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

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

The Serenity of Space 

​I think it is a foregone conclusion, that each and every one of us play video for some supremely personal reasons. For some, it’s about the challenges that games present and tearing through them as quickly as possible is quite the rush. For others, it’s about being able to be the best in multiplayer and show off one’s prowess on the digital field. But for me, gaming is a personal experience, one that I use to get my mind off of life’s more annoying days and one that allows for me to get lost in a wonderful story and that’s why I always find great solace and wonder when I log in to play Star Trek Online. Because not only am I immersed in my favorite fictional universe, I’m able to lose myself in any wonderful story I so choose with a simple press of a button.
 
But while that alone is magnificent for my mind, there’s another reason I find this game so calming. Because this is only place that I can go and lose myself in the vastness of the galaxy and this is something that I made mention of before, many logs ago, but I really want to get into further detail about how space provides me with a genuine sense of serenity when I’m traveling from point A to point B. Which is something that is related to how exactly I traverse around the galaxy. For while there are some hyper quick options, such as the quantum slipstream drive or the transwarp drive (the latter of which can get you to your destination in seconds), what truly makes space travel special for me is the most traditional manner of travel available; good old fashioned warp speed.
 
Which is fast in its own right, since you’re traveling well past the speed of light. But the actual act of warp speed has a gentle nature to it and it’s so soothing to just watch the stars stream by. If anything, it’s a magical place to just decompress and when combined with the tranquil music provided in flight, I always enjoy losing myself within the journey and sometimes it’s also nice to just stop and admire the everyday beauty that the galaxy has to offer as well. For the stars feature more than just endless void with the occasional planet or starbase thrown in for good measure. There’s also plenty of nebulae and comets and beautiful star systems to see and if there’s one place I love to visit when I need a taste of beauty, it’s the Mutara Nebula.
 
Now that’s a name that should sound familiar to Star Trek fans everywhere. But for the uninitiated, this was the site of an important battle in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, wherein the U.S.S. Enterprise (NCC-1701) and the U.S.S. Reliant (NCC-1864) duked it out to settle an old score, and it is still standing after all this time, despite some wild changes to the nebula itself (thanks to how that battle wraps up), and it is just… the most gorgeous place to visit in the depths of space. In fact, you can see its wonder and majesty in the picture above and I simply love how tranquil it is, and on several occasions I’ve just parked the Galactica in the midst of those clouds and nebula watched to soothe my mind and it’s never failed to help me relax when necessary.
 
Yet, while that’s my own personal ‘tourist’ spot in the Milky Way Galaxy, there are so many others to see within the four quadrants of the galaxy, and I highly encourage that you take the time to see them during your own travels as well. And while I know I mentioned a return to planetary adventures in this blog, a tough week prompted me to just cruise the stars and return to the Mutara Nebula (which you can find near the edge of known space in the Beta Quadrant in the Teroka Sector), to cool my mind before I ventured off to my first planetary stop, one located in the Delta Quadrant and that’s where we will pick up, next time. Until then. 

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