"Even if Axanar is completely in the wrong, we really don't get the level of vitriol," said Axanar Productions spokesman Morey Altman in an email. "There must be something about fandom, especially [in] Star Trek, that inspires such passion. Somehow, I can't imagine Better Call Saul fans getting so up in arms about a fan film."

Peters told BuzzFeed News in late April that the merchandise store was another way to raise money for Axanar "from fans who want to continually donate to us." The subleasing to other productions, he said, was simply to cover his rent. "No one's looking to get rich here," he said. "And we're not asking the donors to pay that rent if we're not making Star Trek fan fiction. So, yeah, we're looking for other productions to come in here and produce stuff and rent out the facility." He sighed. "If you ask me, 'If you did it all again, would you rent this facility?' — I would probably say no."

As for salaries, Peters did admit that Axanar Productions, which operates as a California nonprofit, "reimburses me for legitimate business expenses" equaling what he called "a paltry $38,000." And he seemed genuinely perplexed by why anyone would take issue with that practice. "Our attitude is, if we're asking you to work full time, we're going to pay you. I think that's only reasonable. Every charity pays their full-time employees. Unless you're retired and you're donating your time full time, people need to live, and we're not paying exorbitant salaries." Because of the objections raised about his salary, however, Peters said in April that he is working with an accountant to catalogue the money he received from the production, "where it went, and what was an expense, and [take] out anything that could be referred to as a salary for me." He also said the $36,000 he earmarked for his crowdfunding fulfillment employee "was totally deferred in 2015 — she didn’t take a dime of that." (In June, Altman said via email that a preliminary review suggested that Peters’ "personal investments in Axanar Productions exceed what he has received from the company in reimbursements.")

Meanwhile, several crew members who worked on Prelude, including Kraft and director Christian Gossett, left the production, citing differences with Peters. “Our advice [was] repeatedly ignored, so we left. It wasn't the lawsuit,” Gossett told BuzzFeed News in an email. “The donors love their shows so much they are willing to … spend their hard-earned money to get just a little bit more of the feeling that their favorite entertainment gives them. All they really ask is that their money goes where it was promised."

The legal fight, however, did not end up focusing on Peters' financial issues. Instead, in a series of filings from February through May, Peters and his legal team sparred with the plaintiffs over specifically enumerating which Star Trek copyrights Axanar had violated. The lawyers wrangled over issues like the shape of Vulcan ears, the color of Starfleet uniforms, and, most infamously, CBS and Paramount's assertion that they owned the copyright to the entire Klingon language. That claim sparked a slew of incredulous stories, an amicus brief on behalf of Axanar by the Language Creation Society in part written in Klingon, and — it turned out, most crucially — a tweet of support from Lin.

By zealously defending their copyright from one fan production, CBS and Paramount had unwittingly placed themselves at odds with some of the most ride-or-die members of the Trek fanbase. But it was far from the first time those who own Trek and those who love it found themselves at opposite ends of a viewscreen, raising their shields.