Hello, Fellow STFer's,

I have had the honor of spending a few hours interviewing Jake (aka our magnificent Minty Narwhal on discord), who is a newbie to the club for this month's Kate's Coffee Corner.   Jake joined the club in 2020 where in just three short months, his writing has shot put him into one of the hottest writers on the site.   Jake took the awards for Best X-Fleet Jo and Runner up for best newcomer.  If you read his posts you will instantly see why; however, this is not surprising when you get to know him.   While he has now found a happy home with STF, over the years he has honed his creative skills playing characters ranging from Lieutenant j.g.'s to CO's across the World Wide Web.

If you need a character for your ship looks no farther.  Jake knows how to write a science character down to the molecular level and creates a security officer that keeps everything in order for whoever needs to walk the dark corridors of a ship or alleyway safe.  His experience with writing over the years has honed Jake's ability for engaging dialogue and amazing imagery that pulls you into an RP or leaves you desperate to click the next in the location button.  So let's spend some time getting to know one of the newest members of STF 

Here’s a list of characters I play in the club:

Here’s a list of my current characters that need a home:

None, but always willing to make more for the right ship!

Some really fun facts about his characters he has shared with me are as follows:  

Ens Ella Lokaa, USS Saracen, Security

Ella is what I believe to be the first STF Elasian! A Unique species whom tears infect men with a biochemical compound which makes the fall absolutely head over heels for them! She a young, warrior princes with a mean streak who is still trying to find her footing within Starfleet!

Ens Kala Gorvel, USS Ark Angel, Science

An unjoined Trill, whose nature is to leap before looking! She’s witty and friendly and has a thirst for knowledge! She also loves Photography and Ballet! Kala is my first Trill and maybe one day I’ll explore her becoming a host! 

Ens Abbey Wyatt, ISS Cerberus, Security

A fierce woman, forged by the Terran Empire Abbey is starting to see its failure and is trying to carve her own path within this hostile universe! Always looking over her shoulder Abbey’s Xeno-Friendly attitude has certainly caught the eye of the wrong people!

Ens Andromeda Lykaios, USS Viking, Science

A bubbly Grecian scientist Ande is looking to score her first big adventure and she’s certainly hit gold with the USS Viking! Not believing the rumors and myths that have so become a legend within STF does the Andromeda really have what it takes to be a Grecian housed by Norse Mythology! 

Ens Oliver Loughty, USS Atlantis, Science

Oliver, Olly! The academy prankster and lifetime friend of the ‘Lantis Commanding Officer has just rekindled his first for space travel! Annoyingly witty and always looking to meet new people and make friends he’s certainly to be taken with a pinch of salt!

Cmdr Ryder Raauhl, USS Leviathan, XO

Newly Promoted, Recently joined Ryder is trying to come to grips with his new symbiote Raauhl after an emergency procedure! To make things worst the USS Leviathan has just been repurposed to serve as the new RTF (Recovery Task Force) flagship dealing with those things Starfleet rather wouldn’t want to, the only ship which willingly sails head first into particle storms! Will Ryder be able to cope with all his life changes!?

WHAT JOBS YOU WOULD LOVE TO PARTICIPATE IN / VOLUNTEER FOR IN STF?

I really want to become an XO in a Main Fleet Ship and become a GM or at least an assistant GM! 

Now for the nitty-gritty.  What is it that makes Jake so amazing?   Below are the twenty things that show us why so sit back, get comfy with a cool drink, and I dare you not to smile at least 20 times when you read his answers to my questions.  

20 QUESTIONS WITH KATE O'NEILL  

1.  If happiness had a smell, what would it be?

Wow, going in deep already. So I think this one might be easy but it's the smell of a football stadium, it's the Smell of the Beer, burgers, pies (Chicken Balti, always), hot dogs and the imaginative smell of the hopes and dreams of all the fans all wearing blue. Then it’s walking out into the stand and on a cold winter day the smell of the fresh sea air and the grassroots., For me that’s my happy place!

2.  What is your favorite book genre?

Oh Super easy here! I LOVE future dystopias. I have read about almost everything I can manage! So I first started reading back in about 2016, before that I had never really got engaged into reading but someone left Hunger Games on a desk (it was the second one as well) And you know when you just pick up a book, read a paragraph and go… wow. So Yeah since then future dystopia is my fav!

3.  If you were a salad dressing would it be and why?

Hmm, I think for me it would be Honey Mustard. I'm sweet as Honey and as Bold as Mustard!

4.  So word on the street is you owned your own Hedwig.  For the less cultured of us on the Potter lore that translates to holy smokes, you owned an owl!  How did you become a proud parent of such a unique ornithological pet and are they better or worse mousers as compared to a cat if you have a rodent problem in your home?

Wow! Well, those grapevines are pretty good. Way back when I was a youngin (about 10 years ago, lol) my sisters joined a dance school and the owner’s husband got on super well with my dad, he already owned about 100 birds of preys from Owls, Falcons, and Eagles. My dad and I became super interested and eventually, we brought an African Spotted Eagle Owl who we named after a Portsmouth FC Striker ‘King Kanu’ As for our rodent problem we didn't have one! Though not because of King Kanu but because of our dog Poppy! I'm sure she thought she was a cat! We kept Kanu in a massive aviary which is a large cage for a bird of prey and often flew him for a pest control agency called ‘Regal Raptor’ Unfortunately we no longer have King Kanu. 

5.  What’s the best single day on the calendar and why? 

Always, the first game of the season for me, there's no day I love more than match day the roar of the crowd back after the summer break, excited for the next few months of football, the good times and the bad times! The anticipation, anxiety, and the Excitement! Plus the Beer is good! 

6.  What is something you think everyone should do at least once in their lives and why?

I think everyone should at least once camp under the stars, and i'm not talking about in your back garden or anywhere civilization can be seen or heard. I'm talking about the remote places that you find in Canada, pitch a tent, start a controlled and well-maintained fire and just appreciate the simple things in life, there’s no greater sense of peace than listening to the coyotes howl, the bugs chitter all under the stars and the aurora. 

7.  You are summoned for an away mission.  Everyone loves time off the ship.  As you arrive smiling at the transporter pad you are lost in a sea of red shirts as your away party team members.  The news only gets better when you are told you are being sent to Planet Dystopia.   Before you beam down what planet are you hoping for, why, and what is your skill of yours will leave the Odds Ever in your favor?  

Firstly, love the quote! One of my Favorites. Secondly, The first thing I’m thinking is thank god all these redshirts are here, less chance for us Science guys to be brutally eaten by a Gorn! What I'm hoping for is probably a peaceful planet with mysterious disappearances and we get asked to help you. We eventually figure out that the town's elders were simply ascending into a higher form of life! Job done home for tea and crumpets plus one or two red shirts got bitten by a dangerous cave spider along the way. 

8.  What chance encounter or random event changed your life forever and why?

I met my fiancee. We met by chance when she moved from Spain and joined our class all because her cousin (who she now does not get on with) was in the same class. At the time it was like a trial for people who wanted to start school an hour early and leave an hour early due to family commitments, it was truly one in a million. When we first met we hated each other because we both were equally smart at the same things, we liked the same things, we liked the same people but together we were nemesis I remember *Laughs* In maths class we had been tasked to find out the dimensions of a building but counting the bricks and using the dimensions of one brick to work out the overall size and she was pointing to each part of her equation saying “So you add that to that” And I was sat in the back, chair leaned back mimicking her. She got so bad she threw the board pen at me and called me some names under the sun before storming out. 

I felt terrible because although we always picked on one another I had never made her cry. I followed her out and then I apologized after that well… were now engaged eight years later, own our house, and getting married! So meeting her changed my life forever!

9.   Just like a new crewmember of a floating palace class Federation ship (also known as a Mythology class ship) needs to know how many decks there are on the ship, new students to Hogwarts need to know the secrets to the castle.   Rumor has it that you are a massive Potterhead.  So how many staircases does Hogwarts have and how the heck did you know that answer? 

Oh yes, HUGE! I have the deathly hallows back tattoo to prove it! And to answer your question there are One-Hundred-Forty-Two Stairs, Wide ones, sweeping ones narrow and rickety but even more crazy there are doors that don't open unless you ask politely, or tickled in just the right places and door that aren't even really doors at all! I know this because somewhere in the Philosopher's stone tells me so! *Puts his invisibility cloaks on and runs off*

10. What are some small things that make your day better?

Being away so much, I love waking up to messages from my fiancee, I love the smell of rain on dry tarmac, freshly cut grass and popcorn in the microwave! 

11. If you could trade places with any other person for a week, famous or not, living or dead, real or fictional, with whom would it be?

It would have to be someone, even a non-descript crewman on the NX-01 Enterprise but not dealing with the Xindi attack when they were just exploring! Imagine the first days of actual warp space travel… Man sign me up!

12.  If you could play any of these magical games what would you choose and why?  Your choices are: Exploding Snap, Wizard's Chess, Quidditch, or Gobstones.

I Hate heights sooo much and as fun as Quidditch sounds I think Wizards chess is for me, its tactical and fun though I'd have to play the bigger version and ride on the horses back as Knight!  KNIGHT TO D4!

13.  So your character Olly walks into Ten Forward.  He is ready to kick back and relax however out of nowhere you hear a loud whistle and see Kelly waving frantically.   Low and behold it is the first annual karaoke competition and the theme is Disney.   Kelly goes on telling the entire crew how you are the master of karaoke.   Without pausing hit us *with your best shot* at finishing the lyrics:

Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves

Scheherezad-ie had a thousand tales..........

Lykaios had just two sleeves

And Olly had drunk ten different ales! 

But then one day I learned a word

That saved me achin' nose

The biggest word you ever heard

And this is how it goes, oh..........

Bird, bird, bird is the word!

When the road looks rough ahead

And you're miles and miles

From your nice warm bed

You just remember what your old pal said....

It could be worse, you could be dead!

14.  As a chef you have a very keen sense of what tastes yummy and smells so good it brings the people to the kitchen like a horde of zombies.   What food would your friends and family rate 10/10 that you like to cook for them?

Oh boy, so the first one is a cheat because its not really cooking but I make an amazing ‘no-bake’ Kinder bueno cheesecake, I have had bosses ask me to make them for their bosses! But the one thing I do cook amazingly well and is making my stomach grumble is my Jerk Chicken, Mediterranian couscous oh boy oh boy! 

15. If you could be a professor at Hogwarts what would you teach?

I like this question because it made me think long and hard... BUT! Without keeping everyone waiting I have deduced an answer! I think for me if I could be a professor in anything it would be Magical Creatures, I love how in the potter universe there is such a wide variety of creatures from Pixie, Nifflers and nargols! to unicorns, Griffins, and DRAGONS!

16.  What was the most exotic place you were deployed to when you were in the Army?

Honestly? And you’re all going to be like really that's weird but for me TEXAS Holy cow that place is amazing! I have been to a few states, countries, and locations but Fort Hood Texas really hit the nail on the head. The people are crazy and friendly and the barbeque is UNREAL! Best time of my life was drinking down I think 5th or 6th Street Austin when the movie and music festival was on and boy did we drink! Please drink responsibly! 

17. If you could make a 20-second phone call to yourself at any point in your life present or future, when would you call and what would you say?

 I would call my future self and I would remind myself to never forget the past, not dwell on it but remember the good times and learn from the bad. Don’t think you never did enough and always strive for greatness!

18. If you were to go anywhere right now where would you go?

For me I think it would be the Amazon rainforest, much is still left to be physically undiscovered and something about canoeing down the Amazon River really appeals to me, I'd be doing it without my Partner because she hates humidity! 

19.  Being the Potter head you are as we alluded to earlier, I am sure you have been itching to tell us your house and why!?

Finally! *breath out* I thought you weren't going to ask me! I am totally a Ravenclaw even though Pottermore says I'm a Gryffindor *mutters about the questions being rigged* But Ravenclaw for me because I strive for knowledge and I'm massive know it all so I'm told by my friends and family (I LOVE A GOOD QUIZ!) I also like to think I'm Wise and Witty, I love a good witful prank! The only thing I wouldn't ever do though is backstab someone! 

20.  And Finally, out of all your characters in STF what character would you say you enjoy playing most and why?

Oh no, you didn’t! Why! This is so difficult because they all are amazing and each one carries a trait or aspect of the personality of me in them! Some are the best of me, Some are the worst of me! But *breathes out heavily* Oh boy, I'm going to say it is Andromeda Lykaios on the Viking because she is my childish part of my personality but she is also clever beyond measure and has been a joy to play! I have so much potential for her, she has so much more to give.

Thank you so much for your time with this interview. I really enjoyed it.
~ Kate