Lower Decks Interview: Lieutenant German Galven, USS Montreal

We’re here with another interview with a newer member of our community. The title of this column is “Lower Decks,” hearkening back to the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode titled “Lower Decks,” in which junior officers aboard the Enterprise-D speculate on the reasons for recent unusual actions taken by the command crew near the Cardassian border.
This month’s interview is with the writer behind Lieutenant German Galven playing a Denobulan Male Chief Science officer assigned to the USS Montreal.
SHIN: Hello Lieutenant, thank you for taking the time out of your day for this interview. To start, why don’t you tell us a little about yourself and your character?
GALVEN: The pleasure is all mine! Thank you for having me. My name is Dane and I write for Lieutenant German Galven. I was born in the midwest of the United States and was raised in a military family which made me learn to be outgoing and larger than life to make friends quicker since we had to move around so much. I’ve simmered down since my childhood, but I bring out that aspect in German. He’s a quirky Denobulan that is inquisitive and always curious about what’s in front of him.
How did you discover SB118 and how long have you been with the community now?
I found out about SB118 from a friend named Zech (Groznin Smith) and I’ve been with the community for almost six months now. I still have that enthusiasm I had when I first joined! Every day I learn something new and explore the possibilities that the game has so far.
You have done very well since joining and you were recently promoted to full Lieutenant and named the Chief of Science on the USS Montreal. How you do feel?
There’s a feeling of euphoric bliss and then there’s something after that. I feel extremely humbled that people who have been with 118 for years are seeing something in me that they are giving me these opportunities. Ever since I boarded the USS Veritas and then shortly after transferred to the USS Montreal, I’ve been eyeing the spot for the head of the Science Department. Which all the more gave me the confidence and drive to get to that goal. I feel like I can, with the help and enthusiasm from other science officers, achieve much more within our field.
Is there any advice you would offer for our fellow Ensign and Lieutenant JG officers, on working towards their promotion’s?
My advice to everyone out there that are junior officers is to work hard and have fun. Just because someone is a lower rank doesn’t mean they are limited in what they can achieve here. There are so many opportunities and grasp onto that willpower for oneself. This has helped me a lot in real life when it comes to my thinking and cognitive skills. What you do here can positively affect yourself out in the real world. Take the chance!
Now, I understand you are involved in many OOC activities. Can you give us a brief rundown of the work you do in our community and why you feel it is important?
I’m on the Community News Team, Federation News Service, Training Team, as well as a SIMSCON joint post I started with other science officers within the fleet and hoping to join the Image Collective. I feel it is just as important to be involved with OOC activities just as much with IC activities. Especially with the Training Team. We’re the first players IC that people see when they join our community. First impressions last and there’s a lot of responsibility there.
I love the stories people make for the FNS. Whether it be a sport, culture, or a science article. It further expands the creativity there is for the world we create around ourselves. Then with the Image Collective, we get to create that world for people to see! I love doing OOC interviews such as this one because it’s fun to see a little bit of the people behind the character. I created SIMSCON more so to build even more with the science community, but it’s also taught me to write better in my normal sims. Plus seeing everyone else’s unique writing styles is always fun to read. And remember to lurk the forums. There’s always something special to find there as well. Especially since not everyone is on Discord.
With so much accomplished here so far where do you see yourself going in the future? Are you thinking of reaching for a position in command or joining any other OOC teams?
Oh, there are so many possible answers to that question. First off, I would like to see the Podcast Team come back. I think I joined a little bit after it stopped and I like listening to them on YouTube.There’s a song out there that I absolutely love called “Banned From Menthar” and I would like to parody something. I think there needs to be at least a few podcasts with Dr. German D. Galven’s ramblings about anything temporal related or doing some wacky experiment.
I would love to be a command position one day! Captain Dr. Galven has a nice ring to it and there are so many ships here that it’d be great to take part in any of them. Mr. Galven has been eyeing the Athena for a while, but all the ships look just as amazing. As much as I love seeing everyone’s participation in a story and how it evolves just from a mission proposal, it’d be really amazing to see that develop on a ship I may command one day.
Thank you again for your time, Lieutenant Galven!
You can read more about Lieutenant Galven on the wiki.