pop-up games of Artemis, the crew dispersed to try to fulfill their next mission: an SFSO Covert Convention Ops challenge. Starfleet Intelligence had tasked our crew with a photo-based scavenger hunt for intelligence-gathering purposes. Captain Erik Roberts will file a supplementary report detailing this Special Operations mission.

After we’d taken in all the vendor room had to offer, we settled into the main hall programming to gatch a glimpse of Marina Sirtis and Michael Dorn hamming it up together, with the final appearance of the day from Walter Koenig. After the stars cleared the stage, the costume contest began, where our own Chief Petty Officer Tria Connell entered as her glitzy alter-ego “Bea Dazzler”! Meanwhile, Captain Perkins and Cmdr Jon Sung snuck off for a diplomatic rendezvous with key officers of Region 4 as a part of a covert operation to infiltrate Nichelle Nichols’s hotel suite at the Westin St. Francis, rubbing shoulders with Trek stars up close and personal (but not TOO close: temporal Prime Directive, after all).

Perkins, out. =/=

CAPT Zach Perkins
Commanding Officer
USS Loma Prieta
Starfleet, Region 4

The past few months on assignment in the Texas Nebula have been quiet and lonely. Much to my enjoyment, I was notified that the USS Navras and other Starfleet vessels of Region 3, would be rendezvousing in Austin for Wizard World Comic Con 2011!  I immediately grabbed my communicator and contacted Crewman Natalie Raff to ask her to join me for what was to be an interesting away mission.

Not having the foresight to don 21st century attire, we were immediately spotted before even entering the building and made to pose for pictures.  Upon entering we were amazed at the amount of people and creatures that had traveled from distant star systems to congregate at Wizard World (kind of a small world btw).  Apparently some had even traveled through time, as we were told by a pair of “Storm Troopers” that they had come from a distant galaxy long, long ago.  Their technology wasn’t quite as advanced though as they could only travel at “light speed” instead of warp.  There was even a fellow who claimed to be a god named Thor, but when faced with a phaser to his head he admitted to his mortality.  There must have been some major disturbances in our timeline because there was even a picture of a Captain Jean Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise set up at one of the booths.

We couldn’t allow ourselves to be distracted by any of this as our primary mission was to make contact with the USS Navras crew.  We searched high and low and were about to contact the Loma Prieta to report a failed mission, when I spotted Fleet Captain Reed Bates, the Region 3 Coordinator!  We were both very happy to run into each other in such a strange place. Fleet Captain Reed informed me that the Navras crew had ended their away mission early and headed back to Dallas for debriefing.  She also wanted me to let the Loma Prieta know that if they’re interested in conducting some war games that they would like to engage in a round of ARTEMIS!

Having verified the whereabouts of the USS Navras we decided to explore the other cultural aspects of Austin.  We found ourselves wandering the streets of the East Austin Studio Tour where artists, painters, sculptors, and other craftsmen were showcasing their work.  We even ran into a gentleman with the same last name as me who had a painting that looked strangely similard We discovered a most interesting piece that displayed a cutaway of an internal combustion engine with moving piston and rockers. Such a quaint mode of vintage transportation.

After the art tour we were asked by some of the locals to join them at their favorite watering hole.  The bartenders welcomed us with open arms and even invited me behind the bar to act as guest bartender!  We ran into a couple of young ladies who apparently had been in contact with the Vulcans as they greeted us with the Vulcan sign for prosperity. After a night of heavy celebration it was time to call the mission a success and end the night with something called an “Irish Car Bomb.”  This may have led to climbing things and making silly faces, but I honestly don’t remember.

In conclusion, Ensign Jolly would like to highly recommend that the USS Loma Prieta embark on a away mission for next year’s Wizard World Comic Con in Austin.

~ En. Micah Jolly
Security Officer
USS Loma Prieta
Starfleet, Region 4

San Diego Comic Con 2011: Rule of Acquisition #3 Embodied

San Diego Comic Con is the vacation you need a vacation from, if you do it the way I do it. Which is to say: you have three entirely disparate crowds of friends who all gather there for a five-day span, and all want to hang out with you. The end result is that there’s a lot of drinking, and while you spend a lot of time on the con floor, you don’t really retain a lot of it.

I did see some Star Trek-related stuff, though: A buddy of mine and I have been looking for a classy model of the Enterprise-C or D for a while, and it’s becoming apparent to us that it’s not going to happen. You can find toy versions that make noises and light up, but what we want is a metal one suitable for display in, say, a shipboard conference room. There’s one company that appears to be prototyping just such a model, but it’s of the Enterprise from the JJ Abrams reboot, which is fine, but it’s no Ambassador or Galaxy-class. I talked to a guy at the booth who said they’d probably make one if the demand was there, though.

There was another booth whose name I forget [Anovos], that was responsible for quality replicas of TNG and reboot-era uniforms. They were, in fact, so high-quality that they completely priced themselves out of any of our range — $500 being the low starting point. Yeesh. Rule of Acquisition #3: Never pay more for an acquisition than you have to! This booth was also handing out Lance Armstrong-style rubber bracelets, but they were gold, blue, and red, with the mottos TO BOLDLY GO, LIVE LONG AND PROSPER, and EXPENDABLE on them, respectively. Three gold and one blue are in my possession, and will no doubt go to the worthy. I should’ve looked around for a booth that sold replica Klingon pain sticks; there’s always enough science fiction weaponry at SDCC to outfit an entire army.

Next time, I’ll have Star Trek-related stories from Comic Cons past to tell you!

~Lt(jg). Jon Sung
Helm Officer
USS Loma Prieta
Starfleet, Region 4