Mission Summary

Tonight we set out on a grand tour of Boston and its environs, to pay homage and remembrance to civilian pilots who've lost their lives on the streets we patrol. At each stop, we applied some touch-ups to ghost bikes that had become rusty or faded with time, and adorned them with fresh cut flowers. Words of remembrance celebrating the lives of those lost were also spoken at each stop. We were joined on our journey by two guests from Rat Patrol of the faraway Chicago System in the Illinois Galaxy, who were quite posi. The fort was abuzz pre-mission with a ton of ship storage reorg work being led by Dr.Claw. Launch was delayed by half an hour when a last-minute burst of solar wind ripped the protective tarp along the hangar bay, requiring many hands to resecure it to ensure our ships did not get soaked by the harsh Boston atmospheric conditions of late. A dull, persistent radiation on the launchpad scared away all but the most foolhardy pilots, as mission leader Wombat laid out our objectives for the night. A preliminary flower ceremony was held on the launchpad for Hermann Haus, an MIT professor whose civiship became one of the three constituent frames forming our holy Trinity's hull. Maggot Otnaut carried the flowers for our mobile ghost bike ceremonies in a convenient drawstring-topped backpack. Navigator Cosima deftly ferried us along to each solemn waypoint along our route, where Wombat read a few words in remembrance of each person who was lost there, while others touched up any visible rust patches and affixed a handful of flowers to bars and frames.

* Medals of Patronage to Meownderthal and Spud, for providing additional memorial flowers and post-touch-up wet wipes to pilots, respectively
* Medal of Valor to Captain Nasty, for bravely traversing the low-clearance spirals of the Arthur Fiedler Footbridge without dismounting from his H.A.R.V.

Other debrief notes:
* Dr.Claw's bag-based booties
* Captain Nasty's brutal mousetrap trick
* Stealthy loop through Christian Science plaza without drawing the ire of the cart-mounted rent-a-s.t.
* Shoreleave at swanky South End 7-11
* Mcfuzz turns into a pumpkin at midnight after 100+ l.y. century earlier in the day, Meownderthal takes over as tailgunner
* Wookiee Bag overboard near the Common
* Captain Nasty stays aloft aboard Bieber Fever through the entirety of the cramped spirals of the Fiedler Footbridge
* Fenced-in dead end at the eastern/northern end of the Dudley White Wormhole, had to backtrack to get onto the sidewalk
* Double underpasses between Dunster and Holyoke in Harvard Constellation
* Shout-out to Dogfood for volunteering for touch-up duty at just about every stop
* Our visitors from Rat Patrol: Nawdawg and Captain Nasty

Ghost bikes visited/fallen civilians memorialized:
* Christopher Weigl, Commonwealth Ave. @ St. Paul St. Boston
* John Corcoran, Memorial Dr. @ Vassar St. Cambridge
* Marcia Deihl, Putnam Ave. @ Allston St. Cambridge
* Kim Staley, Mount Auburn St. @ DeWolfe St. Cambridge (no bike)
* Dana Laird, Mass. Ave. @ Brookline St. Central Square, Cambridge (no bike)
* Phyo N. Kyaw, Mass. Ave. @ Vassar St. Cambridge (no bike)
* Anita Kurmann, Mass. Ave. @ Beacon St. Boston (no bike)
* George Clemmer, Mass. Ave. @ Huntington Ave. Boston
* Rick Archer, Comm. Ave. @ Clarendon St. Boston (no bike)
* Meng Jin, Charles River Dam Rd. @ Museum Way, Cambridge
* Amanda Phillips, Cambridge St. @ Beacon St. Inman Square, Cambridge (no bike)
* Jean Leonard, Park St. @ train tracks, Somerville
* Joe Lavins, Mass. Ave. @ Somerville Ave. Porter Square, Cambridge
* Daryl "Pikachu" Willis, Mass. Ave. @ Harvard Yard, Cambridge

Mission Report

On this night we remembered those who have fallen by visiting their memorials. A touch of paint, flowers, and a few brief words were the least we could do.

This mission we were assisted by travelers visiting from the far off system of Chicago. Though their terminology was different we found commonality in our hearts and our objectives.

Before we initiated this somber mission, the fort had gone through some changes. Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Claw, Threespeed, Diva, and Snow our longer Fighters found a new place to rest without blocking access. Yet all was not smooth sailing for the tarp that protected our ships from radiation had become a sail! It took the collective might of every pilot to push back against the solar wind, but we managed to triumph of nature. But it came at the cost of a delayed launch.

Before we even departed the launchpad, we memorialized Hermann Haus, an MIT professor whose civiship became one of the three constituent frames forming our holy Trinity's hull.

We traveled from ghost ship to ghost ship within our local systems. First stop was at Commonwealth Ave where we paid respects to Christopher Weigl. Weigl grew up in Southborough, Mass., where he was an Eagle Scout, and he graduated from Skidmore College in 2011. There, he was president of the Photo Club and photography editor of the student daily news website, Skidmore News. He was also a student photographer for Skidmore’s communications department, where he was nominated as employee of the year as a senior, as well as a freelance photography intern at Panorama magazine and a freelance photographer for Metrowest Daily News.

Next we traveled to the boat house on Memorial Drive to visit John Corcoran, a dedicated family man from Newton who loved biking and managed to travel to the farthest reaches of the Earth.

Then we stopped at Marcia Deihl, a Cambridge singer, writer, and activist. She would often travel on a ship festooned with streamers and paper flowers.

The next few stops had no memorial staged. But we still made note of Kim Staley (mother of two from Florida), Dana Laird (Texan who taught English in Japan, witnessed Tiananmen Square and sang with Ambassachords, Voiceworks, and most recently the Boston Women’s Rainbow Chorus), Phyo N. Kyaw (student from Myanmar who volunteered Camp Kesem — a summer program for children with a parent who has died of cancer), and Dr. Anita Kurmann (Swiss surgeon and scientist who advanced research on stem cells).

As we crossed from system to system we stealthily passed through the Christian Science Plaza. Somehow we did did not draw the ire of a mercenary stormtrooper who definitely spotted our maneuver. This passage was essential to reach George Clemmer. George was a renaissance man, obtained MIT degrees in Naval architecture, Electrical engineering and Business, designed helicopter systems, built boats, sailed multihulls, single handed in the Bahamas, married for 31 faithful years, designed yacht sails, loved and raised four children, started software companies, renovated colonial houses, organized community actions and created many small inventions.

At this point the crew was running low on fuel so we refreshed at a swanky 7-11 in the South End. By this point we had crossed over into the next star date, at which point Lord McFuzz had to depart the mission after already traveling a century.

We passed by Rick Archer (a bike messenger active in the city's circus community as a fire spinner) as we traveled back over the asteroid belt. On the way, our visitor, Captain Nasty, impressed us by managing to ride Bieber Fever through the Fiedler Footbridge without dismounting. This was not the only time he managed to shock our crew as he later demonstrated he could snap a mousetrap on his tongue.

In front of the Museum of Science we found , Meng Jin, whose ghost ship inspired Wombat to run this mission. Meng Jin, was from Shanghai, China and moved to Cambridge to begin graduate studies in economics at Boston University.

We rode by Amanda Phillips (Inman Square resident studying at the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions and a longtime barista at Diesel Cafe in Somerville’s Davis Square) and Jean Leonard (information not found).

In Porter Square we found Joe Lavins. He was a Lexington resident who rode often to his job as a research scientist at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals.

Our final stop was in the Harvard Constellation to visit Darryl "Pikachu" Willis. He had three daughters and seven grandchildren.

We headed back towards the fort, enjoying the double underpasses between Dunster and Holyoke.

Cadet Otnaut carried the flowers despite the radiation conditions. Meownderthal and Spud provided additional flowers for which they received medals of patronage. Dogfood especially deserves a shout-out for touching up at every stop. And one final shout-out for the plastic bags that protected Dr. Claw's feet from the radiation.