Alpha Prime — What follows are a few short stories that are more FYI than anything else.

The Pack Shows Buildup of Forces

Pack military forces have been gathering in several systems leading up to the establishment of a forward recon base in the Gamma-section of the core region. Pack officials were reluctant to give any comment on the expansion, stating "We need to secure our ability to maintain and protect our way of life, in this and coming millennia." Map

Starfleet Appoints New Executive Officer of Starfleet Intelligence

Federation officials have announced the promotion of Captain Gabriel Carson to Executive Officer of StarFleet Intelligence. In addition, Carson was promoted to the rank of Commodore. Commodore Carson replaces the recently defected Jason Ryans.

New Site for Pips

Got promoted? Need to find some pips for your brand new picture? Look no further, a kind individual has set up a site dedicated to showing all sorts of pips for all governments. The creator of the site, Holographic Doc, had this to say, "Well, I was sitting around rather bored the other day when I noticed how many people have started placeing PIPs in their pictures. I know from experience how bothersome it can be to find some of the rare PIPs that our out there, expecually lower ranks like Warrant Officers, Cadets, Petty Officers and Crewmen. I've done alot of digging, and spent many hours searching, and have massed quite a collection of Star Trek PIPs. And now I offer them to everyone." The site is located at http://stpips.8m.com and is free to all. The site's creator says he is working on locating pips for the Klingons, Breen and Cardassians and welcomes any submissions. He does have a word of caution, "I invite you to use these PIPs in your picture creations. All I ask in return is you don't abuse the system. Please don't use these PIP pictures to GM yourself a rank within a faction, as always, that will not be tolerated."

TIB Turns 2

The staff at the Infinite Beyond celebrated their second anniversary this past Thursday. The Infinite Beyond was launched September 27, 1999, roughly 2 weeks after the closing of WBS. TIB was an offshoot of SkyNET News, which was sold to an investor. TIB staff are eager to continue their work for another two years, "We're happy to see this paper blossom into what it has become - a beacon for all to find news and see what's going on in the galaxy today".