Star Traks is a comedic series of stories set in the Star Trek Universe, created in 1992 by Alan Decker. (Yes, we were doing this almost thirty years before Star Trek: Lower Decks came along.) The original Star Traks stories were written while Alan was in college, but they didn’t show up online until he set up the first Star Traks website in 1996. Since then, Star Traks has spawned multiple spin-offs, a video game, an online role-playing game, a machinima, an air freshener, and a body wash. (We’re probably lying about those last two.)
Star Traks: The Vexed Generation came along when Anthony Butler met Alan Decker the year before his Freshman year of college. Without realizing it at the time, Anthony ended up writing about the transition to adulthood while writing about a misfit crew’s hijinx in the Delta Quadrant, far from home. Twenty years later, he’s still working on stories…and still working on the adulthood part.
After a few years of writing Traks together, Alan and Anthony decided to post Star Traks on a newly created medium: the World Wide Web. Then something strange happened. People actually began to read these stories. And then something even stranger happened. They started to write their own stories - and even their own series - and expanded the Star Traks universe beyond what the authors could have imagined. Over the years, several readers would step forward with story submissions to Alternate Traks, artwork for the various web pages, and to participate with discussion forums and emails. Two in particular that stood out were Maija Meneks, who would become a prolific Traks writer with Star Traks: BorgSpace, and Brad Dusen with Star Traks: Banshee. Brad also made the first stab at documenting the ever-expanding Traks universe with the Star Traks Encylopedia.
Some time after that, Alan and Anthony decided to take Star Traks into the distant future (a novel concept to be sure). Star Traks: Boldly Gone and the adventures of Captain Reginald Bain were born from the idea that if you jumped far enough into the future, there would be no way that Star Trek could possibly create continuity problems. That did not go as planned, but the experience of writing the series together was an exciting one that truly answers the question of what happens when you combine a living space brain with a giant piece of space lasagna.
Star Traks: Silverado came along shortly after Brendan Chris finished college and moved halfway across Canada. After reading Traks for several years, he submitted his first Silverado story to Alternate Traks. Then came another…and another…a spin-off, then a couple of mini-serieses. Frankly, we couldn’t get him to shut up. Both college and that first Silverado story are many years in the past, but somehow those characters just keep calling. Being an inquisitive and curious nerd, Brendan’s experiments with 3D modeling and game design led to the release of a one-of-a-kind (but admittedly cringy) Traks machinima episode. Oh, and an updated website.
Now, twenty-five years after it first appeared online, the Star Traks Nexus returns with a fresh new web site, new content, and a vast library of comedic Trek!
A Note About Star Traks and Star Trek Canon: The Star Traks authors take Star Trek canon very seriously…most of the time. TNG was still on the air when Alan started writing, and over the years he and the other writers have done their best to make the Traks stories fit Trek canon. Yes, you’ll need to imagine that Picard (the guy) was briefly an Admiral between Generations and First Contact. Otherwise though, they’ve tried. Once Enterprise ended in 2005, they figured they were in the clear. Then Star Trek 2009 came along and blew up Romulus. Alan and Anthony tap-danced their way around that in Star Traks: Boldly Gone. Things were fine until Picard (the series) started airing and went right back to Romulus going kablooie. Odds are that the other series will contradict us again at some point, too. So we’re throwing in the towel on continuity. We did what we could, and we’re happy to have Trek series back in production.
The Star Traks Series
Star Traks features unique crews, ships, aliens, and situations that ordinary Trek would prefer to leave on the cutting room floor:
Star Traks: The Original Series
Original Star Traks by Alan Decker, chronicles the adventures of the USS Secondprize. If the Enterprise holds Starfleet’s best and brightest, the others have to go somewhere, right? Captain Rydell uses his own unique style of command to hold together his crew and somehow deal with the strangest the galaxy can throw at them. Obnoxious belchers, gender-swapping time lines, and slimey, pus-filled aliens who really want to be your friend are just an average day on the Secondprize.
Star Traks: The Vexed Generation
Star Traks: The Vexed Generation by Anthony Butler, follows the trials and tribulations of Captain Andy Baxter and his crew of assorted nimrods and misfits as they try to prove to the rest of the universe that they’re not as incompetent as everyone thought they’d be. Captain Baxter was originally the Lieutenant in charge of Inventory aboard the USS Secondprize, when he was mysteriously promoted to Captain and sent off in command of the USS Aerostar to find missing property in the weird and colorful Bermuda Expanse. What the Aerostar crew finds is more than they bargained for. From there, it just keeps getting weirder…
Star Traks: Waystation
Star Traks: Waystation, also by Alan Decker, follows Commander Lisa Beck and a few other Secondprize refugees as they attempt to hold down one of the shoddiest forts in the galaxy against an incredibly xenophobic race and general boredom.
Star Traks: Boldly Gone
Star Traks: Boldly Gone… by Alan Decker and Anthony Butler, takes Star Traks into the future…well, farther into the future anyway. Over a century after the adventures of Rydell, Baxter, Captain and Vorezze, the crew of the USS Anomaly proves that Starfleet still needs a place to put those “problem” officers.
Star Traks: BorgSpace
Star Traks: BorgSpace by Maija Meneks, continues in the Star Traks tradition, even if the Alpha Quadrant and Federation are left (mostly) behind. Come to BorgSpace, follow the adventures of Cube #347, and discover that even Borg have a less-than-perfect sub-collective.
Star Traks: Silverado
Star Traks: Silverado by Brendan Chris details the adventures of a slightly inexperienced crew aboard a slighty used vessel as they take abuse from Starfleet Command, over-confident aliens, crazy scientists, super-cheerful Klingons, corporate drones, museum curators and above all, each other! The ship came from a junkyard. The Captain has never been in command before. The helmswoman tends to crash into things, the doctor tends to crash things into you, and the security guy thinks mice belong in breakfast cereal. Clearly there are obstacles to overcome!
Star Traks: Side Traks
Star Traks: Side Traks is where we put mini-series, guest-writers, and those stories that don’t quite fit anywhere else. Maybe the tone is too different. Maybe the real Star Trek went and did something that made it impossible for a story to have occurred. Or maybe it’s just plain weird.
On the Side Traks page, you’ll find “lost” adventures of the Secondprize and Explorer crews, “what-if” specials, short-run mini-series, and even the ‘Once More With Starships’ musical. Yes, we said musical.
Star Traks: Banshee
Longtime readers of the Nexus may notice that a few things are missing. In particular, Star Traks: Banshee. The author of Banshee has chosen to take his website offline. Though we miss his stories and the humor they brought, we respect his decision.