Greetings, Gentle Beings! My name is Arlene Henriques, your new Editor of the “Pet Tales From the Final Frontier” Newsletter. I was chosen by our Fearless Leader and Director of STARFLEET Petfleet, FCAPT Randy Mitson and your previous Editor-in-Chief/Executive Deputy Director CAPT Matthew Doucet. I have benefitted from their positivity and guidance and draw upon both to continue the mission!

My love of all things Star Trek began on the first night Star Trek aired, and like all kids, I spent my free time outside and in garages with my brother and our friends pretending to be members of the Crew on the ship or on Away Missions! My love for all things Star Trek hasn’t lessened since. I travel all over to attend Conventions and love to meet the Actors, Writers, Directors, and even Authors of the books. I joined the USS Antares unofficially in 2017 and became a full fledged member in September of 2019 of STARFLEET International and the USS Antares. I’ve got an amazing group of really awesome Crewmates, we spend a lot of time together making things, having fun parties where we dress up, we go on Away Missions together, working at RadCon in 10 Forward raising money for Charity together, game nights, movie nights and just generally having a blast. I’ve been privileged enough the past 5 plus years to have made many friends in many organizations within STARFLEET. I’ve never met a more welcome, kind and determined group of individuals in my life.

My love of pets began when I was 4 years old and we bought a beautiful Keeshond named Ovenbloom. I was four, so naturally I didn’t like that name and promptly called her Heidi. That resonated with our family, so Heidi she was. She was an amazing dog, we attended training together, went on long walks, we traveled, went to beaches, and just made a lot of wonderful memories together. She lived 19 years and I was beyond devastated when she passed. Since Heidi, I’ve had 4 Beta fish, aquariums filled with Angel fish, and generally fish of all types, a feral cat we named Nerys, and my sister brought in a Dachshund named Ginger that we all loved and played with for almost 16 years, we lost her last day of November.

I’m what you could call a forever student. I have an Associate of Arts and Sciences Degree in Executive, Clerical and Medical Sciences from Walla Walla Community College but my real passion is in widening cultural awareness in the Tri-Cities. I have studied and am still attending classes and studying Japanese, Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Egyptian Hieroglyphs (Enrolled in Scribal School leaning Middle Egyptian Hieroglyphs), Papyrological Koine Greek, Sinhalese, American Sign Language, and am currently studying Sumerian and Babylonian Akkadian Cuneiform, and Klingon. I love learning about everything.

I love seeing new places and people and have traveled throughout the USA, Canada, Japan, and Europe. In 2020 I was headed to Andalusia, Spain, to study the intersectionality of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Covid-19 canceled that, so it’s still on my Bucket List! I’ve been a member of The Realms of Avalon, The Kingdoms of Chivalry, Phi Theta Kappa, ASCBC Leadership Council, and local Japanese, Anthropology, Art, History, and Astronomy Clubs. I am currently a LCDR in STARFLEET and the Ship’s Counselor for the USS Antares, as well as the Region 5 Deputy Assistant Surgeon General, and the occasional Liaison for PETFLEET. I’m a 6th Kyu Aikido member of the Beartooth Aikido Dojo. I design costumes (once dressing a KNDU Newscaster as a Klingon at Radcon in 15 minutes flat for Live TV), sew clothes and bags, read a lot of books, take far too many photographs of life, enjoy sewing, cross stitching, knitting, board and video games, arts and crafts, astronomy, Egyptology, attending cons, taking classes at UChicago Institute For The Study Of Ancient Cultures, JCCC Online, The Scribal School, CBC, and absolutely love traveling!