Megafauna

By Chris Farnell, Star Trek Adventures Contributing Writer
Art by Rodrigo Gonzalez Toledo

“Here Be Dragons,” we are told, is what they used to write on the parts of old maps that nobody had got around to exploring yet. Going into those places is basically Star Trek’s whole deal, so sooner or later they were bound to run into a dragon or two.

My earliest memory of Star Trek takes place on the 26th of November, 1990, when “Encounter at Farpoint” aired for the first time in the UK. Specifically, I remember the moment when we discovered that the mysterious building the crew had been investigating was actually a giant glowing space jellyfish. It was the moment that turned Star Trek from something my parents were watching with lots of talking (BORING!) to something my six-year-old brain decided it should maybe obsess over for the next 34 years (and counting).

In all the science fiction I have consumed and created since, right down to the Star Trek: Lower Decks Crew Handbook and my own Fermi’s Progress stories, I’ve been chasing that feeling – the moment when you realize the thing you thought you were looking at is something else entirely, and the whole world is different as a result.

So, when I got the opportunity to pitch some mission briefs for Star Trek Adventures to project manager Jim Johnson, it made sense to go back to the source. The giant glowing space jellyfish were only part of a cosmic menagerie, including the giant amoeba from TOS’s “The Immunity Syndrome,” to Junior, the warp nacelle suckling in “Galaxy’s Child” (and its distant cousin from the Star Trek: Lower Decks opening credits).

Star Trek has always drawn inspiration from ocean-going explorers, and sea serpents are part of that, but I knew that writing for Star Trek Adventures was not writing for Dungeons & Dragons. If I was going to write a series of mission hooks about epically-sized space beasts, I needed to give the Starfleet crews more to do than just fight them.

And by looking for those things to do, we can see one of Starfleet’s less recognized, but most essential functions. Alongside its diplomatic, scientific, and defense functions, a key role of Starfleet is conservation. It’s right there in the Prime Directive! In the Star Trek: The Next Generation writers' bible, Gene Rodenberry makes it explicit that Starfleet is not supposed to be the Galaxy’s police force. But maybe they are sometimes the Galaxy’s park rangers.

So, in these adventures, players get the opportunity to tend to sick animals (from the inside), try and encourage mating between members of an endangered species, foil poachers, and try to divert the path of an interstellar migration.

Then again, sometimes you will run into a creature that simply wants to eat your ship – such as my personal favorite creation, the Gelatinous Nebula. But even in the face of a voracious space predator, you need to put your preconceptions aside and prepare to be surprised. Because this may not be life as you know it.

Grab your copy of the “Megafauna” briefs pack now to start creating your own Star Trek stories!

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Thanks for reading this article, and thank you for your interest and support of Star Trek Adventures! Keep frequencies open for news about other Star Trek Adventures product releases. Live long and prosper!