Surprising New Members of the KCA

by Matthew Zinno, Staff Writer

20th March 2016

Most of the MQ love in this set is for the Terran Empire, but the KCA get a few good personnel as well.  Two DS9 personnel get the icon, and it's a bit surprising.  There are new versions here of Kira Nerys and Julian Bashir -- not the Intendant and Captain Bashir, but the familiar Alpha Quadrant characters, who made the first DS9-era visit to the mirror universe via a damaged runabout.  They were quickly integrated by the Intendant into Alliance society (one to the nobility, and one to the mines), and so they have the printed icon.  This lets them "mix and cooperate" with your other personnel (leastways, if you're using the Emblem or the Treaty), like they did on the show.  They can board your ships, mingle with your crew, and even attempt missions with you, because of the decree of the Intendant.  But don't worry, this is not a reflection of their true loyalties -- at the end of that initial Crossover episode, they convinced Mr. Sisko and Smiley to revolt and form the Terran Empire -- reflected by the other faction symbol on these new cards.  

Julian Bashir will be a great asset to a KCA deck, as the first personnel with the icon.  This grants the Alliance access to additional missions and the freely reported Type I Phaser (which, unlike the also-free Mirror Dagger, helps against Neural Parasites).  It also expands the number of affiliations you can use for  Historic Coming Together.  He retains his usual classification, and he also keeps from earlier versions a single level of Biology.  During his time spent in Ore Processing, he apparently learned some things about rocks, as he now also has the skill of Geology.  His affinity with Smiley gives them both an attribute boost, and his terminal interactions with Overseer Odo in the episode are reflected by his theft of a hand weapon, and his (MQ only) download of Phaser Burns.
 
Like Bashir, Kira has aspects familiar from earlier incarnations: OFFICER classification and skills of Leadership, Diplomacy, Navigation, and Honor.  She also has her traditional strength boost against a particular icon, this time against .  She also has a download which is only available in the mirror universe: Get Back (a new card which will reward her for returning to the AQ).  She's the matching commander of that runabout, the USS Rio Grande. Both of them also have the right lore to benefit from the new Supplant Opposite, as well as report for free if used in a traditional AQ deck based on Here by Invitation.  

Which engine will you use them with (first)?  The Regent's Flagship?  Or Here by Invitation?

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