CONTENTS |
UPCOMING
EVENTS
Saturday, August 29: Republic
& Treklanta Dinner Meeting
Saturday,
September 19: STARFLEET Bowling Challenge
NEWS
& ANNOUNCEMENTS
The Treklanta 2015 Postmortem
Report
Personnel Records
Library Computer
Recent Chapter Event Photos
SIDEBAR
Belated May Birthdays
August
Membership Renewals
About the Republic
For More Information
USS Republic Online
Crew Roster
Photos from Treklanta 2015 |
UPCOMING
EVENTS
USS
Republic Late Summer Dinner Meeting & Treklanta
Staff Meeting
7:00 p.m. Saturday, August 29, 2015
Marlow's Tavern
4156 Lavista Road, Tucker GA 30084
(678) 987-1197 |
WELCOME
BACK! The
USS Republic has been relatively quiet this summer
in order to give your beleaguered Commanding Officer a bit
of a break and an opportunity to rest, recuperate and take
care of some important personal business. But we're
back and it's time to get the Republic back up to warp
speed! Let's close out the summer with a purely
social meeting at Marlow's Tavern in Tucker where we can just
sit down with our members and friends to enjoy a nice dinner,
get caught up with each other and talk about what's coming
up in the weeks and months ahead! We'll also talk
about this year's successful Treklanta convention and what
we've already got planned for next year! All members
and friends of the USS Republic, as well as all current
Treklanta staff volunteers (and anyone who's interested in
becoming one), are cordially invited to attend! Marlow's
management has asked us to let them know if we expect more
than 15 people to attend, so if you're planning to join us,
please click "Join" on our Facebook
event page.
Marlow’s
Tavern has a warm neighborhood yet contemporary feel and features
the “Best of the Best” in American tavern fare served in a
modern atmosphere. The menu offers a diverse combination
of classic dishes that are updated and elevated to a higher
level, including a wide variety of appetizers, salads, sandwiches,
burgers, entrées and desserts, as well as a full-service
bar. Appetizers range from $4.50 to $13.00, sandwiches
and burgers range from $8.50 to $15.50 and dinner entrées
range from $14.00 to $20.00. For more information about
Marlow's Tavern, visit their web site at marlowstavern.com. |
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Tenth
Annual STARFLEET Bowling Challenge
6:30 p.m. Saturday, September 19, 2015
Midtown
Bowl
1936 Piedmont Circle, Atlanta GA 30324
(404) 874-5703 || www.midtownbowl.com
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The
2014 Bowling Challenge was a lot of fun for all who
attended. Seated: Tina Louise Jones, Christopher
M. Jones, Ens Alan High, ENS1 I. Claire Willis. Standing:
ENS1 Sue Lin Lange, ENS1 "Wolfy," Ens Kevin
M. Fry, CO FCapt Eric L. Watts, ENS1 Todd Dissinger,
Bunny Ai.
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Join the
USS Republic for our Tenth Annual STARFLEET Bowling
Challenge! We once again challenge the Klingon
Assault Group and the Georgia
501st to this longstanding annual event... we'll see
who shows up to meet us in the alley!
The game fee is $20.00 per person for two hours of
bowling and includes shoe rental. CASH ONLY,
PLEASE, and please pay the Republic, who has already
paid for the lane rental. We have rented two lanes
for two hours which accommodate up to six players each. Please
RSVP if you plan to attend so we can add lanes if necessary. Please
arrive no later than 6:30 p.m. to pay for play, get your shoes
and choose your ball. First ball rolls promptly at 7:00
p.m., so please arrive early and be ready to roll (literally)
at 7:00 p.m. Midtown
Bowl's food grill offers a broad range of menu items
and adult beverages are available at the full-service bar.
The now-legendary
2007 Bowling Challenge was a huge media event with
lots of TV cameras and all the challenges since then have
been just as much fun, if perhaps not as well-attended. Plan
to wear your best Star Trek costume or your USS Republic
sport shirt or chapter t-shirt for this fun-filled family-friendly
event! |
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NEWS
& ANNOUNCEMENTS
The
Treklanta 2015 Postmortem Report |
A
Very Successful, Record-Breaking Year
The
fifth annual Treklanta
(formerly TrekTrax Atlanta), the Star Trek and space
opera convention hosted by the USS Republic, was held
April 24-26, 2015, at the Atlanta Marriott Century Center
hotel nestled between the northeastern Atlanta communities
of Brookhaven and Lakeside. Our headlining Guests of
Honor were Sean Kenney (best known to Star Trek
fans as Capt. Christopher Pike in the original series episode
"The Menagerie" as well as Lt. DePaul in the episodes "Arena"
and "A Taste of Armageddon"), Jason Carter (best known
as Ranger Marcus Cole in the science fiction TV series Babylon
5) and Anne Lockhart (best known to science fiction
fans as Lt. Sheba in the original Battlestar Galactica
TV series). Additional Guests of Honor included Alec
Peters (official Star Trek archivist for CBS and
the creator, executive producer and star of the award-winning
independent Star Trek film series Star Trek: Axanar)
and, for the third year in a row, Keith R. A. DeCandido,
the prolific writer/editor of many Star Trek and other
sci-fi franchise novels, novellas, short stories, comic books
and eBooks.
Two dozen additional guests, performers and artists included
cast and crew members from the Star Trek fan film productions
Project: Potemkin, Star Trek: Reliant and Star
Trek New Voyages: Phase II and the independent Star
Trek fan audio series Star Trek: Ranger and Star
Trek: Valkyrie; live "nerdy pop punk" band Hyperspace;
puppet troupe Felt Nerdy; stand-up comedians Eric Daugherty,
Bobbin Wages and Ellaree Yeagley; and artists
Justin Anderson, Katie Bracewell, Dan "DTM"
Flores, Lesley Jones, Peter Lücker, Carly
Strickland, Dimitri Walker and Joseph R. Wheeler
III.
Over the course of the three-day convention, Treklanta presented
four dozen different events and activities on two concurrent
tracks of programming: one dedicated to the Star Trek
universe and the other dedicated to Star Wars, Battlestar
Galactica and Firefly. In addition to Q&A
hours with our Guests of Honor, discussion panels with cast
and crew members from various independent Star Trek
fan film and audio series, a tribute to Leonard Nimoy, a trivia
contest, makeup and costuming workshops and bellydancing lessons,
other special events included a VIP champagne reception, a
tremendously popular sci-fi puppet show, a live concert by
a local band, the second Treklanta Masquerade, Dirty Harry's
Karaoke Cantina and of course, the 16th annual Miss Klingon
Empire Beauty Pageant, which was won after an honorable competition
between five valiant contestants by "Q'Inpella" (Jennifer
Cook of Dalton, Georgia) (additional details in last
month's Republiqué). |
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Judges
for the 16th annual Miss Klingon Empire Beauty Pageant included
Treklanta Guests of Honor Jason Carter, Anne Lockhart, Sean
Kenney and Keith R. A. DeCandido. Korgoth served
as Master of Ceremonies.
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Three
new events were introduced at this year's Treklanta, all of
which were unqualified successes. The first was our
first-ever (no, really this time!) Artists Alley, something
we have been trying to launch for three years and which totally
crashed and burned on the launchpad last year. This
year, we filled our alley with no less than eight talented
artists, all of whom brought amazing portfolios of artwork
for show and sale. Our second successful startup was
our Star Trek Stand-Up Comedy Show, featuring three
comedians who entertained the audience with their unique styles
of humor. Most significantly, our third spectacular
success was the first annual Independent Star Trek
Fan Film Awards Ceremony, created and presented to recognize
outstanding achievement in independent Star Trek fan
films. Awards were presented in nine categories, six
of which were swept up by Star Trek: Axanar, two to
Star Trek Continues and one to Star Trek New Voyages:
Phase II. Specific details about this year's categories
and winners can be found in this previous
issue of The Republiqué. |
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The
first annual Independent Star Trek Fan Film Awards
proved to be a spectacular success for Treklanta
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Treklanta
also hosted a gaming room, a dealers room and a con suite.
During our third annual "Star Trek Fan Film Festival,"
twenty-four independent Star Trek fan films (and one
Star Wars) released during calendar year 2014 were
screened in our Video Room, including all sixteen films included
on the Independent Star Trek Fan Film Awards ballot,
each of which was screened at least three times during the
convention. On Saturday night, cast and crew members
from Project: Potemkin, Star Trek: Reliant and
Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II came together once
again to film another Project: Potemkin vignette, "Room
Service," which will premiere on the Internet sometime in
2016. This episode is particularly noteworthy because
it includes a cameo appearance by none other than our Guest
of Honor Jason Carter, and also features the return of everyone's
favorite resident Klingon, who demonstrates his... ah... proficiency
at Klingon Opera. This marks the third year in a row
that multiple independent Star Trek fan film productions
have collaborated on a single film, and Treklanta is pleased
to have hosted the production. |
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Cast
members from Project: Potemkin and Star Trek:
Reliant collaborated on a new vignette, "Room Service,"
the third Potemkin episode filmed at Treklanta
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Finally,
Treklanta is especially pleased to have brought in Digital
Video Productions LLC to offer portrait photography services
to our attendees. For only $20 plus an additional $20
for each of our Guests of Honor, attendees could get a professional
studio-quality portrait made against a variety of backgrounds
and have an 8 x 10 glossy print in their hands in less than
10 minutes for autographing. This is a tremendous
improvement over the portrait service we offered in 2014 and
helped increase the revenue we were able to generate for our
Guests of Honor, two of whom had guaranteed minimums with
the convention. |
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Digital
Video Productions LLC provided outstanding portrait photography
services at a very affordable price
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Any
problems the convention might have experienced this year were
relatively minor. The location of our Friday night VIP
champagne reception had to be changed at the last minute because
the presidential suite we were promised was not made available
to us at check-in, but that was more of a headache and an
inconvenience to our staff than to our attendees. Wi-fi
reception was spotty throughout the hotel and unavailable
for free in our meeting rooms, which irritated a fair number
of folks, including our dealers, but we managed to get access
for them and did the best we could for the rest. Some
of our Guests of Honor didn't quite make it to their contractually
required autographing sessions on time, which we believe diminished
the revenue they received from same, so that's an area we'll
have to address and resolve moving forward. We've also
been made aware that some badge-sharing was going on among
some of the folks to whom we offered comp badges, so that's
another problem that we will deal with decisively. Sharing
badges is strictly prohibited and violators of that policy
will be held responsible. Finally, two of our three
camcorders failed on-site, leaving us with only one working
camcorder, which was used to videotape the Star Trek
programming room's events and activities. It is
a huge disappointment that we were not able to record the
Space Opera track's programming. We will have to replace
the two dead camcorders before next year's convention and
make sure that everything gets recorded and archived appropriately.
All that said, most of this year's attendees will tell you
that they had an absolutely fantastic time at this year's
Treklanta convention. All of our Guests of Honor were
charismatic, approachable and entertaining, and we are grateful
to have hosted them. All of our other guests, performers
and artists were equally so, and we appreciate their participation
and involvement to help make Treklanta the robust, multi-faceted
convention that it is. In all the important categories,
Treklanta 2015 was an absolute success.
And Now... The Numbers
In 2011, TrekTrax Atlanta attendance numbered 25 guests,
45 staff volunteers and 187 paid memberships for a total attendance
of 257 persons. In 2012, attendance numbered 33 guests,
45 staff volunteers and 162 paid memberships for a total attendance
of 240 persons, a 6.6% decrease from the previous year. In
2013, attendance numbered 43 guests and comps, 41 staff volunteers
and 97 paid memberships for a total attendance of 181 persons,
a 24.6% decrease from the previous year. In 2014, TrekTrax
Atlanta attendance included 72 guests and comps, 40 staff
volunteers and 134 paid memberships for a total attendance
of 246 persons, a spectacular increase of 35.9% over the previous
year. This year, Treklanta 2015 attendance numbered
60 guests and comps, 45 staff volunteers and 193 paid memberships
for a total attendance of 298 persons... another spectacular
increase of 21.1% over last year and 15.9% greater than our
previous all-time highest attendance in 2011, making Treklanta
2015 by far our most successful convention EVER.
This second consecutive dramatic increase in attendance comes
as a very welcome surprise because we did not spend nearly
as much on advertising and marketing for this year's convention
as we did for last year's, so we can only speculate on the
reasons why our attendance increased by a full fifth over
last year. It seems likely that following our successful
convention in 2014, those attendees went back home and told
their friends what a great time they had with us, so part
of this year's increase in attendance can be attributed to
good old-fashioned word-of-mouth referrals. It also
seems likely that now that the convention is five years old,
we're now considered as an established convention with a history
and track record of success, and folks who might have previously
heard of us but weren't willing to risk attending a relatively
new and unknown convention are now coming to see what we're
all about and, by all accounts, are glad that they did. Some
of the increase must also certainly be attributable to our
name change from TrekTrax Atlanta to simply Treklanta, which
might very well be the best single decision we've ever made.
While "TrekTrax Atlanta" had a certain legacy value
as being an intentional carryover from and continuation of
the old "TrekTrak" programming at Dragon*Con, it never really
caught on with... well, anyone, really... and most
everybody referred to the convention as simply "TrekTrax"
or "Trek Trax" because "TrekTrax Atlanta" didn't exactly roll
off the tongue. In contrast, "Treklanta," an obvious
portmanteau of "Star Trek" and "Atlanta," is not only
easy to say and remember, it also more clearly and more succinctly
conveys the essence of what our convention is all about and
as such is much more marketable. Finally, it seems clear
that the creation and introduction of the Independent Star
Trek Fan Film Awards brought new attention to Treklanta
and helped increase our attendance this year. When these
awards were first announced late last year, the news was reported
in several fan press sites, and when the nominees were announced
early this year, almost all of those films' social media sites
reported on them, all of which helped increased our attendance.
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On
a related note, it must also be mentioned that the Independent
Star Trek Fan Film Awards was an unqualified success
on multiple levels, the most important of them all simply
being taken seriously. When the concept of such
an awards program was first discussed last summer, we understood
that there was a very real possibility that they would be
dismissed or ignored by the fan film community and that the
first awards ceremony might very well be its lastan
interesting but ultimately failed one-off event that aspired
for footnote status. Quite the contrary, we are extremely
pleased that the awards program was immediately welcomed and
embraced by the fan film community as something wanted, needed
and long overdue. The fan films that were announced
as nominees proudly reported the news on their social media
sites. Folks involved with other fan films not nominated
made their voices heard. Lots of folks voiced their
opinions about the nominees and made their predictions on
who would win. Still others voiced their opinions on
the selection of categories, how the nominees were selected
and even how the judging was done... and by whom. And
while all the pre-convention talk about the awards (like this
article on Examiner.com) certainly helped increase
our attendance, all the post-convention talk about the award
winners (like this
article on TrekMovie.com) helped establish the awards
as a credible and successful program, and one that will most
definitely continue and possibly even become the centerpiece
of our convention. |
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And
Now... The Books
There is good news and bad news regarding the financial
health and performance of Treklanta. The good news is
that as a standalone, one-fiscal-year event, Treklanta 2015
received as total revenue from all sources approximately
$14.7K and paid out in total expenses approximately $14.2K,
resulting in a net profit of approximately $500. The
bad news is that one of those sources of revenue included
in the $14.7K figure is an approximate $3,700 donation from
the convention's chairman for this year alone, which means
that without that donation, the convention would have finished
the year about $3,200 in the red. That seems pretty
bad (and... well, it's not exactly good, either), but what
that donation did was to completely wipe out the convention's
long-term debt from previous years that had carried over into
this year's budget. What this means is that moving forward,
the convention will begin FY2016 with a zero-balance budget
for the first time since 2011, meaning that the current budget
contains no debt whatsoever from previous years. That
is a very good thing and will help Treklanta be able to develop
a much more practical budget based on realistic expectations
of attendance revenue and established expenses.
Treklanta founder and chairman Eric L. Watts would
like to thank all those persons who worked to make this year's
convention the tremendous success that it was, including Director
of Convention Operations Remy Loste, Director of Technical
Operations Matt Steinberg, Director of On-Site Registration
Russell Ruhland, Director of Guest Transportation &
Services Mark A. Ozanick, Star Trek Track Operations
Director Brian Holloway, Space Opera Programming Director
Marcia Patterson, Art Show Director Julianne Trew,
Gaming Room Director Mike Henigan, Security Director
Jeff "Legoless" Moore, Con Suite Director Jay Cannon
and Staff Photographer Tim Carr, as well as everyone
who served on their staffs. We would also like to thank
our Independent Star Trek Fan Film Awards judges Diana
Dru Botsford, Peter David, Keith R. A. DeCandido,
Michael DeMeritt and Susan Sackett. More
than 1,300 photos from this year's convention can be seen
in our Flickr
album here.
Next year's Treklanta will be held April 15-17, 2016, at the
DoubleTree by Hilton Atlanta Northlake hotel in Tucker, Georgia. Our
special group rate for guest rooms is only $91 per night,
and the Treklanta web site will be updated with a reservations
link soon. We're currently in the process of contacting
potential guests for next year and hopefully we'll have some
announcements on that by next issue. In the meantime,
save the dates on your calendar and make plans now to attend
Treklanta 2016! |
Personnel
Records
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STARFLEET
Academy Course Completions |
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Congratulations
to Ens Vicki Greve,
who received a grade of PASS for the STARFLEET Academy
course "Officer's Training School" from the
Institute of Leadership Studies, completed on July 11,
2015. |
Other
Notable Actions & Achievements |
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Congratulations
and Best Wishes to
ENS1 Mark A. Ozanick, who has relocated from
Decatur, Georgia, to Kerrville, Texas, a city of about
25,000 people about 60 miles northwest of San Antonio,
for his new job
with GVNW Consulting, Inc., in
his longtime field of telecommunications. Ensign
Mark departed Atlanta in mid-August and starts his new
job on August 24. |
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Congratulations
and Best Wishes to
FCapt Eric L. Watts, who recently launched Watts
Vox Creative, a new voice talent company offering voice
acting and voiceover services. Captain Eric
has also been cast as the Rebel Klingon Commander in
"Klingon Honor," an episode of the independent
Star Trek fan audio series Star
Trek: Valkyrie, to be released in September. |
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STARFLEET
Academy is a special collection of correspondence courses
available to every STARFLEET member. Over 60 Academy
Colleges offer courses spanning all aspects of Star Trek
and science fiction; some courses even cover non-sci-fi real
world topics. Each college offers dozens of different
courses at varying levels of challenge from super-easy to
really hard. In total, there are nearly 1,000 different
courses available. Take
a course today!
Something
special going on in your life? Submit
your Personnel Record for publication in the next
issue of The Republiqué! |
Library
Computer
CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE |
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Recent
Chapter Event Photos
CLICK ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE |
TimeGate
|| May 22-24, 2015
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Captain
Eric manned the USS Republic and Treklanta fan table
on Saturday and Sunday.
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Captain
Eric with the absolutely stunning Ensign Carly May in her
fabulous beehive hairdo.
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Captain
Eric was invited to join Adam Throne (center) and Aaron
Dunne (right) for the "Ears Looking at You: A Tribute
to Leonard Nimoy" panel on Sunday.
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Captain
Eric with one of the USS Republic's original members,
Robert Ray (left) and the talented, ravishing and irresistable
Jevocas "Java" Green (right), star of the Forgotten
Doctor fan film web series.
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Captain
Eric with the stunning Moxie Anne Magnus, Chief Cosmetologist
of the USS Enterprise, comedienne extraordinaire
and author of the hilarious Tales from SalonBay comic
strip (left) and a certain Doctor... who... has never served
in Starfleet (right).
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BELATED
MAY BIRTHDAYS
Monday, May 18
Lt JG Lee Johnson
Monday, May 25
ENS1 Julianne Trew
Saturday, May 30
ENS1 Richard Tucker
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AUGUST
MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS
These members' dues expire(d) in August.
Please renew now!
ENS1 Wil Sims
ENS1 Eddie Hines
ENS1 Julianne Trew
ENS3 Jenilee Trew
FCAPT Eric L. Watts
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ABOUT
THE REPUBLIC
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The
USS Republic NCC-1371 was originally commissioned
as a chapter of STARFLEET International on May 14, 1988,
at the Dixie-Trek convention in Atlanta, Georgia. As
of August 16, 2015, the Republic crew includes 36
members who are active members of STARFLEET in good
standing.
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The
Republic plans and coordinates an active schedule
of events for its members, but does not hold meetings
on a consistently fixed date each month.
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Because
the USS Republic is a duly commissioned chapter
of STARFLEET International and is bound and governed by
its Constitution and By-Laws, membership in STARFLEET
is a prerequisite for membership in the Republic. STARFLEET
dues for one person are $20 for a "Standard Membership"
or $10 for an "E-Membership" and chapter dues are $10
per person for either membership option. A
combined payment for all dues is collected by the Republic
(family discounts are available with certain conditions
and restrictions). Additional information about
the two STARFLEET membership options, amounts due for
additional family members, payment options and payment
instructions is on the "How to Join" page of our award-winning
web site.
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MEMBERSHIP
DUES
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PDF
STARFLEET NEWSLETTER EMAILED TO YOU
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#
PP
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SFI
+
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REP.
=
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TOTAL*
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1
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$10
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$10
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$20
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2
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$15
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$20
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$35
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3
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$17
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$30
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$47
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4
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$19
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$40
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$59
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*CASH;
PAYPAL FEES APPLY
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PRINTED
STARFLEET NEWSLETTER MAILED TO YOU
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#
PP
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SFI
+
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REP.
=
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TOTAL*
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1
|
$20
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$10
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$30
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2
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$25
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$20
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$45
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3
|
$27
|
$30
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$57
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4
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$29
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$40
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$69
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*CASH;
PAYPAL FEES APPLY
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FOR
MORE INFORMATION
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USS
REPUBLIC ONLINE
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CREW
ROSTER
AS OF AUGUST 16, 2015
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PHOTOS
FROM TREKLANTA 2015
CLICK
ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE
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OPENING
CEREMONIES
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STAR
TREK: AXANAR FAN TABLE
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GAMING
ROOM
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ARTISTS
ALLEY
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VIP
CHAMPAGNE RECEPTION
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SEAN
KENNEY
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ANNE
LOCKHART
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JASON
CARTER
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STAR
TREK: RELIANT FAN TABLE
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ARTISTS
ALLEY
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DEALERS
ROOM
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CELEBRITY
AUTOGRAPHS
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RECORD-BREAKING
ATTENDANCE
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MISS
KLINGON EMPIRE PAGEANT
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HYPERSPACE
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DIRTY
HARRY'S KARAOKE CANTINA
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PROFESSIONAL
PORTRAITS
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CELEBRITY
AUTOGRAPHS
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REGISTRATION
& CON STORE
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NEW
VOYAGES/PHASE II FAN TABLE
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BELLYDANCING
WORKSHOP
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CELEBRITY
GUESTS
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PROJECT:
POTEMKIN PANEL
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NATURES
HUNGER FAN TABLE
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CON
SUITE SHENANIGANS
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ANACHROCON
FAN TABLE
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DIRTY
HARRY'S KARAOKE CANTINA
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MANTICORAN
NAVY FAN TABLE
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ARTISTS
ALLEY
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ORION
SLAVE GIRLS
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SCI-FI
PUPPET SHOW
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ARTISTS
ALLEY
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DEALERS
ROOM
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GAMING
ROOM
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CON
SUITE SHENANIGANS
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STAR
TREK: RELIANT PANEL
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ARTISTS
ALLEY
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TIMEGATE
FAN TABLE
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STAR
TREK: VALKYRIE PANEL
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STAR
TREK: VALKYRIE PANEL
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SEE
MORE THAN 1,300 PHOTOS FROM TREKLANTA 2015 ON
PHOTOS BY TIMOTHY CARR
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