As you can tell from the infographic above, there's been a lot going on in Star Trek Online over the past three years. The troubles caused by tribbles alone is enough to make the eyes water.

As part of the celebration of STO's third year exploring the final frontier, Perfect World Entertainment has released a new video outlining the events of the past year, which included the seventh season update, and a glimpse of things to come. Featuring Denise Crosby as Tasha Yar, we get a peek at a new storyline video and info on free ships you can claim by taking part in the celebration.

The 2800 are returning to Star Trek Online! In STO's newest feature episode, a fleet of Dominion warships with the Jem'Hadar onboard are returning, putting the very existence of Deep Space Nine in danger. This episode will go live on Saturday, February 11th so be sure to stock up and be ready for invasion!

Star Trek Online was first launched on February 2, 2010 and this week marks the second anniversary of the game being live. To celebrate, there will be two special activities as well as some fun things planned by the community. 

The first activity is a daily Q mission that has you go to Starfleet Academy or KDF Academy. Once there, you will chase down pests that got loose and be rewarded with one of three options:

• A "Two Year Anniversary Party Popper" item that does silly things when you use it.
• A mystery box.
• A box with 500 Dillithium Ore in it.

The second activity is a flagship mission which works differently for Federation and Klingon characters. The Federation characters must be level 5 or higher, while the Klingon characters must be level 21 or higher. Upon completion of the mission, both will receive a non-tradeable inventory item that contains a starship. However, this item cannot be opened to get the starship until the character achieves the rank of Vice Admiral or Lt. General at level 50.

In the latest Dev Diary for Star Trek Online, we learn details about how to aquire the new Odyssey class starship! Characters must be level 5 and have the rank of a Vice Admiral to operate the starship. For those of you who are behind, however, any character below the required rank will recieve an inventory item that can be opened once you achieve the Vice Admiral rank.

While the final stats of the starship are sill classified and subject to last minute changes, Cryptic claims it is "the pinnacle of Federation starship design" and the largest vessel ever created by Starfleet. This massive size affects its turn rate, but it's design makes it more of a long-range vessel that can operate for long periods of time away from support.

For all the specs and details, be sure to check out the Season 5 Dev Diary 13!

For those of you who haven't taken the time to try out Star Trek Online, there is a limited deal going on that might just be the final push you need to get started. Alienware is giving away keys that will give you the following:

• Access to the retail game of Star Trek Online
• 10 days of subscription time
• 22nd Century Enterprise Era Uniform
• NX Class Starship
• 8 Hour XP boost

The only downside to this giveaway is that it is only valid for new Star Trek Online players and only available to North America and Europe. However, if you fit within these constraints then redeem your key at AlienwareArena.com now!

Cryptic is celebrating the launch of Star Trek Online going free to play by giving us a brand new game trailer! For additional information and to learn more about Star Trek Online, be sure to check out Star Trek Online's website.

Lapsed subscription accounts in Star Trek Online will now be able to log into the game and play as Silver members. This means that anyone who was previously a Gold (subscriber) member, even if only for the initial month, can come back and play for free!

It's also important to realize that previous subscribers can jump into their existing characters with no extra steps and no loss of anything they previously gained. Be sure to take advantage of the free-to-play early access as it opens to the public on January 17th.

Star Trek Online is coming up to it's two year anniversary so needless to say, the developers at Cryptic wanted to let us in on what we can expect in the coming months. I the latest Developer Diary we learn that in January we will see:

• more bug fixes for the Holodeck
• additional features tested on the Tribble test server
• and STO becoming free-to-play

The article even goes into what we can expect for February through May, so be sure to read the full dev diary here.

Star Trek Online seems to be on the up and up, boasting more than double the number of players actively in game after the launch of Season 5: Call to Arms! Additionally, STO's first holiday event, Q's Winter Wonderland has further increased the active player base, as people enjoy daily foot races on an ice track, humorous snow men, and collect fun prizes.

To read over the entire dev diary post, head over to Star Trek Online's website.

Not content with all the new changes coming to Star Trek Online's Tribble Server, The Borg have taken their destiny into their own hands by invading the planet Defera. Home to countless Deferi (can I call them Deferans?), both Starfleet and the Klingon Defense Force have scrambled to send officers to save this halpless planet. Currently, four areas have been revealed of the Borg-Defera invasion, including the City, the Power Plant, the Temple, and the Borg Probe, which sits broodingly above the entire invasion zone. Players who want to defend the planet will need to be at the level of Rear Admiral / Brigadier General, however, Cryptic says that all players who have not yet reached this rank will be boosted to an appropriate level.

Finally, if saving innocent civilians isn't your thing, Cryptic is also giving out some phat loot for anyone who participates in repelling the invasions, so players can get some nice items even if their heart's not in on it.