Captain Armstrong's Log

[Captain Armstrong 0]

I write my own Star Trek fan fiction. I call my ongoing series "Tales From The Final Frontier". Since 2003, the series has chronicled the adventures of the crew of the starship Sojourner. The series has been most closely associated with Deep Space Nine, my favorite Trek.

 

When writing it helps if I have an idea of which real life actors would portray my crew. So, here's a quick run down.

 

Captain Armstrong (Michael Jai White)

Commander Desdemona Flores (Emmanuelle Vaugier) . . . XO

Lieut. Cmdr. Moses Freeman (Michael Clarke-Duncan) . . . security/tactical

Lieut. Cmdr. Sovek (Cuba Gooding Jr) . . . Vulcan Ops manager

Lieutenant Jamila Asante (Nia Long) . . . Conn

Lieutenant Moya (Neil Patrick Harris) . . . Bolian chief engineer

Dr. Elan Amoros (Colin Ferguson) . . . El Aurian ship's counselor

Lieut (j.g.) Sola Renn (Katee Sackhoff) . . . Bajoran science officer

Dr. Gabriel Chen (Kenichi Matsuyama) . . . chief medical officer

 

I have a ton of other characters, of course (and I've assigned most of them an actor, lol). But those are the regulars. I've tried to be representative of everyone in my fan fiction, unlike official Star Trek sources. One of the characters (Moses Freeman) is deeply religious, another (the ship's counselor) is openly gay. Both men are amongst the captain's closest friends aboard the ship, and have served with him throughout his career. I've made a point of adding characters (usually junior officers and enlisted) representative of ethnic groups rarely or never seen in Trek (for instance, Trek has a lot of Asian characters - usually Japanese, but no Hmong, Khmer, or Bulang). I've added quite a few non-human species (several non-humanoid). I just really enjoy the diverse community aboard the Sojourner.

 

I'm better at writing short stories, though I've tried to belt out a few novels (my friends enjoyed them, but I have the feeling they're just being nice). With the longer stories I try to create an allegory between the tale and some relevant issue in current events (the war on terror, civil liberties, traditional marriage/gay marriage, racism, etc). That was something about TOS that I really enjoyed and wanted to continue in my own writing.

 

I've created a MySpace specifically for my fan fiction (http://www.myspace.com/starship_sojourner ), add me if you like. I'll be updating there often and maybe even adding some of the shorter tales to my blog from time to time.

[Gummy 0]

Sounds interesting.

[Captain Armstrong 0]

Thanks.

 

The writing is relaxing. Nothing like coming home from a really long day and finding a few quiet moments to spend in your own personal Trek universe. I may not be the next Peter David or Diane Duane, but as long as I enjoy writing/reading my own stuff, then that's what counts.

 

One of the more interesting things I did early on was expose my ship's captain (to the reader) as a member of Section 31. And not just a member, but a true believer in what that organization does. Because my own dad told me stories of things he felt compelled to do (when fighting as a soldier in Vietnam) or carried out under orders, all in the name of defending freedom and democracy and being a patriot. Some of the things were truly heinous, and for the longest time I had trouble reconciling them with the father I'd always known as a moral and good man. And it just showed me the duality of human nature. Here's this captain who would make the greatest of sacrifices for his crew or some alien species in need, but who would also torture a captive Cardassian for information, or assassinate an enemy diplomat if called upon to do so. And would have no qualms about doing those things. Because in his mind, he is the man wearing the white hat and he's ensuring the safety of his home and the people he cares about.

 

Most of my characters have some flaw to deal with, or a tragedy in their past. I don't believe in perfect people. Which is why I've always gravitated toward DS9 and Voyager, and have never really taken to TNG. I don't understand perfect people. I don't know any. But I can write about a man like Ben Sisko, who had his life horribly altered by the loss of a spouse and who suddenly doubts his place in the universe, or a woman who grew up in a refugee camp and spent her life fighting for her people's freedom. I can relate to them. I have lost loved ones, I'm raising a son by myself and sometimes wonder if I'm doing right by him. My ancestors were enslaved and mistreated for almost 400-years. I work closely with the small, but growing southeast Asian community here in southern Louisiana. Many of them fought as guerrillas to win greater freedoms for their people or grew up in refugee camps, never knowing their homes.

 

I try to put all that in the stories.

[Stephen of Borg 2]

you have some original ideas that I like, such as the Captain being a member of Section 31. I gotta add you then read those stories <_<

[Captain Armstrong 0]

Craigslist sucks....

 

I've spent the past 2 weeks attempting to sell off my old VHS movie collection (300 films, all sci-fi, horror, and action-adventure) on Craigslist. I don't want to be bothered with shipping expenses, so I'm just selling locally. I told everyone interested to e-mail me for my address for pick-up. No big deal. And a lot of people sent me e-mails, declaring their interest. Then nobody shows up.

 

So I've been sitting at home, waiting for Sarah and John and Jennifer and Carlos and on and on (well, scratch Carlos, he did show up and bought 10 movies....I like Carlos :P ) and ignoring shopping and other things so as not to miss a customer.

 

But I'm done. Today I'm going to remove my Craigslist ads (I was also selling some DVDs, CDs, a spare t.v., some other stuff). Next time I'm just going eBay or Amazon.

 

 

Then I've been battling a headcold all week. A bad one. I've been coughing my throat raw, running a high fever most nights, sneezing out all sorts of nasty looking stuff :P And the congestion is the worst. Breathing through my mouth like a fish just to get some sleep at night, propped up in my favorite recliner. This has contributed to my rosy disposition over the past few days. And my lack of posting time here.

 

Doctor gave me some meds. They're taking too long to work.

 

 

Out of boredom I started surfing some Trek gaming sites. I grabbed several starship images and then spliced them together with my MS Paint program. Not too professional a job, I suppose. But I came out with this:

 

 

I don't have a name for it. I imagine its a small ship. Not much bigger than a Nova or the Defiant. Take if you want and claim as your own. I don't mind.

 

Oh, I removed my MySpace.

I logged in a few days ago and picked up a virus from someone that sent me a friends request......What? Yes, one of THOSE requests. Its not my fault. She was purty. :blush 2:

 

Anyhow, it took me 3 hours to rip that nasty little thing out of my comp. So I axed my MySpace in a moment of anger. Will be making a new one soon. Maybe.

[Stephen of Borg 2]

I wondered what happened to your myspace page. I went online and you were gone.

 

the next time you create a Myspace page, got to "Account Settings" under "Edit Profile" on your home page. At the top of the page after you click on "Account Settings", there is a tab that says "Spam". Click it and you can edit it to where you won't get spam mail that may have viruses. You can also set it where people asking you for a friend request have to enter a little password, like what you have to do sometimes when you join a forum.

 

That should help with getting rid of bad requests that lead to a virus. :P