It has been discovered that Windows Defender can greatly increase the amount of time it takes for the game to load.

To resolve this, you can set an exception in Windows Defender for Star Control Origins by following the steps below:

Right click the Star Control: Origins game in your staem library, then click "Properties". On the next screen, select the "Local Files" tab, then select "Browse Local Content..."
This will take you to the folder where STar Control: Origins is installed. Left click the address bar and copy the complete path by pressing ctrl+c or right clicking and selecting "Copy".

Open the Start Menu in the bottom left corner of your screen and type in "Defender". The "Windows Defender Settings" option should appear at the top, left click this.

This will open the Windows Security centre, left click "Virus & threat protection", then select "Virus & threat protection settings"
Scroll down to "Exclusions" and select "Add or remove exclusions".

Click "Add an exclusion", then select "Folder", then paste in the path you copied earlier by either pressing Ctrl+P or right click and Paste, then click "Select Folder".
Congratulations, Star Control: Origins should now load much faster.