To see the cards themselves, check out this Card list for the Mirror, Mirror expansion set.

PICTURE: I'm still unimpressed with the way the mirror shirt medals have turned out on the pics, but this slim-shouldered Chekov was aptly taken from his assassination attempt. He looks quite nasty, and moreover, has a pose (and haircut) similar to that of the Alpha Quadrant version. A good enough 3.5.

LORE: Everything important is there and well told. The title's a little clumsy though, but not terrible. It's just that I might not have made him "Chief" because of his youth. Details. A competent 3.3 here.

TREK SENSE: The first three skills are proven, from the obvious Youth to the assassin's Treachery and navigator's, hem, Navigation. The rest isn't, but can be inferred. First there's the ion storm which had to be compensated for somehow. Judging from Astrophysics' place on the Emergency Conversion card, I'd say ion storms are covered by the skill. As navigator, it would probably be Chekov's job to plot an orbit that kept the ship out of harm's way. Good thinking there. The special skill is meant to mirror the one on the "real" Chekov. Where Chekov can boost his ship's Range, this guy divides the bonus between Range and, in a mirror universe slant, Weapons. I'm not sure how much of his console is devoted to Weapons (seems to be Sulu's prerogative), but it's possible the ship has so many, multiple personnel could be targeting and firing simultaneously. I feel this is a bit of a cop-out since the character didn't have much to do on the bridge at all. Something about the agony booth or assassination attempt might have been more appropriate. As for the attributes, Cunning and Strength remain the same, which is fine by me, and Integrity takes the usual mirror universe drop. Why does he get a 4 where Sulu gets a 3 though? Their crimes seemed pretty much the same to me. Perhaps the agony booth has restored a point of it, which could be funny. Well done, all in all, for a 4.1.

STOCKABILITY: The mirror Chekov adds yet another support card to make your ISS Enterprise a real marauder. Not only can he report aboard (special download or Crew Reassignment) or for free at Halkan Council, but he adds both to its RANGE and to its WEAPONS. Along with Chief Engineer Scott (+2 across the board) and James Tiberius Kirk/Log/Plaque, that puts the ship's attributes at 11-12-11 before any other enhancements (like Wall of Ships). Pretty hot for one staffing icon and a possible STP drop. Skillwise, CN Chekov offers lackluster Youth, rare (now semi-rare) Federation Treachery, always-useful Navigation and the excellent dilemma-solver Astrophysics, a fair trade from the original Chekov's SCIENCE. Attributes are nothing great, but that skill list will find some use, especially in Terran decks which are low on Astrophysics and even Youth. One mission-solving bonus: he counts as "any Chekov" for purposes of Agricultural Assessment. Unfortunately, he's a little weak in personnel battle. How about a 3.7 here?

TOTAL: 14.6 (73%) That's one Russian that was up to their old tricks.

PICTURE: There's a lot of blue here, almost an over-saturation of the color. Not only is the background blue with a blue emblem, but McCoy's shirt and eyes are hyper-blue, practically electric. What's worse, McCoy is caught in the middle of a sentence and it shows. Of course it's not really Mirror McCoy, and that causes another problem, but we don't have any actual pics of him in the right uniform. Speaking of uniforms, this card continues the fairly common feature of not showing the chest pins very well, so that you can hardly tell there's a difference between the two opposites. There IS an Emblem of the Alliance in the background, which at least sets the stage. Only a 2.7.

LORE: Though "chief medical officer" is used in the lore, the real OS appelation "Chief Surgeon" is used in the title. The rest is more or less invented information to bring McCoy in line with the Mirror universe. I think they may have gone a bit far though, since Mirror Spock makes a comment during the episode that McCoy is emotional and sentimental in this universe as well, which might point to a compassionate side. No real matter, since "feared sickbays" is an interesting image. It's all in good fun. A 3.4.

TREK SENSE: Well, this was a rather obvious effort! He gets all the regular chief medical officer skills (2 Medical, Biology and Exobiology), and then they slap on Treachery for being from the Mirror universe. Too easy. What's more, the rather harmless special download of a Classic Medical Tricorder is both dull and a little inappropriate. Nothing to do with Interrogation or Torture? Aww. The attributes remain the same except for a drop to 5 in Integrity resulting from his being an evil doctor, but still a doctor. No problem with icons, though Command instead of Staff might have been defendable, but the same decision was taken for the regular Dr. McCoy. I'm far from impressed, though everything can be defended. An average 3 then.

STOCKABILITY: He's the big MEDICAL for the Terran Empire, and in fact, the only one from the OS time period. Even when adding "present" personnel, the Terrans only have two more, and they're far from as strong. That's why his special download is so important. It adds to his own skills, making him either MEDICAL x3, Exobiology x2 or Biology x2, which makes him a powerful dilemma solver, but also adds to OS SCIENCE personnel's skills. That's just Marlena Moreau and First Officer Spock, but OS Mirror decks are bound to be economical on personnel. When mixing with other Federation personnel (either OS or Alpha Quadrant), he's just another double-MEDICAL, but those are all excellent especially if you use that redundancy to build a spaceline of MEDICAL missions. His Treachery is uncommon on MEDICAL personnel, and that's worth something (like passing In the Pale Moonlight for your medical team). But basically, he's a mission solver in a micro-affiliation of more aggressive personnel. A 3.7 for those very necessary skills.

TOTAL: 12.8 (64%) Cheap designing in my opinion.

PICTURE: This static still is gaudy to the point of psychadelics and somehow makes Quark's bar look like a set (in particular the "Admiral" painted glass). It's a dull set shot which does nothing for me aesthetically. A 1.5 to be fair.

LORE: Really picks up the story from its beginning, and all things considered, tells it well enough. A 3.2.

TREK SENSE: I'm fond of saying that Chula dilemmas should have been some kind of side-deck because the concept lends itself poorly to multiple dilemmas peppered all over the spaceline. The Trek Sense of these cards makes it seem like the Wadi are showing up all over the place, playing games which only have one shap (or less) to them. The Game would have been a perfect doorway card for this side-deck (as might've The Door, but I can always hold out hope for a card simply titled Chula), but it's also the only Chula dilemma which can stand on its own and still make sense. While the others are small parts divorced from their whole, The Game truly represents what Quark went through, and that's a complete experience. I'm not saying it does it well, however. Quark is obviously meant to be the Greed/Treachery or Greed/Cunning 8+ personnel referred to, but I'm not sure how his absence would have stopped anyone. Quark looked pretty stopped to me. And if the stopped Away Team/crew is supposed to be Sisko and co. who were facing the other challenges, they were still stopped despite Quark's presence. From another angle, a guy like Quark is required to play the game for the "episode" to continue. Greed makes him want to win, and Treachery is a reason for the Wadi to teach him a lesson. The other possibility asks for a personnel who is smart enough to figure out the rather complex game. That's all fine, but I still don't see what the Wadi would do to stop your Away Team if you don't have a gambler present. And in the advent that a gambler is present, why isn't it stopped? I thought they played the game all night? Chula: The Game deserves to be a stand-alone dilemma unlike its brethren, but it doesn't really work as such with that game text. Gotta go for 2.3 here.

SEEDABILITY: Puts a little pep in those evil Non-Aligned personnel because not every affiliation has a steady stream of bad guys to pass The Game. Oh, the Ferengi'll do fine, but The Federation would have to use Stefan DeSeve (yuck!), for example. So get that Penk into your Vidiian crew, and that Kivas Fajo into your Bajoran Away Team. Of course, the alternate requirement of Greed + high CUNNING, adds a few personnel, but not many. Opens the Feds up to using Lisa Azar, but in general, Greed personnel tend to have lower IQs (often around 6). Q Gets the Point might even remove a relevant Treachery personnel if encountered first. It's a good stopper then, delaying personnel for longer than the usual dilemma (until end of your next turn). Buys you a lot of time, whether you're catching up, distancing or needful of a sitting duck to attack. I like dilemmas that require what seem like less useful skills. They can take a player by surprise. And very difficult for the Borg. A strong 3.8.

TOTAL: 10.8 (54%) Not a strong showing on every shap.

PICTURE: A pretty blurry shot of a pistol that looks a lot like something left over from an old Flash Gordon serial, the weapon actually has the distinction of having been used by both the Klingons and Romulans in the original series. The composition isn't balanced, the colors are dirty, and the CGI touch-ups don't quite work. A slim 1.

LORE: For once, an equipment card which allows multiple affiliations to use it actually gives us justification in the form of the same alliance that is mentioned on the Kli/Rom Treaty card. Otherwise, it's the same old stuff we're used to. A 3.2.

TREK SENSE: It's a Classic Type II Phaser for OS Klingons and Romulans, and it works in very much the same way. It doesn't make the mistake of mentioning the 24th century in its lore, which makes the OS icon more than enough for our needs. The fact that only the Klingons and Romulans can use it has the same problem all disruptors have, namely that anybody can press a trigger. I might be more appropriate to say only those affiliations can report it, but anyone should be able to use it. This is even worse considering that only OS personnel can, a very small group indeed. Put a Disruptor into someone's hand, and they can act as Security. That's a nice innovation of the last couple expansions, since it makes sense and fills a niche left unexplored by tricorders, PADDs, et al. Only leaders get this bonus, but then they're the only ones who can initiate battle. And the ol' STRENGTH boost is still here, with all the commentary that usually entails (number of disruptors present, cumulativity issues, please look up some other hand weapon reviews if you're that interested). But despite that equipment card handicap, it does go as high as a 3.7.

STOCKABILITY: OS personnel have fewer personnel, especially if you're gonna stick to the Klingons and/or Romulans, so any skill-adding equipment is going to be instrumental in their capacity to win a game. A Kli/Rom alliance via a Treaty, has the advantage of an Organian Fed/Kli Treaty of being able to battle pretty much at will, and that where Disruptors may come in. The STRENGTH boost is usual, but the extra SECURITY can't do any harm when going up against dilemmas or attempting missions. The OS Klingons and Romulans have 3 OFFICERs apiece, one of which, Subcommander Tal, can download the Classic Disruptor to add another SECURITY to his skill list. They have no Leadership personnel besides. Tal's download is a nice one, seeing as you can suspend play to either surprise your opponent with a STRENGTH boost in the middle of a battle, or suddenly come up with the SECURITY necessary to pass a just-encountered dilemma. It'a hand weapon with all the perks that represents, and as OS equipment, can report for free to K-7. Not a lot of personnel can use it for its full potential, but it'll see more use than the equivalent Phaser. Seeing as the OS Klingon have only one natural SECURITY personnel, and the Romulans only two, it's a good 3.9.

TOTAL: 11.8 (59%) Doesn't quite make it because of its poor image quality.

PICTURE: Definitely Uhura at her best, not shirking from hard situations as she does in many episodes, but smart, sexy and deadly (more like she becomes in some of the movies). Of course, I say Uhura, because it's not really the mirror Uhura pictured here (the actual one got very little screen time). That hurts the pic a little, but overall, it's an enjoyable image, relatively sharp (pun unintended) and an appropriate reddish color palette. A quite good 4.2.

LORE: The title is kind of awkward, but "Communications Officer Uhura" just doesn't fit on a card. As for the lore, though it starts off pretty standardly, it gets good fast, right down to how she handles Sulu's advances... as seen in the pic. Good, if not excellent, work. A 3.5.

TREK SENSE: Like her regular universe counterpart, this Uhura has Youth, Computer Skill and Engineer. The first I was always a little suprised to see in the first place, but it makes sense within the framework of the game, in which twentysomethings are regularly given Youth. But at Lieutenant level, she's no Chekov. The Computer Skill is the proxy skill for something that might have been called "Communications", no problem there. And we've seen OUR Uhura work underneath consoles, so she does have Engineer (and there's the shirt color). The rest of the card is different. Navigation and Music are gone, the first of which was used seldom enough to not be part of the mirror Uhura's history, and the second not ruthless enough a skill for that universe. Instead we get two skills which are at odds in my opinion. How? Well, Treachery is clearly a mirror skill which proves that, despite the picture's (and even lore's) origin, we're indeed dealing with the mirror version. Anthropology, on the other hand, is not really on hand in the episode unless it represents the "real" Uhura's ability to mix with the alternate culture of the MU. That said, it may be that this universe's Uhura has an african art collection like her counterpart, but we never see it. Integrity has dropped a couple points, but is relatively high. That's fine, since they sort of describe her as a victim of sorts, wary of the truly evil Sulu. Cunning is the same in both versions, sure, and Strength is a little higher in the universe where only the strong survive. And I haven't forgotten the special download of a Dagger which, by its presence in the pic (and on her person), makes perfect sense. Though it vascillates in the same areas the real Uhura might, it's good card at 4.

STOCKABILITY: Terran decks are quite viable, and that's mostly thanks to 6+-skill OS personnel like Uhura here, who even supplement their skills with equipment downloads. CO Uhura has a dual-classification, OFFICER/ENGINEER, both good skills allowing her to initiate battle (Emblem makes Terrans battlers) and solve all those ENGINEER-based missions. Computer Skill is always a good skill to have on hand, as is the rarer Anthropology now. And Treachery, once the Federation's Achilles heel, is not a problem with her or her kind. Only Youth is less useful, but there are ways to take advantage of the skill if you really want to. As an OS personnel, she can add to her skills with equipment: Classic Phaser gives her SECURITY, and Classic Communicator has a more pliable bonus. Her download of Mirror Dagger is not as good as some of the other like downloads, because the weapon can be reported to just-initiated battles already, but with the CO, you need not wait for it to come to your hand. 6 skills, and she can easily be reported aboard you evil Consitution-class ships, or even the modern-day rebel ships like the Defiant. I'd say this calls for a 4.1.

TOTAL: 15.8 (79%) She can point that dagger at me anytime (well, at my opponent).

PICTURE: A very nice card aside from slight blurring, the Commander is professionnal and in uniform, but feminine and alluring. Her two natures were built (sown) into her costume, with its two halves, and I like the plush but more sober (colorwise) set design. A strong and original pose too. A very good 4.3. (Those do look like outside windows in the back though.)

LORE: Formerly known as the female Romulan Commander to differentiate her with the Romulan Commander from "Balance of Terror". Giving him the pseudonym "Keras" worked fine (even a little Easter Egg in there), but this character had an unknown but "rare and beautiful" name. Does "Chervanek" live up to that? Well, sure, why not? It's exotic enough, and let's not forget Spock was spreading it a bit thick. It's actually pulled from a non-canon Star Trek novel (Vulcan's Forge) which opens up a dangerous can of worms I bet. As for the lore, there's a poetic element to her "seduction" of Spock, but it's too abridged for my tastes. All of that spells a 2.9.

TREK SENSE: She's the equivalent of a Captain (Command/Officer), but they didn't bother giving her Leadership. Why not? I think a large point made by the episode was that women could hold that kind of authority, that she was a strong enough woman. Her Diplomatic skills were evident in her negotiations with Spock. Physics may be due to her use of a cloaking device, though we have no proof she knew that much about it. Archaeology is even more marginal, since it appears to be based on her knowledge of Romulans' cousinship to Vulcans. Well, that knowledge apparently didn't include the fact that the Vulcans HAD no Death Grip, but then again, that may be a function of Anthropology. In any case, Archaeology is far from proven. Science was likewise not proven, and seems to be supporting her already flimsy Physics and Archaeology. The designers may also have tried to give her something in common with Spock. Missing? How about Honor? The special skill is interesting - it sets the variable mission points on Patrol Neutral Zone. This was her mission, of course, and in those days, you couldn't go very far abroad. If you were patrolling one sector (one mission location), you stayed in that sector. That means that each such sector should have its own mission points independent of the proximity of other Neutral Zone sectors. The "once in play" mechanic doesn't quite work however (especially in its retroactivity) because it makes the Neutral Zone truly dependent of her being in play. Even if not in the Neutral Zone. Even if she's dead. Even if faster modern ships are attempting the mission. It destroys the justification that makes the skill work. I'll buy the attributes however. Integrity is high enough (she was honorable), but not too high (she tried to make Spock defect). Cunning is good enough to command a vessel, but not to enough not to get tricked by a handsome Vulcan. Strength is the female high for TOS personnel (what can I say? They made a ship commander wear a mini-skirt). Lots of problems wit the skill list, I'm afraid. Just a 2.4 despite some effort put into the special skill.

STOCKABILITY: OS Romulans are a little less playable than Feds or Klingons since they have fewer available personnel (will have to depend on a lot more non-OS Romulans) and can't use the Organian Peace Treaty, but they make fine support personnel for regular Romulan decks. Charvanek doesn't even have to start in the past. Simply Spacedoor her universal Battle Cruiser and download her via Ready Room Door. She's matching commander so could make the ship more competitive at up to 8-8-8. You can then keep the ship staffed with AU personnel from Crew Reassignment and/or that OS personnel download. From there, Charvanek can put her skills to work for the Star Empire. She has a dual-classification, with both OFFICER and the useful SCIENCE. She has Archaeology which fits in real well with Romulan planet strategies, and Physics which does the same in space efforts. Add Diplomacy for a variety of uses, and even Firestorm-immune INTEGRITY. As for her special skill, it's a kind of counter for PNZ strategies which use half a dozen PNZ locations, boosting each mission's points to (at least) 60, then solving them with a simple unopposed ship. Too easy, right? Well, Charvanek makes mission attempt time longer by making sure those missions are worth only 30 points. Against cheesy players who habitually do this kind of thing, you might Tent her and play her at some point (if not playing Romulans, there are various options open to you, from Neutral Outposts to Devidian Doors). The effect is continuing (even if she dies or is reprogrammed) AND retroactive (so even if you get her into play after the first 60-pointer was scored). For yourself, the only thing you'll get out of it is if you play one or two PNZs (less than 3), so their points would get a boost, but be no harder than usual. With fewer missions in the Neutral Zone, there's less of a chance of being opposed there too. Strong enough for a 3.9.

TOTAL: 13.5 (67.5%) Half and half.

PICTURE: Leeta's a (male) fan favorite, but I don't think her expression is spot-on here. It's not "evil" enough for the Mirror Universe, or sexy enough, or whatever other element you might ascribe to the MU. I should point out a rather subtle CGI manipulation here, namely that Leeta has been superimposed on a crowdless background. There were a lot of people running through that scene and now they're gone. I'm not sure how it would have looked exactly, but it's a little too bad. By leaving the people in and placing them out-of-focus, it might have given us a "longing look/no one matters but us" shot between her and Ezri (indeed her expression is right for this). As is, the background is a little dark behind her dark clothes, and the bright stripe of light is more distracting than anything else. I still appreciate the effort, so it's a 3.2.

LORE: We were never told why a Bajoran joined the Terran Rebellion, but at least it's mentioned. The whole debriefing thing is more subtle than Ezri's own comments about being "romantically involved", and thus, funnier. Love that low-key, deadpan humor. I imagine that's a 3.7.

TREK SENSE: A Commander, and indeed, she has Leadership, but no Command icon? Well, you have to remember that even the Captains in the Terran Rebellion don't all have Command icons (a point of some debate). All the Terrans gave themselves titles, so they don't mean as much as they might in "our" world. So Leeta's a Commander, and she can probably lead a resistance cell, but as far as ship systems are concerned, she could only act as Staff. I'll buy it. That she's Security makes sense given her debriefing assignment. And while the Mission Debriefing special download is there under the same pretense, that card is so general that it hurts this one. That she could debrief one person is ok, but it makes her force Debriefings on all crews and Away Teams on both sides of the table. The Diplomacy isn't all that justified given that she was merely friendly toward a person. Plenty of people are friendly, which doesn't make them Diplomats (Rom for example). And then there's Youth. I'm not sure Leeta was all that young by DS9's 7th season, especially in the Mirror universe where she was no doubt less bubbly and naive than in the Alpha Quadrant, but the definition of that skill is often lacking. Attributes are all a point off from her Alpha opposite, with Integrity being down due to Mirror influences (but she's still with the good guys despite her affiliation); Cunning is a point more because she's a little more than a dabo girl (not that Leeta actually deserved a 6 with her Anthropological studies); and Strength is up because she's part of a fighting force (perhaps not up enough). We didn't see a lot of this Leeta, so there's a lot of room for invention here. I just don't think the inventions are justified that well. Still enough for a 3.

STOCKABILITY: This Leeta has a number of things going for her. One of these is being SECURITY, which makes her downloadable by Defend Homeworld, thereby saving you a seed slot in regards to Mission Debriefing. And that event is useful for Mirror universe strategies because it slows down your opponent, and you yourself are a little slow to start up because of your being off-Alpha a bit. Commander Leeta is also the only Terran Empire/Rebellion Bajoran, which means she'll allow your Rebellion to attempt their homeworld's own mission, Search for Rebels. She has the SECURITY, but where is she going to find Alliance leaders? Well, it turns out there are just enough personnel with both Terran and Alliance icons (plus Leadership) to satisfy the requirements: Mr. Sisko and Ezri. Or else simply use Leeta to allow the attempt, and solve it just with Professor Sisko. In a simple Bajoran deck, she's not bad either by virtue of her classification (Diplomacy and Leadership are not that often found on Bajoran SECURITY). Youth and her attributes don't mean much, but there's enough here for a 3.8.

TOTAL: 13.7 (68.5%) I have just been debriefed.

PICTURE: Isn't this a nice effects shot? The scaffolding looks cool, of course, but I never really noticed before how the Star Trek creators CGIed out the ship's markings. It's just a plain hull. Nice stuff, thanks Decipher for immortalizing it as a card. A cool 4, no higher because of the uninteresting colors and composition.

LORE: N/A (score will be adjusted accordingly)

TREK SENSE: From the title, this is a perfectly natural objective. We need ships, so it's imperative we build some. The card is quite wide however in the way you might bring this construction about. It spends more time on constructing building facilities, for example, than it does on ships. At its widest, it downloads an Outpost or Headquarters which might then start reporting (building?) ships. Ok, but that's not really what reporting means is it? Of course, a matching Engineer is still needed, and as with plain Outpost playing, that one individual somehow brings an entire facility into creation. We'll just say he's overseeing the job done by carpenter Bobs. It counts as your card play, which does attest to the fact that a lot of resources go into building such a thing. More to the point, it can construct a Spacedock (and to a Nor as seen in the pic), but it's unfortunate that Spacedocks are not 1) ships as per the title, and 2) do not build ships, only repair them. Ah, but here comes the third function, which does turn a Spacedock into a building center. Yes, finally you can build (download) a ship, but there are restrictions. Because the Mirror universe guys needed Sisko to recreate the Defiant, it's proposed that you can only build a ship if its Engineer-capable matching commander is present. Aside from that one episodic instance, this never actually happens. You can't normally be the matching commander of a ship that hasn't been built yet, and the card in no way allows you to create a duplicate of a ship. It's ludicrous. A lot of resources do go into this project (any of them), so either you lose the ability to build more ships/facilities via the one card, or you get no card draws. Balance aside, this objective does a poor job of really recreating the title activity. In ways, Spacedoor actually seems to do it better. The progression is interesting - from Outpost to Spacedock to actual ship - but its not enough for a recommendation. A 2.1.

STOCKABILITY: Matching commanders are already useful for their ship attribute-boosting abilities, but with Construct Starship, some of them can download their soon-to-be-boosted ship. Up 'til now, only the opposite could be achieved via Ready Room Door. All depends on what you draw first. It does have a couple of requirements though. First , you need a Spacedock, but thankfully, that card can also be downloaded with this objective. The other is that your matching commander has to be an ENGINEER. Well, a few of them actually are, and others could get it through engineering equipment, in particular, Engineering Kit. Won't work for everyone though (VIPs, for example), but there are other ways, from Reflection Therapy to the Borg Queen's changeable skill. Some matching commanders like Benjamin Sisko can actually download more than one ship! Of course, all ships have to be unique, so none of those universal Karemman Vessels for Hanok or Bajoran Scout Vessels for Tahna Los. It can be downloaded itself by a few personnel, including Arturis (who can build the USS Dauntless) and Smiley (the Defiant). The Borg Queen can also do it by first downloading A Change of Plans, then the objective, then one of 3 possible ships. Easy way to get an orbiting 10-point Phoenix into play too. It would be unfair to mention the other possible downloadables. Spacedock turns any docking site into a repair facility, so it'll stick around once your ship is up and running. Rehabilitates that card rather well. You might also use it to get an Outpost or HQ into play, pehaps after you've lost your own to an armada. It's a neat way to keep your opponent from knowing which affiliation you're playing too. Seed Construct Starship, but no Outpost, then download one once the game begins. They won't be able to use that information when seeding their dilemmas, which can be a help to devious players (the Borg in particular, who can report an ENGINEER on a Scout Vessel at the end of the spaceline). Do note that using Construct Starship doesn't increase your deck's speed that much, since you have to forfeit your card play AND your card draw to use it. Well, if you don't need to keep it around, or plan to recycle it, or have another, you can discard it to still get your card draw. It does increase speed in the sense that it gets the cards you need into play this turn, rather than when they show up in your hand. A strong additive to matching commander strategies, which the newer affiliations, with their mostly (or entirely!) universal ships, can't really enjoy. That keeps the usefulness at a comfortable 4.

TOTAL: 13.6 (68%) One of the more generally useful cards of the set.

PICTURE: Not much to it, I suppose, but the Empire logo in the back places him in the right universe (a common visual theme on Mirror cards). He looks mean enough and the pic is pretty color-coordinated. A 3.3.

LORE: Acknowledges universality right off the bat, then we get a description of his one scene. The reason he isn't likely to be made an officer on Kirk's ship is that the captain punched him out after his betrayal of Kirk, then Chekov. "Not on my ship." Subtly played here. Enough for a 3.6.

TREK SENSE: What do we really know about this guy? That he was nondescript enough to warrant being universal, I won't argue with. The blue jumpsuit makes him a crewman (no Staff icon) in the sciences (yep, Science). The Treachery is well borne out by his single scene, playing both sides until he could make a play on his own behalf. Which leaves Stellar Cartography as his lone science specialty (he must work for a department). The exact choice is invention, but not implausible. Integrity may be a bit high, though you could argue he was always on Kirk's side so showed some loyalty after all. Cunning is low, but the guy seemed brutish at best, so it works. Strength is enough to be a physical threat, but low enough to allow Kirk to beat the stuffing out of him. I'd say the card works remarkably well. A 4.

STOCKABILITY: A Mirror support personnel (one of 2 with the OS icon, one of 4 in all), that distinction allows him to be reported to your ships regardless of quadrant nativity. So he's an excellent way to get that Treacherous Fed to pass In the Pale Moonlight. The Stellar Cartography is a common support personnel skill though, so there are other sources. Indeed there's one other (non-universal) source for Treachery too: Eric Pressman. And his ENGINEER is a better skill. Think of this though: You can't lose this SCIENCE personnel to Unscientific Method (not that his CUNNING would have made him the first target). The many icons on his card give him other ways of reporting, either through Crew Reassigmnent or OS ship downloads (as well as use of OS equipment), but really, at the end of the day, he's a little redundant. Nobody has that exact mix of abilities, but unless you're running an exclusive OS Mirror deck, he's not necessarily first into the deck. A good backup for your Treachery needs... a 3.

TOTAL: 13.6 (68%) A finely designed universal, certainly more interesting than a silent extra.

PICTURE: Hrm. When I think of Crossover, I usually have the transporter mix-up in mind, and that's where this card fails. It shows us the means, not the event (hem, hem, I should say the incident) itself. Where we could have had Kirk and co. materializing in the transporter room (used elsewhere), or Bashir and Kira at an odd angle in their runabout, or perhaps a mirror personnel beaming aboard DS9 (or vice-versa), we instead have little more than a prop shot, and of a prop we already have a picture of, Smiley's hand not withstanding. Nice colors, an almost central composition, but ever so boring given the subject matter. A 2.

LORE: N/A (score will be adjusted accordingly)

TREK SENSE: In my mind, the only situational differences between Crossover and Transporter Mix-Up is that the latter is accidental, and the former is deliberate, and that one makes a switch while the other would allow opposites to co-exist in the same universe. Personnel using Crossover WANT to go to the other universe. Case in point: the Hidden Agenda icon which infers that you might want to keep your presence "abroad" a secret, perhaps posing as your other self. Of course, it doesn't allow any kind of infiltration which is really too bad. The first function of the card doesn't even care HOW they cross over, since it allows Mirror personnel to simply report regardless of nativity. It doesn't allow for the reverse though, which, given that crossovers have been going both ways, is a little sad (see the second function though). In any case, there's real shorthand here, since the crossover isn't part of the story. It just happens offscreen. Bleh. The second function specifically names all the characters who've used the Multidimensional Transport Device to cross over to the opposite universe. If they've crossed over one way or the other, they're in there. That's as specific a storyline effect as we've ever gotten in this game. The way the mechanic works is that either an MTD is downloaded to one of the named personnel (if they're in the wrong universe, it explains how they got there; though if they're in the right universe, the apparently download it like any other equipment, already planning to cross over, which is fine except for the Alpha Quadrant guys who usually got kidnapped to the other universe). The opposite is apparently true as well: where there's an MTD, there's bound to be a dimensional traveler. Storyline-conscious or not, it's hard to accept that another personnel (like either Dax to name just one example) couldn't or wouldn't cross over given the chance. Another small point: It's here for balance, but the fact that the MTD has to be reported as your normal card play hurts Trek Sense. It means it can't be bought with Latinum to then be used in this fashion right away, etc. Why not? Only balance. Still a lot of effort placed into this one. I'm going to give it a 4.

STOCKABILITY: The first function allows your essentially Alpha Quadrant deck to use Mirror personnel normally (not ships though), much like Space-Time Portal does for AUs, that is, once per turn. You can get the others through Assign Mission Specialists/Support Personnel, and keep the unique ones coming with this method. The Hidden Agenda icon isn't particularly useful here, but does keep your intentions under wraps during seeding. The second function allows some key personnel to download a Multidimensional Transport Device which may then be used to beam over to Mirror Quadrant property. Since no one can currently download the MTD by themselves, this is the next best thing, and the list of personnel includes Non-Aligned personnel as well as Ferengi, Bajorans and Feds, from either universe. It's also rather easy to quickly get some of these into play, and thus getting the Device early too. The ones with SECURITY have Defend Homeworld, Quark has Computer Skill x2 which puts him in your hand early via his Isolinear Rods, Zek is a fast-play Nagus, etc. Crossover is the one card that allows you to use Mirror cards indiscriminately without having to seed any part of the Mirror Quadrant. If you do include a mission for some reason, or if your opponent does, you can still get back using the MTD. If you are using the Mirror Quadrant, your Mirror personnel might want to get at the Device early, and so, the second function. Ezri and Smiley can both download Crossover in any event if you don't already have it out. I'm gonna call a 4.1 here.

TOTAL: 13.47 (67.33%) Not the only ticket in town.

PICTURE: A lot of blurring on this guy, and what we would call in french "nanane" colors. Note that some good CGI work was done nonetheless as Mr. Spock used to be in the foreground. It does seem to leave a lot of blank space on the card, but we get a pretty good viewing of an OS Romulan guard's uniform. A 3.2.

LORE: Universality is acknowledged, and then there's a whole lot of invention in order to make this guy a Medical rather than a security guard. But you can't fool me, I saw "The Enterprise Incident". He's got an interesting science project though, I'll hand him that, reminiscent of the ones created for those Premiere Klingons way back when. A 3.3.

TREK SENSE: As stated above, this guy was quite clearly Security. He escorted Kirk and Spock to Romulan Commander, wears a shock helmet and chainmail and everything. Even if we buy the backstory, and take him as a Medical, the skills aren't spot on. Biology's fair enough, and anyone could have Computer Skill (has to write his "papers" on a word processor), but what's the Transporter Skill doing here? Was he the one to beam Kirk and Spock over before escorting them to the Commander? I seem to recall Mr. Kyle doing that. Perhaps it's that "other technology" that affects biological systems. Yeah, ok. In any case, the stuff about cloaking device effects should have rated Physics instead/in addition. The high Integrity is normal on OS Romulans, back when they had more honor than Klingons, and the other attributes are fine as long as you buy the Medical history. Problem is, I don't really. A 1.8.

STOCKABILITY: One skill too many for him to be a support personnel, D'vano nonetheless has some appeal, especially when you want to play an OS deck using the Romulans. That's rare because of the small number of OS Rommies and their lacking any kind of OS-specific Treaty, but they each have their particular skill niche, and you couldn't do without his mix. He's the only one with either MEDICAL, Biology or Transporter Skill, and one of only a few with those skills in the OS world, period. There aren't that many Romulan MEDICAL personnel on the whole, so he'll even find his way into a "present day" deck, helping out with his Aphasia-curing Biology, pretty rare Transporter Skill and common but useful Computer Skill. He can add to those skills with a Classic Medical Tricorder in any case, and has a lot of skills for a universal that can be downloaded by either OS Romulan ship, and is in fact the best of the personnel that can. Tightly focused as a mission attempt specialist, with uncharacteristicly low STRENGTH, for a 3.6.

TOTAL: 10.9 (54.5%) And if he'd been SECURITY, I could have used him with Captured and yelled out "Book 'em, D'vano!" and then would have lost all my friends.

PICTURE: While I don't find this view of the Defiant particularly pretty, there are few things at work here. One is that such a view precludes any Federation ship markings, which I believe WERE visible in "Shaterred Mirror", begging the question that given the rush the rebels were in, why would they take the time to paint the ship with markings from another universe? Can't see them here (if they were there at all, it may be calumny on my part). The other interesting thing is that this is pretty much the reverse view of the image used on the normal-universe USS Defiant (top/bottom), a perfect choice for a Mirror universe card. Note that there is some nasty blurring on the ship's hind parts which does affect its score. A 3.4 total.

LORE: The entire story's pretty much there, and they squeeze in a matching commander too. Note that Smiley also mentions his MC status for this ship, but that can't be an issue until Stockability below. A 3.3.

TREK SENSE: This Defiant is supposed to be identical to the USS Defiant from the Alpha Quadrant without the Cloaking Device which wasn't in the plans since the ship did not originally have one. But there are other differences. These mostly have to do with staffing and nativity: The ship belongs to the Terrans and was built in the Mirror Quadrant, that much is fine. That a Command icon is replaced with a Terran icon as far as staffing goes reinforces the idea that it is a Terran ship, but not all of them are exactly up to the task of staffing a 24th-century starship (like the OS mirror guys). The other rebels all seem savvy enough to supply the equivalent of a staffing icon, and without the tighter security required for a Romulan cloak, I guess you don't need the 2 Command icons. It doesn't get in as much trouble as some other special staffing jobs. A 3.8.

STOCKABILITY: There's no doubt this is the fastest and most powerful Terran ship available, and it's not even stuck in the Mirror Quadrant though it works fine there. Indeed, it's got 2 matching commanders, and both are ENGINEERs, so it's possible to download the ship irrespective of quadrant with Construct Starship. Smiley even downloads that objective to get things rolling. Yee-haw! He'll probably build it in the Mirror Quadrant, but Benjamin Sisko likes his ships in the Alpha. Either way, the USS Defiant's twin can be boosted to an 11-13-12 with Plaque'n'Log (as a Defiant-class ship, it gets full Plaque bonus). Got the ship out first? Get either of its matching commanders aboard via Ready Room Door, or if you have the cards in hand, through a Type 18 Shuttlepod (they both have Navigation). In the Mirror Quadrant, the Shuttlepod trick gets your Alphas crossed over easily. If reported to the Alpha Quadrant, Crew Reassignment allows you to use Terran personnel (you need at least one to staff the ship after all) to report aboard. Side-dishes include the ability to use the Pulse Phaser Cannons tactic and giving Nog an extra ENGINEER when aboard. A little better than its twin thanks to the Crew Reassignment possibilities and easier shedding of attack restrictions when dealing with Mirror personnel, for an overall 4.3.

TOTAL: 14.8 (74%) Comes in a little under 5% below its predecessor.

PICTURE: I like the colors on this one, always have. You get the reds, blues and golds of Starfleet uniforms, and the greens of surrounding bushes. It's also made me notice how terribly crude the flying jellyfish (or pancakes) really are. I mean, they were always terrible pieces of rubber tied to wires, but here you can plainly see the red veins clearly drawn on the things, possibly with a felt-tip marker. Hilarious. At this distance from the characters, they appear much clearer than close-up shots pulled from the series, and the stances are all excellent. A well-framed 4.

LORE: Following that list of victimized planets, is it right to call these things "Denevan"? Otherwise, it's a good effort, with lots of backstory, but no solution, offered. That's a good way to approach a dilemma. Warrants a 3.4.

TREK SENSE: We basically get the Parasites attacking half the Away Team members and killing them outright, unless they, or someone else, shoot the creatures with a phaser, disruptor or Borg gun-arm (the phrasing on this last one implies that the Borg can't defend themselves if attacked, only save another Borg from harm). To me, that tells only half the story however. For example, what happens to the Parasites after the initial attack? They are apparently all killed offstage, or are sated and stop attacking. Since their weakness was bright light, there should be a "cure" for them of some kind which is missing from the game text. Like I said, the card only tells part of the story. The attack is well staged however, though other hand weapons might have been considered, only focused light beams (particle weapons) really make a dent. A 3 for what's here.

SEEDABILITY: A strong killer, a weaponless Away Team will be cut in half by it. Leading up to the dilemma with weapon-removers like Common Thief are quite natural here. You'd also want to wall it off to make sure the biggest Away Team possible encounters it. Large Away Teams are less likely to have an appropriate number of hand weapons present than smaller ones (considering that a 4-personnel Team only needs 2 hand weapons to disregard the dilemma), and will suffer the most casualties. You might think the Borg have it a little easier since a third of their personnel have the [Def] icon (a bit more actually), but random selection might do you a favor and select them, thereby rendering their defense useless. Not surgically precise, but quantity rises above quality. At least 4.6 here.

TOTAL: 15 (75%) Part of a new, more powerful breed of dilemma.

PICTURE: Flip Bajor and its star from Alter Records, and you get this image. Well, not quite, since there's a larger part of the planet that's visible, really showcasing those greenish oceans of Bajor's. A really pretty image despite the nature of the mirror universe. Pretty, a little clever, but slightly inappropriate at 3.8.

LORE: Lots of space lost to the long "address" this mission has, and I do wonder why the Mirror spaceline icon couldn't count as that Mirror Universe "region". The lore itself is pretty generic, but the mention of being a homeworld is an important point, game-wise. A 3.2 thanks to it.

TREK SENSE: If the Bajorans are a power in the Mirror Universe, then they deserve a homeworld. There is no Alliance homeworld, and you'll find that the Bajorans, Cardassians and Klingons, though allied, all keep their distinctive uniforms and ships. The download of an Emblem card here is a little vague then, since the Bajorans aren't in charge of the Alliance, but they do have an important Alliance "outpost" (Terok Nor) there. The Terrans could also download their Emblem there, perhaps because it is a juicy target for their operations. Plant the flag, and all that. Like I said, vague. Making this Bajor a homeworld however might create a problem. We don't have to contend with a seeded Chamber of Ministers here because of the quadrant rules, but no Orbs were apparently sent to the MU, so Return Orb to Bajor would seem to be anomalous. No problem, the Intendent sent Bareil to recover an Orb for other purposes. The evil Bajorans still want them. PLAYING a Chamber of Ministers here does raise eyebrows though. As for the requirements, I might have liked something that mirrored Alter Records a little more, but you gotta go with what can be pulled from the show. We never saw this sabotage mission, but it was no doubt the kind of thing the rebels did, rebels represented by MU Feds, Ferengi and mercenaries (like the Siskos). It's cute that the 3 Terran NAs are also Alliance personnel (same for the Ferengi save Rom), which makes them the perfect turncoats (very Mirrory). Disrupting the Alliance on Bajor requires Security to outplay the planet's Security, some Cunning to plan it all out, and Terran personnel that have the right motivation. They need to be leaders, perhaps because the Terrans are difficult to keep in line, and the mission is difficult as it is without people taking certain initiatives. What, no Engineer? What are we sabotaging? Captain Bashir can do it all alone, which is more difficult to swallow given all the requirements he replaces, though his motivation is clear - kept yammering about taking the offensive. The original mission's Span has to be mirrored here, of course, but the points aren't, as this generic sabotage isn't really that important in the grand scheme of things. There's just a lot of vagueness on the part of the card, much of it probably due to it not being shown onscreen, and that accounts for its plain 3.

SEEDABILITY: If using the Mirror Universe spaceline, I'm willing to bet this mission will be used. I mean, you ARE using the Mirror Terok Nor, right? It's the only place it may seed, whether you play Alliance or Terran, and will connect easily to the Mirror Wormhole which is part of this Bajor region (small RANGE boost to your Mirror Interceptors). Ok, I guess there are other choices like the Klingon Outpost and Terran Rebellion HQ, even a Nor at Mine Dilithium. Seeding it will also save you a seed slot by downloading the Emblem you need (you know you need it) in the seed phase. No HQ seeds here, unfortunately, but Chamber of Ministers can be played here (no personnel report for free though) and HQ cards (and Defend Homeworld) may be played upon it in any case, so your Alliance can attempt the mission with Secure Homeworld's requirements OR use Ezri and Mr. Sisko as the two Terran leaders. Terrans will be in a better position to solve the mission, of course, and with rather easy requirements (incredibly easy if you attempt with Captain Bashir). Fair Play protects it, but the chances that your opponent also plays a Mirror universe "affiliation" (i.e. enough Terran leaders) is a little remote. And it IS Bajor, so Return Orb to Bajor will work here. For the Borg, it's an out-of-the-way place to play Assimilate Homeworld, far from normal shipping lanes and molestation, but you'll need to assimilate one of the few unique male Bajorans from the MU as a counterpart. Difficult, so in case that doesn't work, how about using the mission as a decoy? When you download the Emblem, your opponent's sure to treat you like a non-Borg affiliation, which always has its uses. In some decks, quite necessary. In others, often useful. A 4.4.

TOTAL: 14.4 (72%) A lower score than the "real" Bajor, but it's a question of Trek Sense.

PICTURE: There's so much red on the card, skin tones seem to shift to the greener part of the spectrum, but hey, this is such a cool scene, well choreographed by the actors and showcasing Uhura's rather impressive, toned stomach, that I can't slight it very much. The poses are good, we get a good shot of the mirror uniforms, and those three guards in the back remind us all the more of which universe we're in. Even looks like Sulu is recoiling a little bit because he doesn't want a matching scar. I love it and give it a proportionally high 4.5.

LORE: Have I not touted the merits of this scene enough? Well, using the dialogue itself is Decipher's hommage to it. Great idea, making the distraction come to life. You know, based on the strength of this scene, I never understood why Uhura wasn't utilized more. She's definitely more interesting than many modern Trek characters, and remained an expert Distractor through Star Trek V. Anyway, nice lore: a 4.7 this time.

TREK SENSE: I thought the idea was that your personnel should distract an enemy in order to succeed in the mission attempt, but you'll see it isn't. As in the pic, this is the common Trek "sexual distraction", and requires either a male or a female. Neuters need not apply (sorry Exocomp!), nor are Borg phased by this kind of thing, though a case could be made that this was unfair to the androgynous Soren. Your opponent chooses the gender of the personnel you must distract, so you have to send over a personnel of the opposite gender. I don't like the random selection here, as Away Teams will usually select their most attractive (or least inhibited) member to go and do this. Example: Leeta and Ishka are in the same Away Team and the character to distract is male... You really gonna send Ishka over? In any case, the distracted personnel is one of yours! Why? I guess it's more of a love interest dilemma then. One personnel does a lovely belly dance for someone he or she is attracted to, and if neither of them have Honor, they "go for it" and forget their duties (stopped from continuing mission attempt). If at least one of them does have Honor, then they don't get distracted. Makes sense on that basis, but that's not what's being shown in the pic. Sigh. We were off to a good start, and the game text wording has fun elements like actual "distracting", but I can only give it 2.7.

SEEDABILITY: There's a possibility of stopping 2 personnel with this card, one of them being your choice, so you might consider it for a combo. You just have to avoid Honor personnel. Well, with one of the selections being yours, you should be able to pick an appropriate one, putting chances in your favor as far as the other personnel goes by selecting wisely from the two available genders. As part of a set-up towards Matriarchal Society, it works well enough, though "stopping" is not as potent as relocation. There are still instances where you won't be able to make a dent though: Borg crews, single-gender crews and totally Honorable crews are likely to cause problems. Ah well. It's the opponent's choice aspect of the dilemma that keeps it afloat for a 3.2.

TOTAL: 15.1 (75.5%) Hubba, hubba!

PICTURE: A background character brought into a little more focus, she's certainly interesting thanks to her haistyle, and the glowing red panel behind her reminds us of which hellish universe she's from. Skin color's a bit pasty though (and blurrier), and with that huge armor, she looks like a pinhead. All of that settles around a 3.3.

LORE: Aside from her universe of origin (the first phrase), we know nothing of this extra, so the rest in pure invention. She looks like a soldier, but Cardassian females have a natural aptitute for science, so making her a science officer marries the two worlds. The last part attempts to explain her presence at Quark's in "Crossover". Not that it was necessary, but it does suddenly make her a player in the episode, rather than a bystander. Note that the mention of the Intendent is useful in the game. Unfortunately, her universality is not acknowledged. Gotta be worth 3.5.

TREK SENSE: Like I said under Lore, everything but Dorza's apperance is invention. So her quadrant and Alliance icons are taken care of. Dressed like a Cardassian soldier, she's in the service (Staff icon), but as a female, would gravitate to the Sciences. She's given 2 unrelated scientific skills, Biology and Stellar Cartography, but no reason is listed as to why she would know these. The lore gives a reason why she should have a more duplicitous skill (either Treachery or Security), but no effort was made to make the card more cohesive. Universality is not mentioned in the lore, but when dealing with background extras, I don't really have a problem with it. Attributes... well... is there a reason Dorza should have high Integrity? She's from the mirror universe AND a pawn of the Intendent's! Rebels don't have Integrity this high! The low Cunning goes with the pawn idea, but not with the classification and diverse skills. Strength's fine given the military nature of her universe. I'm afraid she's something of a mess at 2.4.

STOCKABILITY: She can supply her 3 skills to the Alliance, or be of use to any Cardassian by reporting directly to ships via Assign Support Personnel. All those skills are good against various dilemmas, if not exactly uncommon on Cardassians and Alliance personnel. Indeed, there are other Alliancist support personnel with those 2 skills, if never together on the same one. The Alliance might enjoy the high INTEGRITY however, and the fact she mentions the Intendent means she can report for free if the mirror Kira is in play. In the baseline universe, she helps out a great deal (especially if there are 2 of her) at Chart Stellar Cluster, but otherwise fits in normally. Cardassian Delta Quadrant decks can use her as another flesh and bone female, and she'll report over there just as well as in the Alpha Quadrant. So, a decent support personnel wherever you use her, though nothing truly stands out. A 3.4.

TOTAL: 12.6 (63%) Wonder how they thought up the name.

PICTURE: Farallon has an interesting, seldom seen, blue background working in her favor, is relatively well-framed and expressive, and has a downloaded Exocomp right there with her. It's the busy stuff at the bottom of the pic. A bit jumbly, but a solid, crisp image to which I give 3.7.

LORE: Ehh... It's always a bit dull to have to admit a character is a non-descript "humanoid", and the last two sentences, discussing her achievements, are fine on the surface, but the thing about the exocomps feels really tacked on. With room to spare, they could (and should) have padded that part of the story a bit more. I sadly won't go over 2.4.

TREK SENSE: I might have put Engineer in the classification box and Science with the skills, since she's basically remembered  as the builder of both the Exocomps and the Particle Fountain, all this despite her being a "scientist". Well, the Particle Fountain works on scientific principles, and perhaps she was more of a theoreticist on that particular project. That Particle Fountain is the reason she would deserve Physics, of course, even if the Fountain is a mining (ergo, Geology) system. That skill could have been included too, as could Cybernetics for that matter. Instead of that last skill, we get the related Exocomp download, which makes sense seeing as she invented the little buggers. And instead of a boring ol' Particle Fountain download, we get the more interesting doubling effect. What happens here is that when she's in play, she sees her project as more important than others do. Since points represent goals, she makes that particular goal (building fountains) more important point-wise, perhaps even driving the Feds (usually) to build them as mini-missions (as per her one episode). Staff icon is fine: she certainly knew her way around ship systems. Integrity is so low because she is so self-centered, and refused to believe the exocomps were alive to boot. The Cunning also reflects that closed-mindedness, though high enough to accomplish what she did (which seems to be based on existing technologies anyway). Strength is at low scientist female level, fine as well. Though I'd accuse it of being incomplete, I do like what's been done here and give it a 3.8.

STOCKABILITY: Well, to start with, she's a SCIENCE/ENGINEER, two classifications which go great together, whether you're facing dilemmas or attempting missions. If that's all she had to offer, she'd be recommendable. Adding Physics doesn't help that much since it's pretty common in the Federation, but it'll help with those same missions certainly. Downloading a personnel is always useful during mission attempts, even when that personnel has no regular skills. Exocomp still has ENGINEER, attributes and android-status. And you can download any of these features in the midst of a mission attempt, even once you know what you're facing (suspends play). And the download can even be applied after a battle or space dilemma to start repairing your ship right away using Exocomp's special skill. Particle Fountains are already an easy, Interrupt-speed 5 points to any planet mission, but with Farallon in play (she needs not be present), you can turn them into 10 points. Your run-of-the-mill 30-to-35-pointers swiftly turn into 40-to-45-point missions, BEFORE mission specialist points and the like. Farallon combines a good skill base with useful special skill, and that's what you need to rise above the usual Federation crop these days. A good 4.

TOTAL: 13.9 (69.5%) Shows that TNG can still be mined for lots of stuff.

PICTURE: Aside from Michael Strong's resemblance to George W. Bush, there's nothing particularly special about the image. It is taken from the point at which Korby realizes he's not quite human anymore (mentally, that is). The color palette is another of those TOS rainbows, but again, unremarkable. For a good choice of moment, I'll call it a 3.5.

LORE: Though "archaeological medecine" is a nebulous science at best, the title in quotation marks is of welcome interest. His story is told in a few short phrases, but it's well enough written, and it comes to calling him an android rather naturally. A nice 3.6.

TREK SENSE: Dr. Korby is an android, as we never actually saw him as a human on the show, and that's fine. Being a "medical archaeologist" gives him both Medical and Archaeology. Computer Skill is required to operate the alien android machine and program the androids, and since he IS building androids, Cybernetics makes sense. Of course, one could debate the question since the machine seemed to do all the work, but it doesn't negate the idea that Korby could make use of Cybernetics Expertise to report androids. Plus, there's always the programming aspect. The special download of Scorched Hand is cute, since like Data in First Contact, he gets his android hand's skin burnt off, but of course, Scorched Hand is so conceptual that it hardly makes ANYTHING BUT conceptual sense. Attributes are well, um, attributed, with middling Integrity focusing on his willingness to take over the Enterprise tempered by anguish over turning himself into a monster, the high Cunning of a scientist of his caliber, and the high Strength of an android built to still function humanly (not superhumanly). Good stuff for the most part at an even 4.

STOCKABILITY: An OS-only deck need not go without androids thanks to Korby and Ruk, and with Cybernetics Expertise, Ruk can be reported for free to Korby's side. Of course, that's a step down from the pre-Experise rules, since he was able to do this without card support before. Now, it's inefficient to play an Incident for a single free report. Still, outside of OS-only, Korby can become a good Non-Aligned Cyberneticist (against Borg Servo too). MEDICAL is a great classification, and his skill selection is very odd for it, which is a good thing. Archaeology is a deck archetype for a few affiliations, and can be used at The Guardian of Forever, Computer Skill is always good, and just being an android is useful for passing dilemmas (and can be used with some support cards). The OS icon allows Korby to add to his skills via Classic equipment as well. As for the special download, Scorched Hand isn't a bad one, but isn't an excellent one either. Middle of the road, then, for a card that you could suddenly snap into play to take advantage of your opponent's large hand (or even your own if you're really good at deck manipulation). Korby sets himself up to be a 3.7.

TOTAL: 14.8 (74%) A strange, but interesting choice for an OS android.

PICTURE: I *guess* I would rather have a real picture than a Treaty-like icon-on colored-background, but as it is, the Alliance emblem is cut off a the top of the Cardassian "hood", and those diagonal lines on each side badly squeeze the composition. Too bad, because I liked the stained glass version of the Emblem (well, the blue Klingon dagger is a little wishy-washy). Could have settled for a close-up of the Alliance badge though. A poor 1.6.

LORE: N/A (score will be adjusted accordingly)

TREK SENSE: You know how I've been hard on Treaties for being all the same and not respecting the actual terms of the Treaty represented? Well, cards like this Emblem do it a bit better, and also create a kind of micro-affiliation (or pan-affiliation?) with its own rules and abilities. The Treaty part allows your Alliance icon personnel to mix regardless of their actual affiliation. This is basically a Mirror universe Bajoran/Cardassian/Klingon Treaty, but also includes mercenary types (Ferengi and Non-Aligned) and the 4 Alpha Quadrant Ferengi listed who had to work with the Alliance in "The Emperor's New Cloak". Attack restrictions are lifted because 1) the Alliance is an affiliation unto itself that doesn't recognize any other government's legitemacy, and 2) (I guess) even Alliance may prey on Alliance since nothing stops this barbarous affiliation from attacking its own kind. The Mirror Quadrant is just that violent. The Alliance also has certain practices and attitudes represented on the card. One of these is The Art of Diplomacy which shows off their usual "diplomatic" stance by being downloaded as soone as the Emblem is in play. Another is that when an Alliance leader calls for you, you show up on the double... or else. This is represented by free plays of personnel named in lores. Underlings show up quickly to their leader's side (which isn't necessarily their "side", but at least the reporting facility). I like this. What I don't particularly care for is the last function that protects the too-hosed Ore Processing from Reactor Overload. While I don't doubt that having 2 Engineers overseeing Ore Processing could derail an Overload, why should this only work on a Mirror Nor? The overseers are more diligent? Bah. This has virtually nothing to do with the Alliance per se. Cuts down a excellent score to only a very good score of 4.3.

STOCKABILITY: Seedable, sure, but if you're using the Alliance, you really should think about using one of the missions that can download the Emblem anyway and save yourself a seed slot, y'know? As soon as it comes into play, you may download The Art of Diplomacy which can be a help when you need Diplomacy, or as a discard to either download weapons/personnel or kill a personnel. It's a bonus download, so why not use it? The Treaty part is actually better than a regular Treaty in that it suspends affiliation attack restrictions (or else you'd be too limited). The Emblem is pretty necessary to playing the Alliance without much support from Alpha Quadrant personnel since none of the represented affiliations have all the skills needed to go out on their own. A quartet of Alpha Quadrant personnel (all from the usually Treaty-less Ferengi) can also mix with the Alliance, and may be useful in enabling Rules-related strategies. You also get some free plays of personnel cross-referenced to your Alliance leaders, mostly through The Intendent who has had relationships of one sort or another with lots of them, from various affiliations even. Finally, the card provides incentive to use the Alliance by making their Ore Processing resistant to Reactor Overload through the use of a couple ENGINEERs. Since Overseer Odo can download Process Ore, using the Alliance to recycle your cards may be an end unto itself. Unfortunately, the Alliance hasn't really taken off as a viable "micro-affiliation" due to limited personnel supply and uninteresting ships. Are all these effects enough? Some of them feel like bells and whistles, others are stronger. The card's a 3.6.

TOTAL: 12.67 (63.33%) Indictment of the Alliance as a whole?

PICTURE: Because of TOS production values, the image comes off as blurry and oddly-colored. While I'm usually happier with an actual pull than a symbol à la Plans of the Tal Shiar, this image of a turbolift door suffers from brighter light on the right-hand side. Kinda yucky with its 1.9.

LORE: N/A (score will be adjusted accordingly)

TREK SENSE: While the Alliance Emblem was something of a Treaty, the Empire cannot really be. Most of the [Terran]-icon cards are "Federation" and in any case, I think there's a problem with calling these people a micro-affiliation which can all use the Emblem, when they really are two. One is the actual 23rd-century Empire which this card does little to represent. The other is the Terran Rebellion which doesn't use the Emblem and doesn't consider itself an Empire. Be that as it may, the card would allow for all Terran-icon cards to work together since they plainly did on the show. That any of the OS personnel would recognize this alliance is dubious however, as everyone not "Federation" was working for the rebels. Also working with the rebels were Ben and Jake Sisko, as well as Rom and Quark. I might have added Julian Bashir who more or less pushed Smiley into becoming a rebel, but his visit to the mirror universe does predate the Rebellion's creation. The "alliance" also makes such personnel able to attack anyone they please, which is very much in the mirror universe's style. The download of The Art of Diplomacy is also in character, and especially suits the evil OS Empire (as do the lifted attack restrictions). The rest of the card is clearly Rebellion-based. First, it protects Empire-icon stuff from being destroyed in the Badlands by the Plasma Storms. They hid there and knew how to avoid its dangers, something I would expect to see on a future Maquis mechanic as well. Just like the Emblem of the Alliance, it also protects the Ore Processing Unit on your Mirror Terok Nor from Reactor Overload. Just as with that other card, a couple of Engineers overseeing things might very well make sure nothing derails your ore processing operations, but again, there's no reason this would only work in the Mirror universe. This has nothing to do with the Empire or Rebellion. What does have something to do with the Rebellion is that though they are Feds, they can still Process Ore. Indeed, they kept the thing working and have no qualms about using prisoners for labor. Since the Empire is far less focused as a concept than the Alliance is, its Emblem won't do as well... Only a 3.2.

STOCKABILITY: While the incident is seedable, it can easily be downloaded by playing one of two Mirror quadrant missions. One of these can hold your Terran Rebellion HQ, the other you can attempt and can have Mirror Terok Nor in orbit. If using the HQ, no need to fear its Badlands location since Navigate Plasma Storms cannot affect either it, or your staffed ships there. The ships are also protected in the Alpha Quadrant if either player is using the Badlands there as well. While you can easily just use the [Fed] and [NA] Terrans to build your deck (there are plenty), using such personnel as Commander Leeta (and her download) or the well-rounded Ferengi (from both universes), will require this "Treaty". The two named Siskos may be Fed already, but would need the Emblem to mix with the non-Feds AND keep their attack restrictions lifted. Indeed, this is one way of using the Feds to attack your opponent, but you will need to keep your crews clear of any non-Terran. It also means you can only use Terran ships to do the job, but there's a Defiant in there (with 2 matching commanders covered by this card). The Emblem also downloads you The Art of Diplomacy which is never a loss when using Mirror personnel. It's mostly the OS guys who have the Treachery you can turn into Diplomacy, but better than that, the card can be used to download a weapon to Mirror Kirk, protecting your matching commander from assault team attacks. Let the games begin. And finally, it allows your Mirror Feds to Process Ore like Cardassians, keeping the cycling process safe from Reactor Overload simply by leaving 2 ENGINEER there, say Chief Engineer Scott if you don't want a lot of personnel there. So... easy access to this card, also giving you access to some great stuff for your Mirror Feds (which are a popular "affiliation"), plus Ore Processing for the cards in blue, lifted attack restrictions and protection from your more obvious weaknesses. I'd call it a 4.4 at this juncture.

TOTAL: 12.67 (63.33%) Somehow, the math gets both Emblems to the same number.

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