USS Khai Tam
 It was likely created because someone was interested in reading more about the subject but either didn't have the time or knowledge to create or complete the article. If you can contribute, please do so. |
USS Khai Tam is the name of the Tallahassee, Florida chapter of Starfleet: The International Star Trek Fan Association. One of the most successful chapters in Starfleet's history, the Khai Tam boasted over 140 members during its hayday, making it the largest chapter in the world during that time. It also created the USS Khai Tam Technical Orientation Manual, a book which attained international acclaim among Starfleet members, and is still available as of 2007 at conventions and on the internet.
Contents
History
The Khai Tam has a long and storied past about which books could literally be written. However, the necessarily brief synopsis below reveals much of the club's flavor, traditions and achievements.
Birth of a Heritage
In the Fall of 1990, Sharon Stewart, a student at Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL, was inspired by her love of Star Trek. She wanted to form a fan club where she and others who shared a passion for Gene Roddenberry's creation could unite. But rather than form an isolated club, Stewart chose to start a chapter of Starfleet, an organized alliance of Trek fan organizations from all over the world.
Every new chapter in Starfleet must start out as a "shuttlecraft" under the nine month tutelage of an established club. Sponsored by the USS Guardian in Cocoa, FL, Stewart's Shuttle Heritage, NCC 26244/1, was officially launched on June 27, 1991. The club's name was taken from the spine of a book in Stewart's bookcase which she happened to glance while completing the Starfleet paperwork to start the chapter.
Seeing the benefits it would bring a new and struggling club, Stewart also established the Heritage as a student organization of FSU. This provided the club with regular on-campus meeting space, free advertising on campus media and a token budget. But being a student organization also added additional obstacles.
FSU understandably required all its student organizations to maintain at least 51% student membership. This was sustainable given the opportunity to recruit on campus, but it also created financial challenges for the group given the number of students, whose lack of cash is legendary. This often left Heritage's ledgers in the red. Another challenge with a student membership was that it was inevitable that many would head home for the summer, leaving the club with a skeleton crew for nearly four months out of every year.
The Heritage was up to the task, though, and not only maintained its member/student ratio, but also managed to meet STARFLEET's requirements for membership. They were well on their way to becoming a full-fledged ship. Heritage developed what would become a legendary ability to overcome financial, personal and political obstacles in order to excel as a cohesive group. The group also developed a compelling instinct to party, and even now, Heritage/Khai Tam parties are the stuff of legends.
Growing Pains
In March of 1992 the ship held its first election for Commanding Officer (CO)and Executive Officer (XO). Until that time, the ship had been led by its founding force, Sherry Stewart. With the creation of the ship's early Bylaws, however, it became mandatory that the CO and XO be elected each year. This first election turned into a black time in the history of the Khai Tam as the membership was split almost evenly on the two campaigning teams.
On the one side were Sherry Stewart (CO) and Matt Henry (XO), the incumbent command team. In fact, they were the only command team that the ship had ever known and they represented stability and maintenance of the status quo.
On the other side were Jon Reddick (CO) and Laurie
Copetti (XO), a young untested command team, whose only credentials were
their records of active membership in the shuttle thus far -- Copetti was
serving as the Department Chief for Sci/Med, and Reddick the assistant Chief
of Security.
The Reddick/Copetti platform was best represented in their slogan, "A ship in its harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are for." (Incidentally, a variation on that slogan is now the Khai Tam's official motto.) Jon and Laurie imagined much more for the ship than simply a fun fan club. They envisioned a force in the community that could perhaps, in some small way, help bring about the world that Roddenberry had envisioned.
Each crew member of the Heritage felt very strongly about the team he or she supported, and as the date for the election drew near, tension was at an all-time high. There were many impromptu "debates" among members supporting opposite platforms, and they seldom ended happily. But when the dust settled and the votes were counted, the Reddick team won by a narrow margin -- 12 to 9.
Dawning of A New Era
Even after the majority had spoken, Stewart was reluctant to give up the helm. Dragging the results through miles of unnecessary Starfleet red tape, it was not until four months later, on July 12, 1992 that a change of command finally took place.
Aware that the election results and finally the command change itself had taken their emotional toll on Stewart, many of Reddick and Copetti's first actions were clearly intended to try to heal those bruises, and bring both Stewart and her disheartened suporters back into the fold. Unfortunately, sometimes such intentions simply don't work. Although Commander Sherry Stewart accepted the ship's commissioning on April 4, 1992 (at which time our name changed officially from Heritage to Khai Tam), it was not long before she would leave the ship.
When Stewart left the Khai Tam, several other members (likely Stewart's supporters in the election) also dropped out of active duty. Though this slashed the ship's existing membership to nearly half, it would turn out to be the fresh start that the Reddick/Copetti command team needed to set the ship on its new course.
The Reddick command team would prove to be so successfull that they would be elected unopposed for five consecutive years, being replaced only when they voluntarily stepped down out of exhaustion. They would retake the helm after a year of rest and continue for six more years unopposed. Truly, the creation of an Era.
Enter the Brave Heart
When a shuttle is commissioned as a ship, its members must choose a ship class. For example, Kirk's Enterprise was a Consitution-class ship and Picard's a Galaxy-class, but the Khai Tam didn't want to go with either of those...or any other established ships in the Star Trek universe. This was partly becuase the club already had made it a policy to be difficult, but mostly because of their Klingon heritage (no pun intended).
On the Khai Tam, as on many STARFLEET ships, members adopt personas that fit their personalities. During the early years of Shuttle Heritage, many crew members, nearly half in fact, had adopted a Klingon persona. There was much debate over whether they shouldn't just choose a Klingon class of ship.
During this point in time, Star Trek: The Next Generation was in its first run and the Klingons and Federation were at peace. The members reasoned that if they were no longer at war, then there would certainly be a sharing of technology between the two sides. What was finally agreed upon was that they would design their own class of ship which would share Klingon and Federation technologies. It was decided that these ships would be of the Qapla'-class (Qapla' meaning success in Klingon), and that their own vessel would change it's name to Khai Tam. The name Khai Tam (pronounced kie-tom), suggested by founding Shuttle Heritage member, Lucy Nguyen, is Vietnamese for "brave heart." The fact that it sounds vaguely Klingon in origin was merely a happy coincidence.
The Qapla' Project
The very first concept drawing of the Qapla'-class Khai Tam was made circa 1991 by Jon Reddick during a Shuttle Heritage meeting. From the first, the vessel already showed the basic Federation saucer/Klingon propulsion design that stayed with the ship through all its incarnations right up to the finished project.
The concept was so outlandish that STARFLEET's Department of Technical Services (DTS), which must approve a chapter's choice of class, at first denied the club's request to be a Qapla'-class vessel. It wasn't until a more fleshed-out set of specifications were submitted that they finally approved the design, but then only as an "Experimental Class" which could not be adopted by any other chapter.
And that's where the Qapla' class stayed for over a year: begrudgingly approved by Starfleet, but restricted for any other chapter to choose -- destined to be the first, and last, of her line. That is, until the Fall of 1993.
The second-class status which the Qapla' held with Starfleet had been gnawing at the Khai Tam Engineering department's pride for over a year, and they were determined to rectify the situation. DTS had claimed that the design was "not plausible" and "would never fly" -- and they knew that the only way to convince them otherwise was to fully document the "Treknology" behind the design. And that's what they set out to do.
Chief Engineer Colin Toenjes eventually recruited the help of member Kevin McNulty in writing and illustrating this documentation. The end result was the [USS Khai Tam (Ficticious Vessell)|USS Khai Tam Technical Orientation Manual] eventually published by Intergalactic Trading Company in Orlando, FL. Faced with a perfect-bound, 92-page, commercially successful book, STARFLEET DTS relented, and the Qapla'-class was approved for general use in the organization in 1994. Since then, sevel chapters have claimed this design as their own.
A Brief Change of Scenery
After commanding the Khai Tam for five ? consecutive years, the Reddick command team was feeling the weight of command, and the pressure from everyday life. The opted in 1996 ? to step down as CO and XO to allow a new team to infuse the organization with fresh ideas. In 1996 Laurie Berge chekc the last name and Kevin McNulty took the reigns as CO and XO respectively. The Berge[?] command team revisted many aspects of the club from its motto (which the members voted to keep) to its forms and administrative practices.
The year of their command was marked with many changes, yet at it's core the ship remained a labor of love for all. The new command team was as relieved as anyone, though, to turn command back over to a rested and rejuvinated Reddick team in 1997. The Reddicks would go on to guide the club for six ? more years unopposed.
Recruiting
As with any volunteer organization, recruiting has always been a major concern of the Khai Tam and many traditional and a few experimental methods have been used throughout its history:
- Parade Floats - In November of 1991, the Shuttle Heritage 'built a
float for FSU's Homecoming Parade. Then the Khai Tam took the idea over the top with a lighted design for Tallahassee's evening holiday parade in December of 1996 CHECK YEAR.
- Movie Premieres - The club has been quite a presence at every new Trek
movie that has come out since the inception of the Khai Tam. This is especially effective because we're always in uniform. It is made even more effective by the presence of our Captain in full Klingon makeup.
- Conventions - The few Trek-O-Rama conventions held in Tallahassee were a
great recruiting boon. The Khai Tam has also provided a presence at several cons throughout Florida.
- Hooter Trek - Of course, one of the most enjoyable recruiting ventures for
members was Hooter Trek. The manager that ran the local Hooter's restaurant was a Trek fan and a couple of times he gave the entire porch over to a mini convention. People would sit around and eat and drink and be merry while watching Trek videos. And, of course, if they heard something about the Khai Tam in the process, well...
Community Service
One of the things that the Reddick team made their priority after their election was community service - a torch that has been carried by every subsequent command team. Over the years the club has taken part in several community service activities:
- St. Mark's Trail - One of the oldest ongoing activities has been the
cleanup of the first three miles of a local nature trail.
- TMH Children's Ward - Visiting the pediatric ward of a local hospital in
full uniform and taking comic books and such to the kids on the ward. Members would sit and entertain the kids for a while so that Mom and/or Dad could go get a soda or whatever.
- Starfleet's Stampede - For many years the club was award-winningly active
in STARFLEET's annual charity fund raiser.
- Collecting Coupons - For a time these collected coupons were provided to
residents at the local battered women's shelter. Later they were sent overseas to the military in conjunction with the Fleet project.
- Volunteering - Khai Tam-ers helped build a few houses for the local
Habitat for Humanity and they helped the local children's science center open their doors.
Awards
The Khai Tam is proud of itself and proud of its members. Over the years they've garnered many awards such as:
- Chapter Web Site of the Year
- Marine Strike Group of the Year
- Florida State Parks' Award of Appreciation
- Region 2 Chapter of the Year
The Blue Blazers
A subset of the STARFLEET association is a group known as the Starfleet Marine Corps. These fans base their personas and role playing on the mythical ground element of Star Trek's Starfleet. Each ship may have its own Strike Group, and the Khai Tam is proud to embark the 78th Marine Strike Group known as The Blue Blazers. Early in the days of the SFMC, the 78th established the standards by which the rest of the region's marines measured themselves. In the late 1990s, marines from the Khai Tam and her sister ship Relentless dominated the internation staff of the SFMC.
Parties
In September of 1991 the Reddick command staff started the tradition of having a season premiere party. Later on in the life of the club this became KhaiCon - a miniature convention complete with games and episode viewings and panels and a lot of fun to be had by all. While the club's parties were legendary, none compare to the KhaiCons held in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Whether it was one member having to pull another's head out of the water because they'd just gotten whacked by a canoe or whether it was the Captain pontificating from chair after he'd had a bit too much Romulan Ale, the parties are always a great deal of fun.
For many years each of the club's six departments held responsibility for a party every other month. And put together some great ones:
- The pool party at Captain Reddick's place where memebrs filled an empty
garbage can full of water and tried to drench him with it. Of course, they weren't thinking clearly about the fact that he could move so much faster without carrying that water.
- The Pon Farr Orgy. There's something almost mystical about staying
up late into the night around a big bonfire (built in someone's backyard no less) and talking Trek and drinking late into the night. Especially when you almost broke your foot earlier that day in a testosterone-driven dive for a volleyball.
- The beach party where one of the members dove into water that was much too
shallow and another one got sun poisoning but refused to let us take him to the hospital.
- The June 1992 Rites of Ascension for Captain Reddick. While
members didn't have actual Klingon painsticks, they did have big wooden fraternity-type paddles.
- The Halloween Mirror Universe Party where memebrs came dressed as
their opposite personality...or gender. There are just some people who shouldn't be seen in drag.
- Numerous Christmas Formals that saw the memebrs turn out in their finest
to share the holiday spirit.
- The Blue Blazer's own M*A*S*H-Themed dinner party complete with chow hall
and camoflage netteing.
The Current State of the Khai Tam
As the popularity of Star Trek has ebbed and flowed, so has the memebrship of the Khai Tam. As the movies wound down, and the ratings for Voyager and Enterprise waned, so too did the memebrship of the club. Adding to the effect was the inevitable exodus of student members who graduated and moved away. Several key members also moved away, taking their energy and enthusiasm with them. Inevitable, even the Reddicks moved on, leaving behind a dynasty of Trek fandom.
The Khai Tam is a living thing, and all living this follow a life cycle. The club was born, grew rapidly in its youth, enjoyed an exuberant adolesence, and eventually settled down into a calmer, and hopefully long-lived, adulthood.
These days, the Khai Tam is still staffed by a small group of loyal members who carry on many of the traditions of the club. The current commander Richard Graha has admirably carried the torch of superior leadership that the club is known for. Though its ranks have thinned, the spirit of the Khai Tam lives on in its members of today and yesterday.
Related Links
outdated)
