The ultimate upgrade? Bluejay 4

by Scott Baughman, Director of Communications

19th August 2020

When Captain James T. Kirk and the intrepid crew of the Enterprise did time travel shenanigans, they were never subtle. No matter if it was the Cold War of the 1960s or popping back to the 1980s to save some whales - Kirk made an impact on history. So much so, that in later series like Deep Space Nine, Kirk's temporal exploits were referenced as one of the worst things a Starfleet officer had ever done. Temporal Investigators Dulmer and Lucsly said he had 17 violations and that he was a "menace" to their duties. 

John Christopher, Bluejay 4, is a quintessential example of Kirk's cavalier attitude toward time travel. In the TOS episode Tomorrow is Yesterday, the Enterprise is hurled back in time to 1969 and is spotted by the US Air Force. Specifically, John Christopher - callsign Bluejay 4. While the episode involves quite a bit of derring-do from Kirk and Co. to try their best to cover their tracks and avoid disrupting history, Bluejay 4's card in the Star Trek CCG does an admirable job of capturing the flavor of his reaction to learning about the future, time travel AND the Enterprise all in one go. Bluejay 4 is thrown for a loop at first - and who wouldn't be? But eventually, rather than BE a dilemma for the crew, he helps them overcome their dilemma of accidentatlly influencing the timeline. 

So, in our game version, Bluejay 4 has the option of letting you invest a few more resources into him by playing him at cost plus one to get a dilemma overcome at one of your temporal missions. While limited in the scope of missions this can affect, it's a powerful upgrade ability in line with Dr. McCoy's that allows a cunning player to pull back dilemmas from the opponent's mission. At first glance, Bluejay 4's upgrade ability might seem only marginally useful, but getting a "free" dilemma overcome beneath a mission can be a critical play in several instances, especially when it can be easy enough to build a deck that only includes one temporal mission thus allowing you to know for certain where that dilemma will be placed. 

And what if you decide you DON'T need the overcome dilemma? Well, Bluejay 4 has a wide variety of very useful skills and good attributes anyway, making him a strong cost 3 personnel as he includes Engineer, Officer, Science and Security. He's sure to find a home in almost any TOS deck.

BUT, meddling with history is fraught with danger and Bluejay 4 represents that as an issue for both players. Should something bad happen to John Christopher, the timeline would be disrupted in a big way - afterall, as we learned in Tomorrow is Yesterday, his son goes on to be in charge of the first manned mission to Saturn. If Bluejay 4 is killed, each player discards the top three cards of their decks. Ouch! 

Should you feel like taking the necessary risk and including this powerful card in your deck, just be aware of the consequences. Perhaps it's worth the gamble, and you'll find that Bluejay 4 is the Ultimate Upgrade!

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