Captain’s Log

Captain’s Log Supplemental, Stardate: 88734.94
Vice Admiral Bryn Aev, U.S.S. Auryn

After endless hours of meetings with new species, scanning archaeological sites, and seemingly constant subspace chats with Ambassador Sugihara, I’ve been granted an Ambassador-ship within the Federation Diplomatic Corps. With my ongoing command duties aboard the Auryn, it’s not a typical posting though. Instead of heading off to an Embassy somewhere, the Ambassador rank gives me more flexibility when dealing with the new species we’re encountering in the Orellius Sector Block and the deteriorating political situations in Romulan space. Even with the speed of subspace communications, it’ll be nice not to have to wait on Starfleet Command to respond when I need to improvise.

Privileges aside though, I’m not sure I like the uniform.

Captain’s Log, Stardate: 87958.97

Admiral Bryn Aev, Captain of the U.S.S. Nym Kae

We’ve just completed a patrol of the Arawath Sector. The crew and I are returning via transwarp conduit to Earth Spacedock to resupply before heading to the Gamma Orionis transwarp conduit near Risa. Since we’re going to be in the neighborhood, I thought it would be an excellent time to schedule shore leave for the crew. After spending months in Cardassian space dealing with Jem’Hadar, and now looking forward to months fighting the Borg, a few days on the beaches of Risa should be excellent for morale.

Out of Character…

Bryn made max level, Rear Admiral 5, in Star Trek Online on Sunday night. He still had several missions in his journal from RA1-4 and hadn’t even entered the end-game zone of Gamma Orionis. To celebrate Admirals Longasc and Tipa took Bryn to the Borg infested sector and tried to get him killed in elite-level exploration missions. They succeeded once, but Bryn and the crew of the Nym Kae did pretty well. It took a heavy attack of Undine battleships to trigger the first experience of the new death penalty. Fortunately the Nym Kae suffered only minor damage to it’s sick bay which slowed the pace at which crew men were cleared to return to duty stations.

While not a difficult accomplishment, this is another check mark on my goals for the year just like reaching the level cap in Champions Online.

Captain’s Log, Stardate: 87919.84

Captain Bryn Aen of the U.S.S. Auryn

We’d only just completed a mission to remove some True Way terrorist who were threatening shipping lanes into DS9 and notified Captain Kurland via subspace when I received a private communication from Admiral Quinn. I’ve been promoted to Admiral. Of course this means leaving the Cardassian front to return to Earth Spacedock for the ceremony. It also means I’ll be getting a new command.

I said the same thing when leaving the Lukas behind, but the Auryn has been an excellent ship. More than that, this was the first ship with a Kae name, something which has come to mean quite a bit more to me than I expected.

Regardless of my feelings for change, we’ve set a course for Sol System, and I’ve sent messages home with the news. There are so few Kaes in Starfleet yet that any news is a big deal, so being the first Kae reach Admiral will be huge.

Captain’s Log, Supplemental

Rear Admiral Bryn Aen, Captain of the U.S.S. Nym Kae

The ceremony was quite moving, and I was happy to have friends like Rear Admiral Longasc there to congratulate me.

Our new ship is an experimental hybrid of Luna and Sol class deep-space science vessels. It has been registered as NX-981031-B, in honor of the Auryn. I’ve christened her the Nym Kae, which means Pride of Kae in my native language. To be honest, I don’t think she’s quite as beautiful as the Auryn. Admittedly, I was pretty attached to the Lukas as well, so we shall see how I feel after we get a few hundred light years on her.

The bridge crew has settled into their new stations quickly; this command change is not nearly has big as the last one was. Moving from an escort to a science vessel required senior staff changes and quite a bit of retraining both for the crew and myself. This time most everyone has the same duties, we just have a larger crew compliment and some better equipment.

We’re planning a short shakedown cruise to Wolf 359, per our tradition, before returning to the Cardassian border. Hopefully the Nym Kae will live up to her name.

Click here to go straight to the Picasa album.

Captain’s Log, Stardate: 87868.74

Captain Bryn Aen of the U.S.S. Lukas

At long last, I’m being promoted to Captain. The subspace message just came in from Admiral Quinn to return to Earth Spacedock in order to take care of the formalities. I am excited about the advancement, but also a little sad about moving on.

Becoming a full Captain means I’m going to be given a new command, which also means that I’ll no longer be flying the Lukas. The Akira class heavy escort has been a real challenge for me, and it has been only recently have I gotten comfortable with the proper strategies and tactics required. She’s a beautiful ship, both fast and powerful, but more delicate than I was expecting. It was a large adjustment from the Grace, which was a Nova class science vessel, and even though I could be getting a tactical escort, I’m pretty sure that Quinn will be putting me in command of a long range science vessel. My duty record aboard the Grace was much better than it’s my time on the Lukas, there have been quite a few trips to Spacedock for repairs and refits.

Captain’s Log, Supplemental

Captain Bryn Aen of the U.S.S. Auryn

The meeting with Quinn went well. As I expected, I’ve been given command of a Discovery class long range science vessel. In recognition of my Starfleet service I was allowed to christen the ship the U.S.S. Auryn. An auryn is a bird of prey from my homeworld known for it’s intelligence, grace, and curiousness.

While I will miss the Lukas, Auryn is a gorgeous ship and the first few shakedown cruises were very smooth. It did not take me long to switch my tactics back to what I’d used aboard the Grace, and I’ve quickly become comfortable with the science vessel.

The crew has settled in well. Prya and V’lel are missing the additional tactical capabilities, but are adjusting. Imaria and T’Rasu are very happy to have expanded roles on the bridge, although Imaria did have to do some retraining. Nayl and Meelok are also pleased, apparently they’re expecting easier duties now that they won’t be constantly working on repairs. While Auryn’s shields are impressive, I’m still expecting to pick up some scratches soon.

As per our tradition, we paid our respects at the monument in Wolf 359 before returning to the Tarod sector in Iota Pavonis. Our mission there was nearly completed before I received the order to return to Sol from Quinn, so we won’t stay there long.

I’ve already received a message from Captain Kurland at Deep Space 9 requesting assistance in the Bajor sector, once we’ve finished our investigations into the current Romulan issues we’ll set course for the Beta Ursae sector block.

Captain’s Log, Stardate: 87710.36

Lt. Cmdr. Bryn Aen, Captain of the U.S.S. Grace

I have returned to Sol and been promoted to Commander in recognition for my exemplary Starfleet service in the Pi Canis and Alpha Centauri sector blocks. In order to better perform my continuing duties in Alpha Centauri, I have been given command of the U.S.S. Lukas, an NX registered Akira class heavy escort.

After making a stop at Wolf 359 to pay our respects, the crew and I have returned to Alpha Centauri. We are continuing our standing mission is to patrol Federation systems threatened by the Romulans, as well as our on going investigation into –classified–.

I am looking forward to seeing what the new ship is capable of. (more…)