Charles Star Archives - Independence Fleet

A purple-tinted space scene featuring a futuristic starbase and a Starfleet-style starship approaching it, with the text "IDFLEET.COM" in the bottom right corner.

Our Silver Anniversary

Posted on July 4, 2026 | by Charles Star | 5 Comments

One-quarter of a century–a generation by some measures. Yes, it was 25 years ago today that Independence Fleet was founded with three sims and, by our best records, 33 total characters. But for our 108 characters today, we first have a very special message straight from the 24th century (don’t ask how we got it):

While we celebrate our 25th anniversary, the United States (where many members of this fleet hail from) commemorates its 250th. Since our club’s founding shares a date with U.S. Independence Day, our early branding often included American flags. As a piece of trivia, we owe our name to co-founder, three-time Commander-in-Chief, and Hall of Famer James D. West. He happened to glance at either a VHS or DVD copy of the movie Independence Day while we were trying to come up with a name for this soon-to-be-launched fleet. The rest is well, history! The Liberty Bell image was added a couple years later in 2003, again by James D. West, and it has stuck ever since.

To our friends up north, we also acknowledge the recent Canada Day. To our friends elsewhere in the Commonwealth realms, we salute you–your King was here less than three months ago. Finally, to our friends at other locations on the globe, we rotate with you!

Back to today! We have now been around for exactly one-tenth as long as the United States. Moving backward in time 25 years before our 2001 founding would put you right on the July 4, 1976 bicentennial. Who remembers the bicentennial quarters? In that spirit, we have created this one-time challenge coin in honor of our 25 years together as a fleet, which will be provided free of charge to all fleet members.

All current fleet members as of today are also hereby awarded the Anniversary Medal.

We’re not done yet! We have another message for the fleet from a very special guest (this one is from the present!):

We had an entire page in our 20th Anniversary Almanac dedicated to Gott’s Doomsday Scenario. Back then, there was an 80% chance that we would still be here today. Well, here we are! If you remember, the concept is that absent additional information, an observer (i.e., you) has a 50% chance of being in the first half of what they are observing (i.e., IDF) and a 50% chance of being in the second half of what they are observing. Based on that, here are our updated numbers for Anniversary #25:

Date	Probability that IDF is still active
October 4, 2026	99%
October 27, 2027	95%
April 13, 2029	90%
November 2, 2034	75%
July 4, 2051	50%
July 4, 2101	25%
July 4, 2251	10%
July 3, 2501	5%
June 28, 4501	1%

Until next year, or June 28th, 4501, let’s keep simming!

A close-up view of a futuristic starship's bridge seats, featuring a central command chair with an elaborate design. The seat has angular, dark purple and beige components, with additional seats on either side, all positioned in front of a curved control panel. The overall design is modern with sleek, minimalistic features and geometric shapes.

Commandapalooza 2025

Posted on June 13, 2026 | by Charles Star | 2 Comments

We did Awardapalooza. And we did Recordapalooza. So why not Commandapalooza? This post is all about our amazing Commanding Officers and everything they’ve accomplished up through the end of 2025. This is one caveat, however: We only have command records for Jul 2001-Dec 2003, Oct 2010-Aug 2018, Nov 2018, and Jun 2019-present. A few years ago, former Fleet CO Jeremiah Griffith gave us records he had saved that cover January 2004 through September 2010. However, they are incomplete and have not yet been integrated into our official record book. Until that happens, we have had 150 unique Independence Fleet Commanding Officers who have guided 58 different sims. And here they are…

They have led 2,361 ship-months, won 207 posting titles, and commanded through a whopping 64,387 posts!

By Sim:

By Commanding Officer:

*Commanding Officers currently in command are in bold.*

*Only the top 25 and active COs are tagged.*

What a history! What a legacy! What a group put outstanding role players and leaders do we have! There certainly is a lot I can say, but I’m going to let the numbers speak for themselves. But please do feel free to post your own observations, thoughts, and memories in the comments section below!

Recordapalooza 2025

Posted on February 27, 2026 | by Charles Star | 6 Comments

We recently had one big post on community awards from outside IDF. Why not another big post on awards from within Independence Fleet? That’s what this is! We’ve crunched the numbers for everything from our July 4, 2001 founding through the end of 2025. In that time, IDF has issued 1,248 monthly awards to 599 unique characters, representing 52 different sims. Wow, what a history! Since a table with 599 people would be too big for this article, we decided to narrow it down to the 25. On a separate note, we’ll be celebrating our 25th anniversary later this year! Awards were presented Jul 2001-Oct 2005, Oct 2010-Jul 2013, and Mar 2020-present.

Here we go with our monthly awards records…

Active or recently active member
Hall of Famer

Active members of the fleet are now 1-10 on the all-time leaderboard, and include 18 of the top 25 spots. Hall of Famers make up only 6 of the top 25 today. It seems we likely have A LOT of future Hall of Famers in our midst! Also, Jenna Ramthorne has (barely) overtaken Bonnie “Bon-Bon” Durnell for #1, with Jonathan Grayson not too far behind at #3. Long-time sims USS Chuck Norris, USS Sunfire, and USS Washington dominate the list when looking at the primary sim of characters:

USS Washington: 4 of the top 10; 8 of the top 25
USS Sunfire: 3 of the top 10; 7 of the top 25
USS Chuck Norris: 3 of the top 10; 5 of the top 25

Breaking it out by sim:

The Sunfire leads the way with 236.5 total awards, with the Washington not too far back at 220. Active sims claim spots #1-4 (the USS Liberty is at #3 overall with 96.5 awards) and 6 of the top 10–the more recent addition to the fleet USS Firebird lands right in that 10 spot with 42 awards. The USS Wayfarer is #6 with 52 awards, and the USS Albion and USS Montana sit just outside the top 10 at #11 (26 awards) and #12 (23 awards), respectively.

Breaking it down further to awards issued since they were reinstated in 2020 (546 total awards):

The Washington leads the pack this time with 155, and the Sunfire is in second place at 118.5. The Washington also has the longest streak of winning at least one monthly award, dating all the way back to May 2021 for 57 months in a row if you count January 2026. I can’t find another streak that even comes close. If the W can make it through April of this year, that would make it an astounding five full years with at least one award each month!

Speaking of the W (and a few others), here is the list of sims that led the fleet in awards each year since 2020:

In case you happen to want to see each year fully broken out, we have that too:

Since they are mentioned throughout, let’s also not forget about our other two outstanding sims: USS Churchill & USS Eminence.

Finally, I would like to thank Rook Mirtoh and Arthur Winters, each whom has served as our Director of Personnel, which is the role primarily responsible for selecting the award winners (Mirtoh, March 2020-September 2023; Winters, May 2024-today, with Ken Gillis and me filling in a few times here and there). It’s more tedious than you might imagine! Thank you for making one IDF’s enduring legacies possible!

With that, let’s keep these amazing awards coming!

The bridge of a futuristic starship, designed with a circular seating arrangement. In the center, a large, command chair is surrounded by four other seats, all with ergonomic, cream-colored upholstery. The curved ceiling has a series of geometric panels with ambient lighting. Behind the seats, large control consoles with touch-screen interfaces are mounted on the walls. Two doorways and an elevator are visible on either side of the bridge.

The Most Important 24th Anniversary in the Universe

Posted on July 4, 2025 | by Charles Star | 7 Comments

Happy 24th Anniversary, Independence Fleet! These anniversaries seem to be happening quicker and quicker these days! Continuing a tradition we began a few years ago, we again have a video message from a very special guest:

As some of you are already aware, we recently acquired a prop used on Star Trek V: The Final Frontier during the shuttle crash landing scene:

See it on the right side of the screen next to the stacked barrels? Yes, that’s it!

Turns out, it’s a miniature of a highly prolific movie prop. Dubbed the “most important device in the universe” by some, it’s been used in more than 200 movies and television shows. Ex Astris Scientia notes that this full sized version appears in two Star Trek movies and six episodes, and refers to it as “blinking tubes” here.

This guy even created his own working copy of the thing. This full-size device belonged to Modern Props, which unfortunately closed back in 2020. While we don’t know the fate of Modern Props #195-290-1, we’re happy to hold a piece of history with this mini version. What did we do with it?

We asked each ship to write a post using the object in some way. Here are those submissions in alphabetical order by sim:

A Tale of Two Spragues (and Keys) by the USS Albion
What in the World? by the USS Chuck Norris
Transfer Arrival by the USS Churchill
Genesis by the USS Eminence
The Thing Is Broken by the USS Firebird
Shakedown out the window by the USS Liberty
Potential Problem by the USS Montana
Ikar’s Folly by the USS Sunfire
Brigid’s Gift by the USS Washington
Goes Nowhere, Does Nothing by the USS Wayfarer

We then asked three individuals from independent sims to serve as judges:

Christie of Gnashville
Tavey of USS Potemkin
WizardBeard of Memory Theta

And your winners are…

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1st Place: USS Chuck Norris for What in the World? CO: Captain Mira Rodale	2nd Place: USS Washington for Brigid’s Gift CO: Captain Shran dh’Klar	3rd Place: USS Sunfire for Ikar’s Folly CO: Captain Rhenora Kaylen
“Any device that knows that Raktajino is needed is awesome in my opinion. Awesome plot.” “I liked the casual subtlety that was employed here.” “The writing style here is very clean with very good grammar, which makes it easy to read. Well done!”	“This post had peak Treknobabble and it was fantastic.” “Disclosure – I have a fascination with Celtic deities, so I was immediately drawn in anyway. This was fun, and I am curious about what happens next!” “I absolutely adore the Quantum Physics take.”	“Starfleet and Snow.. Neat.” “‘Outsmarted by snow’ is definitely a new take on the ‘acts of God’ trope and I am here for it!” “I found the battle portions to be particularly engaging, especially the dialogue.”

Superlative winners:

Most integral to story use of the object: USS Firebird for The Thing Is Broken CO: Captain Malcom Llwyedd	Most creative use of the object: USS Montana for Potential Problem CO: Captain Michael Murphy	Most humorous use of the object: USS Wayfarer for Goes Nowhere, Does Nothing CO: Captain Akeno Misaki
“I will forevermore wonder what The Thing ™ does! I cared about the characters and the plot!” “This sim does a great job of rounding out all bases in a post.” “‘The thing is broken’ is now my new favorite sentence.”	“This sim does a good job of showing before telling.” “I wanted to know more about the mysterious officers.. Tell me more!” “The whole ‘Men in Black’ story line is absolutely wonderful!”	“I wasn’t sure what to expect with the cat at first but the post turned out to be a lot of fun.” “Cats In Space! I could feel how comfortable Barry the GNDN is for Isoroku!” “I’m pretty sure you’re the only sim in history who would think to use an unknown object as a cat bed and I love it.”

Great all around use: USS Eminence for Genesis CO: Captain Alex Shepard	Avant-garde: USS Liberty for Shakedown out the window CO: Captain Kaylia Strenvale	This is Trek: USS Churchill for Transfer Arrival CO: Captain James Stewart
“The cameos were surprisingly well done.” “A good way to bring in a familiar character. Hi Geordie! OK folks on the Eminence, how do you find the device??” “The writing, grammar, and punctuation are impeccable!”	“An interesting dilemma, and some equally interesting people in the middle of a time twist!” “There was a great sense of urgency in the story.” “From this post, it sounds like the object was incorporated into a larger story, which I find very creative.”	“The sim did a good job of writing the post by the numbers. Right on.” “I wondered where the device was…” “I love the detailed descriptions of the scenery.”

Yes, it is a post: USS Albion for A Tale of Two Spragues (and Keys) (CO: Captain Dick Sprague)

“This was one of the funniest things I’ve read, although I may have found it even funnier if some of the context wasn’t lost on me.”

“I liked the differentiation between the real characters and the fake ones.”

Congratulations to everyone, and a special thank you to our judges! All three judges expressed to me how much they enjoyed reading the 10 posts. They were all highly entertaining while showcasing the unique personalities of each sim. I hope the Captains and crews had as much fun writing them!

Happy 24th anniversary, Independence Fleet! Thank you for all you do to make our community what it is!

Happy 23rd Anniversary, Independence Fleet

Posted on July 4, 2024 | by Charles Star | 9 Comments

Happy 23rd anniversary, Independence Fleet! For anyone new and not aware or simply not wanting to do the math, this club was founded all the way back on July 4, 2001. Continuing a tradition we began a few years ago, here is a message from a special guest:

What else do we have for this year? You might remember the 20th Anniversary Almanac that we published three years ago. Well, we got the cover page signed by none other than Star Trek legend William Shatner:

pdf | jpg

A closer view of the signature:

In case you were wondering, the cover photo at the top is indeed based on the greatest Star Trek selfie ever taken by LeVar Burton. Thank you to Captain Misaki for creating our header image two years in a row.

I almost forgot, we have a second message this year too:

Happy anniversary, IDF! Here’s to 23 years and much more!

Our 100th Blog Post!

Posted on November 22, 2022 | by Heather Meadows | 4 Comments

What an exciting bit of Independence Fleet news that I get the opportunity to share with you all. This very post marks the 100th blog post since IDF launched the new website on February 29, 2020. That’s a lot of blogging and I am delighted that these 100 posts have been mostly celebratory and honoring our members.

Ironically, we also have 100 blog comments so far. It is always nice to receive comments from the IDF community. It makes every blog post all the more wonderful and though my work schedule the past few months derailed my involvement, I am glad to be part of the fleet in this capacity. I don’t know where we will be 100 more blog posts down the road, but it undoubtedly will be a great journey with you all.

Let’s have a look at some blog statistics:

Author	Posts
Charles Star	50
James “Rook” Mirtoh	32
Bolak	6
Ken Gillis	5
James West	4
Heather Meadows	3

Stay tuned for more exciting IDF news and blog posts!

April Fools’ 2022: Imperial Defense Fleet

Posted on June 30, 2022 | by Heather Meadows | 2 Comments

With a long a illustrious history in the simming community, Independence Fleet has been a bedrock for quality Star Trek role playing for over twenty years. Although IDF’s leadership works hard to ensure our members have several games to suit their role playing needs, we also know how to have fun, and what better day to enjoy our brand of humor than on April’s Fools’ Day. For those of you who have been part of IDF for a while, you know that April Fools’ Day jokes have become a pretty big tradition around here. We’ve done World Wide Sims, the classic 1990s simming website, and Super Space Command 3000. Actually, we’ve done Super Space Command 3000 three different times–no one said we were original! For those of you new to IDF this year, your introduction was our, er, rebranding where we took on a new menacing moniker.

Additionally, what we included for our humorous 2022 was the spectacular trial and banishment of our fleet CO–this is simming after all! And then added for good measure, a good ole’ useless administrative burden for sim COs, complete with threats of facing JAG. All in good humor, but these whimsical jokes mirror the real-life history of dozens of simming fleets (sadly including even this one at times), fleet XO Ken Gillis overthrew fleet CO Charles Star and installed Joseph “Stealth” Carroll as his JAG Magistrate… just in case you missed it! These were all great ‘Easter eggs’ for those of you who have been around the community and witnessed some of the ludicrous events that have unfolded in past years outside of IDF.

Here are some of actual statements Admiral Star received in response to the gag:

“Loving this year’s prank by the way! I was hoping Super Space Command 3000 would have made a come back.”
“Were you kicked out of Independence fleet?”
“Are you really in trouble?”
“Hahaha you got me.”
“Let me know if you need any help.”
“Apparently I was fooled by Ken on April fools day. He got me good!”
“What happened?”
“I just remembered what day it is. April 1st.”

And here are a few of the quotes from our Discord server:

“Qapla!”
“Wrong Empire, but you got the spirit!”
Long live the Empire…”
“I see we have a new Grand Admiral. I guess it was going to happen eventually.”
“JAG got more positions [open], or just the Director?
“I am always looking for Inquisitors.”
“Long Live the new IDF Empire!! I expect sims that post less than 300 posts a month will be immediately shut down and mothballed? Right?”
“You had me going for a while there.”
“I was around IDF in 2003 when Federal Appeals Court Judge, Lance Stiffler, had ruled that due to copyright law IDF could no longer be affiliated with ‘Star Trek’ and so had to change its name to Super Space Command 3000. I can’t believe that joke is almost 20 years old now!”

Thank you again to Ken Gillis for planning and organizing this year’s joke, and a special thanks to Charles Star and Joseph “Stealth” Carroll for playing along and being great sports. On behalf of the Imperial Defense Fleet, I hope everyone else enjoyed it! I can’t wait to see what tomfoolery that is in store for 2023 and remember: “Forget the ring! The ring is bupkis! I found it in a Cracker Jack box!“

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The Trial of Charles Star

Posted on March 31, 2022 | by Ken Gillis | Leave a Comment

Edit: This post was part of the 2022 April Fools’ Day gag.

Charges

The Defendant, Charles Star, is charged with the following crimes:

Mutiny and Sedition
Theft of a Starship
Disreputable Behavior
Verbal Abuse
Unauthorized Shuttle Parking in Disabled Shuttlebay
Harassment
Discrimination
Sabotage of a Starship
False Statements
Dematerialization of a Beagle
Hacking
Crude Behavior
Terrorism

Facts of the Case

Charles Star was removed from command at 11:59 PM EST, March 31st, 2022. Charges were brought by Grand Admiral Ken Gillis.

The Defendant was contacted by carrier pigeon to appear. Since the pigeon did not arrive, the assumption was made that the Defendant was waiving his right to a trial by a tribunal and confessing to all above crimes.

Ruling

Presiding over the case were Judge Advocate General Joseph Carroll, Commodore Meadows, and Admiral Satie.

By unanimous vote, the tribunal has declared Charles Star GUILTY of ALL CHARGES prescribed above.

Sentence

Charles Star is hereby stripped of all rank, awards, and honors, and shall further be BANISHED from Imperial Defense Fleet for ALL TIME.

Change in Leadership/Rebranding

Posted on March 31, 2022 | by Ken Gillis | Leave a Comment

Edit: This post was part of the 2022 April Fools’ Day gag.

Today is a momentous day in the history of IDF! We are evolving beyond the organization we created over 20 years ago, and making way into a more glorious future! As of today, IDF will no longer stand for Independence Fleet (poor acronym anyway, where’s the D? In the middle of the first word?). No, it will now stand for:

Imperial Defense Fleet

Imperial Defense Fleet will be boasting a command structure, effective immediately! First of all, Charles Star is no longer in command of IDF. Star is stripped of all rank and privileges of his station.

In his place, I have taken command, as Grand Admiral. I will bring a new era of glory to IDF.

Joining me is Admiral Joseph Carroll, who will be taking up his new position as Magistrate in our newly formed Judge Advocate General Corps.

More to come as the day progresses.

Long Live IDF! Long Live the Empire!

Monthly Awards: January 2022

Posted on February 27, 2022 | by Rook Mirtoh | Leave a Comment

I apologize for the delay on getting the January awards out. I promise it was Admiral Star’s fault! Regardless, here are your January winners.

Admiral Star edit: Unfortunately, that’s true.

Best Post (Single Author)

Lieutenant Bonnie “Bon-Bon” Durnell
Computer Systems Specialist
USS Sunfire

For “Can you see me daddy?”

Wow! A fantastic piece of writing! It kept me super engaged and was emotionally fulfilling to boot. Well done!

Best Post (Joint Post)

Captain Akeno Misaki & Lieutenant Ileah & Lieutenant Raelyn Mckenzie & Lieutenant JG Torvin Anor
CO / Yeoman / CSTO / CEO
USS Wayfarer

For “Junior Emerges”

A very nice post with tense writing with a pleasing cliffhanger. Well done again!

Funniest Post

Ensign Laurel Zatara
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Albion

For “Get out of there! Get out!”

Not a laugh out loud post, but funny given the context.

Genesis

Captain Shran dh’Klar
Commanding Officer
USS Washington

For “A Needed Rest”

You don’t see a lot of detailed posts like this kicking off shore leave. I like it!

MVP

Ensign Laurel Zatara
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Albion

Ens. Zatara joined during January and immediately finished second on the ship in posting. Even better than that, her posts were always excellent, driving the plot forward while giving other players a chance to get in on the action, and best of all, they were usually pretty funny–which is par for the course on the Albion.

Most Posts

Lieutenant Shoniara T’ghann Dex
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Washington

For writing 25 posts.

Most Improved

Lieutenant JG Torvin Anor
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Wayfarer

Lt. jg. Torvin joined the Wayfarer as an engineering officer and was initially mainly in the background. However, after the recent mission he really stepped up and into place of a CEO both in and out of character. He is a pleasure to write with.

Rookie of the Month

None this month.

Recruitment

None this month.

Thanks for a great start to 2022. Keep the excellent posting coming!