Well, I try to use them very sparingly. I definitely don't want a Star Trek sound/feel to the story, but yet I don't want to go the cliche fallback route either. Overall though, I do keep the thought of those major sci-fi empires in my mind and do my best to steer clear of any possible resemblance in my writings to any of them, even if I do use a few of the same plot elements, such as warp drive. The last thing I want is to be called a Star Trek rehasher.
