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The design is complete and the vendor chosen. We have a short time to get these shirts done before Fleet Day on August 7th.

Click the link to order. Order form closes July 30, 2021.

Cost is $20.00 per shirt. Pay me (Captain Bogler). Venmo is preferred, but we can make other arrangements. I’ll have them shipped to me, and I’ll distribute them at Fleet Day, unless I see you earlier. Adult and Youth sizes are both available.

One thing I want to do as Captain is to keep the legacy of the USS Kelly alive. As part of that, I wanted to find and share our old newsletters. Thanks to Admiral Carl Stark, I was able to get most of our back issues (from volume 1 through volume 68) up on our Website. You may have noticed a few changes because of it.

As I was perusing these old issues, I was remembering when I joined the USS Kelly. I remembered being asked to write an article and that it was published. Well, I found it. I didn’t put my name on the article in the issue, but I distinctly remember that it was about the Tenctonese (the aliens in Alien Nation) and that I wrote it like a bunch of various logs. I wanted to share that with you… so here it is.

This article was published the first part of 1994, and was in the first issue of the Communique published after I joined in December 1993. Sometimes I forget how much time has passed since I joined this organization. A lot has changed, but a lot remains the same – namely the friendships I’ve made along the way. I hope that you find the same enjoyment with the USS Kelly as I have over the past two-and-a-half decades.

Live long and prosper,
Captain Bogler

It’s finally out!

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this first volume of our re-launched newsletter. It is published in PDF format, and is free for download from here, our Facebook page, and is also being distributed through our email contact list. You are more than welcome to print out a copy.
(Note: If you want us to mail you out a printed copy, please contact the Command Staff as there will be a cost.)

You can download a copy here.

Last Saturday, the crew of the U.S.S. Kelly met up with the crew of the U.S.S. Pulsar to attend one of the best events a Star Trek club can do… ever. We went to the Christa McAuliffe Space Center in Pleasant Grove, UT. (Click here for more info about the venue.)

If you have ever done one of these missions, you’ll know how much fun we have. We get to dress up in uniform and pretend to actually be on a spaceship, communicating with the computer and with our Chief Engineer by voice, talking to aliens, running programs on computers and so on. It is F-A-N-Tastic!

If you have done one of these missions before, you need to go again. The CMSC has had a major facelift. They have added new simulators, new missions, and even a planetarium!

This time, we ended up with enough people to run two simulators, and we ended up splitting up by ship. For our mission, Crewman Eric Moorer acted as our captain and Bob Patterson of the USS Ticonderoga acted as our XO. Other positions were filled as necessary (I ran sensors). We also had several new recruits join our adventure. (Welcome!)

[Note: pictures will be added to this article at a later time.]

We have finished up our Superhero High School campaign, and at last week’s USS Kelly role-playing game session, we created characters for a new game loosely-based on Robotech… very loosely. Today, we started the game session. We also welcomed some new players. (Note: you don’t need to be a member of the USS Kelly to join with our RPG sessions. You also don’t need to be crazy to play with us… but it helps.)

As always, we are using the Fantasy Grounds Unity program. The nice thing is that all players are able to use the demo (free) version of the program as our GM has a paid copy that allows all his players to use the free one while connected to him. We are allowing both in-person gaming at the GM’s house as well as remote connection through both Fantasy Grounds and a chat channel on Discord.

This Robotech-esque campaign is based on the new Robotech: Macross Saga RPG released through Strange Machine Games. However, we are beta-testing the second book, and our GM had to create the game rules for Fantasy Grounds (with lots and lots of input from the Robotech RPG/SMG community on Discord). In fact, our GM was working on the ruleset today just before the game.

Now for the actual storyline…

It’s been about four years since the Reign of Fire when a Zendrati zealot destroyed Macross City in a suicide attack, killing off eighty percent of the population and lots of the plant life. However, since they mainly fired at cities, the jungles survived. Several people hightailed it to the jungles of South America and built a community in a bunch of crashed Zendrati ships. Our community of Home is … militaristically pacifist. Basically, our leaders decided that all the problems we’ve been having are because of people living in cities. Now, we live in the jungle. While we have plenty of wood, plant, and animal life to sustain us, we have to scrounge for spare parts and medical supplies. Unfortunately, gangs of bikers tend to raid us, and our leaders do nothing about it.

Our party has been put together to go scrounging for supplies. Since everything within about five days of Home has been cleaned out, we need to find somewhere else to scrounge. We ran into a wolf pack and, after a short fight, we were able to gain some meat and pelts. We preserved the pelts as good as we could and placed them in an area that we could find again (so we didn’t have to carry them).

On day ten, we came across a clearing that had both a henge (i.e. a stone circle) and a Mesoamerican pyramid. Strangely, it appears that the two were designed to be together. While the henge and pyramid appear ancient, we also found asphalt underneath the huge plateau we were on. We determined there had been an archaeological dig (a preliminary one) that was surveying the pyramid… and that someone had opened the pyramid’s door after the scientists left. So, we decided to go in.

In the first chamber, we found seven skeletons – five were ancient, two were more recent. There are several doors that are still sealed. We decided to open one, but had to wait 48 hours for the pressure to equalize. By this time, it was dark, so we decided to camp for the night. What’s odd is that we all fell asleep, including the watch. When we woke up, we were all rested, none of us were hungry, and there were no animal or inset noises.

We checked out the road, and found the plateau pitted as if someone had attacked it. The only way out appeared to be by air, so we decided to check for supplies. It turned out that we had run across an old United Earth base that had been set up in the ancient corridors. Part of what we found was a reflex engine that has been running for about 35,000 years.

We found all sorts of technology, including battle pods. We determined that if we tell our Home about this area, the artifacts will be destroyed. We found the base’s database, which showed drone logs. Those drone logs showed footage of us fighting wolves three days ago… and footage from Home.

With this information, we decided to keep perusing the logs… and end the game for the night.

I’ve heard it said that if you are a fan of Star Trek then you cannot be a fan of Star Wars. My question to that is … why? I personally am a fan of both genres. Besides, if you think about it the Vulcan concept of IDIC (Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations) allows for all sorts of fandoms.

So today, May 4, 2021, the U.S.S. Kelly wants to wish one of the greatest fandoms in existence a happy birthday. Celebrate however you will.

Personally, I’m going to watch the original Star Wars movie.

P.S. If you want to try something fun, try asking your Amazon Alexa which of the two is better.

I have never understood the thought that if you like Star Trek you can’t like Star Wars (and vice versa). After all, one of Star Trek’s guiding principles is IDIC – Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations.

For example, when I was little my dad & I watched Star Trek (TOS) reruns every week when they came on TV. It was something we enjoyed together, and one of the best memories I have of him. Then, when I was in grade school this strange space movie came out in movie theaters. I don’t remember a whole lot from the first time I saw that movie, but I just HAD to be Princess Leia for Halloween.

Now, several years later, I enjoy both franchises and many others: Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica (both versions), Harry Potter, the DC television series (Arrow, Supergirl, etc.), the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Iron Man, Avengers, Doctor Strange, etc.). And I’m not the only one.

What other shows/movies do you enjoy apart from Star Trek? Somewhere among our crew you can find those who enjoy sci-fi, fantasy, anime, mystery, and many other genres. In fact, a few months ago we held an activity where we shared some other, non-Star Trek series that we enjoy. Together we enjoyed episodes of: Stargate, The IT Crowd, The Dragon Prince, Robocop (series), Babylon 5, and The Devil is a Part-Timer.

So with that in mind, we’d like to share a link with you. This is something our own Admiral Hollinger found on You Tube.

Remember in the original Star Wars movie where Darth Vader faces off against Obi-Wan Kenobi? It’s sort of just… there. Well, a group called FXitinPost redid it with current visual effects technology and a couple of actors filling in the more… energetic scenes. Check it out!