Star Trek Online is celebrating First Contact Day with special events in April

Zefram Cochrane’s statue, celebrating First Contact Day in Star Trek Online

Star Trek Online is getting ready for First Contact Day.

In Star Trek lore, April 5th, 2063 is the day that humans first make contact with Vulcans, as depicted in the film Star Trek: First Contact. In celebration of the future-versary - is that a thing? - Star Trek Online holds a yearly event, with special games and prizes.

This year’s First Contact Day celebration in Star Trek Online runs today through April 23rd for PC players, and April 9th through April 30th for console players (those playing the game on Xbox One and Playstation 4). During the event, players can take part in a new patrol, launch their own Phoenix rocket, and by participating for 14 days, players can also earn themselves the ultimate prize of a Temporal Vortex Probe.

According to Star Trek Online, First Contact Day “kicks off in Bozeman, Montana, the same site where Zefram Cochrane launched the historic Phoenix, the first Human warp-capable ship. Captains will travel back to mid-21st century Earth to face The Borg, who seek to alter the timeline to prevent first contact between humans and Vulcans. To accomplish this, players will enlist the help of Seven-of-Nine, voiced by Jeri Ryan from Star Trek: Voyager and Picard. Besides protecting the timeline from The Borg in this new patrol, players can also team up with four friends to build a replica of the Phoenix [...] and compete with other teams to see who can reach the highest altitude.”

Star Trek Online is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online game, or MMORPG. You can download the game for yourself now on Steam or the Xbox or Playstation Stores, or startrekonline.com. Once again, the First Contact Day event runs now through April 23rd on PC, and April 9th through 30th on Xbox One and Playstation 4.