A huge THANK YOU to everyone who participated in Stonewall's "Tales out of Time" #WritingContest this last month!  The contest is now closed and the judges will take the week to read over all of these amazing entries!  We'll announce the contest winners the week of May 14th, 2018!

The little girl looked up at her mother’s sombre chequered uniform and began rubbing her eyes. Mother was wearing her going-away-clothes. But her mother was unmoved.
“Don’t cry, Vinara. It is unbecoming! I will be back sooner than you think.”
Four-year-old Vinara knew what was expected of her. Obediently, she wiped her cheeks and attempted a clumsy Romulan salute, fist to shoulder. Her other hand clutched a toy warbird so hard it hurt. Mother’s expression softened into a smile. The metal rings on her shoulder strap jingled faintly as she lifted Vinara in her arms and planted a proud kiss between her forehead ridges.
“Much better, daughter! You, too, will one day serve our empire with distinction!”
Three decades later, the Romulan Star Empire of old was dust. So much for the high hopes her parents had once held for one Vinara Lleissan Tovath, in a time before the riots, Klingon attacks, mass arrests, food shortages and fleeing from the Tal Shiar. By a strange twist of fate, however, Vinara now was indeed in command of a warbird. She felt no pride. Only a growing sense of apprehension as she stood on the corridor and realised the turbolift was not working. Again.
“This had better not happen when we arrive at Sol.” she whispered, and sighed. As commander of that warp capable embarassment known as the RRW Llaiss, it was her duty to make sure that both ship and crew made a proper first impression on their Federation allies. Certainly not the impression that everything was going the way of the homeworld.
Vinara would have preferred to stay on the new homeworld, where there was plenty of scientific and medical work, but Command had decided that her interests made her suitable to work with the Federation’s Starfleet. The decision seemed sound until you realised the Llaiss was a D’Deridex class battleship, and no place for a scientist. It was probably because of the cocktails. Someone higher up probably knew about the cocktails and Drozana Station, and disapproved. That Tal’Mera for sure was no fun. Perhaps, if she didn’t botch this, Vinara thought, they would all be transferred to something that wasn’t falling apart. She was brutally jerked from her thoughts by a melodic chime that meant a Romulan crew’s worst nightmare: The artificial quantum singularity that powered the ship was unstable. Vinara tapped the comm unit on her arm and began ordering emergency procedures as she raced towards main engineering.
Forty years ago, the Reman in charge there would have been chained to the bottom of a dilithium mine. Now, she was giving orders to the mostly Romulan crew, while at the same time welding something inside a control panel. Sparks flew. Warning lights flashed on every console and the noise of alarms was deafening.
“Status?” Vinara yelled, trying to make herself heard.
“Bad! Unless I – got it!”
Containment fields were raised, non-vital systems shut down and everyone breathed again. Vinara bowed to the still shocked engineering crew.
“Excellent work, everyone. And to Chief Engineer Veril, congratulations!”
“It’s the old circuitry,” Veril remarked “it can’t handle the energy fluctuations. This ship wasn’t meant to support the singularity that’s in there! Vinara, someone stuffed a brand new singularity core into the old bird, with no thought for the consequences!”
“Suggestions?”
“What we need to do, is to manually readjust the containment field, then recalibrate the power flow from the singularity so it doesn’t overload every relay on the ship. Right now, I’ve rerouted power through the nullifier coils to boost containment field resonance, but if we don’t get this done, the event horizon might begin incongruent expansion. An expanding singularity - ”
“Might cause temporal fluctuations, paradoxical physics, and gravitational anomalies, I know.” Vinara sighed and as Veril ushered the crew back to work, she allowed herself to shut her eyes. Her mother would have known how to handle this. But her mother was dead. Unexpectedly, Vinara felt an arm around her shoulders. “We’re going to get out of this one, too!” Veril whispered. “Trust me!”
Vinara looked at her friend and managed to smile. Her mother would have disapproved, but her mother hadn’t fought through the hook spider infested lower levels of Drozana Station. And the hook spiders hadn’t been the worst. Vinara clasped Veril close, then hurried to the bridge to coordinate whatever was needed in engineering.
Several hours later, the crew of the Llaiss had their miracle. One by one, systems came online and they resumed their course. As they passed another star system, sensors picked up a Klingon vessel, and Vinara ordered the ship to cloak. No need to fight from a weak position. The Llaiss lurched suddenly. Something was making the big D’Deridex jump like a frightened epohh… Vinara was pitched forward onto the deck.
When she got to her feet, she and the senior staff of the Llaiss were standing on an unfamiliar bridge. In the central chair was a greying Romulan man in an old fashioned silver uniform, who looked bored as a group of small attack vessels led by a Klingon bird of prey screamed towards them at break neck speed. Proximity alerts chimed.
“Now.” The viewscreen burned bright white as the Llaiss dropped her cloak and fired. Multiple close explosions rocked the warbird. Burning wreckage spun past. Vinara and the others stared at their counterparts who didn’t seem to know they were there.
“Status?” demanded the commander. On the main viewscreen, ships of many different types careened past, over and under the Llaiss, spitting brilliant, deadly trails of weapons fire.
“The Jem’Hadar are destroyed.” came the tactical report.
The Romulan commander inspected his fingernails. “The Klingons?”
“Sir, I believe they are… singing. The Calypso is hailing us!”
A young human voice came over the comm. “Llaiss, that was close! Are you alright? What about the Nugh’Tag?”
“Llaiss reporting ready for battle, Calypso. The Klingons are reporting another opera.”
The human laughed. “Calypso ready! Let’s follow their example and make this a day worthy of song! Transmitting attack coordinates.”
The deck pitched again and threw Vinara towards the main viewscreen. As she pushed herself up, she noticed the silence. The bridge was empty, except for the usual, familiar crew. Overhead, control lights indicated the cloaking device was active.
“What exactly just happened?” Vinara asked nobody in particular. “Engineering?”
“The internal comm system is down again, sir.” said the science officer. “Sir, I believe we must have somehow travelled backwards in time to the Llaiss’s past.”
Vinara supported herself on the back of her chair. “Get me engineering. Don’t tell me this ship’s cloaking device now causes us to travel through time! Pilot, where are we?”
“Still on course. According to the ship’s chronometer, no time has passed since engaging the cloaking device. All systems operational and within normal parameters. The cloaking device is active and functioning as expected.”
As far as the bridge crew could piece things together, the incident had probably been caused by a resonance effect between the nullifier coils and the unstable quantum singularity, creating a stored energy build-up, which had been released as a phase-shifted temporal pulse once the cloaking device activated and polarised the nullifier coils. The details could be worked out later, when they had analysed all the data. For now, something else mattered more.
“This thing served in the Dominion War.” Vinara said with new found respect. “That’s how old the Llaiss is! And it survived to this day.”
“Makes you wonder about all the things it saw, and about the people who worked here before us.” replied Tovan, First Officer. “It’s a piece of history! From when we were allied with the Federation and the Klingons both.”
Veril refilled everyone’s glasses. “And now that history is ours to continue. To friends present and past!”
“To friends.” Vinara repeated. “To the best friends one could possibly wish for! And to the Llaiss. We have a legacy to take care of. Do you think the captain of the USS Calypso is still alive? Let’s find out.”
Two days later, the RRW Llaiss decloaked before Earth Space Dock, causing momentary confusion among the operations staff. A flustered traffic control warden assigned them to a standard orbit until a place to dock a D’Deridex had been found. Vinara cut the connection and called up a message she’d downloaded earlier to her padd. The miniature image of an elderly human male was crying and smiling at once.
“What can I say!” the man said. “Of course I remember the Llaiss! I didn’t think I would ever see that ship again. The big bad bird, we used to call her. Commander, I am more than pleased to meet you and I will be there in person at the space dock. Perhaps we can share a cup of tea somewhere, and you can tell me what has happened during all that time. I know I have a thing or two to tell you!” He smiled warmly. “You are very welcome!”

#WritingContest #talesoutoftime

Are you ready to learn some moves? Leeeeet's do this!

As opening and closing act of the #yourovision 2018 we want to perform some silly group dances with you. The first one will be the choreography of the Buck Fizz song 'Making Your Mind Up', which was the ESC winner of the year 1981. It was also the first song in the history of Eurovision that featured a costume change on stage! The second dance we want to do with you is the song 'Dancing Lasha Tumbai' from Verka Serduchka, 2^nd place in the ESC 2007. This one is even more silly but very shiny, as we will do it in silver and golden costumes!
If you want to participate in our group dances, this post is for you, as it will provide all information needed: which emotes to use and what costume to wear, and some helpful tipps like creating a keybind file for faster dancing. Such a keybind file is also useful for the dance instructor on Risa.

Instructions, Choreography and Costumes

"Making your mind up"

Instructional Video

Emote Choreo PDF for printout (please rightclick and save it to your harddrive, then print)


How to make the Costumes for the Bucks Fizz Dance


"Dancing Lasha Tumbai"



The Emotes

For the silly group dances we use the following emotes (alternativ emotes are in braces). Emotes marked with a star* are used several times, they would be good to bind to a key - see next topic.

"Making Your Mind Up"

dance_snake / talking (yes) / attention* / dance_club / shrug / wink (alert) / engage* / no_way* / dance_side step / dance_shuffle (dance_samba or dance_samba_advanced) / dance_wavehands / slow_clap (talk or yes) / dance_runningman / tug

"Dancing Lasha Tumbai"

point / countdown / dance_unusual (dance_wavehands) / dance_fan / blow_kiss* / bye* / dance_jester (jumping_jacks) / yeah

The Keybinds

A very convenient way to execute emotes are keybinds. This way you don't have to scroll around in your emote list, instead you simply press a button. On the other hand, you have to bind your emotes to keys first. But this is easily done.
You can bind keys by typing the command
"/bind key toggle command Param1 Param2 …"
in your chatwindow. You have to do this for every key that you want to bind. Much faster is the method to make a txt-file with the keybinds and then bind the whole file at once.
Here is an example, which binds the dances used on Risa to the keys 1 to 9:

1 "emote dance"
2 "emote dance_club"
3 "emote dance_robot"
4 "emote dance_snake"
5 "emote dance_raisetheroof"
6 "emote dance_wavehands"
7 "emote dance_runningman"
8 "emote dance_legkick"
9 "emote dance_sidestep"

Save this file as 'dances.txt' in your STO main folder. Next step is done ingame:

1. Backup first! Save your existing keybinds by typing in your chatwindow:
   /bind_save_file old_keybinds.txt
2. Load the dances.txt by typing
   /bind_load_file dances.txt
3. Done! :-)

If you are unhappy with your new keybinds, you can restore your old ones by binding your backup file: '/bind_load_file old_keybinds.txt' !
For more information about keybinds please look here: STO Keybind Guide


Links

Example Video for a STO Emote Group Dance: Thriller

Original Bucks Fizz Video: "Making Your Mind Up"

Original Verka Serduchka Video: "Dancing Lasha Tumbai"

For all other events involved please look here: Stonewall Yourovision 2018.

“REAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!” screamed the Orion male in an interrogation chair in the middle of a darkened room.

“Do you know what this is?” a figure spoke from behind him.

Callex mustered the strength to raise his head, and in so doing, a bead of sweat dropped from his head upon his bare chest sliding down to the floor. He recognised the Klingon pain stick, from his time on Qo’nos in servitude.

“We’ve modified it so that it tears the skin and rips into your flesh, but then you’ve felt that already.”

Callex then felt the cold metal of a hypospray touching the side of his neck before the recognisable *WOOOOOOSH* of the injection. The hand holding it traced the vein and down to his bare chest, where sweat had left a trail moments earlier.

“I have just hypersensitised all of your pain receptors in your body. The humans have a saying, “a pound of flesh”, intended as a quantity of mass for payment. Is your green flesh worth the inconveniences that your captain cost me?!?

The pain stick delivered another parcel of pure pain to Callex and it was excruciating for him. He was exhausted after hours of enduring this, never once seeing the face of his torturer. His mind began slipping, his will on the verge of breaking…his life starting to flash before his eyes.

“What…have you done….to my master…?” Callex muttered as best he could. His voice was coarse and dry, deprived of water and food.

"Why are you willing to give everything up for him? Why did you come here? Did you think you could save him?"

Callex knew what his master had done. For he was right there beside him. The Orion slave. The loyal servant. The secret lover. A bold mission deep into Romulan space that had gone terribly wrong.

Callex found this trait about his captain intoxicating. Full of adventure, boldness and braveness, always ready to take on the galaxy…it was hard not to have fallen in love. It was this boldness that led to the rescue of Callex from Klingon servitude years before and Callex happily became his new slave. But it blossomed into something deeper between the two men, something formidable that would be worthy of Klingon song.

“Do you know what your captain…your Master did to you? Before his trial, he sold you. You belong to me…now.

“No, he could never do that…he would never do that….”

“You forget your place, slave. You are property. You are mine.

“No…no….." Callex's mind began running away with confusion and emotions that would annoy Vulcans no end.

The Romulan turned away, smiling with achievement, and moved to the rear forcefield wall of the room. He signalled to the guard who deactivated the field to leave.

“Are you sure this slave is worth all this trouble?”

“Yes,” replied a figure who had been watching patiently in the corner. “Yes, he is.”

Callex’s former master and his new one left side by side together, as salty tears ran down his face to sting the open wounds left upon his body.

…to be continued…? #WritingContest

Hello, this is hippiepunk from the planet Autonomia calling!

It was so hard to make a choice who to vote for. So before we start I want to make an honorable mention to Iceland and their classical utopian ballad „Our Choice“. It is a really good song, but the general quality this year is so high that it's just not good enough for the Top 10. Same goes for other good songs like Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Macedonia and the UK just to name a few.
The list of who I really expect to fail in the Semis is shorter:

• Lithuania, because the song is just tooooooo boring.
• Hungary, because Rock has it hard in the ESC anyways and... in hungarian?
• Albania, because I can't even remember the melody.
• San Marino, sadly. The song actually has its moments but... I guess they won't make it.

Now enough of pre-talking, let's get to the point and start with the points from 1 to 7:
1 = Denmark
2 = Estonia
3 = Bulgaria
4 = Slovenia
5 = Switzerland
6 = Australia
7 = Malta
and my 8 points go to the timeless and powerful canzone italiana per voi – Italy!

The ten points are awarded to the incredible Netta – who is nobody's toy but such a joy to listen to!
10 points for Israel.

And finally... my big twelve points... douze points... for the best song in this years songwriting contest... go to... the uplifting song written about how to write a song by the amazing and already eurovision-crowned songwriter Alexander Rybak!
12 points for Norway!

I am curious for more opinions! What do you think? What are your ten favourites? Who do you see dropping out in the Semis in a few days?

With all the best wishes to all our fleets #yourovision fans! Love and Peace!
hippiepunk

Wow, awesome run, @nivagni!!

I know this is finished, but it was a great fight so had to share... LVL 36

Quote by Darek_Y

Love all the quotes and eastereggs, Ted! I see we have a real fan at work there! Looking so much forward to that event!

ikr! squeeeeeeeee

What if Stonewall was a country (voting in the Eurovision Song Contest)?

Lets find out! In this thread you can nominate your favorite act of the ESC 2018! What is your winner? Do you have an act you find worthy for the last place? Which participants won't make it through the Semi Finals? How would you distribute your points?



Please tell us. If you were a jury in the ESC, to whom would you give your points? There are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 12 points to distribute. Also, if you like, tell us which of the Semi Finalists you want to see in the Grand Final! Be sure to use the hashtag #yourovision in your post to get a small participation gift (STO ingame item). Leeeeet's do this!

For all other events involved please look here: Stonewall Yourovision 2018.

Welcome to the Stonewall Yourovision 2018 Fashion Contest!

The Rules

To celebrate the colorful costumes of the Eurovision Song Contest we will do four different fashion contests. The categories are:

• Timeless Trash
• Look-alike Group
• Look-alike Solo
• Glamorous Glitter

You can use every option that the STO tailor offers which you can wear at the chosen location. Also, feel free to enhance your performance with emotes or special effects. As in the real Eurovision show, there are no pets allowed. For detailed informations about the categories please look below.

The Voting

Please note that in this fashion contest there will be a new procedure to determine the winners. It will not be the same procedure as every year, no, for the Yourovision Event we made up a voting system in tribute to the original EBU voting system!
If you participate in a category of the contest you will also be a member of the jury for this category. You have 8, 10 and 12 points to distribute for your 3rd, 2nd and 1st place. You are not allowed to vote for yourself. The voting points will be collected by a neutral observer of the contest and then summarized together. The results will be posted here later.

The Prizes

In every category we will give out the following prizes:

First place:
2 Stonewall Credits, 1 lockbox key, and a costume item!
Second place:
1 Stonewall Credit, 1 lockbox key.
Third place:
1 Stonewall Credit.

Stonewall Credits are redeemable at the Stonewall Credit Store for in-game and out of game prizes.

The Categories



"You can break the rules of fashion and your chance to win shall grow..."
Petra Mede, Interval Act 2016

The totally trashy trends of the ESC are famous all over the world. When trying to gain attention and make the performers look memorable, fashion designers have gone to unexpected distances and produced many fascinating blossoms of tastelessness. Show us either a look-alike of a really trashy costume or your very own vision of what a trashy ESC costume could look like on your STO toon!
This contest takes place in the bar of Nimbus III so you will be able to wear off-duty, formal and uniform costumes.



"And we're all gonna shine a light together..."
Katrina & the Waves, Winning Song 1997

Many contestants do not enter the stage alone – a lot of entries feature a group of artists. And those usually wear matching outfits. We want to honor this eurovision tradition of group costumes. Therefore, this category requires you to design a complete eurovision group by using not only your captains toon but also the members of the away team!
Can you make your captain and away team members look like a real group from the Eurovision history? Please be ready to name the artists name, their song, the year and the country they represented. You don't have to use all four members but at least one designed Boff is required.
Or, would you rather show us your personal vision of an ESC group costume design? That's okay too. We are curious to see your designed teams in the Nimbus III desert.



"I will be popular, I will be popular, I'm gonna be so popular..."
Eric Saade, Third Place 2011

When a country sends one person alone to the big eurovision stage, you can be sure a lot of people put a lot of thought into what this one person is supposed to look like on stage.
In this category you are asked to make your toon look just like a real ESC contestant that represented a participating country in at least one year. Only versions of people who made it to a semifinal will be accepted, but you cannot take part with a look-alike of somebody who only took part in a national final. As this still leaves us with hundreds of possibilities, please be prepared to name the artists name, the song, the year and the country they represented.
This contest will take place in Club 47 on ESD, so you can wear off-duty, uniform, formal and club outfits.



"Beauty never lies, never hides, never gives a damn!"
Bojana Stamenov, Tenth Place 2015

Every costume in the ESC is unique and, most of the times, a piece of art in itself. So now is your chance to channel your inner diva and show off to your fleethearts the most glamorous look you can create with your STO toon! You are not required to copy an existing costume. Feel free to let your fantasy make some wild dances and show us a miracle of fashion and what you can do with the tailor! We wanna see grandiose gowns and amazing outfits! Give us glitter and glam and leeeeet's do this!
This part of the contest will also take place in Club 47 on ESD, so you can use all tailor options from off-duty, uniform, formal and clubwear.


Have fun designing your costumes and enjoy the Eurovision Song Contest while you wait for (y)our #yourovision.
For all other events involved please look here: Stonewall Yourovision 2018.

           “Science Officer’s Log: Stardate 95343.895… I’ll just easily put it as May 6, 2418. Just got home to Vulcan after our month-long journey through the Arucanis Arm, a deep space exploration mission assigned by Admiral Grall, onboard the V.S.S T’Gren, a Vulcan D’kyr class science vessel named after my great grandfather. The ship is still undergoing repairs after its last encounter with a hostile alien living within the nebula. Progress is looking good so far. The crew is performing admirably, patching up all the damage done to the hull and engine. Plus, they deserved a little time for rest and relaxation, including myself.

           For the time being, my young nephew has given me a non-Starfleet-related assignment, to take care of his pet Sehlat named Mup, while he goes to a school field-trip for the day to study hydrocarbon-based organisms on a moon of Saturn in the Sol System. While my ship is in repair, I promised to take good care of—WHAT THE!“


           “MMMMMMRRMRAGGHMMLLMRRGHHRMRRGMRRRR!!!” A loud wailing noise along with ruffling is heard from underneath Eurrsk’s desk. Suddenly, a sehlat’s nose boops out sniffing from underneath the table where he was sitting at, and a large fuzzy animal jumps onto Eurrsk’s lap.

           "Wha—Hey! OOF—Watch it, Mup! In in the middle something!” Eurrsk’s exclaims to the furry visitor from below. The sehlat quiets down making weird noises and purrs, curling up onto his lap. Mup’s heavy weight forces Eurrsk to re-adjust his sitting and realizes any attempt in removing the animal is futile. Eurrsk finally sighs, “Okay! Fine you can sit here—”

            “Mrrroww?” Mup interrupts excitedly with eyes wide open looking up towards him.

            “Yes… You can sit here, but quietly,” Eurrsk’s clarifies in a whisper, unsure if the sehlat would comprehend, “Do you understand? Quietly, Mup,” The sehlat continues staring at Eurrsk with its big eyes, and responds with a tail wiggle. “Good,” Eurrsk says, patting the big purring fuzz-ball on his lap.



                 The doorbell rings, surprising the two of them. Mup suddenly leaps out of Eurrsk’s lap, knocking his PADD and cup of tea off the table. The force also pushes Eurrsk backwards and the table flips over. The sehlat sprawls towards the door. “MUP!!!” Eurrsk yells loudly, trying to recover. He gets up to chase Mup to the door.



                  “Hello! Anyone there?” asks a voice from the other side of the door.

                  “Yes, who is it?” Eurrsk calls out, finally catching up to Mup, holding on to the excited sehlat’s collar. He presses a button to open the door.

                 PSHHHHDH! The door swings open, revealing a hot-burly package delivery service man.

                 “Hi, I am just here to deliver a hard-cover copy original of the Tales Out of TIME Magazine: Gay Space Biker Bears of Orion (Gold Edition) recently ordered to by-the-name of uhh—,” the man tries to pronounce Eurrsk’s name reading through his PADD, “umm—a… Eee-yoo-arrssky Rock?”



                 “Close enough, but thank you!” Eurrsk smiles at him blushing in embarrassment while holding a squirming, wiggling sehlat in his arms. The man chuckles at them.

                “Cool bro! Just need your signature on here,” the man offers the PADD, “Cute sehlat by the way,” he winks at Eurrsk, making Eurrsk melt on the inside, ogling at the delicious man in front of him.

               “Oh—umm yeah,” Eurrsk tries to reach for PADD, but Mup keeps squirming.

               “Here, I can hold onto him while you write,” the two of them exchange. The man picks up Mup.

               “Mrrroww?” Mup meows, staring at the burly man with big eyes. Mup licks his handsome, bearded face.

               “Who’s a cute little sehlat?” the man nuzzles Mup’s wet nose, “Yes you are! You little cutie.”

               “Hehe, I think he likes you,” Eurrsk laughs, finishing his signature, and offers the PADD back.

               “MMMRR!” Mup bites on the PADD, grabbing it, and scrambles out the man’s grasp.

               “—OOF!” The man falls back. Mup lands on the ground and starts skittering down the road.

               “Mup!” Eurrsk yells, “I’m so sorry!” He helps the man up, “I’ll get your PADD back!” He pursues Mup down the street. Mup runs quickly past a group of Vulcans meditating, knocking down a monk.

               GONG! The monk bumps his head on the ceremonial gong, echoes ringing throughout the entire municipal. Eurrsk runs past them apologizing as he continues chasing the fugitive sehlat on foot for several blocks.

               “MROW!?” Mup suddenly stops and drops the PADD on the ground, smelling the delicious food of a nearby market. “MRR!” he mews excitedly, taking a new route between buildings, following the scent.

               “Wait! Where are you going?” Eurrsk yells from behind, catching up. He quickly picks up the PADD off the ground and continues following Mup. Mup enters the market and is overwhelmed by the smell of food. He hops on one of the vendors and starts to nibble on some Jumja Sticks.

               “Hey! No animals allowed!” A Ferengi chef, who owns the vendor, yells at Mup, “Unless you’re paying of course!” Eurrsk finally reaches the market and spots the sehlat devouring the helpess Jumja Sticks. The Ferengi starts waving a spatula at Mup, “Shoo! Scram you big over-bloated rat!” Eurrsk runs towards the sehlat to stop him.

               “Mrow!” The unknown flailing armament startles Mup, and he skitters down the line of vendor tables and counters, knocking containers, jewelry, and various assortments of food off them. The commotion creates a panic, and people start yelling and screaming within the market community.

     “Oh no! Not my Aldebaran whiskey!”
     “Stop! You’re messing up my whale nuggets!”
     “What the—not in front of my salad!”
     “My plomeek soup is ruined!”
     “Security!”
     “Kurland here!”
     “I didn’t ask for this!”
     “Someone get that sehlat!”

               An angry mob of market goers forms up and chases the sehlat. Mup takes another turn and darts through a busy street leading into the entrance of the spaceport where the V.S.S. T’gren is undergoing repairs. Eurrsk runs pass the angry mob before they could reach Mup. He spots Mup bypassing the spaceport security customs, and he cuts through a line of passengers entering the terminal.

               The sehlat enters a huge hangar room and bumps into a big, hairy Orion biker, knocking him backwards onto his own parked hover-bike, creating a domino effect of toppling hover-bikes parked in an adjacent line. Hangar guards, bikers, and passengers start panicking. The chaos is loud and startles the sehlat, so he scrams onto a platform where the T’Gren’s repair crew is. Eurrsk pursues Mup, outrunning the angry mob getting bigger with added bikers and security running behind in anger. Mup darts toward an annoying high-pitch humming noise coming from one of the micro-spanners of the work crew.

               “Hey, Eurrsk! How’s it going? What’s all that commotion over there?” one of the repair crew members calls out to him. He notices Mup running towards him, “What the—How’d you get in here?” Mup leaps, stealing the humming micro-spanner from his hand and starts gnawing on it. “Hey! That’s not a chew toy! Let go!” The repair-man tries to yank it out of the sehlat’s teeth, but he loses his grip suddenly and falls back onto Eurrsk running up the platform.

               “Woahh Watch it!” Eurrsk yelps, trying to catch the repair guy’s fall, but collapses with him by the sudden impact. Mup sprawls off the platform, knocking off shipping containers, and skitters through the hangar’s back exit into another busy street through the city’s downtown district. Vehicles and pedestrians can be heard outside swerving, crashing, and scrambling all over to avoid the crazy sehlat.  

                “Eurrsk, what did you get yourself into?” the crew member asks, helping Eurrsk onto his feet.

                “Uhh—I can’t talk right now! There’s an angry mob following me and I have to get that sehlat!” Eurrsk leaps off the platform to follow Mup’s trail of destruction, “See if you can distract them, and I’ll get your micro-spanner back!”

                “God damn it, Eurrsk! You better!” he yells back at Eurrsk, who is now already exiting the building.

                Back at the sehlat, Mup stops at a busy sidewalk. He hears a cheering crowd accompanied with music coming from a nearby amphitheater, “Mrow?“ He drops the humming micro-spanner on the ground, curiously follows the music, and sneaks into the open venue.

                Eurrsk frantically searches through the busy street of stopped vehicles and panicked pedestrians for any signs of Mup. He stops to think, but then hears the familiar humming of the dropped micro-spanner coming from the entrance of the amphitheater nearby. He follows the sound, picks up the tool, and enters the premise. Inside, he sees a crowded venue of Vulcans with a leveled stage up front filled with speakers and hosts. They seem to be spouting out Anti-Reunificationist rhetoric.

                 A small, old Vulcan wearing a fake blond-haired bowlcut wig stands at the central podium on stage to address the large Anti-Reunificationist rally. Waving his small hands around with charismatic gestures, the speaker yells, “We will make Vulcan great again! First, by removing oppressive pro-Romulan and anti-Vulcan ideals! We will build a giant outer defense perimeter around the shattered borders of Romulas! We will stop the Orion drug dealers from getting into our precious Federati—OOF!!”

               Suddenly, the charismatic speaker is knocked off his feet, as a blurry fuzzball attacks him from below. It was Mup! “Mrraaww!” The sehlat yanks on the Vulcan’s wig, tears it off, and chews on it like a toy. The on-looking Anti-Reunificationist crowd screams in horror and starts to run in panic and anger. Amongst the mob, Eurrsk pushes through the overcrowded chaos, as Pro-Reunificationists starts to march into the amphitheatre, cheering at the incapacitated leader, along with yelling in protest against the Anti-Reunificationists. The angry mob that followed Eurrsk earlier from the spaceport and market, finds their way in the venue and starts yelling at the sehlat in anger. Special Ops Security Forces from all over the city breaks into the overcrowded amphitheatre. The whole scene turns chaotic and wild. Security jumps on stage and aims their phaser rifles at the sehlat still ravaging what was left of the Vulcan’s wig.

               “Hostile target is dangerous,” said one of the officers, “Set phasers to—“

               “WAIT! STOP!” Eurrsk yells, jumping in between the fire-arms of law enforcement and Mup.

               “Halt!” the officers lowered their guns, “What is the meaning of this?”

               “Don’t shoot him!” Eurrsk catches his breath as he tries to calm the sehlat, “He’s just scared.”

               “Scared? He’s been wreaking havoc all over Vulcan!” yells a member from the crowd. Others join in with the yelling, spouting out negative angry remarks towards the troublesome sehlat.

               “He deserves to be put down!” another yells.
               “Are you the owner? You should be locked up too!”
               “Lock him up! Put that sehlat in a cage!”
               “My whale nugget business is destroyed because of you!”

               The crowd continues with their individual complaints. Little did they know however, that something else much more sinister and terrifying is stirring inside the amphitheater. Mup’s attention switches to the fallen, bald Vulcan on stage whom was speaking to the crowd earlier. The wig-less speaker starts moaning in an unfamiliar language. His limbs and arms begin to elongate, his face starts to de-morph, and his entire body stretches outward. The crowd is too focused on Eurrsk and Mup to even notice…

               “That rat of yours messed up my bikes, dude!” yells the hot Orion biker bear from the crowd.
               “You destroyed my pottery collection!”
               “Hey, can I have my micro-spanner back?”

               Mup notices the morphing figure on stage, and starts to tug at Eurrsk, “MRRR”.

               “Hey, it’s okay buddy, I won’t let them hurt you,” Eurrsk assures to Mup.

               Mup disregards his assurance as he tries to get his attention towards the strange creature morphing on the stage, “MMMRRRRGHH!!!”

                “What the-“ Eurrsk’s mouth opens in awestruck as he sees the creature’s true form unfold. A scream is heard from the crowd. Eurrsk pulls Mup back from the strange creature that now stands upon them. The rest of the crowd now starts to panic as they realize the charismatic speaker from before was only a disguise, revealing a tri-pedal creature known as Species 8472.

          “What is that thing?!”
          “It’s—It’s—It’s an Undine!!!!”
          “Somebody shoot it!”

           In response, the Special Ops Security Forces still standing on stage divert their aim towards the towering Undine creature now roaring at the crowd. “Species 8472 identified. Fire!” Phasers start lighting up the stage as they hit the Undine. Its thick epidermis is able to withstand their attack. The Undine charges at them, knocking Eurrsk and Mup off the stage, and rams into the security, pummeliing them down. The rest of the panicked crowd starts to evacuate the amphitheater in fear as the fight goes on. Firing, screaming, and pandemonium is heard throughout the overcrowded chaos.

          “We are losing men! We need backup!”

          “Keep firing! Watch out for its claws!”

          “MRRRGHH!!” without warning, Mup leaps into the air and powerfully bites on the Undine’s leg, knocking the Undine off balance. The towering creature falls to the ground, wincing in pain. Mup continues gnawing angrily with his powerful jaws.

          “Mup!” Eurrsk yells in terror, as he grabs a phaser from a fallen security officer and fires on the Undine. The rest of the regathering forces join in and fires at the fallen invader. Finally, the Undine screeches in pain as the weapons finally pierce through its skin. Just in time, Eurrsk jumps in and grabs Mup, pulling him away from possible friendly fire, as another security guard throws a grenade at the dying Undine. Eurrsk and Mup take cover off-stage.

           KKAABOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

           The grenade detonates, exploding the Undine into smithereens. The whole place is covered in a gooey mess. The security forces sigh and cheer in relief. The remaining crowd still evacuating turns to see the team’s victory. They all start easing back in, realizing that the room is finally clear of danger. Everyone looks to the sehlat in surprise.

           “That sehlat saved us!” The crowd suddenly starts cheering in victorious roar for Mup.

           “Thank you, little sehlat! We owe you our lives!”

           “Mrow?” Mup looks at Eurrsk in confusion.

           “They’re cheering for you, buddy. You helped saved them!” Eurrsk smiles at Mup, holding him in his arms. He lifts Mup up on the stage, holding him in the air amongst the crowd, like Simba from The Lion King.

            The crowd cheers in greater volume at the heroic sehlat. A security guard walks up to Eurrsk and Mup, and pets mup on his fuzzy head, “Thank you, little pup. You saved many Vulcans today. May you live long and prosper!”

           Amongst the cheering crowd, a young adult humanoid runs into the amphitheater, panting out-of-breath from running. It is Eurrsk's nephew. He recovers himself and begins his search through the crowd. “Been hearing what’s been going on in the news. Figured I’d find him here!” he says to a random crowd member. He continues to yell, “Dude! Where’s my sehlat!?”

 #WritingContest #talesoutoftime

Captain M'Rinn shares a little of her past.


Space was filled with old star bases, defunct in current times they draw in the lost and searching or the forgotten and unwanted denizens of the galaxy. The boarder between the superpowers of the Galaxy host most of these old structures, some reclaimed after their abandonment or bought from the governments that once hosted them. Nestled into broken remains of a moon that once sported a thriving dilithium mine, Hellcat station rest. Once a federation starbase that served as both listening post, trade headquarters and, mining operations hub for the the star system. In her prime she glistened with her Federation colours and support craft floating in orbit of a Demon Class planetoid below. In the current time her hull was the colour of old limes, marked with Orion writing.

Light traffic moved about the stations perimeter, a mix of freighters and small personal craft. With a light sprinkling of starships that could be classified as cruisers or frigates, among the larger ships one stood out her dark hull lingering above the station. Sitting within the stations large drinking and entertainment establishment a nervous Ferangi sat rubbing his hands, his head twitching back and forth in quick jerks giving off the sense he was afraid. It was a little time before a furred hand came down roughly on the fidgeting Ferangi's shoulder, followed by a tall lean body swinging into the seating booth to face him. His eyes started and rounder for it looked questionably over the felinenoid now facing him. Her eyes held a weight to them and her breath sung of the volume of Romulan ale she had consumed. His nose wrinkling, and causing a shudder to roll threw his smaller body but an odd light started to sparkle in his eyes seeing her state of being.

“Hmmmmrrrrrrrr You must be Grunk, provayour of fine ships, fine drink... FINER Wrrreapo... wrrrreapons. Just the soft earrrrred fiend I was looking for.” The feline female across from Grunk purring and slurring her speech as the hand that had been resting on his should glided down the rim of one large ear.

The Ferangi taken off guard suddenly shifted but did not pull away from the caressing hand, his body spoke a new volume of confidence as his shrill voice started in on business. Pulling from next to him a small stack of data pads laying them out quickly and neatly each showing displays of the same ship.

“Captain, well prospecting Captain M'rinn I believe. I have the merchandise and the ship you inquired about purchasing from me. Now all contracts of course are final and the ship of course is in wonderful condition you should have no...”

His voice faultered with a single claw tip running along the edge of his ear before looking up to meet lethal eyes holding him in steady focus. His mind racing to figure out if he was suddenly prey for her.

“I...I assure you the ship is in perfect working and even battle worthy condition... at at...” his throat feeling dry suddenly with the next words leaving past quivering lips. “At no extra cost of course...” The feline across from him quirked one eyebrow before a lazy smile spread over her lips. Her voice almost purring with reply. “Well that is most kind of you. Now the payment we agreed upon.”

From her side the feline woman hoisted one large case dropping before Grunk a finger tapping over a small display before the hissing of its air seals released popping the lips open an inch. Grunk carefully leaned in opening enough to peer in, his eyes aflame with sudden greed. Looking up his mouth move faster than his mind would want it too.

“You are fine with the amount... no haggling or hmm anything.” The words were out and his lips shut quickly as he started to berate himself internally. The feline female across from him simply shook her head before motioning for a few drinks.

Moments passed before a pale green skinned woman approached setting down a few drinks before turning on heel her skirt mostly ripped showing more than was ever modest, flared. The motion captured Grunks eyes and held them with his free hand idly moving towards one drink to take it for himself.

The Caitian woman smiled placing a few gold slips upon the waitresses tray “Keep the drinks coming for a bit okay beautiful.” She eyed the gold before nodded and left the two at the table. “Be weary of that one, she is tricky and a little sticky with her fingers.” The feline female downed her first drink, then the second once it arrived. In short order the table was littered with empty glasses and Grunks head laid in the felines lap her face looking distant. His mouth worked sluggishly before getting out a thought. “So miss captain what is your story... why such a risky ship?” The ferangi's voice slurred many of the words and his hands idly moved with his speech. Looking down at him with a sad smile before letting a slow sigh leave her furred lips.

“My story, okay why not. Its been a long time since I really spoke about it. I was in Star Fleet not so many years ago now. Captain of a heavy cruiser, veteran of war... conflict survived death more times than I guess I should have.” Her voice trailed for a moment into the fog of memory with Grunk stiffening against his host. The caitians clawed hand came down and rested on his chest. “Take the time and listen to the story fully before running away.” He shifted uncomfortably against her.

“I was at first an officer in my peoples defence force, I spent most my days doing maintenance on fighters and small reckon ships assigned to a carrier group. Then we joined the Federation, and many of our officers where reassigned to Star Fleet.” Her voice dipped almost hissing the name Star Fleet. “I was one of the lucky ones, new ships new technology to learn and take apart; to rebuild and improve. I was optimistic, though by human standards I was young and for my age they wanted me and many others to proceed threw the academy first. Oh I wont bore you with those years, I left the academy though as a Lieutenant senior grade with my first posting aboard a Pioneer class starship. My tour there was only for a year, learning the ropes and working with the Star Fleet core of engineers. That little ship got around repairing star bases and picking up stranded ships. The chief engineer and I were transferred to a Ranger class starship together.”

The caitians face showed a little bit of light for a moment before her slurred purring voice continued the tale. “I built Rufus while aboard that ship, he was a good assistant. A little defence droid that carried many of my tools, least those that I didn't carry in the many pouches I had on me. I served there for a full tour, till War with the Klingons broke out. I spent a lot of time doing repairs and working threw hell in the lower decks and the shuttle bay. Our captain took advantage of my knowledge of small craft combat, having me convert half our shuttles to point defence craft. I was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and given charge over the flight deck. Lost my red uniform with that promotion. The gold didn't agree with me at all. I never wanted to be in a place of command but that was my lot it seemed to be thrown into it. For most of the war I commanded the flight deck of a makeshift light carrier till we finally managed to limp back to a star base to effect repairs. Our captains report gave command ideas and I was soon transferred off the ship to Star Fleet ship development. The Admiralty had a few ships in the works to combat the Klingons, one was a deeply classified. On paper she was a deep space exploration ship, her proper class was Dreadnought. With a small team we worked on the first four ships of her class, adjusting them into light carriers to compliment their heavy firepower.”

Grunk looked up at her confused, the class of ships she talked about where old. Least to his knowledge of federation vessels. He lifted one hand about to speak when her voice cut him off. “Four ships of the Atlas class, I had hoped that helping build and refine these ships in secret I could go back to being a normal officer, tinkering my way threw a ship. I even started to understand the humans wanderlust and drive to explore everything around them. Its sad I fell into that Federation and star fleet ideology. I wanted those days back and for this war to be over, I didn't get that luck. For my work in helping build these ships of War I was punished with being promoted to Captain and given command of one of the four. The USS Yggdrasil NX-1411, off the record though. On the Record I was given command of the Ranger class starship Locksley; touted also as the first Caitian to earn her command of a Federation Starship. The newnets ate it up, inspired pride among my people with a surge of recruitment. I hated it, hated everything about it, the lie of it all. I wasn't given command because I was a good leader, or really earned my way up the ranks; but because I was there, I knew fighter tactics and how these ships where meant to work.” Grunk swallowed hearing the venom in her voice, the slits of the Caitians eyes narrowing to daggers recalling her past. He hazard to move but still her hand held him firmly in place.

“We launched those warships into cold space, for a year I commanded battlefields in secret. Wrote up false death reports of the pilots who died under my command. Buried in the stars a crew I came to care about and love. I hated battle and I hated what I had become, I was a Captain, a warrior who showed little compassion to my foes. My weapons crushed Klingon ships under their assault, and the names of our dead where carved into the keel of the ship. I lost them all though, remember as dying heroicly defending an unstable wormhole from a Klingon assault group. Star fleet intel showed this unstable wormhole to be opening up randomly throughout Federation space. With timing and patience the Klingons could drop an entire fleet on a target without warning. We made it there first releasing the science vessel that had discovered it. Our orders hold the wormhole till a support force could arrive.” The caitian captain took a long slow drink pausing her story, a sadness enveloping her. Grunk felt the heated tears falling from her furred cheeks hitting his face. Though at this moment he was not sure if she was rambling a drunken tale or telling him the truth. Ether way he feared moving and upsetting her more.

Her voice hit an icy tone reaching into the next part of her tale, “I had ordered all fighter shuttles arrayed behind me in a picket line. Our ship turned to offer up the most points of weapon fire towards any approaching ship. The Klingons came at us hard, smaller craft where swatted aside. Light cruisers stuttered under broadside attacks till we had to turn and move to fire. Several of their ships lay crippled at my hands, I gave the order for the assault shuttles to fire upon them till they where dust. Their heavy ships gave us a bigger fight, it wasn't a long engagement. My fighters dropped slowly ether shot down or ramming themselves into the Klingon ships when their weapons gave out. Our aft weapons where shot to pieces, the engines might as well have been blown off their struts. I ordered the ship to reverse back into the opening of the wormhole; from the outset of the battle I understood we wouldn't be coming back from this. The last of our torpedoes ripped one of the heavy cruisers apart. Her companion ships just sailed threw the wreckage firing still. Shields buckled, fire was raging threw the decks. The ships com system stayed open and I could hear my friends dying... burning and crying.” Grunk found her strength gone and moved sitting up looking at the Captains face, her eyes where distant and wild. With her body shaking with the memories. He understood at that moment she was not with him but there on that ships bridge as it burned. Her voice was soft without soul for a moment.

“Burning, I turned in my chair seeing the bridge aflame and my crew littered around me. My first officer was hunched over the conn, his face just a mask of blood and burnt flesh. It was slow as I moved to the engineering station. The core was breaching, the ship my ship only had a minute before she would be gone. The explosion of her core would destroy the wormhole, leaving the Klingons with a hallow victory at least. Franklin turned sharply at me, I didn't see his hand but I saw the blue streak of light stretching out from it hitting me. I fell against the deck dazed, I was able to come too fully almost a minute later when the shaking of my ships demise jarred me. I was in an escape pod, the one just off the bridge. The bastard had saved me, stopped me from dying with my crew my ship. I saw out the port hole, that the wormhole was gone. The Klingons where gone, it wasn't right though cause there should have been debris, yet none. It was a few days on rations and a phaser in my hand before I was rescued. I didn't notice the motion of the pod or the hiss of its seal breaking. I remembered the face of a woman and her hand resting over mine pushing it and the phaser down gently. Her voice telling me it was okay, that everything was okay. It was another lie. That wormhole died alright but it launched me forward in time to just about ten years ago now, its last breath saved me, my xo saved me... I didn't deserve it.”

She had come back, and her hand moved wiping tears away, Grunk shifted uncomfortably looking the caitian over, his drunken face having sobered with the story. “The future... what Klingon war was that?” The Caitian stood taking up the datapads and her bags along with one more glass. “The first Federation Klingon War of course. Well Grunk thanks for the drinks.” She smirked at the Ferangi turning to walk away leaving him stunned in silence for a moment thinking over what she said as the waitress approached the table once more. Looking over her shoulder calling back to him, “If we meet again I might finish the story for you of how I got my second command.” These words were accompanied with a somber smile before the Caitian Captain melted into the crowd leaving Grunk there with a table of empty glasses and the tab.

Announcing the winners of the Weekend's Spring Swing Event
All first place winners get 3 Stonewall Credits, 2nd place get 2 Stonewall Credits and 3rd place get 1 Stonewall Credits. 

Lost Admiral:
1st Place: Keirix
2nd Place: IMTrick
3rd Place: Nikolunus

Grand Melee Tournament:
1st Place: Nikolunus
2nd Place: lordzandor#5872
3rd Place: Kierix


For the Spring Fashion Show, only the 1st place winners in each category get 3 Stonewall credits and there were 3 official categories and 3 "secret" categories.

Winner of the Floral Fighter Category: 
https://www.stonewallgaming.net/photos/125869
Nikolunus


Winner of the Verdant Vixen Category:
https://www.stonewallgaming.net/photos/125896
Annisa@balduranne#6092

Winner of the Throwback From Yesterday Category:
https://www.stonewallgaming.net/photos/125887
Annisa@balduranne#6092

The secret categories, each worth 3 stonewall credits, were each given to one of the 3 judges. Those categories were: Best Use of Color, Best Use of Effects, and Funniest Description of Outfit.

The Winner of the Best Use Of Color: Annisa@balduranne#6092 for her gorgeous golden Romulan TOS outfit.

The winner of Best Use of Effects:
Nikolunus for her use of plasma effects

The Winner of the Funniest Outfit Description was Charlie@matheusarik for their coughing fit/Space suit bit.

And last but not least, a special 2 SWC prize goes to imtrick for his Discovery Starfleet Klingon Officer and the contestants have voted him "Mister Originality!"
https://www.stonewallgaming.net/photos/125883

Thank you everyone for coming out and participating in the 6th Annual Specatular Spring Swing and congratulations to all the winners!

Looking forward to this.. and the official Your-o-Vision event [CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS ABOUT THAT] taking place on the 11th May!!

Lets start betting!!





#yourovision
#bets

We will start our heavy betting on our Spring Swing Event. You can place your bets on the first, second, third and last place of the final placement of the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. For each bet the sum of 25.000 EC will be charged. There are four price-pools for each bettable place, and the total betting sum will be devided between the winners of each price-pool. The bets will be collected by Robin74, Nivag, GXV3 and TedHembach of the Fleet Resources Department.
Hint: You can place your bets from the #springswing2018 until the end of the #yourovision. Please notice, that the two Semi Finals prior to the Yourovision Event will decrease the number of participants in the ESC 2018 from 43 to 26. This means that bets placed after the Semi Finals will have increased chances to win.



Summary: The Heavy Betting Game - Explained in twelve points/douze points

1. You can bet on a country and their placement in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018.
2. You can place bets on the first, second and third place as well as the last place.
3. You can bet on any of the participating 43 countries, but remember that only 26 of them will make it to the Grand Final.
4. The sum of 25.000EC will be charged for every bet. Every bet needs to specify one country and the guessed placement.
5. You are allowed to place as many bets as you wish for whoever you wish - even your own country.
6. Bets can be placed by personal in-game contact (and trade) with certified fleet notaries from the Department of Fleet Resources, namely Robin74, Nivag, GXV3 and TedHembach.
7. You can place your bets from the beginning of the Spring Swing Event 2018 on until the end of the Stonewall Yourovision Event on May 11th.
8. The final scores from the real Eurovision Song Contest in Portugal on May 12th will determine our winners.
9. The collected ec from all bets on one specific placement will be distributed between all bets who got that specific place right, meaning that there are four different pools, one for each bettable place. If there are ties in the results every correct bet is treated as winning bet.
10. Should there be a placement with bets but without winners, the sum will be added to the sum of the next highest place as follows:
    
    • Last place will be added to 3rd place
    • 3rd place will be added to 2nd place
    • 2nd place will be added to 1st place
    • 1st place will be added to 2nd place
    
    
11. In case we should end up with a big suprise and a lot of bets but no correct predictions at all, the sum of all collected EC will be donated to the Fleet Resources Department, so that they can use the EC to buy various items to restock the SWC store (proof of purchasing will be available on request).
12. The winnings will be distributed during the week after the event.

These are the countries you can place bets on (strikethrough countries have not qualified and are no longer in the contest):

Albania Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Israel

Italy Latvia Lithuania Macedonia Malta Moldova Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Ukraine United Kingdom

If you want to listen and watch the songs in the meantime please open these links:

• Songs of the first Semi Final
• Songs of the second Semi Final
• The Big 5 and Portugal

Good luck and may the music be with you!

I took some photos of the last 4 fights at the Melee Tornament of #springswing2018. Here they are:

O my.. 8am.. I'll do my best.  I may not be able to join until 9am.  just FYI.  But can't wait!  

Anyone wanting to do some KM this weekend? 

https://www.stonewallgaming.net/photos/100532
Compete in Glorious Battle! Show us your skills with the Bat'leth, Lirpa and most other weapons in a PvP tournament that will earn the top 3 combatants Stonewall Credits! You can use almost any melee weapon in the game with exceptions for those melee weapons like the Ferengi Energy Whip which features a ranged attack. Use of the Na'kuhl Assassin Plasma Blade, though it has a Plasma DoT effect, is permitted so make sure you trait some plasma damage resistance traits before you fight. Traits that offer healing or temporary hit points like Molt, Blissful Agony, Ironsides, Regenerative Tissue are prohibited. All kit powers and Captain abilities are also prohibited, remove all kits, shields, tribbles, gambling devices, pets, hyposprays or other healing consumables. You should not have any gear, group or specialization buffs that heal. 

Race-specific traits that are melee in nature such as Ferasan Pounce and Gorn Bite are permitted however ranged Race-specific traits like Mind Drain, Borg Neural Blast and Orion Pheromones are not permitted. Any trait that reduces damage and/or boosts general or specific damage-resistance is permitted.

The Spring Swing Fashion Show:

There will be 3 categories for this event but unlike previous Fashion shows, there will only be stonewall credits awarded for the first place in each category only. There will also be stonewall credits awarded according to 3 "secret categories" known only to the judges, these categorie each award 3 stonewall credits. As for all categories, feel free to use any abilities, items, pets and anything else that will add a visual flair to your look.

The official Categories are:

Floral Fighter:
Show us your best combat look using the bright colors of spring flowers. "I'm thinking... pastels?" (hope some people get the reference, lol.)


Verdant Vixen:
Whether your toon is male, female or neither, show is a sultry on-or-off duty look that will send even the most stoic Vulcan into Pon-Farr. Think: 50 shades of green!


And in honor of our Tales Out of Time writing competition:
Throwback from Yesterday
Show us your Captain's look from another time, whether it be TOS, Enterprise, Discovery, early TNG, DS9 or any other non-STO-specific era. Surely your Captain's engaged in a little bit of time travel in their adventures?

Great! We are looking forward to the #springswing2018, as we can't await the spring starting. Time for fun in the sun! We have our flower gun ready for the party, and our phasers charged for the colony sim. Good idea! Larry made a nice tutorial for the colony simulation, for all who dont know what to do there (like us, lol). Gotta get some Disco balls now! :-)