Kazon Fruit Bowl

by Daniel Matteson, Director of Communications

8th November 2018

All right, I'll admit something. I've made no secret of the fact that Deep Space Nine has been my favorite Star Trek series. However, when it comes to Voyager, despite having a few more issues with the series, I find I have a soft spot for the other Trek series I grew up with. Despite the relative power level of cards set in this series, there really is still a lot of creative space to be mined from the show. With that said, I've had a 'hit list' of cards from Voyager I've wanted to see added to First Edition, and I've been pretty vocal about my top three over the last few years:

• 1. Michael Jonas. This was a guy who appeared in six episodes, as a Maquis-turned-Starfleet officer that betrayed both his crews by giving information to the Kazon and sabotaging Voyager in the process, before getting killed by... um... Neelix. OK, forget that part. This was a fairly major early arc and the fact that Jonas never had a card made seems a glaring omission.
• 2. Rain Robinson. I enjoyed the "Future's End" two parter and hoped to one day see a personnel card of this early Sarah Silverman role, or even a boutique set to cover the episode as a whole. How about one more past Earth time location?
• 3. Seska - that is, a second version of Seska. This nefarious character really ran the gamut of shifting loyalties, from Cardassian to Maquis to Federation to Kazon. The original Seska is a dual-affiliation Cardassian/Kazon personnel, but a new persona could have so many different looks. Could there be a Federation/Non-Aligned? A Maquis icon? An infiltrator?

Well, we did get one of these cards in The Gift, though not exactly how I would have envisioned it.

Culluh and Seska take the best parts of two strong Kazon personnel cards and toss them together in a great little evil Kazon fruit bowl. Culluh loses a few skills and his special download of Boarding Party, but retains his OFFICER classification, plus Diplomacy, Greed, and Leadership x2, making him a fun little potential dilemma buster that can possibly crack through Personal Duty/Friendly Fire, or even Chula: The Game (if you throw a Kazon PADD at him). Seska retains ENGINEER as a class plus SECURITY as a skill, plus a handy Transporter Skill, and Treachery x2 (good for downloading hand weapons with The Art of Diplomacy, and... other things you use particularly treacherous people for).

Let's look at what else this couple brings to the table. As Culluh is a Maje for the Kazon-Nistrim, like his previous version, he is downloadable with Leader of the Sect and allows free plays of other Kazon-Nistrim personnel (of which there are several). Throw in Seska's SECURITY and you can also download this couple with Defend Homeworld! Also, either of these personnel in their singular forms were matching commander for the occupied Kazon-affiliation Voyager, and this dual-personnel version is no different.

Finally, you'll note I keep using the word "couple." That is exactly what these two are. The word "mate" in lore identifies them as romantic partners to each other. While they can't download each other since they're both in play at the same time, Holoprogram: Cafe Des Artistes does allow you to stop them to draw a card. One personnel card stopped for one draw, and downloadable on the first turn? Sounds like a great draw engine for a Kazon deck with a seeded Voyager at Caretaker's Array, using Kazon Collective and Home Away from Home as play engines. I smell fruit. It's time to start building that salad.

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