Ship Spotlight: USS Chimera

I had the pleasure of speaking with Phil Graham about his plans for the Chimera. The Chimera is located in the Infinite Fleet and Phil changed it from the Mythology to the Mjolner class. It was an interesting change and I asked Phil what his vision was with the change. Please read below:

USS Chimera

1)You’ve recently taken on the CO spot on the Chimera. What are your hopes and plans for her?

The Chimera has been in a slump for quite a long time. I don’t remember the last time the ship was abuzz with excitement. My goal for the ship was to become a unique Sim area that would bring people to expand thier horizons from “basic” trek, while maintaining us as a standard Sim area. My biggest goal is to keep the Chimera alive and well with a hardy crew that will help keep STF moving forward into the future.

2)Who’s your CO character and would you like to tell us about him? What’s his command style like?

Captain John P. Jones was named after John P. Jones from the American Revolutionary War, The Real Jones has a nickname as the “Father of the American Navy”. I named him after Jones as Jones was considered a tactical Mastermind. The Character John P. Jones is a hard nosed Fighter Pilot who is on his (now fourth) command, every ship he has commanded was either destroyed or damaged beyond repair just as he arrived or directly before/after. Jones tries hard to maintain a “friendly” attitude with his subordinates. But after being a fighter pilot for so long he still has in his head the fact that mission comes first. I believe there is alot of Character development coming for Captain Jones.

3)The Chimera has recently changed from a Mythology to Mjohnir class ship. Why did you want to change the ship class?

As I looked at the ship we were still in a slump after a few months in command. The Mythology class is widely used in the fleet and therefor does not create a unique interest that would bring new members aboard. I began to form an idea to expand the use of the marines that we had on board and we came up with becoming a Marine Expeditionary Vessel, Commanded still by Star Fleet Officers but with a Battalion of Marines assigned to it. I began to look with the Fleet Commander at the right class and the Mjohnir stuck out to me. It was almost as though it was custom built for the mission at hand. After closely reading the Specs I put it to the crew and there was no one aboard that did not like the idea. Since this was already a Carrier we chose to include Marine fighters and transports.

4)What are the new Swing positions on the Chimera and what will their roles be in the missions?

There are so many. With this mission we have the ability to have all the main classes, plus JAG, Intelligence, Diplomatic. But the bulk of the positions are Marines.

1. Marine Battalion Commander: The Marine Commander is a Lt. Col, The MC is responsible for all operations plans for the marines and all command and control. The MC reports directly to the Ship CO and XO.

2. Marine Commanders Alpha CO, Bravo CO: The Company Commanders, which are Marine Captains (Full Lieutenant Equivalent) are responsible for the actual boots on the ground Marines, These officers should be on the ground (or on the mission) with the Marines.

3. Marine Headquarters Company Commander: The Marine HQ’s who is also commanded by a Marine Captain, is designed to be where alot of the non combat sim locations are. Assigned here is the Battalion Surgoen who will conduct emergency surgery in planetside on injured marines. There is space for just about any type of marine support in this company.

4. Pilots: We currently have space open for Pilots of both fighters and Transport pilots. These are all Marine Positions that will make you believe that you are truly flying, the writing style on these is amazing and could help anyone write just a little better.

5. Right now we have The Fleet Commander aboard, This admiral will of no doubt be a great addition to the ship while she is here.

5)What type of sims are you looking to rp with the new class?

Given the heavy Marine Presence I expect that we are going to see alot of combat missions. But we should also have mysteries to solve for science officers, I’m sure the marines are quite good at breaking thing for Engineering to deal with and of course there will always be medical needs. But I also see us working on diplomatic operations that may need the Marines to bring order. I believe that the Sim Environment will be unique and should bring more members aboard. We went from having 9 crew members to 16 crew and the numbers are still rising.

6)What type of crew are you looking for and which positions are still open?

We are currently still looking for any swing position’s and Marines

JAG
Intelligence
Diplomatic
Tactical
Marine Commanders for B Company and HQ
Ground Marines which may include, medics, Infantry, Recon, cooks or anything else you can dream up.

Krystelle McLean