Fiat justitia, ruat caelum!

Many thanks go out to the by now untracable artists who worked on the images that are contained within this site. While I've given credit wherever possible, several of these images were passed on to me word of mouth (so to speak), or by other means, with no names attached. Once again, thanks.

Of course it would be impossible to have a website for a Star Trek RPG without mentioning the hundreds (by now possibly thousands) of individuals who made Star Trek what it is today, from the Great Bird himself all the way to current Paramount executives (although you're apparently trying to destroy it, we still realize that Paramount HAS carried Trek at least this far. We just wish that now that you're tired of us you'd give us to somebody who isn't rather than being assholes about it). On the way, such names as William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForrest Kelley, Patrick Steward, Gates McFadden, Mariana Sirtis, Avery Brooks (and of course who could forget the immortal John De Lance, no pun intended), and many more that have slipped my mind at the moment have appeared in the credits of five television series and ten movies. Equally important but less well-known are the members of the crews of all of these productions. From Rick Berman, Herman Zimmerman, and Mike Okuda all the way down to the Second Assistant Alternative Dolly Grip from The Motion Picture, each of these poeple have had an intrinsic and indespensable role in the Star Trek phenominon, though they are not often recognized for such. On behalf of not only myself, my crew, or my ship, but of Trekkers, Trekkies, and whatever else my fellow Trek fans call themselves these days, I offer up sincere and heartfelt thanks to everyone who was ever involved in any of the aspects of Star Trek. Yes, even including you creeps from Marketing and Sales :).

Indespensable have been the senior officers and COs of Taskforce Thirty-Eight, who were with me (as they are for all new COs) every step of the way during the long process of getting a ship ready to take off--even without real-life matters like supply and crewing to take care of, the TF38 CO's School is a very exhaustive program that took me several weeks to complete in my spare time (it was of course worth the time). And I'm sure all of you out there know that trying to complete a website in your spare time can take forever and a day. These people not only have been patient as I turned in, month in and out, reports stating that I was still building a website, that I hadn't taken on a crew yet, and that the ship was not ready for active service yet, but they gave me website advice, as well as links to various image sites, et cetera. One of them (apologies, but I have forgotten who you were--I thought I took note of it, but I hadn't; please contact me and tell me it was you so I can cite you here) even made for me the dedication plaque that you see above this. I can't stress enough to you what a fine group these people are--we may have our arguments at times, and I may step on toes, but I have the utmost respect for all of them.

And, finally...this website is dedicated to soldiers everwhere, everywhen. Those billions and billions of indivuduals, who thoroughout history, willingly or unwillingly, went off to war to serve the goals of their nation (or government as the case may be), and just hopefully, make life a little easier or better or safer for those who they were sworn to defend.

But...in the end, to add to what a great man once said...soldiers don't fight for flags or songs, for mom or apple pie or politicans or nations or ideologies or religions or democracy or truth, justice, and the Insert Country Here Way. They don't fight for duty or honor or bravery or for some general, president, praetor, emperor, king, or other Big Man. In the end, when the metal hits the meat, soldiers fight for each other. It's this spirit, this occurence, this what-have-you that causes men and women who would otherwise be teaching middle school students grammar to charge machine gun nests, call down artillery and bombs on the heads of people just like themselves who happen to be on the other side, and hurl themselves onto grenades in foxholes to save their buddies. Whatever it is that causes this, I belive it to be one of the grandest, noblest things in the world, and...if the horrid injustice that is war must occur, then at least there are things like this, that show us, when you strip away the creature comforts, the television and fast food, the cynicism and jadedness that comes with living in a rich society, and you throw a human being into the dirt and grit, thousands of miles away from his home, fighting for his life, with nothing to rely on but his rifle, his wits, and his comrades...we're not all bad. At the basic level, we all of us have the capacity to be like that, given the right circumstances. It's just that our society and the mindset that we are taught...overrides all of that. Humanity is not inherently evil or self-destructive. We're just good at convincing future generations to be.

It's to all of this that the entirety of the USS Columbia is dedicated to.