With Star Trek Online’s Delta Rising, the team looked to the fateful journey of the U.S.S. Voyager for inspiration.
U.S.S. Voyager traveled more than 70,000 light years in seven years to return to Earth. This trek took Voyager across the entire Delta Quadrant, from the deserts of Ocampa’s blasted surface to the asteroid base used by Talaxian exiles eager to build a new life. Along the way, they encountered dozens of species – some friends, but many foes.
Because this is a huge area of space to cover, the team at Cryptic looked at the stories they wanted to tell when choosing which areas of the Delta Quadrant to include in Delta Rising. We ultimately picked an area starting near the Nekrit Expanse (seen in “Unity”) and extending toward the Alpha Quadrant.
In this area, we follow along Voyager’s journey, meeting species they encountered including the Kazon, Talaxians, Ocampa, Hirogen and Benthans. Among the dozens of locations Delta Rising visits are the Northwest Passage, seen in “Scorpion,” and the homeworld of the Kobali, a species first seen in “Ashes to Ashes.”
A lot has changed in the Delta Quadrant since Voyager’s time. It’s been 32 years since Kathryn Janeway and her crew left, and alliances and empires have risen and fallen over the years. The Voth, stung by the punishing fight in the Solanae Dyson sphere, have pulled back to their own space, but still maintain alliances with non-mammalian species they can almost see as equals.
The Borg have their own problems. Their invasion of the Alpha Quadrant has taxed their resources to the limit, and the loss of a unimatrix was a major setback. The Cooperative is taking advantage of this temporary respite to attempt to liberate more drones from the Collective, and they’ve allied with other groups of liberated Borg to help them succeed.
The Benthan Guard has expanded their range, and is attempting to bring law and order to an increasingly dangerous area of space. But the rise of a mysterious fleet is causing them, and all the species of the Delta Quadrant, reason to be concerned. This fleet attacks without warning, slipping past planetary defense grids and destroying defending ships with ease. Rumors say several of the powers of the Delta Quadrant have already fallen to these foes, and Admiral Tuvok and U.S.S. Voyager have been dispatched to the area to learn more.
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