Hello STF,
I am so excited to bring you this interview. I have had the pleasure of interviewing Dave Shotton for this edition of Kate's coffee corner. Dave or better known as Keivar has been a member of STF for four years. He joined STF on April 10, 2016 as Ensign Darius Morgan a security cadet on the now decommissioned USS Discovery. Almost immediately out of the academy, Keivar's writing caught the eye of many. So much so he swept the first STF award with a whopping five awards during his first few months here.

If you haven't read his work you are missing out. His ability to blend snappy dialogue with detailed imagery of the things around him makes every post he writes makes you feel like you are reading a novel. This is most probably due to his love of DnD. Keivar is an avid Dnd play and holds the title Dungeon Master. When he has the time he hosts table games both at his home and at the local shop in town.

Positions he has held in STF:
President
Vice President
FComm of Meridian Fleet
FComm Foremost Fleet
aFComm Foremost Fleet
Academy Vice Commandant
Academy CO of the Challenger
XO Course Tutor

Here’s a list of Keivars current characters in the club: 

Rostered Characters:
Captain Dante Knight USS Saracen 
Commander Mason Black USS Odin Executive Officer
Lieutenant Commander Ethan Nash USS Atlantis Chief Tactical Officer
Lieutenant Commander Max Wynter USS Manhattan Chief Engineer / 2nd Officer 
Lieutenant Duncan Rhodes USS WolverineChief Science Officer 

Unrostered Characters:
Lieutenant Rico Vanhall USS Saracen Armorer
Lieutenant Devon Rand USS Atlantis Intelligence Officer
Lieutenant Tomas Kuno USS Saracen  Doctor

Unassigned Characters
Kasper Brown
Logan Cooper
Do'trahk of House Kholl
Akirel Ros
Atticus Wolf
Shriz Vihr
Darius Morgan
Than Osedi
Xavier Khauv
Felix Rhodes
Bronwyn Rhodes
Rovan Moor
Gruv 'Blackbeard' Skaligg
K'vorth, Son of the House of Duroc
Captain Khain of House Kholl Outpost 42 Captain of the I.K.S. Khazad'hea   
 
So since we are entering fall and I know ciders are one of Keivar's favorite things to drink, lets life out glass, settle back and find out what makes our loveable Kiwi tick.  FYI  I am still drinking coffee.  Sorry guys it is Kate's Coffee Corner; however, this month Kate's coffee corner is 20% lighther than last month.  If you get the joke you get ten points. :)  
 
 
20 QUESTIONS WITH KATE O'NEILL  

1.   How would your best friend describe you?
Sometimes a little too serious with a habit of expecting from other people as much as I expect from myself. I think too much, but at least it means I'm pretty creative. My best firend however is my best friend because they see all sorts of things you don't see in yourself.   When I asked them for input on this question they told me I was the guy they can always turn to when things go sideways.  That if they needed help I was there before they could ask and always had thier back. 
 
 
2.  What is your favorite character you have ever written?
Once upon a time I had an Engineer on the Viking just after I left the Academy, a Bajoran by the name of Akirel Ros. Typical tragic background and combative personality befitting the style of the ship at the time, but I think it's some of the best, most fun and satisfying writing I ever did here with some of the stories and things we did, the horror theme and many of the interactions with the crew especially. It brought the character to life in a way that I hadn't felt before and once I had left the Viking and no longer wrote that char, it's been hard to replicate. When people saw me online in the early hours of my morning, it was generally doing something with that character either posting or working on story lines. Eventually that char had a short stint as a CNS and then XO on the Discovery in the Academy, but it wasn't the same as my time with him on the Viking.

3.  If you were a bowl of Ambrosia would you consider yourself a salad or pudding and why?
Wait what? How is this even a question? It is well established by now in Lore that Ambrosia is in fact a pudding! It has all the aspects of a good pud, it's sweet n' creamy, can contain marshmallows and chocolate chips, berries if you really want, yogurt and whipped cream. There ain't no dodgy salad stuff in that baby at all, it's pure decadence, nectar of the gods other than a good cider or whiskey. I mean let's look at the definition of a salad yeah, done by a tried and true Bias Confirmation style research. Salad is "a mixture containing a specified ingredient served with a dressing," so there we got our Pasta Salads and the like. No dressing in Ambrosia darlin, so I claim bust on the Salad theory and no, we ain't accepting yogurt or cream as a dressing when it's the primary body of the Ambrosia. Fight me.   

4. If you could find yourself in one of the following fantasy worlds which would you prefer and why?
A) World of the Witcher
B) Realms of Dungeons and Dragons
C) Lands of Dragon Age
D) Islands of World of Warcraft  
Gosh that's a pretty grim selection when you really look at it, I doubt I'd survive long in any of them really. Each one has thousands of ways in which you can be torn apart, and in most of those worlds that probably wouldn't even kill you much. I'm going to go with Dragon Age however, as much as I adore my D&D and Witcher. I'm a huge Dragon Age fan, and there are two main reasons that I'd go for Dragon Age. Isabella and Leliana. 'Nuff said really.... 

5.  Okay, your characters are hot.  There aren't many that don't swoon when they see your bio picks.  Your characters are also memorable.  Who can ever forget Gruv of the USS Viking or your Klingon brother trio?    What steps do you use to create a character from scratch?
First thing for me is making a character that is within my ability to write to a standard where other people writing with me can get immersed in the world we are creating. I seldom play weird or 'out there' characters, because I try and base each character on an aspect of me that I can relate to and have experience in and I really, really have very little experience with fish gills or tentacles. It's also easier for me to write if I can get into my char as I'm writing them, so having them based off of some part of me helps with that. If it is a character I am writing with someone, I also generally work on that character with the other person as well because if they are spending their time writing to me with their char, I want them to enjoy and get immersed in the Char I have for them. Sometimes that means my chars are hot... absolutely! Although I did love Gruv, who can pass over a Tellarite in fishnets based on Danny Devito? Yeah I didn't think so.... 

6. You have convinced your senior staff to play D&D one night on the Saracen. You are, of course, the Dungeon Master, what classes do you give to your staff and why did you choose this for them? (Yuri Scholz - XO,     Daniel "DaVinci" Colter - CIO, Sathut - CNS, Natasha Knight - CMO, Dr. Royal Sinclair - COS, Teller Graham - CSO, and Jarred Alindor - CE)
 Barbarian Our XO takes the Barbarian slot. I mean he has to, he shot the Captain in the leg with a Nerf Gun on his first meeting with him, and he speaks German! A barbarian with a German accent? It's perfect! I'm just not sure if he is Asterisk or Obelisk (okay they are Gallic, don't burst my bubble). 

Druid Sathut our CNS fits Druid pretty well. Druids tend to be outsiders slightly and people find it hard to relate to them at first. Sathut is a minute cat person, and the characters customs and ways are certainly a mystery to the crew. Miriam made a deep character here with an absolute ton of culture and background so, to me Druid fits that perfectly.

Monk Okay so the CMO takes this one, the CO's wife is a fiesty Russian who can heal you or knock you out with a deft blow to the carotid artery. Monks in Belgium and France also have a habit of making beer, right, so they grow hops. Well this CMO loves Vodka, and Vodka comes from Potato's. I recall their retirement plan involving a shack and potatoes somewhere and a still... she's a Monk. 

Paladin The CoS, Sinclair here for sure. He's righteous, stiff backed and follows the rules. He's also learned, having a fancy title of 'Dr' in front of his name, much like the titles Paladins use if you think about it. 

Ranger Terry's character, Colter, our CIO takes the Ranger slot. The character is reliable and dependable, he's always there when you need him and knows more than he lets on. He's also well travelled and more than capable of looking after himself. You disregard the Ranger at your peril. I don't care what anyone says about 5th Edition Rangers... Rangers Rule. 

Warlock The Chief Engineer takes the Warlock class, I mean with an Engineers great responsibility comes great power gained from somewhere, why not a dark pact with a Warp Core? The CE also has his own Demons to tame, a chequred past, alcohol addiction and a closet full of secrets. Warlock it is for this one. 

Wizard Wizard fits the mold of the CSO pretty well. He's quick minded, clever and thirsty for knowledge. He also has a range of handy dandy beamy stuff he can shoot at things, just like a wizard!

7.  In STF you tend to go by two names.  Keivar and your animal nickname of Kiwi.  Why are New Zealander's called kiwi's?
Okay, for the last time, we are not called Kiwi's because of the fruit, got it? The fruit isn't even native to New Zealand, look it up people! Italy is actually the world's biggest producer of them. Kiwi is the name given to one of our native flightless birds and we started being called that by Australians in World War One. We probably called them something nasty, but anyway, the Kiwi is New Zealand's unofficial Official Emblem, and used beside the Silver Fern and Southern Cross all the time. The birds have hair like feathers and really, really strong legs, long beaks and are nocturnal. Cute as anything, tough as anything, don't taste anything like a Kiwifruit. (Don't eat them, it's illegal mmkay)

8.  A personal fact is that you have two amazing children we have learned about through PM's and Discord Conversations.   What Star Trek title best describes your parenting style?  Undiscovered Country, Final Frontier, Insurrection, or Into Darkness.
Into Darkness by a mile. I mean, with Classic Dad lines like "Dad I'm Hungry - Well it sucks to be you," and "Dad I hurt myself - That was stupid wasn't it?" there doesn't leave much room for other things. Insurrection gets dealt with pretty quickly by using "Internet is now blocked until your room is clean," or "Don't snark at me or I'll let mum cook tonight." Of course I have my favourite, of "that's dinner, you'll eat it, like it and say thank you. If you don't eat it, you can starve. I'm not making you something different, I don't get paid for this." 

9.   You hear something crawling under the floorboards of your home.  Unearthly howls and scratching can be heard, as you have feelings of unease and terror creep into your home.  Who do you seek out to find out just what evil is in your home and why?
A) Geralt of Rivia (The Witcher)
B) Sam and Dean (Supernatural)
C) Scooby Doo and the Gang
D) The Ghostbusters
E) Kate O'Neill
Well, I no longer carry gold these days so Geralt's services are likely way out of my league. Sam and Dean are highly overrated, I mean really they are just eye candy and a good time, right? Hardly going to solve the evils that are lying in wait under my house. Scooby and the Gang are a solid choice, but I've gone healthy now and I reckon old Shaggy and Scoob would exit stage left the moment they see what's in my fridge. Ghostbusters, likely way, way too messy and would escalate things far beyond what the cleaning bill should be. 

That leaves Kate O'Neill but I think I already solved this case. See the unearthly howls and scratching is just Kate O'Neill herself arriving and in serious need of a good coffee'ing. She knows I got the good stuff. Coffee flavoured and strong. 

10.  Right now we all need a hero from time to time.  Someone that makes us want to strive to be a better person and make the world a better place.  Who is the person (past or present) that you most look up to and try to emulate?  If it is a combination of people who are they and what trait do you admire from each of them?
Okay so it isn't a person per say, it's a pair of Characters. First one isn't going to surprise some people when I say Geralt of Rivia, from the Witcher books. Geralt is a gruff, taciturn and outwardly heartless monster hunter who is just trying to do his job and get by. Thing is, he doesn't need to do his job and his job consists of putting himself in peril and killing monsters to keep humans safe. Humans that despise and hate him. In the books he outwardly tries to show that he has no emotion or feelings, but as you get to know him you see a sense of honor and a code that he sticks to, you see a heart that most people don't care to look for but Geralt does his 'job' anyway, ultimately because he is the one able to help people and make their lives better and safer, even if they hate him for what he is. Take out of that what you will.

Second character is Dirk Pitt, one of the main protagonists of Clive Cussler's novels. Dirk works hard, plays hard and finds it hard to settle down but he is always there when he is needed. The books of course focus on big adventures and fiction that can border on unbelievable, but the character resonates with me. It's a humor and outlook that the Character of Dirk Pitt has in any situation which appeals to me, a logical yet often unconventional way of solving problems and trusting his gut instincts.     

11.  What is your all-time favorite thread you have ever written?
A fun and easy one with Kate. Our characters Rico and Ally were babysitting a couple of kids on the Ogawa, in the thread we took turns writing the kids reactions and thoughts in very much a "Look Who's Talking" way and it was brilliant. Interposing the kids thoughts and conversation with our main chars who thought they were doing a good job, and getting heckled and judged by the kids the whole time was fantastic. We ended up going for a walk, taking them onto a pirate ship and doing a little dance to the Wiggles and Captain Feathersword, much to the kids' disgust of course. 

12.  As a Captian someone is always trying to either blow up or take over your ship.   Since the USS Saracen can right hook any villain right out of the playground, let's talk about the things that are not alien threats.  What is the deadliest natural force in Star Trek you groan and mumble a curse about that can threaten your ship and why:  
A.   Asteroid Storm
B.   Plasma Storm
C.   Temporal Wave
D.   The ion storm
Temporal Waves..... I despise Temporal episodes lol. Okay Ion Storms might be the single most devastating thing ever thought up outside of Wesley Crusher storylines, but Temporal forces can go bite me. It's even worse that nobody has thought to use temporal mechanics to travel back and wipe out Wesley yet, maybe slip a laxative into dinner that night... 

 
13.   Oh, noes!   It is time for the infamous work retreat filled with tedious seminars, team-building exercises, and those lovely trust falls carefully supervised by SFOSHA  however there is good news.  You can take one person from the Star Trek franchise as your retreat buddy.  Who do you choose?   Captain Kirk of the USS Enterprise, Commander Riker of the USS Enterprise, Cheif O'Brien of Deep Space Nine, Ensign Sylvia Tilly of Discovery, or Ensign Beckett Mariner of the U.S.S. Cerritos
Unfortunately I'm yet to see Lower Decks, it's not available here yet and I haven't sourced another way to watch it, so that takes Mariner out of the picture. That's a no to Tilly as well, something about Tilly and a trust fall doesn't feel right here. Kirk and Riker are out as well, I've seen what they get upto in their spare time and I bet it would be me doing all the note taking and hard work while they 'frolic' with their exposed chest hair. That leaves Old Trusty, My Man O'Brien. I bet he knows a way to take the synth out of synthol.... we got this.

14.   Which of the following D&D classes would your Captain Dante choose to be if he could multi-class with his base Captain class?
A) Ranger
B) Bard
C) Wizard
D) Paladin  
Gonna have to take the Ranger on this one, Dante's not rigid enough for Paladin nor Wizardly, and Bard? No one likes Bards. Even Bards hate Bards. Bards get up in the morning and look in the mirror and go, "Eww, a Bard. Sucks to be you."

Can't beat a good old Ranger Beast Master, they are just cool. Dante already has the animal Companion by the way, Bruce, his 7ft long Asian Monitor Lizard is ready for battle, and chasing red balls and going for walks. 

15. If I were to take a trip to New Zealand what are the top three things you can't miss when you visit?
 Okay so everybody can look up things to do here, and everybody does. You got Milford Sound, Stewart Island, Fox Glacier and a bunch of other, well known places you need to see but, beautiful places are everywhere in every country, if you visit NZ you will see these things anyway so here is THE KIWIS TOP THREE THINGS TO DO IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER STARTING WITH THE FIRST THING:

1. Buy a pair of Jandals and short shorts, play a "The Dudes" CD to get the Kiwi Atmosphere going. Make yourself a Pie Sandwich for lunch, I recommend a Mince n Cheese pie with Watties Sauce on a good Tip Top white bread, and finish it off with an orange Fruju Ice Block. You are now an honorary Kiwi for the duration of your stay. 

2. Buy a New Zealand Road Map and spend a couple of hours trying to pronounce NZ Maori place names, then ask a Kiwi how they are supposed to be said and spend the rest of the day laughing at us. Here are some examples for you. Te Puke, Waikikamukau, Tauranga, Mt Ngauruhoe, Maunganui, Whakatane. Go on, say them out loud....

3. Find a local Marae or Kapa Haka group and learn to do the Haka, properly. A good Haka is a point of pride for many Kiwi's, and we can perform it from a really young age with gusto. Think about that anthem thing the Americans do, but as a War Cry and Battle Challenge with scary eyes, poking out tongues and slapping your chest till your nipples hurt. Pure Mana. (For the Fantasy inclined, Mana is pride and prestige, not magical energy for shooting fireballs). It's also used to mark respect and honor in times of celebration or tragedy, so to be part of a Haka or recieve one is something special indeed.  

16.  What is one misconception people have about you?
 I never smile. At all, ever. Even when I'm laughing my eyes are dull and my face barely moves a muscle. Yeah Nah I'm just kidding, really. I love a good laugh and most people probably think I am way more serious than I really am. I just tend to come across that way I think in order to weed out those I shouldn't waste my time on lol. I mean, I work in retail, I don't wanna encourage those horrible human things to be any more social than they already are. Ew. Really. 

And there you have it. Everything you ever wanted to know about Dave (aka. Keivar) Shotton is twenty questions or less ;) Thank you so much for a sneak peak into what makes you tick.

~ Kate