Blades

Blades turned at smirked at Commander Hamblin. "Oh, this makes us more than even, commander. In fact, I've decided to make you my Leutenant. So, if there are any operational screw ups wthin my fleet, your going to have to answer for them." Blades grinned an evil smile at him. "As for that 'incident' back in the lounge, forget it. I'm sure you wont have much of an oppurtunity to repeat that particular episode again, considering how busy you are going to be keeping the day to day running events of the fleet in line." Blades allowed Hamblin to return to his seating. "Oh, and commander?" Hamblin turned and faced his Fleet Commander. "Congratulations. You 'deserve' it." ------------------ Fleet Commander Blades GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó GALCOM ORION Fleet 'For Queen and country' ICQ#43692958

Heh. I'm just trying to dig myself out of the hole I keep burrowing myself into. Just cos I'm a fleet commander it doesnt mean I know any more about whats goin on than the rest of you. I wish I did. No no, really.

Thankful for the intrusion of new commanders entering the briefing room, Blades took advantage of this fully and tried to think of somthing appropriate to say once they were all seated. His opening dialogue should be confident, stirring but not give away too much that might reveal important mission specifics that the SC himself would probably want to divulge. In truth, Blades was ill equiped to divulge any information, mostly because he didnt have any information to give, not to mention the fact that he was a lousy public speaker. At least when sober. However, the natives were becoming restless, and some sort of decisive action was needed, if only to distract them from his own awkward nervousness. "Gentelmen," he started. "thank you for attending so promptly. I believe the Supreme Commander will be joining us briefly to brief us on the nature of our assignment." This opening retort seemed to go down well. Round one to Fleet Commander Blades. "In the mean time, for those of you that I have yet to officially greet, welcome to Orion headquaters." Blades smiled and looked at the assortment of young and old faces looking up at him from the lowered terrace. They all seemed to be respectably frowning. Yet another good sign. Round two to Fleet Commander Blades. And thats where he stalled. Desperately searching his brain for somthing to fill the void of silence that engulfed him, he grasped at the first bright idea that popped into his over worked head and stammered out his words before he had a chance to stop himself. "So then ..... any questions?" Shit! ------------------ Fleet Commander Blades GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó GALCOM ORION Fleet 'For Queen and country' ICQ#43692958

The newest addition to the growing group outside the MISCON briefing room was familiar to Fleet Commander Blades. He didnt know exactly where from, however, but it was probably from back at HQ during his earlier career, and judging by the confused look on this commanders face, he was probably aware of him in his revious capacity as well. That probably meant that the then Ensign/Leutenant J.G/Leutenant Blades (His rank was up and down like a yoyo for a good period of his other life) had probably pissed him off. In retrospect, maybe he should have been a bit more tollerant of the occasional Commanders that strolled angrily into his requisitions office and instead of constantly missdirecting requisition orders as part of his master plan to bring down GalCom from within (Part of his rebelious youth in all likelyhood instead of a genuine desire to cause the fall of a Galactic power) it might have been more useful to build bridges, form relationships etc. Then again, it didnt really matter now since fate had dealt him a pretty cool hand and somehow made him a fleet commander. This by itself gave him an almost god like power over people. Cool. However, this current commander had made a rather good suggestion, one that admitedly made him feel a little foolish (Considering he hadnt thought of it, and it was rather obvious) and decided to act upon it. Blades cleared his throat, stepped through the assorted officers and quietly announced that it was time for the preliminary 'Get to know you' briefing. The officers exchanged slightly confused looks (Which were ignored) and then followed Fleet Commander Blades into the MISCON briefing room. "Please take your seats." said Blades as he stepped up to the podium and quickly thought of somthing interesting to say. He froze, and waited for insiration. ------------------ Fleet Commander Blades GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó GALCOM ORION Fleet 'For Queen and country' ICQ#43692958

Bah .... you think 60 posts is impressive? Why not check the Diligence or Preemptive Strike threads. Not that we're competing or anything.

Fleet Commander Blades looked up at the taller officer. Trying not to be intimidated by his subordinate (And searching his brain for a reason as to why he shouldnt have him court matrialed then hung drawn and quatered) he decided it was best to have this conversation later. "See me in my office after the briefing, commander."

Leaving the lounge for safer pastures felt like an extreemly good idea to Fleet Commander Blades. The entire *incident* there had panicked him beyond rational thought. When the SC and the other officers (Including THE offending junior) had made their way out of there to attend the briefing, he had stayed a few moments longer to once again ponder the wisdom of accepting the promotion to Fleet Commander. It had been a good idea at the time. More money, luxury quaters on a starstation and not to mention the sudden and unexpected babe factor that had been thrust upon him had somewhat clouded his judgement. Right now, he didnt feel as if he was worthy of wearing a bog standard Commanders uniform let alone one that dentoted Fleet Command status. Still, what he lacked in ready experience he more than made up for in luck. Sadly, that luck swung both ways. Some days things went well for him (The Chikuma incident for one sprang to mind) and others (Like today in the lounge) went badly. Whatever the case, like it or not he was the Orion Fleet Commander, and he figured he had best start acting like one. Even if he wasnt confident in his *ahem* abilities like his superiors were, he could probably bluff his way through it until a suitably disasterous occasion arose that would have him demoted and court martialed. Sigh ... how he longed for the quiet anarchy of chief requisitions clerk back at GHQ. A few minutes later, and after asking several confused looking personel of the location of the MISCON briefing area, he stumbled upon a group of newbie and veterain commanders from various fleets. He recognized a couple of them. First was Commander Hamblin, his unnoficially official leutenant and the newbie commander that had handed him the napkins during part one of the *incident*. There was another Orion officer, another newbie he didnt really recognise. Then there was an ISS fleet member that (As far as he understood it) had no business being there in the first place. However, since he himself had no idea what he was really doing there, let alone anyone else he thought it best to bluff it out and try and look confident and authoritive. "Fleet Commander," started the napkin newbie. "do you have any idea what this is all about, sir?" Blades pulled a face, made an uncomfortable noise through his nose and shrugged his shoulders. Bollocks! "Ah .....", Blades started to reply, trying to counter his latest screw up with somthing intelligent. "That is to say, there is little I can actually divulge at this precise moment." The other commanders gathered around him, awaiting more information. "And by little," continued the Fleet Commander. "I mean nothing at all." Blades smiled quickly and sighed. "That is all. As you were." Well recovered, Blades thought to himself. I agree, said voice of the day number 7. Blades concluded that it was well past the time when he should have taken his medication. ------------------ Fleet Commander Blades GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó GALCOM ORION Fleet 'For Queen and country' ICQ#43692958

Bein the sorta guy I am (And havin an almost obsessive need for continuity and rules/regulations) i think it might be appropriate for someone to put together a 'Rules Of Engagement' text that all RP'ers should adhere to. It would avoid a lot of potential problems and keep everything posted nice n consistent. Just my six pennies worth ------------------ Fleet Commander Blades GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó GALCOM ORION Fleet 'For Queen and country' ICQ#43692958

Right, I located that version 2.0 (Interplay) at the Virgin Megastore in the downtown Disney disctrict in Orlando. That is all.

Please, you've got to stop me posting. Every time I get near an RP forum I write myself in more n more hideous situations that are bound to haunt and afflict me for the rest of my life. I'm losing credability at an alarming rate, and I got a feeling ORION recruitment is going to suffer as a result. For the love of god, somebody stop me ! Incidently, found myself holding a V2.0 boxed set today while investigating downtown Disney. Never actually seen one before .... it was a kind of humbling, holy moment. Just thought I'd share that with you. Heh ------------------ Fleet Commander Blades GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó GALCOM ORION Fleet 'For Queen and country' ICQ#43692958

Once again, Fleet Commander Blades had brought unwarrented chaos to an otherwise peaceful place. It reminded him of the time he was held captive on an Insurgent vessel some years back, where he couldnt prevent himself from losing his sensibilities and insulting the already mildly neurotic Commander Hasenu. He did this without fully realising the peril he was needlessly throwing himself into, so it was an appropriate memory to recall at this most troublesome of times. Taking a handful of napkins from a rather beamused looking junior commander, he immediately began to brush himself down from the assortment of beverages and food stuffs that now coated his (until now) pristeen uniform. Quickly, he apologised to the antagonised waiter and after a moment of nervous fumbling, managed to maneuver himself away from the approaching clean up staff and over towards where the Supreme Commander and Karen were sitting. During the brief moments it took for him to make his way from the accident location to his intended targets, a miriad of thoughts drifted through the Fleet Commanders buggered brain. The first of these thoughts was not the utter humiliation of having to approach the most revered military figure in the human controled galaxy after trashing a large breakfast order, but more to do with how he was going to face Karen six years after 'accidently' signing the commital orders that had her brother put under psyciatric care for more than 6 months. Pah .... it wouldnt be a problem. It was a joke, and it was years ago .... she wouldnt remember the myschevious young admin temp at GHQ's medial center. She couldnt be expected to recall him as being one of her brothers greatest tormentors during his time as a junior doctor. Hell, all those pep pills and caffeine substitute patches couldnt really have influenced his sudden nervous breakdown and utter psycho freak out. And even if she did, it was the young ensign Karl Savages duty to sign those commital papers ...... even though in all probability it was actually his mistreatment of her brother that prompted the violent fits. But she didnt know that .... at least not for sure ...... well, maybe not for sure ...... possibly she knew .... Whatever the case, fate had granted Blades a valuable get out of jail free card, and one he would whap out in a second should he need it. He out ranked her. Putting these thoughts aside, Blades stepped up to the table where the two officers were conversing and saluted his CIC. "A good morning to you, sir." he started. "And may I be the first to officially welcome you to ORION HQ." For a nervous few moments, Blades held his salute. After a further few moments of being irrationally nervous, he concluded that the Supreme Commander of Galactic Command wasnt going to salute back. However, what he did notice was a curious expression on his chiefs face. It was somwhere between ammusment, disbelief and contempt. Fortunately for Blades, the ammusment seemed to be the most prominent expression on his face, and as it slowley broke, the SC gestured with his hand and uttered a few pschye shattering words. "You, ah, you have somthing ...." Again the Supreme Commander gestured at him. More specifically, he gestured to his face. A cold dread enveloped Blades soul. His carefully pre prepared onversational set pieces, such as "Gee, isnt it a coincidence that we both have the same first name?" or "Gee, isnt it a coincidence that we both spell our first names with a K instead of a C?" withered to nothing as the slow realisation dawned on him that a small remnant of the breakfast platter had decided to adhere itself to the corner of his mouth without him ever noticing. The expression 'Egg on face' had never seen so apt. ------------------ Fleet Commander Blades GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó GALCOM ORION Fleet 'For Queen and country' ICQ#43692958

Heh. You want comic relief, I'm your man. Think silly arse colonial colonel and thats me. But thats only the buffoon me. Theres a good officer in there ..... somwhere. ------------------ Fleet Commander Blades GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó GALCOM ORION Fleet 'For Queen and country' ICQ#43692958

The plan would procede in three parts. Part one. Take a very deep breath. Exhale a few seconds later, clear throat confidently then return to normal breathing. Part two. Approach the enterance to the GalCom lounge, allow the double doors to whoosh open and step inside, look around casually for the Supreme Commander and try not to draw unwanted attention from his 'eager' new recruits. Part Three. DO NOT MAKE A TOTAL TIT OF ONESLEF IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE LOUNGE. Parts one and two of this plan was a fairly routine and simplistic affair. Pulling off the third part was somthing that Fleet Commander Blades wasnt particually good at accomplishing. It wasnt that he was a complete incompitent (Although this had been suggested by several officers in the past) but with all the insanity of late, with the Chikuma affair only recently resolved, the sudden (Not to mention completely unexpected) promotion to Fleet Commander and the 'difficulties' in Procyon, he was both overworked and highly strung. Add to that the unexpected and, being completely frank, unwanted addition of the Supreme Commander himself on the station, he was fearful that his next few moments as Fleet Commander could also be his last. What he couldnt understand was why he hadnt been notified of the SC's arrival. Ok, it could have been deliberetly left out of station records for security reasons or maybe (In actuality, more likely) that his staff were so inept (Or confused with his reorganisational efforts) that it had simply ..... slipped. He decided there and then that he should quickly modify and impliment his own 'Special' organisational talants that served him so well during his time as a file clerk at GalCom HQ. Such fond memories ..... Dismissing this startlingly easy slip down memory lane, Karl 'Blades' Savage proceded with parts one and two of his plan and tried to keep the rising panic in his gullet from ruining his efforts to pull off part three. Spotting the SC furthin in the lounge, he once again took a deep breath and made the first, tentative step towards him ......... and right into the path of a lounge waiter that the had failed to see. Moments later, once the crashing of plates and smashing of crystal glasses had ceased, he glanced round and noticed, with utter horror that the entire room had gone silent and every head in the lounge had turned to face him. Including Supreme Commander Karl Reines. And Karen. Karen? Karen! KAREN KAREN KAREN ! Just about then, part three of his plan went completely ass over tit. Things were about to become even more interesting. *** Sorry, couldnt resist throwing the Karen complication into the hot pot as well. Do what you will, I'm just along for the ride *** ------------------ Fleet Commander Blades GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó GALCOM ORION Fleet 'For Queen and country' ICQ#43692958

Well ..... You will find me in Davenport just now. Only been here a couple of days and just about managed to burn my poor white ass to a cinder. I'll either go nice n brown or peel like an orange. Whatever the case, it's been a good 5 years sine I been here and am lookin forward to doing all the bad things I recall from my 21st year. Sigh .... memories. ------------------ Fleet Commander Blades GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó GALCOM ORION Fleet 'For Queen and country' ICQ#43692958

Chaos was somthing the recently promoted Fleet Commander was starting to get used to. That said, Karl "Blades" Savage was more used to the day to day anarchy of commanding a BattleCruiser and was finding the transition from active command of a single ship to the running of an entire fleet somthing of a nightmare. However, the nightmare had started to abait in recent days, with the slow recall of active fleet members to HQ. The recall was taking it's time, probably due to the fragmented deployment instructions from his predecessor being of an 'unusual' nature. In fact, it had taken the best part of a week to recall the more prominent fleet members let alone those on hot patrols in remote regions. All this, however, was not really an issue at this time. The chaos of reorganising the fleet had been a minor inconvenience compared to his most recent problem, a problem that the good Commander Hamblin had just cheerfully informed him of. "Who?" asked Blades once again. "The supreme Commander, sir." Fleet Commander Karl Savage once again nodded in a curious fashon at his unnoficial 2IC. "And he's where?" "GalCom lounge, sir." replied the recently debriefed officer. The next few moments was somthing of a panic to Blades. He dismissed his officer, sauntered briefly through his nice new office and pondered a few opening thoughts to propose to the Supreme Commander. Confident with these initial thoughts, he pulled a semi legal bottle of Empirian Ale from his 'Confiscated' stash and headed down to the lounge. This was going to be ...... interesting. ------------------ Fleet Commander Blades GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó GALCOM ORION Fleet 'For Queen and country' ICQ#43692958

G'day gang! No, no .... wrong continent. Whatever the case, I'm now in sunny Florida, dodging aligators and getting my ass burnt to a crisp. You may now call me Fleet Commander Lobster Boy for the duration of my stay in Davenport. Thanks for all the fleet members that have emailed me. Two days offline and I got drowned under about a zillion of them. Anyhow, I'm on vacation, so dont expect me to listen to anything you have to say for the next two weeks. Actually, I'll do what I can but I'm kinda restricted from where I am. Webring guy ... I need adding. Heh, best I can do right now. I'm red, stiff and in screaming agony thanks to falling alseep for 5 hours this afternoon and being left unnatended to. My mistake. Anyway, I'll be checking back as often as I can and you can still mail to my normal address. I'll be checking daily, so dont be a tardy bunch. Tac, if your listening I'll drop you a mail as soon as I get settled. See If I cant whup the best of Wraith at some paintball. ------------------ Fleet Commander Blades GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó GALCOM ORION Fleet 'For Queen and country' ICQ#43692958 [This message has been edited by Blades (edited 10-29-1999).]

***** Many apologies for bein tardy gang, but things have gotten real interestin over the last couple of weeks and it's kept me from finishing this up before I go away. However, I should be able to get online once in a while over there, so shall be posting somthing more soon with any luck. Feel free to continue. *****

SC ..... good call.

Greetings Orion Commanders, As you are probably aware, I have been promoted to the rank of Fleet Commander and given direct control over the Orion fleet. During the last few days, I have been making efforts to reorganize and expand the fleet, as well as construct the new ORION website before I ship out to the states for a couple of weeks of much needed R&R. Part of my reorganization efforts involved a mass mailshot to all fleet member. Those of you that have read it are probably aware that I was asking for ACTIVE fleet members (And by active I mean regular participants and not occasional lurkers) to reply to the mail so I could accurately determine attendance numbers before everything goes haywire when BC:M is released. So far, the response has been poor. As such, I am requesting that all active ORION members sound off on this thread AND/OR mail me directly so I can determine who is in and who is out. If you wish to respond via email, please include ORION in the subject header so I can give it immediate attention. Active participants will be required to log in with the ORION website once per week to retain active status. Fleet members who donÔÇÖt log in or fail to respond to this thread/email will be considered to be inactive and assigned GARRISON duty. Participating members will be assigned a variety of duties in the build up to BC:M and are encouraged to participate in the ongoing RP element in the fleet. So please, do yourself and the fleet a favor and actively participate. When MP becomes active things are going to get very complicated without accurate member details and instructions. It is my intention to utilize the vast experience of ORION fleet members to create the most potent, and feared fleet in GalCom. With your participation and assistance, this goal can be achieved. If there are any questions regarding the organization of the fleet, please feel free to wander over to www.hastur.freeserve.co.uk (Live 26/10/99) and look around or mail me directly. Thank you for your attention. ------------------ Fleet Commander Blades GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó GALCOM ORION Fleet 'For Queen and country' ICQ#43692958

More site work has been done. This thing is keepin me up all hours, but it's startin to pay off. Got lots of ideas and will put as many of them into place as possible before I leave. The front end is in place (I decided to do mostly FLASH stuff cos my Javascript is poor and I dont have the time to learn it just now) and I'm putting together a few little movies I think some of you might enjoy. Who says the military has to be all work and no play? Hell, you voted for me. Dont go complainin now. ------------------ Fleet Commander Blades GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó GALCOM ORION Fleet 'For Queen and country' ICQ#43692958

Chars Chav, just got your mail. I'll make sure to update the thread this afternoon (It's gone 4.00 am here as it is - The new ORION site is taking up most of my time) and with any lick (And providing everybody checks back frequently) we can finish off the saga before I jet off on the 27th. If not, then I'll do my best to skank a laptop from someone and carry on with things from the poolside. Either way, must apologise for bein tardy. This Fleet Commander malarky is keepin me good n busy. ------------------ Fleet Commander Blades GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó GALCOM ORION Fleet 'For Queen and country' ICQ#43692958

Cheers for the offer of web space pmota. When I run out of space, I may well take you up on your kind offer. In the mean time, I've uploaded a couple of bits n pieces that can be viewed at hastur.freeserve.co.uk The site will use flash animations and is best viewed at 1024 x 768. I'll tidy it up and make it viewable in 800 x 600 when I get back from Florida. ------------------ Fleet Commander Blades GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó GALCOM ORION Fleet 'For Queen and country' ICQ#43692958

Thanks again everyone for the support and congratulations. It is being very well recieved. Incidently, I've begun work on the new ORION site and have the basic framework in place. Tac, I've had to take down the Stilletto site to make room, but if you want the original files I can send them to you. Just let me know. And now all this business is sorted out, I can get back to the RP thread and get that finished off before goin away to the states. Hmmm. Best finish Origins of a GalCom Commander while I'm at it. I've got Origins of a GalCom FLEET Commander to think up now. ------------------ Fleet Commander Blades GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó GALCOM ORION Fleet 'For Queen and country' ICQ#43692958

Truely, I am both surprised and honoured to have been elected the new ORION Fleet Commander. I accept this promotion with humility and promise to do my very best to properly manage the responsibility that has been bestowed on me. My thanks to everyone that participated in the election in one capacity or another, and especially to Commander Thomas Siemens for his support and kind words. The new ORION website will be up and running in 7 days time, and any words of advice or sugestions from fleet members or fellow fleet commanders would be welcomed and much appreciated. Once again, many thanks to everyone that made this possible. I hope you guys know what you're doing. ------------------ Fleet Commander Blades GCV - TSUNAMI Ôäó GALCOM ORION Fleet 'For Queen and country' ICQ#43692958 [This message has been edited by Blades (edited 10-18-1999).]

........ and the winner is .........? Apologies. I HATE the waiting.