I’ve Got Faaaiiiith, Faith Of The Heeaaaaarrrrt

Okay, first of all, I quite liked Enterprise and I don’t understand why it gets all this hate. As a series, I thought it was very entertaining.

Second of all, I have a rabid addiction to costumes in Star Trek Online, so when Cryptic rolled out their new Enterprise-themed items in the C-store, decking my away team out in the Earth space exploration program uniforms was a no-brainer. T’Andy, being the captain and therefore special, also gets the honor of being stuck in a T’Pol jumpsuit (“logical and fashionable”?!)

Let this be my tribute to Enterprise, may it get the love it deserves. I did pass on the NX-01 ship replica, however. Think I’ll stick with my Maelstrom class fleet escort, thanks.

Dammit, now I have “Where My Heart Will Take Me” stuck in my head.

STO: Keeping Things Warm In Cold Storage

What do you do when you arrive to find the Breen and the True Way beating the crap out of each other? You join in, of course.

Once again we take this lovely Monday to look at the latest Star Trek Online featured weekly episode, which by the way I had the pleasure of experiencing on Advanced Difficulty with my fleet of brave Federation News Service correspondents — Longasc, Thomas, Thumupp and Tipa (who has written a very comprehensive account of the mission this week as well).

More on how that turned out later. First, I can’t believe it’s been five weeks already. What is it they say, that time flies when you’re having fun? Anyway, what a ride this last month has been — I’ve encounter new species, new planets, and new technology. I’ve defended newfound allies, held off hostile enemies, and negotiated myself out of sticky situations. I’ve been unceremoniously blown up, knocked on my ass, and zapped by ice beams. It all came to a head on Saturday with “Cold Storage”, the final episode of the Breen story arc.

A tribute to TOS's "The Paradise Syndrome"

I knew it was coming — showdown at the lost Preserver archives! — but I still nearly fell out of my chair when I saw the giant obelisk. While this arc’s conclusion was somewhat predictable, I still have to appreciate these little homages they throw in to honor the various Star Trek episodes. I don’t think you have to be familiar with the shows to enjoy STO, but being able to spot these little touches do add to the game. Sure makes me glad I spent all those months devouring everything from the original series to Enterprise, or else I wonder how much would have gone over my head.

If we stay together, we survive.

Combat on this mission proved to be a formidable challenge. In space, I was just a sliver of health (at one point, just 2%!) away from being completely obliterated and only survived thanks to the concerted efforts of my fleetmates healing me. Still, my starship is an Escort, a flying tin can not known for being terribly sturdy, so admittedly being blown to smithereens (or close to it) isn’t so much of an irregular occurrence.

The difference was more noticeable on the ground, however. Apparently the Breen wised up, as evidenced by a new ability which appeared capable of one-shotting unsuspecting Federation officers. I’m not sure how much of it actually had to do with our group doing it on the advanced difficulty setting, since another member of or fleet doing this quest individually also noticed this happening.

Er...what tones?

In the underground passageways beneath the obelisk, we came upon a mini-game of sorts. Three consoles which supposedly would emit a tone when activated, and doing them in the right order based on sound would unlock the Archives proper.

Well, I couldn’t hear anything when I activated the first one. Granted, it could be my sound settings or the possibly the ambient noises in the room, but I know my hearing’s fine and I still wasn’t able to pick anything up even when I leaned into my speakers. I left the task to someone else who might have better luck hearing the tones, but regardless, there are only a handful of possible combinations to try, so getting into the final room shouldn’t be problem.

Anyway, you can never go wrong with a boss fight.

Wow, aren't you a big boy!

So, great episode and nice ending and all, but in the end what I loved best were the rewards — finally, a chance to be on the giving end of an ice beam for once with the CRM 200 ground weapon, and also a new Breen tactical bridge officer to call my own, whom I named “Pran”. I had to fire one of my other Boffs to make room for him, but it was worth it. High time for me to get rid of the freeloaders anyway.

Ice to see you! /lame joke

An interesting thought came to me as I was setting Pran up aboard the U.S.S. Taiga — might “special Boff” collecting become a new trend for STO players?

Report To The Bridge

Cryptic was kind enough to have a “Tax Day Discount” sale this weekend, offering players 25% off everything in their Star Trek Online and Champions Online stores. I saw that a couple of my fellow fleetmates had taken advantage of the sale — Tipa is now flying around in her spiffy new Nimbus-class Deep Space Science Vessel, and Adventurer Historian is rocking his Klingon and Fed bridges. I mulled over it for a while until finally, I too decided to purchase something from the STO store. I was still sitting on 240 Cryptic points from the time I did their survey, after all…and those new Science bridges did look awfully tempting.

So, I swooped in this morning before the sale ended, and snagged myself the Federation Bridge Pack III. I gotta say, I like it. I like it a lot. Here, why don’t I let our fearless leader show you around?

This particular interior is called the “Compassion Bridge”. I know — compassion isn’t exactly the first thing I think of when I look at my Vulcan tactical officer either, but I simply adore the color scheme. It’s spacious, though no where near as large as my last bridge, which I swear was roomy enough to hold a U2 concert. At least, this one is a more realistically sized bridge for my compact little fleet escort.

These are “Research Science Vessel” bridges, but really, they can be used in any type of ship as long as it’s on a Federation character. The description for this pack states that all of them were “designed with the needs of medical and research missions in mind,” so why don’t we check in on our Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ronbua and see what he thinks.

I recently realized that after giving each bridge officer their own biography, I’ve neglected to assign them their roles aboard my starship (beyond labeling them as “away” or “space”, that is). This oversight has since been amended and The U.S.S. Taiga now has senior staff! Let’s check out what some of them are up to. Like our Chief Engineering Officer for instance, the very talented Commander Donald C. Landsberry. 

Followed by a visit to the Senior Armory Officer, Lieutenant Ytap Onseriv, to check in on the state of our tactical systems and security staff.

And of course, no tour is complete without a look in on Mr. Sleer, the U.S.S. Taiga’s First Officer and Chief Science Officer. As you can see, despite his secret involvement with the captain, Commander Sleer is held to the same high standards as everyone else and is extended no preferential treatment or favoritism of any kind (Vulcans are waaaaaay too logical for that sort of drama, anyway).

One thing I do like about large bridges is that all my officers get to have a place on it; it just doesn’t feel right when any of them gets left out. I hope you’ve enjoyed this little tour of my new bridge as well as the update on some of the crew! I’ll come up with roles for the others soon enough. Until then…

STO Fan Art: T’Androma And Sleer

Well, I said I wanted to do something Star Trek Online related and I did.

This piece took me a couple days, and originally started out with just T’Andy. But then I remembered what I had written for my crew bio for her dashing First Officer Mr. Sleer:

Wherever T’Androma goes, he goes, no exceptions. That means, when she’s solving a mystery on a spacedock, Sleer is there. When she’s scanning for anomalies on an alien world, Sleer is there. And when she’s running head on and screaming at the top of her lungs into a group of hostile Klingons, Braveheart style — yep, you got it. Sleer is there.

Okay, you get the point. Sleer is always there, so it only goes to follow that I must include him in the drawing as well. Of course, if you ask my husband, he’ll tell you this is just another way for me to indulge in my Spock fetish, an allegation I will neither confirm nor deny.

Anyway, here it is. And yes, I’m aware that Sleer’s medical tricorder looks like a Nintendo DS. You caught him — he’s not healing his captain, he’s playing Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks.

As usual, click to enlarge.

Too Sexy For My Skirt

I realize this is the second Right Said Fred reference I’ve made in a post title in less than a month, and for that I owe you all my deepest apologies.

Okay, NOW I'm disco dancing.

Beckett Massive Online Gamer was giving out free Star Trek Original TV series uniforms for Star Trek Online recently, and I managed to claim a code for myself. My Vulcan first officer Sleer is now rocking the Mr. Spock look, and I played around with a skirt on T’Androma for a bit until I found a way to make it work with a pair of thigh-highs (are you seriously telling me these are regulation?) As far as I know, the giveaway is still going on and last I checked they were still in stock, so anyone interested should definitely head on over there and check it out.

Someone Really Oughta Find And Fix That One Pesky Transporter…

Disaster! Captain T’Androma has been the latest victim of a transporter malfunction, resulting in the materialization of an identical copy of our fearless leader!

@Longasc makes sure his crew is working hard while T'Androma (left) scrutinizes her copy (right). "Do my eyebrows REALLY look like that?"

The second T’Androma wasted no time jump-starting her Starfleet career, joining fleetmate @Longasc’s crew as his newest tactical officer. The assignment was a timely one, as @Longasc was apparently on an urgent, dangerous and ultra-secret mission that required the immediate enlistment of the finest young female Vulcans Starfleet can offer! Now a Commander in her own right, the T’Androma copy has found happiness and fulfillment working aboard his ship alongside his other talented officers Mirror Tipa and @Arkenor, as well as her fellow female Vulcan officers M’Egan and F’Ox.

Note: Special thanks to Bluekae, Longasc and Tipa for introducing me to the joys of officer picture trading! And of course, for walking me through the process to make this happen.

Yet Another Crew Addition

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy having a diverse crew in Star Trek Online so I was quite happy when I received the opportunity to add a Trill into my lineup…but it meant yet another foray into the depths of Memory-Alpha.org to learn more about a new species. After reading about Trills, a part of me is thinking, “Wow, the Star Trek universe is so involved and deep!” while another part of me is going “@#$%!, why does everything have to be so complicated?” A host, a symbiont, the joining, and–ahh, hell diddly ding dong crap!

After much thought, I’ve decided to roleplay my new bridge officer as an un-joined Trill for simplicity’s sake and decrease the chances I’ll accidentally butcher some part of Star Trek lore. The story I had in mind for him also better suits the way I made him look. This is also my first attempt at writing a more detailed biography for a BO, so for the love of God, please be gentle!

Azdan Dorim

In 2390, Starfleet responded to a distress call from a civilian ship on the edges of the Kalandra Sector. The ship had just been a victim of a brutal raid by Nausicaan pirates. Having had little to no defense against the enemy, the vessel suffered huge casualties, and only a handful of passengers were found alive when the rescue ship made it to the scene. Among them was a very young Trill child named Azdan Dorim, whose parents had both been killed in the attack. Starfleet brought the orphan along with the other survivors to Deep Space 9, where attempts were made to track down any of the boy’s surviving relatives. Finding none, a Starfleet human couple stationed at DS9 decided to adopt him instead.

Azdan led a troubled childhood, a consequence of the emotional trauma suffered from witnessing the attack. His adoptive parents, however, helped him overcome his problems with plenty of love and support, and sought to enrich his environment whenever they could. As an adolescent, Azdan became fascinated with his adoptive father’s work in Starfleet as an engineer and decided right then and there to follow in his footsteps. Highly motivated and intelligent, he graduated from the academy with degrees in Warp Theory, Subspace Physics and Starship Technologies. Growing up outside of Trill society, Azdan never gave much thought to being a host to a symbiont. Because of his distinctions, however, many have encouraged him to apply to the Trill Symbiosis Commission. Though he hasn’t ruled out the prospect, Starfleet was Azdan’s main focus for now.

Despite (or perhaps because of) his highly motivated nature and intelligence, Azdan often found himself restless and agitated. This trait got him involved in more than a few altercations around the DS9 engineering facilities, but no one could deny they needed his brilliant mind. Finally, Azdan disturbed the peace one time too many, and Starfleet officials determined that what this Trill male needed was work in a more stimulating , fast-paced environment to satiate his intellectual appetite and utilize his skills.

Around this time, Captain T’Androma and her crew had already established a reputation for themselves for never having a shortage on adventure and excitement. When they eventually made a request for another engineering officer, Azdan was promptly re-assigned to the U.S.S. Taiga, where he was eagerly welcomed with joy and open arms.

The rest of my STO crew can be viewed here, here and here.