Monthly Awards: October 2020

It’s awards time again! Congratulations to all of our October winners below:

Best Post

Lt. Cmdr. Shylow Vitari
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Liberty

For “Like a Glove”
With strangely compelling imagery, this is a nicely written post describing things and spaces on a starship I’ve never seen before. Well done!


Funniest Post

Cmdr. Samantha Howard
Chief Medical Officer
USS Washington

For “The War”
A blood curdling scream and an undignified string of something. This one has funny written all over it.


Genesis

Captain Shran dh’Klar
Commanding Officer
USS Washington

For “Appearances are Deceiving”
A nice way to get the ship and crew into action.


MVP

Lt. Cmdr. Ech’am G’ginloss
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Chuck Norris

Leading his ship in total posts, G’ginloss continued to keep things interesting with some excellent ones about trying to keep the USS Chuck Norris together while in the heat of battle. Great writing, a nice amount of joint posts, and star for the crew.


Most Posts

Lt. Bonnie “Bon-Bon” Durnell
Computer Systems Specialist
USS Liberty

For writing 13 posts.


Most Improved

Lt. T’Strella Drake
Chief Diplomatic Officer
USS Liberty

T’Strella increased her post count from 3 to 8, played a major role in the current storyline, and threw an interesting curve ball to boot. All in all, a massive leap in overall participation.


Rookie of the Month

Lt. J’goss Yass G’odoss
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Chuck Norris

G’odoss took the initiative to create new plot lines, joint posts, and multiple interesting takes in addition to tying for the sim lead in totals posts. His performance continues to increase.


Recruitment

Savar cha’Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen
Executive Officer
USS Liberty

The Commander recruited to the sim one new player, who has already begun making solid contributions to the game.


In other news, our fleet XO Admiral Ken Gillis was awarded the Ongoing Worlds Community Honor for his efforts with FallFest. Congratulations, Admiral, and thank you to everyone who had a role in putting on an outstanding FallFest.

This is why we sim! Keep it coming!

Monthly Awards: July 2020

Another month, more stories! Congratulations to all who won July awards below.

Best Post

Lt. Cmdr. Estella Stratton & Cmdr. Jonathan Grayson
Chief Counselor/Executive Officer
USS Washington

For “Inner Strength”
Romance and really really good character development. Best post material all the way.


Funniest Post

Sunak
Chief Diplomatic Officer
USS Ganymede

For “The Illusion of Diplomacy”
Junior officers reacting to a hologram of a Vulcan diplomatic officer – hilariarious and well deserving of funniest post this month!


Genesis

Captain Shran dh’Klar
Commanding Officer
USS Washington

For “The Dark Unknown”
Quick and to the point: mission begin.


MVP

Lt. Mackenzie Graham
Chief Medical Officer
USS Ganymede

Mackenzie has been one of the ship’s most prolific writers, and has driven multiple large joint posts to get the crew involved.


Most Posts

Lt. Andew Archer & Lt. Cmdr. T’Brei Sheridan
Chief Science Officer/Chief Medical Officer
USS Sunfire

For writing 12 posts each.


Most Improved

Lt. Cmdr. Estella Stratton
Chief Counselor
USS Washington

The Counselor continues to improve with excellent work in her posts that are always top notch.


Rookie of the Month

Lt. Michael Stonebridge
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Washington

The new Intel Officer has come in with guns blazing and really pushing everyone to be better. 


Recruitment

Ens. Joshua “Josh” Anderson
Assistance Chief Operations Officer
USS Chuck Norris

Anderson recruited multiple new members to the fleet to various sims over the month.


Happy simming!

Monthly Awards: June 2020

When it comes to awards, it’s certainly tough to follow the Hall of Fame. However, we’re still going to try. The show must go on! Here are your June 2020 award winners:

Best Post

Ensign Balen Pibb
Assistant Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Chuck Norris

For “Tantrums about”
A funny little interaction that moves the plot forward more than meets the eye.


Funniest Post

Lt. Mackenzie Graham & Lt. Donovan Steele
Chief Medical Officer/Chief Operations Officer
USS Ganymede

For “Steele a moment”
Crewmembers meeting each other for the first time. Sometimes it’s big, sometimes it’s not.


Genesis

Capt. Shran dh’Klar & Lt. L’Rissa & Lt. Deanna Celes
Commanding Officer/Flight Control Officer/Operations Officer
USS Washington

For “Curiosity Has Risks”
It may be simple, but I’m sure of one thing: This is going to be a great mission.


MVP

Lt. Cmdr. Aliss Springs
Head Nurse
USS Eminence

Springs kept the story going and single-handedly saved this sim after both the CO and XO quit. She also recruited new players and now the game is humming along.


Most Posts

Commander Samantha Howard
Chief Medical Officer
USS Washington

For writing 7 posts.


Most Improved

Lt. Cmdr. Estella Stratton
Chief Counselor
USS Washington

Stratton took it upon herself to push hard into the mission, showcased leadership skills, and did some excellent writing.


Recruitment

Lt. Cmdr. Aliss Springs
Head Nurse
USS Eminence

As mentioned earlier, Arliss recruited several members to the Eminence and this game is doing some great things now.


Maybe we have a few future Hall of Famers in our list above. Only time will tell. I take that back, I think we do have some Hall of Famers here! Keep writing and keep having fun.

Major Awards Have Returned

It’s been almost four months since I assumed command of Independence Fleet back in February. It’s high time that we recognized some of the people who have made our resurgence possible. I hereby issue the following six citations:

The Excellence in Service Medal is hereby renamed the Command Excellence Medal. It is to be awarded for achievement above and beyond the call of duty at the sim Commanding Officer level.

Command Excellence Medal

Awarded to Captain Shane Youngblood for commanding the USS Chuck Norris from 2014 to 2020. Captain Youngblood kept IDF alive when its website went offline by having the Chuck Norris continue simming over email. For that action, IDF will be forever grateful.

Awarded to Colonel Steven MayTa Death for commanding the USS Sanctuary from 2012 to 2020. At the time of his transfer to fellow simming club UCIP, he was first all time in IDF with 89 command months. His tenure included 1,631 total posts and 17 posting titles.

Awarded to Captain Shran dh’Klar for commanding the USS Washington. As previously announced, Captain dh’Klar is now our Commanding Officer elder statesman with the all time lead in command months (90) and posting titles (26). He continues to be guiding light and example for his sim.

The Distinguished Service Medal is awarded for achievement above and beyond the call of duty at the Admiralty level.

Distinguished Service Medal

Awarded to Rear Admiral Sadie Stanton for her service as Director of Art. Creating an entirely new graphical design and feel for the IDF website, her creative vision has been invaluable in our second renaissance.

Awarded to Vice Admiral Ken Gillis for his service as Director of Technology. He built the entire new IDF website in record time and continues to manage a first-rate, fast, and error-free IT system.

Awarded to Admiral Charles Star for his service as Chief of Fleet Operations. The glue who puts it all together, he assembled the greatest staff this fleet has ever seen and continues to lead both here and in the community at large.

Just like the Monthly Awards, the Major Awards are now back too. If there’s a theme here, it’s the three Captains who bridged the gap from the old website and leadership to the new and the three Admirals who made what we have now possible. Thanks to all and I hope you continue to serve the fleet for many years to come.

A Milestone of Milestones

A recent review of our records revealed something very interesting: Captain Shran dh’Klar of the USS Washington is currently in his 90th month of command in Independence Fleet. This breaks the previous tie of 89 months with Steven MayTa Death for the fleet’s all-time lead. You read that right–Captain dh’Klar is now the longest serving sim Commanding Officer in the history of Independence Fleet. A quick recap of his command career:

  • December 2010 – May 2012: USS Washington (18 months)
  • December 2012 – August 2013: USS Archimedes (9)
  • April 2015 – current: USS Washington (63)

Let’s put the 90 months into perspective: That’s 7.5 years of command! Wow! As of June 1st, that includes 1,320 total posts and a tie with Rhenora Kaylen for first place all-time with 26 monthly posting titles.*

I still remember when Captain dh’Klar first took command of the Washington. I had just returned to IDF as Chief of Fleet Operations and we were re-launching several historical sims. I really wanted him to be one of our Captains and offered him whichever command he wanted. I was very happy when he selected the Washington, which at the time was already one of our most storied games. Captain dh’Klar has since taken the Washington to even greater heights, creating a nearly unparalleled legacy.

Captain, thanks again for your service and we’re looking forward to the next 90 months!

* IDF does not have sim records from January 2004 to September 2010 and is missing posting totals for September – October 2018 and December 2018 to May 2019.

USS Washington Stays in IDF

After discussing the matter with his crew, Captain Shran dh’Klar has elected for the USS Washington (NCC-81533-E) to stay in Independence Fleet. The Washington had been released last month to explore opportunities outside of the fleet. However, we’re more than pleased to have Captain dh’Klar and his crew remain a part of the IDF family.

The Washington’s tradition dates back to IDF’s founding on July 4, 2001, when we launched with three active sims. The Washington’s crew has won numerous awards and set many records over the years. We look forward to watching their role play adventure continue here for many more to come.