To say that Lieutenant Commander Duch has had a direct impact on the direction and the growth of the U.S.S. Navras would be an understatement of amazingly large proportions.  In the past year since she has joined, she has helped to directly inspire many of us towards taking our costuming one step further, and venturing from just another group of people in Starfleet uniforms, to becoming full-fledged Star Trek aliens.  During that time, she herself has progressed through the ranks at an amazing pace, and has become a member of the ship’s Senior Staff, and our Chief Science Officer.

Intellectually, she can be downright intimidating– which is amazingly fitting, for a Vulcan.  She is outstanding academic, performing as a Curriculum Coordinator and Teaching Assistant at the University of North Texas, and has been known to refer to herself as “a living anachronism”– But we disagree.  Anna, or as we have come to call her by her Vulcan name, T’laina, doesn’t just fit as a member of the U.S.S. Navras… she has carved her own way among this crew, and is someone that inspires a great many of us on a daily basis.  It would be difficult to imagine things without her aboard, giving her insights, providing her expertise and experience, and… even going out of her way to care for the Captain, when he’s been dipping into the supply of rum.

We would like to thank her for her contributions to this ship and its crew, and share our hope that those contributions will continue for a very long time.  T’laina, from the rest of our members, and from the bottom of our hearts, we sincerely wish that you Live Long and Prosper.

So what does a couple of Andorians, an El Aurian, a Romulan, a Vulcan, a Cardassian, a bunch of Klingons, and Barbecue have in common?  Well, for starters, they were all present at Cooper’s Old Time Pit BBQ at the Fort Worth Stockyards on Saturday, April 28th, for A GOOD DAY TO DINE!  Members of the U.S.S. Navras got together with members of the U.S.S. Regulator, the U.S.S. Trinity River, the U.S.S. Joshua, and the I.K.V. Melota to break bread, and more importantly, feast on barbecue, as we invaded Cooper’s in full uniform and makeup.

After a massive meal, most of us were trying hard not to split the seams of our uniforms.  We came to a mutual decision regarding the next Good Day to Dine event, discussed the I.K.V. Melota’s Annual Bat’leth Tournament, which is slated for Labor Day Weekend, and disembarked for home.  If you didn’t make it out this time, don’t worry, there will be plenty of other chances– starting with our next appearance, at this year’s Dallas Comic Con in May!

George Takei is no stranger to the internet– with over 1.6 million following him on Facebook, and nearly 350 thousand people following him on Twitter, it’s safe to say that Mr. Takei’s work has gone far from unnoticed by the general public.

Mr. Takei has not only carved out his own corner of stardom throughout the history of film and television, he has also actively fought for equal rights, been a proud front-running supporter for the LGBT movement, and has raised considerable awareness toward the Japanese-American internment camps of the 1940′s.  In short, George Takei has become an internet phenomenon that has reached out to affect a great many of us through his words, his beliefs, and his sense of humor.

Today, he celebrates his 75th Birthday– and we aboard the U.S.S. Navras would like nothing more than to sincerely thank him for all that he does, and wish him the absolute best.  It takes one hell of a person to accomplish all that he has, despite the adversities that have presented themselves throughout his life, and we certainly recognize that.  Happy Birthday, Captain Sulu… and may you indeed Live Long and Prosper.

With just a little over one month left before we congregate once more to Irving, we’d like to take this opportunity to remind everyone of the universe full of AWESOME that awaits us all at Dallas Comic Con 2012!

In the last few weeks, there have been some big additions to the guest list, which, combined with the superstars that we were already aware of, promise to make this year’s Dallas Comic Con the largest one ever.  Not only will Sir Patrick Stewart (of Star Trek and X-Men fame) be present, but so will John de Lancie (of Star Trek, Breaking Bad, and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, not to mention countless others).  Who else, you ask?  Well, how about Val Kilmer, Laura Vandervoort, Kristanna Loken, Adam West, Burt Ward, Kevin Conroy, David Prowse, Peter Mayhew, Jeremy Bulloch, and Tim Taylor?

Is that STILL not enough?!  Are you NOT entertained yet?  Alright– how about Stan Lee, Neal Adams, George Perez, Len Wein, Arthur Suydam, Jimmy Palmiotti, Cully Hamner, Brian Stelfreeze, Norm Breyfogle, Greg Horn, Mitch Breitweiser, Alex Saviuk, Tom Fleming, Kristian Donaldson, J. David Spurlock, Sam De La Rosa, Guo Jingxiong, and Steve Erwin?

This is going to be one epic event, spread across four floors of the Irving Convention Center.  At just $25.00 per ticket at the box office, on Saturday, May 19th, and $20.00 at the box office on Sunday, May 20th, this will definitely be something that you and your friends/family are going to want to come out and see.

As for us?  With Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Q on the scene, you can bet that we’ll be there in full force!  So make sure you come out and meet us personally!  Click here to find out more!

Here’s something pretty exciting for your Monday: we’ve officially launched our ‘Looking for Trek in all the Wrong Places’ Photo Contest!

For the entire month of April, we will be accepting photo submissions of our members (Enlisted or Officer) in costume/uniform, in the unlikeliest of places.  Whether it’s a picture of a Klingon at Wal-Mart, or a Cardassian at a country/western bar, or even a Human Starfleet Officer doing his/her laundry at the laundromat, we want pictures of our members in costume/uniform at places that no one would ever expect to see them.  The sillier, the better!

We’ll be accepting these photo submissions until the end of April 30th, 2012, at which point we will be uploading them to our Facebook Fan Page for the public to vote on until the end of Saturday, May 12th.  The photo with the most ‘Likes’ will be named our Grand Prize Winner, and will win one Inspired Prop Replica Enhanced Data Padd that we have obtained from Triple-Fiction Productions.  This is a high-quality original prop, made from solid and durable materials.  This is hand-crafted and hand-painted, and looks like a futuristic take on the PADDs seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager.  You can take a closer look at the item by clicking the above image.

This contest is ONLY open to members of the U.S.S. Navras– but if you would like to join, you’re more than welcome to participate!  You can become an Enlisted Member for free, by clicking on the COMMS link at the top of this site and getting in touch with the Captain.  Or you can become an Officer (full member) for only $15.00 per year, by clicking here and filling out the online form– just remember to select “USS NAVRAS – R3″ for your chapter!

Members of the U.S.S. Navras can submit their photos by e-mail to Captain Cody Glenn at co(at)ussnavras(dot)com.  You can submit as many pictures as you like, and remember to have fun and use your creativity– the funnier the picture, the better the chance that you’ll win!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, First Contact Day is the celebration of April 5th, 2063, the day in which mankind first achieved faster than light travel (warp speed), and Zefram Cochrane made first contact with the Vulcans, right outside of Bozeman, Montana.  The details of these events were depicted in the film Star Trek: First Contact, which was released on November 22nd, 1996.

These are the fiction events that the entire Star Trek universe has been built around– with the first meeting between Humans and Vulcans and the achievement of warp flight eventually leading to the launch of the first Warp 5 ship and the eventual creation of Starfleet and subsequently the United Federation of Planets.

So why celebrate this fictional holiday?

To us, Star Trek has always been a depiction of the pinnacle of human achievement– something that we should always be striving toward.  By celebrating First Contact Day, we see it as a way of keeping these goals firmly in sight and reminding ourselves, and the world, what we’re capable of if we keep our priorities in order.

So we invite you to reach out to your friends on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and all other social media and wish them a very happy First Contact Day.  Let’s get the #FirstContactDay hashtag trending, and maybe…   just maybe…  51 years from now, we’ll have started something that will lead to First Contact with an alien species as peaceful and intelligent as the Vulcans.

In the meantime, check out Star Trek Online’s First Contact Day Celebration!  We certainly will be!

It’s no secret by now that shortly after yesterday’s post here on the Navras website, a series of tornadoes began touching down across Northeast Texas, cutting a swath through portions of Lancaster, Arlington, Lone Oak, Union Valley, Forney, Greenville, Commerce, and Sulphur Springs.  The path of yesterday’s storms directly intersected with the homes, schools, and workplaces of many of our members, which put them directly under the crosshairs of the storm cells, mid-level rotations, and severely damaging winds and hail.

Despite the very serious tragedies that occurred to countless families throughout the day, yesterday, the U.S.S. Navras Command Staff is proud to report that none of our members have reported any losses or injuries– we’re very lucky to be able to say that so far, everyone that we have talked to is safe and sound.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Marine Captain Floyd Whittiker, a member of the Navras’ Titan Squadron, for the work that he did in sending out e-mail updates to keep the members of the Navras up to date with the weather developments that were occurring.  As soon as the first tornado reports were coming in from Lancaster, the majority of our members immediately took to the internet, using their cellular phones if all else failed, to report and relay information concerning the storms, where tornadoes had touched down, and in which direction they were heading.  Collectively, the group acted as an information hub, as we did what we could to warn others.

We will be paying attention to the news reports as they come in throughout the day, assessing the damage throughout the area, and researching ways to help the communities in our area as they rebuild from yesterday’s tragedies.  With the National Weather Service reporting anywhere from six to thirteen tornadoes occurring yesterday, we truly believe that it is a miracle that no losses of life and only a handful of injuries have been reported.  Our sincere condolences go out to the people that have suffered injury or loss of property, and we will certainly be looking for ways to help you recover.

You might have noticed that over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been posting almost daily announcements about the various appearances that we have lined up so far for 2012.  Today we have yet another appearance that we’re extremely excited to announce!

On Thursday, June 21st, the U.S.S. Navras will be landing at the Dallas Museum of Nature & Science, at 3535 Grand Avenue in Fair Park, where we will be special guests of the museum for their monthly Beer & Bones party!  This time the theme will be Space Cadets, and we’ll be there to party and interact with the other guests of the event, in full costume and makeup.  We’re very pleased to be able to announce our first appearance at the Dallas Museum of Nature & Science, and we hope to be working with them very closely in the future, to do some events with the Planetarium.

If you’re interested in coming out and seeing us, you should know that the party is for people who are 18 and up only, and there will be a cash bar on hand.  Please remember to drink responsibly, and not get behind the wheel of any land or spacebound vehicles if you have been drinking.  We’ll be keeping our own Designated Helmsman on hand for the evening.  ;)  For more information about the Museum of Nature & Science, click the image above!

Just how nerdy are we, you ask?  Let’s just say that in our shuttlepods, we keep a pair of fuzzy 20-sided dice hanging from the rear view mirror.  And in keeping with that, we’re extremely proud to announce that we have been invited to Coppell, Texas, on July 14th, to spend the day in costume for the Grand Opening of the new Roll2Play Storefront!

Roll2Play is a gaming retailer that was founded in August of 2009, catering to board, dice, and strategy games, pop culture, and new twists on classic games.  Enjoy playing Munchkin?  Settlers of Catan?  Cthulhu Dice?  Illuminati Deluxe?  What about games like Nightfall, Dominion, or Fluxx?  If any of these are your cup of tea, then Roll2Play is definitely right up your alley.

The 501st Legion is also scheduled to make an appearance, and Roll2Play has a box of goodies that they’ll be giving away throughout the day, including Jumbo Dice, Munchkin cards, Zombie Dice, and much more.

So if you’re interested in stopping by the new store front and getting better acquainted with your gaming addiction, or just stopping by to meet members of the U.S.S. Navras and the 501st Legion, then we strongly encourage you to make it out to Suite 111 on 150 Denton Tap Road, in Coppell, on July 14th.  It promises to be a great day of fun, games, and some amazing photo opportunities!

A resident of Carrollton, Texas, and a Political Economy Major at UTD, Senior Chief Petty Officer Aaron Coventry has definitely earned his place aboard the U.S.S. Navras since he joined, back in September of 2011.

As Captain, I have to admit that I haven’t gotten as much of a chance to get to know Aaron as I would like.  I’ve spoken to him a bit online, mostly through e-mail correspondence and on Facebook, but during the events that we have both attended, we haven’t really had the opportunity to converse very much, if at all.  I think the thing that bothers me the most about that is that not only do I want to get a chance to get to know every member of my crew, but I always want the members of the Navras to know when their work is appreciated– and Aaron is definitely on that list.

He’s a Reserve member of the STARFLEET Marine Corps, and in charge of our ship’s Enlistment Program, which puts him over the people aboard the ship who want to join in and participate, but aren’t quite ready to take the plunge of paying for an annual membership to the group just yet.  Since he’s taken on this position, he’s reached out and brought in several new Enlisted Recruits, and has never failed to advertise us and answer questions to interested parties.  He even went one step above and beyond, by constructing the rank insignia you see on his uniform.

We tend to joke around that Aaron is the poster boy for U.S.S. Navras recruitment, due to his clean-cut he is, and that pearly white grin that he gives in his pictures, but there is some truth to the fact that Aaron tends to represent the very best that the Navras has to offer.  And although he was still too new to receive any awards during our Award Dinner back in February, he might want to start buying picture frames now for all of the certificates that he’ll be bringing home next year, if he keeps going at his current pace.

Congratulations to SCPO Aaron Coventry, and a huge round of applause for all of the contributions that he has made– they’re definitely felt by all of the members of this ship.  You’ve earned Crew Member of the Month for April, 2012.