Howdy, fellow Commanders! 

Alisa, a friendly Narrative Designer, reporting for duty! Just like my colleague, Paul, I love the cozy and dark writing cave, but occasionally we must leave its comfort to get fresh air and share some work behind the scenes. It’s been a while since the last writer’s blog, and I’m happy to use this opportunity to tell you more about the Villains arc.

Honoring Star Trek’s masterminds we love to hate

The Star Trek Universe is brimming with prominent and memorable heroes who prevent the imminent end of the world almost every other day, and yet, when a new Top-10 Star Trek character list drops, every Captain Sisko is rivaled by his own Gul Dukat. Star Trek writers did a fantastic job of creating the greatest masterminds, posing a challenge to our heroes and making their lives extremely difficult, so that the protagonists could think outside the box, make tough decisions, and almost always emerge victorious in the end. It’s high time to pay homage to these characters we all deeply love and hate at the same time – they deserve their own Arc!

The Allure of Complicated Antagonists

My pet peeve is complex and somewhat chaotic characters who have their own motives and act outside societal norms to achieve their goals, and, boy oh boy, does Star Trek provide! We find characters fueled by a simple act of revenge, like Arturis, or an unending ambition, like Winn Adami, or even a whole race of creatures driven by the wish (or need) to conquer everything on their path, like the Borg. Our goal for this release was to learn more about them, understand what makes their blood boil, and what they would do should their plans come to fruition. And, of course, let Commanders experience what being on a villain’s side might feel like. 

Transogen and the Tipping Point

But, unlike any other arc we’ve had before, they don’t just have a standalone story. The emergence of Transogen has changed a great deal in the Star Trek Fleet Command universe, and the tale, which started with the Strange New Worlds arc, couldn’t have ended so abruptly. Our goal was to imagine what would happen when the new gold rush splits the old alliances, pits friends against each other, and provides too many opportunities to those ready to grab them; Transogen is too good to be true, too powerful to be a simple accident. And with the groundwork laid, many villainous things are being set in motion.

Curating the Rogues’ Gallery

Unfortunately, the arc only lasts two months, which isn’t nearly enough to introduce, let alone properly develop, all of the beloved villains, so we had to choose which ones get to show up. Not only that, but we also had to keep in mind that we had just told a magnificent Khan storyline and the Year of Hell arc, which focused on the crew of the Voyager battling the series’ greatest adversaries. And while some villains are indeed memorable, they can offer very little outside of the episode or the tale they appeared in (I’m looking at you, Armus). In the end, only some of the wonderful characters made their appearance in our new story, and some have emerged in a never-before-seen way. I hope you like our lineup of villains, and I hope you enjoy seeing them in action – even though I wouldn’t want to imagine what could have happened if this story had happened in real life.

What-Ifs Across Time and Space

Since Transogen affects the very fabric of time and space, we seized this opportunity to explore the “what if” factor, allowing us not only to heighten the tensions and dangers but also to neatly combine the elements of the larger, more sinister plot that is unfolding over the Alpha Quadrant… Just in time for the spooky month! But I’m getting ahead of myself. There are still plenty of things to explore, foes to battle, secrets to unfold, and rewards to gather (especially in the form of Halloween candy).

Final Transmission

I really enjoyed creating this story, adoring the legacy of the great actors, scriptwriters, and directors who brought these wonderful, albeit slightly evil, characters to life, and I hope that you’ll have as much fun as I did writing these missions. Fear not the treacherous foes, Commanders, for you are not alone, and together you can defeat any villains standing in your way! 

Have a great Halloween, and Live Long and Prosper!