Ship Spotlight USS Ogawa

First off, Cale, I want to say thank you for being willing to sit down with me as we learn about Star-fleet.com’s only Medical ship and the CO who Captain’s her.

1. The USS Ogawa is Star-fleet.com’s only medically themed ship, how long has she been commissioned?

So the Ogawa has actually been around for a long time.The ship was first commissioned on August 13, 1999, as the USS Ogawa NCC-64284, McCoy-class, at the time in Fleet One. It was a hospital ship then but didn’t officially become an Alternative RPG area until January 21, 2006. That’s when the focus of the Owie’s missions became predominantly medical in nature and crew staffing biased towards the medical department.

The ship was decommissioned on May 12, 2014, as part of the decommissionings at the time.

The current Ogawa is technically the USS USS Ogawa NCC-64284-A and was recommissioned on March 3, 2017. To my knowledge it is one of very few ships in the clubs history to ever be successfully recommissioned.

2. What makes her specs different from other classes of ships and how does it help to complete her missions?

The Owie class spec is a McCoy class, this gives it more focus in the medical areas with the science and medical things taking precedence. The McCoy sports multiple sickbay facilities. The Primary Sickbay is situated on Deck One, just aft of the main bridge. The larger Secondary Sickbay is on Deck Two.

All sickbay facilities use independent environmental systems to eliminate the risk of ship-wide contamination. Which you know is important if you’re going to be dealing with diseases etc.

We also have a separate Triage Deck on deck nine which is a large, open area, with limited storage facilities for removable bulkheads. This “Triage Deck” can be reconfigured using removable and folding bulkheads into a triage center, guest quarters, surgical center, or additional sickbay, depending on the requirements of the mission. According to our specs a full reconfiguration can be performed in approximately ten minutes.

So it’s like the Room of Requirement in Harry Potter, just Trek med like. We have a Recreational Deck and Alternate Environment Support and Medical Modules.

These Extra medical modules are carried on Deck 10 including science modules designed to provide on-site laboratory testing in quarantined areas and self-sustaining field hospital kits. Basically we have an ikea of prefabs if that module is fitted. We also contain runabouts fitted in a medical manner so think of it as a sort of Trek style ambulance. And we land, the Owie is capable of setting itself down.

If you’re into Trek med or science or even engineering the Ogawa is a limitlessly possibility in many ways.

3. How long have you Captained the Ogawa?

Originally, I became CO of the Owie on August 26th, 2006. I was CMO on the ship at the time and had been in the club about three years. I just passed the CO course in the academy when the CO of the ship left and the FComm, Amanda Noon, emailed me and asked if I would take it. That was until I think March 2008 when I left the club for a few months due to exams and things.

I was then asked to take over temporarily as CO again in January, 2011 and did for a few months then again when it was recommissioned in March 2017.

4. Tell me about your CO character?

Willow Taylor was originally my medical JO who then became the CMO/Chief of staff on the Ogawa. She didn’t really fit the Center seat the first time I became CO. She was the character I played as CO of the Brandywine which became the Saracen and had a nice sort of story line on the go there for explaining what happened to her after she left the ship and I wondered what it would be like for her to be returning to the Ogawa if her perfect ideal life on Earth didn’t really work out the way she had imagined. She’s pretty headstrong to the point of being stubborn at times but really anxious. She comes as a double act with her younger brother which is always fun to play off the sibling issues there.

She’s at home in sickbay and trying to almost prove her worth as a Captain. She always feels like she’s being judged and has to prove herself. I guess she’s a lot like me in real life.

5. Do you base your Medical characters off of real people or TV characters?

It entirely depends on the character. My longest running STF character besides Willow and Cai is Ryley who is a parody of Greg House MD. At the time I created him for the Atlantis the CO Kendra and I were watching the show and it looked like a fun idea to play off so i did it. He was always fun to play. My dentist on the Ogawa was a parody of Death from the Disc world.

Other characters I’ve played over the years have been a mix of real life people or characters I’ve written elsewhere or even a roll of the dice build.

6. Wouldn’t a preponderance of medical personnel on a ship leave a lot of crew with nothing to post?

On the surface level it could look like that but any ship with a focus,science ship, tactical cruiser etc would have areas of the sim focusing more on that division but with things for others to do. It takes a skillful GM to balance it right on the Ogawa and we are fortunate enough to have one. If you get yourself involved there will always be things for you to do on the Owie. Even our swing positions have their hands full, just ask Trinity! :p

7. What type of missions does the Ogawa perform? Are they all medical?

They often have a medical theme or undercurrent but not all no. The best way to think of it is like a medical drama on tv, ER in space if you will. (Though sometimes we are more like Scrubs in space) there’s room for so much more the medical aspect is just a framework we build in.

8. If you could pick one TV doctor to have on your crew, who would it be?

Oh that’s a tough call! So Greg House would be interesting but I have a feeling I’d hate it as an administrator and he would clash with some of my other crew members in medical I think. Doug Ross from ER maybe? Romantic drama would ensue…or Doctor Bailey from Greys anatomy to keep order? Maybe we could hold a poll for this one? I cant pick.

9. Who is your favorite Star Trek Doctor and why?

McCoy! Hes such a grump. He serves as the moral compass of the TOS trio and as TOS was my first Trek series I kinda just love him.

10. Where do you see the Ogawa in the future?

I hope that the Ogawa will go from strength to strength and continue the great work it has got going just now. The Owie has an amazing crew, I am honestly humbled by each and every writer we have. It feels like home to me in STF, I don’t get the same feeling on any other ship. And as cheezy as this sounds, the Owie may be my baby but that crew is my family. I may be the CO but it’s those players that make the ship not me. I am really lucky.

Thank you so much, Cale! I very much enjoyed your interview! It has been as entertaining and engaging as it is to serve on the Ogawa!