o_o;;

[Black Aeronaut]

Gracious, it seems to have all but died in here!

Just a thought: maybe we whould pool the serious Fen space people together and just work on a Fen-space fic. What do you think?

[Bob Schroeck]

Died? Maybe for the last few hours, overnight in the US -- but there has been an active discussion of weaponry and the Slapstick Effect going on the last day
or two.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[robkelk]

There's also a bit of story discussion going on off-line, the results of which I expect Cobalt to post here Real Soon Now...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[M Fnord]

*eyes BA*

...and the last time you posted in the Fenspace forum was *how* many months ago, again?
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Black Aeronaut]

Heh-heh ^_^;;

I would have kept up with things, but it was starting to become an effort to do so when I have so little time. Life in the Navy, don'cha know? Maybe when I
get some leave time I can devote a day reading up on everything I've missed out on... But I fear that everything I've contributed has been left in the
dust.

EDIT:

On that note, would you recomend a list of 'required reading' aside from the sticky topics?

[M Fnord]

The Wiki Knows All. Or at least it knows most; most of the finished stories, all of the stuff currently in the gazetteer sticky + a good deal more besides, pretty pictures from the resident Illustrator freak, etc. That's the best place to go to get an overview of what we've done. Editing requires an account, but that's easy enough to get.

ETA: And because I'm in a reasonably good mood for a Tuesday, here's the Magnificent Midnight's ship registry entry slightly edited & wikified for your convenience. Enjoy.

---

~~NOTOC~~

{{ shipsr-71.jpg?x285 |SS Magnificent Midnight}}
^ Registry Number: | 133T-5P33D |
^ Base Hull: | Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird |
^ Drive Type: | ion drives x2 |
^ Drive Rating: | peak velocity 0.18c |
^ Owner of Record: | [[chars:Benjamin Rhodes] |
^ Flag of Record: | Republic of Texas |
^ Home Port: | n/a |
^ Purpose: | Heavy interceptor/courier |
^ Launched: | n/a (late 2012?) |
^ Crew: | Benjamin M. Rhodes (commander)\ Regina "Gina" Langley (first mate) |
^ Supplementary Crew: | n/a |
^ Faction: | [[gazetteer:factions:SOS-dan] |
^ Status: | **Active** |

====== SS Magnificent Midnight ======

===== History =====

//tba, preferably by blackaeronaut at some point. Capsule for those who've forgotten: Midnight was the price the SOS-dan paid to get Benjamin Rhodes on as their official Ace Bishounen Pilot back at SOS-Con. The Blackbird itself was the one sitting outside Lackland AFB, which no doubt made for an interesting story in acquiring the silly bloody thing.//

===== Known Vehicle Quirks =====

* **//I can't drive fifty-five://** This ship loves to go fast. Period. And whatever you do, do not get in her way or else you'll wind up like the Curacoa when it met the Queen Mary.
* **//I'm Pointy://** Her uber-sleek and pointy looking hull is a weapon unto itself. With it, she can slice and dice ships smaller than herself.
* **//Lemmeout!Lemmeout!Lemmeout!://** She will only stay in one place long enough for cargo to be loaded or unloaded. Afterwards, she will take off and zoom around. Fortunately, she's also a loyal ship and will come back once called for if you give her a little bit of time to roam around.
* **//Daredevil://** The only thing she likes more than going fast is going fast through a densly packed asteroid field.
* **//Respect Is Earned://** While she's generally sweet natured (if a bit mischievous) to Benjamin and Gina, all others must earn her respect.
* **//Ptichka's Little Sister://** Oddly enough, she communicates pretty much the same way the infamous //Ptichka// does and possesses many of the same mannerisms, only with the kind of spunk and sassy attitude you'd expect from a "Little Sister".

===== Trivia =====

* //Midnight// is the fastest interplanetary and interstellar ship in Fenspace, capable of sprint speed up to 19% light speed inside the Limit and 520x light speed outside.
* Even though a substantial amount of interior space has been converted from fuel tankage to cargo and living space, it is VERY cramped inside. So much that getting out of the pilot's seat and into the cabin requires reclining the seat, grabbing ahold of handles overhead, and dragging yourself out. It is for this reason that Ben really likes his weekends off, no matter how much fun it is to zoom around in //Midnight//.
* //Midnight// does have some passive stealth capabilities just as she did before she was handwaviumized. Ergo when she turns off her transponder, looking for her in the big-black will be as much fun as looking for a needle in a haystack because her radar signature is about the size of a standard bedroom door.

===== Stories =====
The //Magnificent Midnight// has appeared in the following stories:

* (foo)
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Black Aeronaut]

Many thank, Fnord! It'll take me some time to slog through the Wiki, but I'll take a shot at it once I'm done cranking on the mess decks.

Quick question: How big of a object do you think she could pull into FTL? Because I had the odd idea that she could latch onto the hull of a larger ship to
'lend' it her FTL. Kinda like DC Comics Flash and how he could transfer his Speed Force to other people. This would make her a viable competitor for
scientific missions (as if there was a shortage of those!) and other nifty things. You know, clamp-on a module and take-off. It'd also make for a little
more room on the inside for living quarters. ^_^;

[M Fnord]

I don't think it'd be all that much. The thing's designed for speed, after all, and bolting something onto a Blackbird causes a pretty drastic
speed penalty.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Black Aeronaut]

True, and that would definitely apply for the inner-system jaunts. But anyhow, I just had another idea as I was reading through the Fen-wiki. I saw the entry about the Pegasus and the idea of kids in a space shuttle just floors me!
So, anyone adverse against Benjamin adopting some brand new Fen-kinders and their pet horsey?  It'd be a better option for Ben than loading up a science module onto Midnight.  As for families...  I figure that troublesome little quirk could be taken care of by saying they were part of a group from an orphanage.  Oh, and a horse-persona Space Shuttle flying the flag of the Republic of Texas?  That just works for me. 
I just had an idea about those kids as well... What if they weren't quite on the ball with the personal protective clothing and got a biomoded as well? For the most part I'm thinking that it would be pretty tame. It's just that being surrounded by so much science might make their biomods tend more towards the Agatha Heterodyne side of things. Pre-teen sparks in a space shuttle anyone?
"I may only be twelve, but I am way smarter than you think I am." - Crew member of the Pegaus to a mission specialist.

[robkelk]

So, anyone adverse against Benjamin adopting some brand new Fen-kinders and their pet horsey?

I think if anybody else was going to do that, they would have done so by now. No objections here.

Pre-teen sparks in a space shuttle anyone?

I'm sure Kohran would enjoy having a few peers, even if they are flesh-and-blood... 8)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Foxboy]

Pegasus is fine, but... you've got some mini-Sooners in the crew who have "rivalry"with Texas imprinted in their brains ....

As per the history, the Pegasus lifted off from either Norman, OK [Home of the University of Oklahoma] or Oklahoma City.

And, pre-biomod, the kids are pretty smart naturally, as the Pegasus was part of a gifted kids summer program.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Black Aeronaut]

Pegasus is fine, but... you've got some mini-Sooners in the crew who have "rivalry"with Texas imprinted in their brains ....
As per the history, the Pegasus lifted off from either Norman, OK [Home of the University of Oklahoma] or Oklahoma City.
And, pre-biomod, the kids are pretty smart naturally, as the Pegasus was part of a gifted kids summer program.

Wasn't Oklahoma a part of the Republic of Texas?    Interesting little note: Texas is the only state in the union that can lay claim to having been it's own country before joining up, and back then Texas was a helluva lot bigger!  Besides, I was never all for that whole college rivalry thing.  The Texas mindset is more of a deepset sense of independance - something that anyone with Tejano ancestry will attest to as their forerunners did indeed bleed and die for their country.
As for the biomod...  That's pretty much why I figured the biomods would run towards that direction.  In what way, though, is still up in the air.  Don't worry, though.  While there's definitely going to be another coming of Agatha Heterodyne in there somewhere, I don't think we'll be seeing another Professor.  

[Valles]

Texas is the only state in the union that can lay claim to having been
it's own country before joining up

So, there was never any such thing as a Kingdom of Hawai'i, huh?
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[Black Aeronaut]

Point. ^_^;; Hawaiians are cool. We need Hawaiians in Fen-space just because it would be kinda cool.

[robkelk]

We need Hawaiians in Fen-space just because it would be kinda cool.

Either complaining about, or working at, Disney's world? 8)

http://fnord.sandwich.net/fenwiki/doku. ... heme_parks
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Black Aeronaut]

Hah! That's awesome.

I actually had a neat idea about a biomod for one of the kids. To my understanding, the Hawaiian culture literally idolized sharks and to this day they remain
a very prominent figure in the culture. So, what if one kid happened to be part of a visiting school group from Hawaii that got mixed up in the mess, and he
happens to have a thing for sharks. Enough that the Handwavium goes, "OOH! OOH! SHARKPERSON!"

Pros would be that he/she could breath underwater, swim very very fast, be able to sense electrical fields like a second sight, more sensitive eyes and a
massively more sensitive sense of smell, and have a much tougher constitution than a normal human.

Cons would be that he/she has to take a swim at least once a day to stay in good health, has a voracious carniverous diet, denticles on the skin, and having to
deal with the new and improved senses on a regular basis. Oh, and that tail can be a pain in the ass sometimes.