Hello! I’m John D. Kennedy, and I am one of the writers on the Star Trek Adventures: Gamma Quadrant Sourcebook!

Working on Gamma Quadrant was something I had wanted since joining the STA line. I had been involved at the beginning but getting the chance to write about not just the Gamma Quadrant but the Dominion War was something I had always hoped I would get to do. Deep Space Nine was my favorite of the Star Trek series, and getting to work with Jim Johnson on developing it further was a highlight of my career as a game designer.

Though I considered myself knowledgeable about the Gamma Quadrant and the war, I still found myself rewatching the pivotal Dominion arcs so that I had it in my mind as I worked on it. Arcs such as “Homefront,” “Sacrifice of Angels,” and the entire 9-episode arc at the end of the 7th season were crucial in not just writing about the Dominion and their threat to the Alpha Quadrant but in understanding the underlying stories to the series. Watching how Rom rises up to become a pivotal player in galactic politics, suffering alongside Odo (RIP Rene Auberjonois) as he dealt with the struggle of his identity, Dukat’s descent into evil, and seeing the toll the war took on Sisko as he became one of the Federation’s greatest heroes, was important to writing the book. Deep Space Nine was more than just ships fighting each other out in the void. It was about the strain and stress that the characters I had come to love had to face as the Federation and its allies fought a dance to the death with the Dominion. The Dominion War was more than just showcasing the violent side of the conflict but the effects it had on the entire cosmology of Star Trek as a whole.

When writing about the new species in the book, I was stoked to get to flesh out the aliens we had seen in the background of the series. I’m particularly proud of two species: the Lurians and the Drai. The Lurians are famous for being Morn’s people, and getting to take all the tidbits that characters dropped about Morn and work that into showcasing a vibrant and distinctive culture was fun! Though we never hear Morn speak, his people are extremely outgoing and vocal, and getting to showcase them outside of Morn helps add to Morn’s own distinctiveness. The Drai is the name given to the mysterious hunters who stalk the Tosk throughout the Galaxy. They were originally planned by the show runners to have a much broader storyline and be showcased as the clone masters of the Dominion, and now we have a chance to showcase them as potential villains an Alpha Quadrant crew may face out in the Gamma Quadrant.

Since music is important to me when I write, here are a few songs that I listened to on my playlist as I wrote for the book. I hope you enjoy them! They’re some of my favorites, and their tone helped me when I wrote about the Dominion War.

Marc Gunn – Bring Me Home, Boys
Michael Longcor – The Last Hero
James Horner – The Theme to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Dennis McCarthy – Theme to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Mark Okrand and Hilary Bader – The Warrior’s Anthem (The Klingon war song)
Craig Safan – Theme to The Last Starfighter

Star Trek Adventures: Gamma Quadrant is available to buy now here.