Star Trek Online has had a flurry of activity surrounding it lately. It's all due to the upcoming beta, plus the convention circuit Cryptic has been touring as of late.

StarTrekOnline.com just released yet another installment of the "Path to 2409" series, this time we learn of a new Federation President, full out war between the Gorn and Klingons. Plus a new member of Duras family emerges to stir the pot. Also on tap is a brand new screenshot, 'Meet the Team',  and an interview we missed for our PAX 2009 Star Trek Online stuff extravaganza! Click here to view the full size screenshot.

Path to 2409: 2492

Three weeks into the talks, representatives for the Klingons and Gorn are still haggling over the official agenda for negotiations, and even a personal appeal to Chancellor Martok by Federation Ambassador Worf has failed to speed up the process. The Federation Council meets in emergency session to debate of possible incentives the Federation could offer the Gorn and Klingons, but all peace efforts collapse on Stardate 69259.56 when a Gorn and Nausicaan fleet attacks the Klingon world of Ogat.

Fighting rages around Ogat for more than two weeks before Klingon Defense Forces push the Gorn and Nausicaans out of the system. The Klingons denounce the attack as dishonorable and Martok formally pulls the Empire out of all peace negotiations. Klingon and Gorn ships now attack one another on sight, and when the U.S.S. Montana tries to intervene in one skirmish it is heavily damaged by Klingon disruptor fire.

Hardliners on the Klingon High Council, led by J'mpok, demand even more aggressive action against the Gorn, calling for an invasion into the Gorn Hegemony. When Martok councils caution, preferring to keep the Gorn out of Klingon space until a new fleet of warships can be launched, J'mpok denounces him as a "weak old man, hiding in his bed instead of meeting all challengers on the field of battle."

Federation political analysts expect the schism on the High Council to come to a head some time in the next three years, and look with concern at the growing support for J'mpok and his hawk-like agenda. One of the major houses openly supporting J'mpok is the House of Torg, a former ally of the House of Duras. In fact, Torg's adopted heir, Ja'rod, is the son of Lursa, Duras's sister and an open foe of the Federation who was killed attacking the Enterprise-D in 2371. (source Star Trek Online)

Read the full article here.

Meet the Team: Gesine "WishStone" Fischer

What do you do on Star Trek Online?

I’m one of the online community representatives for STO. In my case, I am the German Community Rep and as such work both STO as well as our second game, which we released in September: Champions Online. I have not worked very much for STO when it comes to the front stage and have more been in touch with the German concerns in general. I prowl a few German STO fansites while they are not watching me and often find myself preferring the smaller fansites when doing so. While my main focus is the German community (I tweet in German on my official Twitter), I still throw in helping hands where needed. Trivia questions on the IRC channel have come from my pen as well as translations for the webpages.

Who is your favorite Star Trek character and why?

Oh boy. I am difficult with favorites. I would need to list Tasha Yar, mainly because when I was younger, I felt I could relate to her; closely followed by Wesley Crusher for much the same reasons. Guinan was someone I would love to meet in the real world. If anyone knows a bar where she currently waits tables, please drop me a tweet!

If you could choose to be an alien on Star Trek, which species would you want to be?

I would actually not mind being a Trill. Mind, I would like being a worm; a symbiont, not a humanoid. Imagine centuries of knowledge, being a link between the lives of your hosts, taking a few years now and then to live in the caverns on Trill and communicate with others of your kind … yeah, I could spend a couple of hundred years like that! (source Star Trek Online)

Read the full article here.

G4 Star Trek Online PAX 2009 Interview with Craig Zinkievich