Manticoran
News Bureau
“Can’t Stop The Signal“
“It’s
bigger on the inside!”
Zapped!
10th Fleet
Takes on Fresno
Most people think of Californians as
skiing in the morning and swimming in the ocean in the evening. However,
there’s a lot of land in between one and the other, and that land is called the
Central Valley. The thriving metropolis of Fresno which straddles this region
just happens to be in the center of Task Group 91.1’s sphere of operations. So
when ZappCon was announced for October 17th and
18th—sponsored by the local comic book store, Crazy Squirrel Games, run by
Ensign Jennifer Ward—The Royal Manticoran Navy was ready to converge on the
event.
Commodore
Garcia wins the “Magic Peanut.”
The soldiers and sailors of the Fleet
immediately went to work, setting up the obligatory recruiting table, and then
sallying forth through the two thousand attendees who came to this
self-proclaimed “hybrid of gaming and comic book conventions.” To celebrate
this fusion of genres, the con brought in to this remote outpost the voice of
Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony (Andrea Libman), a
gaming book illustrator (RK Post), game
developers (David Carl, Mike Olson, Eric Vogel), and a list of comic book
artists which is too long to fit in this paragraph. And, of course,
GAMING—D&D Expeditions, Pathfinder Society, Savage Worlds, HeroQuest Glorantha… the options
were amazing!
Admiral
Fontana Flats is about to launch into a happy jig.
With any pomp, however, must come ceremony. Admiral of the Green Lady Chrissy Killian,
Baroness Fontana Flats, in her role as commander of the 10th Fleet, conducted
the Change of Command ceremony for HMS Cerberus, finally bestowing Captain (SG)
Katherine Teixeira with the dreaded “ghost beret” that has driven away many an
officer from the command console. The captain was very thankful and made sure
to thank “Commodore [James] Jones for staying later than he planned… Admiral Killian for conducting the ceremony, and Commander [Cindy]
Davis for making this possible by agreeing to assume the XO position for HMS
Cerberus. I am looking forward to working with everyone in the months
ahead.”.
Your two happiest days: When you get your white beret,
and when you give it to someone else.
Of course, our spacers can’t take
themselves too seriously. The steward of HMS Cerberus managed to get a bottle
of Romulan Ale from the 1701st Fleet’s USS Saroyan.
Chief Kathy Rau laughed, “I asked them if I could borrow it and they said
sure....so I did!” Commodore Michael Garcia was awarded the Magic Peanut… for
reasons that even baffle the flag officer. The baroness even had her own
personalized chair (with a paper sign taped on) when she at the recruiting
table. But since it was such a comfy chair, Donnalynne
Helton couldn’t help stealing her “throne” when the admiral was away!
Donnalynne caught on the baronial “throne.”
However, Her Excellency was not too
miffed, saying “I want to thanks the crews of the HMS Wolf, HMS Cerberus and
HMS Artemis for the great time I had a ZappCon. You
are a great group of people (as are almost everyone I met through TRMN) and I'm
very proud to call you friends. Thank you!”
Task
Force 91.1 lined up and shot (with a camera).
Article
Copyright © 2015, Bureau of Communications, The Royal Manticoran Navy: The
Official Honor Harrington Fan Association, Inc.
CAPT (JG) Marcus Johnston, OC, CGM, Director of Publications, BuComm. All pictures used with permission or used in a way
that qualifies as fair use under US copyright law.