Mindscanner #54
Ring of Fire Fleet
Admiral Kutaj zantai-KorDaS (Mary Cordero)
<[email protected]>

Greetings to all of KAG! Kutaj of the Ring of Fire here, KAG's Naval fleet in the West. We have had another busy year in fandom, and have managed to both continue our laid-back, creative approach to Klingon fandom and to raise a good chunk of latinum for the Fleet's main charity Make-A-Wish. While we're a bunch of grown-ups running around indulging ourselves in a second childhood, there are some little warriors who don't even get a crack at a happy first childhood, so helping to bring them a GLORIOUS time is a worthy battle.

This year, the efforts of two of ROFF's warriors brought in much latinum towards this goal. The first of these warriors of distinction is Lcdr. BoQtoR vestai-KorDaS (Ken Howard, XO of the IKV Crimson Dagger), who organized and held a Slave Auction at Mara's Bar at BayCon 98. Much naughtiness abounded, the sounds of cat-o-nines and riding crops filled the air, and when the dust and drunks cleared, more than $700 had been raised!

The other worthy warrior is Lcdr. KEG vestai-EtoH (Erland Cole, XO of the IKV Black Dagger). KEG is a happy-go-lucky Klin, with talents in leather working, scrounging for bargains, mold making and marketing. All of his costumes (Klin, Centauri and Viking) go quite well with his favorite working prop, an ice-bucket sized beer mug.

Recently, KEG organized an appearance by the talented aliens of ROFF and friends (a local group of talented sci-fi costumers who go by the name Hi Impact). The event was the black-tie grand opening of the San Jose Museum of Technology's new wing. The museum staff was very pleased with how well everyone played with the guests and created the "Cantina" atmosphere they were hoping for (in fact, the bar used for the party was one of the three cantina sets built for Star Wars, on loan from Industrial Lighting and Magic for the event). The Museum was so impressed that they made a $10,000 donation to the San Francisco chapter of Make-A-Wish in the name of the Fleet! KAI KASSAI KEG! You bring Glory to the Empire.

This fall also saw Western Klinfandom's fifth annual Feast of Qot baVol take place in Las Vegas. This is a Trek costume-mandatory, sunset to sunrise celebration of the Klingon heart. Not only were there many fun-loving ROFFians from every Quadrant in the Fleet, but many of our fellow Klingons and friends from Qinlat Monastery, Klingon Honor Division, RKV Predator and the Klingon Imperial Armada were also present. The Drummers of Qinlat and the Daggers (Midnight, Crimson and Black) drummed, the Hecklers heckled, and both Chancellor Gowron and General Martok along with the rest of the fleets, had a lot of bloodwine. Here we've caught "Bob-Gowron" and "Uncle Martok" what we call the boys in our neck-of-the-Empire) not only in the act but what an act! Martok is happily playing "the lobes" of a friendly Ferengi from the RKV Predator, while MorgaH (Sianna Hoskins) does her "Dance of the Devil Woman".

The two Irish-Klin (Bob and Mogra/Lizzy Shannon, XO of Oregon's IKV Raptor) whoop it up with some Irish moonshine. Yes, THIS is what we joined KAG for, eh? Kudos to Lcdr Qa-oS vestai-EtoH (Damien Metz) for managing the event this year, and kudos to Commander tlhIntoQ sutai to'meD (Clint St. Laurent, CO of the IKV KAHLESS RO, Las Vegas) for having been instrumental in making last year's Feast happen.

Finally, I'd like to give major kudos to Lt. Seq'Dogh (Daniel Davidson, XO of the IKV KAHLESS RO). Quadrant e-corps dude for ROFF's Kristak Quadrant, he.has made the KAG Counsel on-line list serve possible. And with his parmakai, C'hani (Sharron Hawthorne), has been helping to run the Fleet First

Officer program. The Fleet First Officer program is a communication network of the XOs of Ring of Fire ships. C'hani writes a short letter/email to these folks then checks back with them periodically. She and Dan are also an additional resource for ship XOs.

Well, this article seems to have been a celebration of some of the finest first officers in the fleet, so far. But wait, there's more! Cap'n Jack of the Demon Fleet called with a great idea for this issue: let's recognize a bloke (or blokette) from each of the Quadrants, so I gave him the Naval recommendations for the ROFFians to cheer about. First, from Kris'taK quadrant, we have Clint St. Laurent, who has already been cheered about extensively in this article. This Klingon dynamo is truly an embodiment of a Great Officer and Keeper of the Klingon Spirit. Not only has he lead the IKV KAHLESS RO through many a victorious battle, but he runs one heck of a web site, publishes a beautifully-done newsletter, and has been compiling a big ol' list of all the KAG ships. Way to go Clint!

And speaking of dynamos, with the recommendation of the Fire Mountain Quadrant CO, Commander K'Tara sutai-Septaric (Andrea French), great kudos go out to that one-man new Klingon processing station, Lcdr. Kh'eVeq vestai-Veska (Lionel Smith, CO IKV VENDIX SIREN). He's already established himself as a great Leader in the Empire, and an inspiration to many including me! I was so jazzed to see him start showing up places with a big drum so he can join right in on the jammin'.

From the Green Fire Quadrant, Commander QeslaH sutai q'ree (Don Gaffney, 6 yes Don, that's a rank promotion). Don just plain gets it, it's about Star Trek fans playing Klingon for recreation. There is much wisdom in this one.

And from StarFire quadrant, Admiral Kroesh, Cap'n Jack and yours truly all agree that Captain K'AoS sutai-Prona (Michael Sarkisian) deserves some all-around kudos. (Yeah, I didn't mention this to the hubby, he's gonna call us a bunch of fan goobers for shining the spotlight on him, but he deserves it!

As Marauder One and line-brother to K'Rogue, he started the KAG tradition of Raiders and Marauders back up. He's also the guy who maintains the Blade's Edge database a big job these days! It looks like the artistic Klin of the ROFF will continue to bring our brand of creative fandom to conventions and other events all over the West. Our two big events this year are ComicCon in San Diego in August, and Feast in October. See you all there!

Qapla to the Empire and those that keep it Strong,

Admiral Kutaj zantai-KorDaS

For the Ring of Fire, Western Fleet of KAG