The Admiral’s Log: My Journey Through ‘Star Trek: Online’ – Part VII

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

A Journey to the Delta Quadrant

​I have to admit, that one of my favorite moments when it comes to Star Trek Online, is when I’m simply flying through the vastness of space aboard the Galactica. In part, because it’s so some supremely peaceful to watch the starts streak by at warp speed, but also due to the fact…that it is inherently clear that the creators of the game wanted to do their best to try and give all of us a taste of just how big our galaxy really is, and goodness, does the enormity of space travel in this game give me pause because they did a fine job with this attempt to replicate the void. But while it is an incredible experience to consistently traverse through the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, it turned out at this point in the game, that the already vast Milky Way Galaxy was about to get a whole lot bigger.
 
Because thanks to a series of missions involving the wonder of Dyson Spheres and Iconian Gateways, ones that helped to set the stage for the Iconian War and solve an age old mystery from The Next Generation, the mysterious Delta Quadrant was suddenly a hop, skip and a jump away for the United Federation of Planets and of course, my crew was headed into that vast region of space to explore it properly since the U.S.S. Voyager’s mission back in the day was to survive and get home and well, this led to more incredible moments grounded in fan service. Because the aforementioned Voyager would lead the charge when it comes to exploration in this part of the galaxy and that meant some supremely geeky moments awaited myself and my crew once we arrived some 75,000 light years away from Earth.
 
For starters, this segment of missions allowed for me to board the titular ship in question, and it was supremely cool to walk the hallowed halls of this beautiful Intrepid Class vessel and it was equally as amazing to see a fair chunk of the cast from this show reprise their roles for this segment of the game and it downright squee-worthy to be able to go on away team missions with the crew of Voyager and help them to unravel a grand and sweeping mystery involving the Vaadwaur and their now aggressive ways and I also have to admit, that being this far from Federation space created quite the interesting vibe for the game as well because you feel isolated and alone this far away from home and that was an awesome twist to this part of the story.
 
But while the combat was challenging and the mystery of the Vaadwaur managed to work well within the overall Star Trek mythos, since the Iconians helped their ascension to power by way of an awesome sequel/continuation to The Next Generation episode, ‘Conspiracy’, this segment of the game is one that I enjoyed, but not much as the others and really, that’s due in large part to the fact that this part of the game is simply a little too long in the teeth for its own good. Case in point, the fact that you have to back to Kobali Prime three times and deal with some long and drawn out missions in order to advance the plot and that was just a bit much at the time and really this mission set would have benefitted from a shorter run when all is said and done.
 
Granted, that doesn’t mean it was awful, it just means it was long and doesn’t quite pack the punch of other mission arcs. But that’s okay, not every story can be flawless, and it was still incredibly cool to finally travel to this mysterious region of space and in all honesty, Star Trek Online did its part to make up for this slower story arc by giving me an incredible gift once the Galactica returned home. Because the Iconian sub thread that had been permeating the connective tissue in this game, was about to come to a head in violent and explosive fashion, and the battle that was about to begin would serve as one of the finest story arcs that this game has ever sent our way and that conflict, and all the incredible moments that came with it, are where we will pick up next time. Until then. 

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