When we last left the crew of Five Year Mission, the band's second album had just made its way into the world. This weekend, a third album is scheduled to debut. However, the formula has veered a little off course. Instead of continuing their quest to write one original song for every episode of the original Star Trek television series, the band created a multiverse by writing five songs about one iconic episode.

Every member of the Five Year Mission — including the drummer, in his songwriting debut — has crafted a tune that describes "The Trouble With Tribbles" from a different perspective. Working independently, they each came up with a unique take on the story about procreating balls of fuzz. The group then shared their demos and collaborated to find a final sound for each tune, as well as determine the track order for the special album.

"This was a perfect opportunity to pull out my ukulele," says Patrick O'Connor, one of four guitarist-keyboarding-vocalist songwriters for the band. "That helped me to plot a direction for the song. When the rest of the band heard it, I think they were inspired to pull out some different instruments as well, which is why Chris played glockenspiel and Mike played trumpet."

The result: five distinct interpretations of the 50-minute story that complement each other well with a variety of styles and concepts. Spurgin sings from the Tribbles' perspective, Noah Butler focused on Cyrrano Jones, and band founder Mike Rittenhouse went Klingon. "The biggest departure from a style our fans are used to is with Mike's song," predicts Spurgin.

For drummer Andy Fark (who has now been promoted to "percussion-songwriter"), this was uncharted territory. Previous songs for Five Year Mission had been written exclusively by his other bandmates. With Tribbles, however, Fark was asked to stretch himself.

"I collaborated with a guy I know named Jason Bambery," explains Fark. "I literally hummed and sang a guitar and bass line to him, and he translated it into actual music from my insane ramblings. I was the only one out of the five of us that came in with a full demo, and not just an acoustic guitar. It pays to know someone that can help me write a song and then record it all in the same night."

Eventually, fans will be be asked to vote for their favorite song, the winner getting the nod to be included in the Year Three album, to be released in 2013. The mechanisms are still being debated, but online voting should be available shortly after the album's release. Results won't be made public until the end, to avoid influencing votes. "This will be a fair fight in which I lose," jokes Fark.

In keeping with tradition, this year's album release will once again take place at Starbase Indy, which opens this weekend in Indianapolis. Five Year Mission will play their Tribbles set for the first time on Saturday, November 24. Conference attendees get in free, but the public is invited to the performance ($5 admission at the door). The band will also play the previous night, as part of Starbase Indy, in a Battle of the Bands against il Troubadore, and all-Klingon band.

The Trouble With Tribbles EP is available for purchase for $7 and includes a bonus track of the great birthday tribute to George Takei they recorded last spring. A special $20 limited-edition version of The Trouble With Tribbles (Limited Quadrotriticale Enhanced Edition) is also available. That CD comes with a tribble-fur case, a tribble, a button, and an autographed photo.

Fark's songwriting career may only be beginning. The experience of writing to the same episode was so rewarding, the band is considering doing it again for "Spock's Brain."

"It's always surprising and at the same time totally expected to hear how differently we all interpret something," says Spurgin. "I think we've all really enjoyed this process of writing on the same subject and just seeing what comes out of each of us."

Five Year Mission wishes happy birthday to George Takei