One night back in early 1997, in the ever humid location of Shaw AFB, Sumter, S.C., I found myself just lying in my bed listening to Star Trek Soundtracks thinking about the new software that came with my new Compaq PC and also an everlastingly impressive picture of the United States Air Force (USAF) reconnisance aircraft called the SR-71 Blackbird. Suddenly my dad pokes his head through my door then tosses a strange info magazine on the ATF Program in which the LockheedYF-22 and the Northrop - Grumman YF-23 were competing with each other to see which aircraft would be the next new airframe to enter service with USAF. In both ATF brochures, as that is what they turned out to be nothing more then elaborate sales pitches, the brochures emphasized "Stealth" capabilities and daunting manuverability. I though to myself as I looked at both ATF Prototype aircraft and said to myself how sleek they look. Indeed they looked terribly intimidating, but the SR-71 had a much more menacing sleekness to it. I pictured the SR-71 in my head using the Warp Nascles from the Enterprise-D from Star Trek. It was a gorgeous thought and design I had in my head. The shape of the SR-71 to emphasized SPEED... STEALTH... INCREDIBLE RANGE COVERAGE... Also a Menacing Profile to say the least. To associate with the Manuverability... the term Stealth would come into play as my means for connecting the YF-22's manuverability to be connected to the term Stealth.
The name "Stealthlon" did not come easily at all. It was four months later after watching a movie called Tron and a show called Babylon 5 did the faint idea for naming my new ship hit me. Then I found I needed a grandiose name for my ship... But it also had to emphasize its abilities. Stealth suddenly came to mind again but wasnt sci-fi enough for me. Tron was taking... and besides that name definitely did not belong a starship. Babylon 5 came on... I took one look at the name... put my finger over "Baby-" and said.. Stealth - lon. The name didnt mean anything to me at first. But I decided that the name would have the ship, its crew, and stories associated with it as its definition. Stealthlon was born. But Stealthlon saw itself first as a potential Star Trek spin off at first. This was well before the UNSF ideaology was even a thought. Facing the grim prospect of being constantly overshadowed by Star Trek's main theme, the Enterprise, I ventured for a dfferent story line... It was mid 97 and I was into politics. Specifically, military politics. The United Nations played a huge role in Military politics. The United Nations had an International Military group called the UNSF or United Nations Security Force. Its duty was to ensure peace and to protect the homelands from brutalization by marauding foreign militant forces. I evolved the idea abit... The UNSF achieved world peace... and humanity had moved out to the stars. The world was united under one flag as well to... the UN's. But that sounded to common... the UNGG or United Nations Global Government sounded supremely better. the Military Arm... was of course the UNSF. The United Nations Security Forces. which was soon changed to just "Force".
I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my colleague, Darryl Mansel. Through his collaboration with his contribution of stories to the UNSF, it has helped in defining a theme for the UNSF's First Story series, Stealthlon and has also helped to further define the UNSF storyline. Reading his works gives me great drive to continue my writing. So, many thanks to you D. and of course it wouldn't be much of a story without you, the readers. Many thanks goes to you all for reading and hopefully, enjoying the stories written.
-Jim Brungess
Creator of the UNSF |
