Mike Cook is a retired Star Trek simmer who was a member of Trek Online from 1996 to 2001. Rising to the rank of rear admiral, he commanded six sims within the club during his career, ran Trek Online's Internet Division (TOLi), helped establish the club's first website, was the principal force behind Trek Online's MUSH server, and served as a Justice to the Simming League. He made jelly beans the staple food of club culture and was parodied in the TOL Park comic strip as Spike Cookie. In recognition of his service and dedication to the club, Mike was awarded the Trek Online Medal of Honor in 2001.
Career[]
Beginnings[]
Mike started on the USS Independence prior to the November 1996 merger of the Independence into the United Simulation Group (later Trek Online). During the turbulent period in January 1997 known as the Trek Online Civil War, Mike was a staunch supporter of Chas Hammer.
Sim Host[]
Separate from Trek Online, Mike began to organize his own sim, the USS Indelphi. In recognition of his sim skills and political support, Chas offered to make Mike a rear admiral if he brought his sim into Trek Online. Mike agreed, and the Indelphi held its first sim on March 23, 1997. Chafing against the creative limitations imposed by one ship, Mike destroyed the Indelphi in a spectacular explosion on June 1, 1997, and a week later launched a new starbase sim, Frontier Station. Discarding one sim and immediately creating another - often with the same crew and timeslot - proved to be a reoccurring theme during his career. In May 1998, Mike abolished Frontier Station in favor of the USS Vengeance. This sim lasted until October, at which point he gained command of New Horizons. New Horizons provided Mike ultimate flexibility - there was no set ship or background; at the conclusion of each mission, the crew was free to develop a new ship, plot, and characters. In July 1999, Mike returned to more traditional simming, launching the USS Amazon, which he commanded until April 2000. After a hiatus from hosting, Mike returned to temporarily command the USS Generation in 2001.
Demotion[]
Despite his popularity and success, Mike ran into trouble early in his career. During the first several months of 1997, Uridien had been a vocal opponent of Trek Online and the commanding officer of the USS Independence, Kris 'Scott' Perry. Despite objections from Chas Hammer, President of Trek Online, Mike allowed Uridien to serve on the Indelphi. After Uridien returned to criticizing and working against the club a few weeks later, Mike, embarrassed, made false accusations against Uridien; for this, Mike was suspended from Trek Online for two weeks and demoted to captain.
Administration[]
In recognition of his continued service to the club, Mike was promoted to commodore on February 8, 1998; soon after he was restored to his former rank of rear admiral.
Mike ran in the January 1998 Trek Online presidential elections, but lost to Chas Hammer. In October of that year, Mike was put in charge of the Trek Online Internet (TOLi) division, which was responsible for overseeing Trek Online's irc sims, a position he held until April 1999. After that time, the distinctions between Trek Online's divisions were abolished and the club became united under the simming republic government that had originated out of the club's America Online division.
Simming League[]
Mike served as a justice on the Simming League court from April 26, 1998 to September 14, 2000.
Culture[]
Always boisterous, Mike's antics made him a popular figure within Trek Online, causing him to be parodied in the TOL Park comic strip as Spike Cookie. Mike helped shape the culture of Trek Online, and was the driving force behind making jelly beans the staple food of the club. He ran a MUSH server, known as SimMUSH, for Trek Online from 1999 through 2003. In the MUSH he and others manifested the culture of Trek Online into a MUSH based city known as Trekonlina.