S01 E10: Chronicles of T’Avaya: Homecoming

 

Mission Log. Stardate 45126.8. Agent T’Avaya reporting. I have been ordered by Starfleet Intelligence to go on a mission to my home planet, Sai’idi 3, where the remains of a Klingon shuttle have been found. According to reports, the shuttle had been there for three weeks before it was found. There are also three deceased Klingons aboard. Sa’idi 3 is a remote Federation colony planet. There have never been reports of Klingon activity in the area, and Starfleet Intelligence does not know any reason the Klingons would have been there. My mission is to find out as much as I can about the shuttle and the Klingons aboard. I also have a secondary mission: to find a possible traitor on the planet.

Sai’idi 3 was colonized by Vulcans and Andorians over eighty years ago. The Andorians took the northern polar region, and my people, Vulcans, took the equatorial region. The planet is small enough, and the colonies large enough, that travel by motorcar between the two is only a few hours. Both races claim they know nothing of the Klingon shuttle. The crash site was far away from any of the colonist cities.

               While on the planet, I will be visiting my father. I have not seen him in three years, except for a few communiques. This is a meeting I have been hoping to avoid. My father will ask me to perform a ritual with him that I feel is unwarranted at this time.

 

               Valath set down his goblet and reached for his stylus and pad. Just then, he heard a chime. He got up from his chair and walked to the door. The door opened, and there she was.

               “T’Avaya!” he exclaimed. “You look well. My daughter is so beautiful!”

               She walked into his home. Her family sometimes had these short displays of emotion when they were around each other. “Greetings father.” They did the customary Vulcan father/daughter embrace--palms facing outward in the Vulcan salute, his right and to her right hand, and touching lightly. They sat down, drank hot tea, and had a long discussion to catch up on the last three years. Valath was a farmer of firgain, a type of wheat that was distributed to colonists on the planet and to several other worlds. Tav, as her family called her, was sixty-two years old. Still quite young for a Vulcan. Her father was two hundred five. He was old to have a daughter as young as she. Tav's parents had waited until they were older to conceive, as her mother had wanted more time to establish her career as a politician.

               T'Avaya noticed her father's home looked just the same as it did when she was growing up. The main gathering room was small, with only one large sofa. The colonists of Sa'idi were not as fond of large rooms as those who remained on Vulcan. The room's one window sat across from T'Avaya. It had long lavender drapes that were pulled closed in the evening. The Vulcan monolith to the right of the window was Ka'ta'pak, a representation of what the ancient Vulcans called the "Inner Circle" of emotions.

               "I know you will do well with Starfleet Intelligence," he told her. "I'm sure you will become their top operative. You are so intelligent, even for a Vulcan. And you get along so well with other species. You were meant for such great things, Tav."

               While they were talking, T’Avaya’s uncle Sivess came in. Sivess was T’Avaya’s uncle on her mother’s side. He had lived on Sa’idi 3 since his sister, T’Avaya’s mother, died ten years ago of a sinister disease. Sivess had been a high priest on Vulcan. Here on Sa’idi, he was a counselor and advisor. He had counseled Valath when his wife died. Sa’idi Vulcans had not adapted all the mental disciplines of traditional Vulcans. They felt it would allow them more freedom to appreciate the bonds of family and the beauty of life. They still embraced logic and control of their emotions, but allowed themselves more emotions when alone or with family. This also meant that loss of family could be harder for them to cope with. They coped by staying with remaining family. Thus, Sivess had come to live with Valath. T’Avaya had no other family here. Her other family members were a distant aunt and uncle on Vulcan. Sivess had been stricken with a Vulcan disease that left his face disfigured. Cosmetic surgery could fix it, for awhile, but the disease, for which there was no cure, would always bring back the disfigurement.

               Valath told T’Avaya that there had recently been a change in the planet’s weather conditions. The entire planet’s temperature had dripped by twenty degrees centigrade. Their weather modification net had been checked and rechecked and seemed to be working properly. T’Avaya said she would examine weather net. Her extensive experience in engineering should prove useful. Valath said all the Vulcan colonists would certainly appreciate that. The weather was adversely affecting his wheat crop, and other crops as well, not to mention that Vulcans preferred warmer climates. The Andorians, however, didn’t seem to mind the lower temperatures, but they were sympathetic to their Vulcan neighbors, and they were wise enough to know that any problem with the weather net could mean more problems in the future. Hundreds of years ago, Vulcans and Andorians, as spacefaring races, had been adversarial towards one another. They had been able to solve their differences and have a lasting peace. The shared colonization of Sa’idi was just one testament to that peace.

               T’Avaya left her father’s home to visit the Vulcan colony leader, Mayor T’Lisai. The government building was the largest in the city. She was escorted to the leader’s office. T’Lisai greeted her with the Vulcan salute and motioned for her to sit in the chair in front of her desk. The Mayor said, “It is agreeable to see you again. I was unware that YOU were the intelligence operative Starfleet would send.”

               “I have been working for Starfleet Intelligence for several months now.” Since T’Avaya had grown up here, she had known Mayor T’Lisai all her life. She asked about the Klingon shuttle. T’Lisai said scanners showed the shuttle had been there for three years. It appeared to have a cloaking device, which normally was reserved for larger ships, but may explain why they didn’t detect it when it crashed. There were three dead Klingons found on the shuttle, which were left untouched until the representative from Qo'noS arrives. There was no recorded data on the shuttle to show its intended destination or why it had crashed. There were also no communication logs. As they were talking, the mayor received word that the Klingon inspector, Lagala, had arrived and was at the crash site. T’Avaya left to meet Lagala.

               T’Avaya took a shuttle over to the crashed Klingon shuttle. It was in a wooded area that was full of trees and underbrush. Lagala was inside the shuttle, scanning one of the Klingon bodies. Of the three bodies, she was scanning the only one who was wearing a baldric, the one most likely to have been the leader. She was sitting on the floor, stooped over him. T’Avaya looked around. The forward section with the piloting controls had been severely smashed. Lagala said, “You are one of the colonists?”

               The Vulcan answered, “I was sent here by Starfleet Intelligence. But yes, I grew up on this planet. Can you identify the Klingons or this shuttle?”

               Lagala looked up and said, “This is a standard model shuttle. There were thousands like it made. I will run its prefix code through the Klingon database. But this one,” she pointed at the Klingon, “I know who he is. He is Drurl. He was head of house Rudov. The house was disgraced four years ago. Drurl and some of his people disappeared. They were never found, until now.”

               “What was the reason for their disgrace?”

               “That is none of your business.”

               T’Avaya thought it best not to pry at this time. She ran her own tricorder scan. She found nothing unexpected. She examined the engine. It could perhaps be saved. But the shuttle itself was to badly damaged to be of any use except for salvage parts. There was another device that had been attached to the engine that was now detached. A cloaking device. That explained how the shuttle got here undetected.

She walked to the aft area. She saw a bunk bed with a hard pillow. Klingons intentionally made everything uncomfortable. If one can’t be comfortable in bed, one can’t sleep well. If one can’t sleep well, one can’t function at peak efficiency. But she understood and respected cultural norms. She opened a compartment next to the bunk. It was mostly empty. Klingons traveled light. She saw a bat’leth, a mek’leg, and a phaser rifle. She picked up the phaser rifle. It wasn’t Klingon issue. The design was Andorian. She showed the rifle to Lagala and asked if she knew why they would have an Andorian weapon. Lagala said she had no idea.

              

               Mission log. Supplemental. I have examined the crashed Klingon shuttle. It had a cloaking device, which is not standard in a non-military ship. The three Klingons aboard must have acquired it for their own use. The Klingon Inspector Lagala informed me that the one who had been their leader was from a disgraced house. I have yet to learn why the house was disgraced. There were no data records of any kind on the shuttle to give us a clue as to why the shuttle crashed or the reason it was here. Also of interest, I found an Andorian phaser rifle on the shuttle. It appeared to be an older model and had not been used in some time. I will inquire about it to the Andorian mayor here on Sa’idi.

               The weather modification net seems to be malfunctioning. I have examined its control system and could not find the cause of the malfunction. I will take a shuttle to each of the weather satellites to determine if any of them has a problem.

 

Thihl took the shuttle to a position to bring the upper stem of the satellite into view. Then he locked the shuttle in place. T’Avaya was running sensor scans. She asked Thihl how long Sa’idi had been having weather problems. The Andorian thaan scientist answered, “For about one month now.”

“And you haven’t notified Starfleet? They could send a scientist to assist. And I’m sure other planets that you export food products to will also have concerns.”

“Tav, you know us. All of us. We do everything we can on our own. We only ask for help a last resort.”

T’Avaya knew that would be his answer, but she had to ask as a matter of protocol. The Sa’idians were proud, as she and her parents had always been. She went back to scanning the satellite.                “Are you performing the zhivka with your father while you are home?” Thihl asked.

T’Avaya looked at him in astonishment. She replied, “That is a private matter. Can we please concentrate on the work at hand?” The Vulcan and the Andorian were old friends. Still, T’Avaya preferred to keep some things within her family.

“Of course. I apologize.”

“The magnascopic inverter is off by point two percent,” the Vulcan said, ignoring his apology. “That is normal. It still works the phase discriminators at the correct intervals.” Thihl was the lead engineer in charge of the weather net. He knew everything about it, so T’Avaya trusted him. She was still concerned that something was being overlooked. She asked him to call the person at the control room planetside and ask him to recalibrate the phase array. Thihl did so. Then she rechecked the readings from the satellite. As they both looked at the monitor, they noticed the phase discriminators were not compensating for the planet’s natural magnetic field and orbit. It was causing the satellite to incorrectly measure the planet’s weather patterns. “Uzaveh!” exclaimed Thihl. “So the phase array needed to be recalibrated. But that shouldn’t be. It has an autonomic system that resets itself when needed.”

“Apparently,” T’Avaya said, “someone has tampered with it.”

“At least the problem as been fixed for now. The weather should be back to normal in six point five hours.”

“We need to address,” T’Avaya said, “who it was that may have possibly tampered with the controls.”

 

“Are you saying someone has deliberately sabotaged our weather system?” Mayor Sarash Sh'Lerihcherh said. Her blue antennae went straight up from her white hair, as if looking to the heavens for an answer. Sarash was the Andorian colony leader. She looked across the table at T’Avaya and Thihl. Mayor T’Lisai sat next to Sarash, expressionless.

“We don’t know that for sure. We are investigating the possibility. It could be a computer error,” Thihlaav Th'tilnek said. “I will have a report to both of you by midday tomorrow,” he said to both mayors. The two leaders, Sarash and T’Lisai, were in charge of their own colonies. The Andorian population was much larger, as Vulcans mated in pairs, and Andorians mated in groups of four--and thus needed more people to have viable population growth--but as far as Starfleet was concerned, the two mayors were both planetary rulers, and both must be consulted concerning anything on a planetary scale.

Mayor T’Lisai brought up the next item on the agenda, the Klingon shuttle. Thil was excused and Lagala was asked to enter the room. Lagala came in, followed by an Andorian thaan very cautiously carrying a rifle. Mayor Sarash said, “Is that the rifle that was found on the Klingon shuttle?”

“Yes, madam,” said the meek Andorian.

“Bring it to me.”

He slowly set the rifle on the table. Sarash handled it. Most Andorians, including Sarash, knew how to handle weapons. “It is an old model. And we’ve never had these in our colony.”

Lagala said, “I thought as much. Maybe Drurl was in a battle with an Andorian and took it as a trophy.”

“Such is the way of Klingons,” Sarash said. Lagala nodded and said, “T’Avaya and I determined that the shuttle had an engine failure that caused it to crash here three years ago. And it was cloaked, so no one here detected it.”

“Was it headed for this planet when the engine failed?” asked T’Lisai.

“We believe so,” said T’Avaya, “though we have yet to determine why. There were no signs that the shuttle had been attacked or been in battle. There were, however, traces of firgain. That’s a radioactive metal that is only found on Gnash’Kidha.”

T’Lisai and Sarash looked at each other. Lagala smiled and said, “Yes. Gnash’Kidha. T’Avaya here tells me that your two races have a history there.” T’Lisai said, “Four hundred years ago, when Vulcans and Andorians were adversarial towards each other, a battle was fought there. Many lives were lost on both sides, until one Andorian decided to call a truce. After much arguing and more minor skirmishes, they all agreed to stop fighting. Since then, there have been many tales as to why the fighting stopped, but most say it was due to the will and charisma of that one Andorian, Narach.”

“And isn’t it interesting,” added Lagala, “that the Andorian rifle also has traces of firgain.”

T’Avaya said, “Gnash’Kidha is now a Starfleet trading post. The Vulcans and Andorians left it long ago, since they had only been using it as a strategic position for their war. I have sent them a message inquiring if anyone there knows of Drurl. I am still waiting for a reply.”

“And I,” Lagala said, “have called Qo'noS’ about Drurl. His land and all his posessions were confiscated four years ago. He has nothing left on the homeworld. His family has fled, never to return, never to be found. They said you can have the body, if you wish. It is nothing but an empty shell.”

“And who were the other two with him on the shuttle?” asked Sarath. T’Avaya said, “DNA scans show they were his sons.”

“Your report said Drurl’s house was disgraced. Why was it disgraced?” asked T’Lisai.

Lagala gave a much more diplomatic answer than she had given T’Avaya. “I am not at liberty to discuss that.”

“He came here only a year after he was disgraced. It could be relevant,” said T’Lisai. “And we are here to oversee an investigation that concerns us. We are not interested in Klingon honor or politics, nor will we condemn you or your people for it.” Lagala would not answer. The mayors decided there was nothing more to do at this time. They closed the meeting.

 

T’Avaya was drinking tea with her father. Valath said, “Are you ready to do the zhivka?” T’Avaya set down her teacup. She got up from her chair, walked away from the table, turned around and walked back toward the table. This was the moment she had hoped would not come.

“Father,” she said, “There is no need for that. You are not old.” The zhivka was a ritual of passing down from parent to offspring. She was an only child. Her mother had already passed. The zhivka involved giving her the family shrine that she would posses when her father died. The ritual was symbolic at best, but very important to Vulcan families.

“I am two hundred and twenty years old. I may live another fifty years; I may not. I certainly do no plan on dying anytime soon, but this needs to be done. Now. Before I get Bendai syndrome or become senile or have a heart attack in my wheat field.”

T’Avaya couldn’t continue the conversation. She said, “We’ll discuss it later.” She left the room.

She walked out of the house and onto the front porch. Her uncle Sivess was sitting there. He said, “He loves you, you know. Even though we Vulcans repress our emotions, he loves you. And you love him. He needs you to do the zhivka. For him, it’s a completion. Full circle. His parents did it for him. Now he does it for you.” Sivess was not quite as old has her father, but looked much older. He had an incurable Vulcan disease that ravaged the nerves. It disfigured his face. He could have cosmetic surgery, but the disease would just bring the disfigurement back.

 She sat next to her uncle and said, “It can be done later.”

“How long will you keep saying that? Eh? Later. Later. Too late.”

“If I do it, I will be accepting that…”

“That he is old?” Sivess had been a high priest on Vulcan. He had come to Sa’idi as a counselor. So counsel his neice, he would.

She bowed her head. Sivess put his fingers under her chin and lifted her head. “I know you feel like the zhivka is saying that he is close to death. You feel like it would mean you are letting him go. But he will always be there for you. In spirit; just like your mother is here in spirit. You are letting your emotions get the better of you. Remember when you were an adolescent and had that experience of being in darkness inside an alien? That is the same feeling of fear that you have now. The fear of being alone. Fear is to be pushed aside. It is not logical.”

T’Avaya could no longer hold it in. She felt a tear roll down her cheek. “I am not a Vulcan. I am a weak emotional creature.”

Her uncle held her in his arms and comforted her. “Family is everything to a Vulcan. You are truly the most Vulcan of us all.”

 

Lagala was alone on her shuttlecraft. She opened a channel to call her brother on Qo'noS’. The screen before her had the Klingon word “Incoming” the went blank, then there appeared her brother, Kalmrac. “Did you get it?” he asked.

“Right here,” she answered, holding up a jeweled amulet.

“Excellent!”

 

T’Avaya sat in her room at her father’s house. She had not slept well last night. She was still thinking about her father. Was doing the zihvka the same as accepting that he was going to die? She hated the thought of not having him in her life. She tried to take her mind off the subject by checking her SI communicator. She had just received a coded transmission. It said that Lagala was from a Klingon house that was a rival to Drurl’s house, and that she had volunteered for this assignment. That implied that she knew Drurl was on the crashed shuttle. Then she heard a buzz. She was receiving a call from Gnash-Khida. She walked over to the desk and hit the receive button.

A man appeared on the vid screen. “I am First Assistant Tuban. You are the Starfleet Intelligence agent?”

“Yes. I am T’Avaya.”

“I am responding to your inquiry about Drurl. He and some of his family visited here a week ago. They are no longer here.”

T’Avaya asked, “Do you know what they were doing there?”

“They said they were stopping on their way to Abredon V. I was told Drurl met an old friend her. A Bolian named Otaan. They went to Otaan’s home and had some drinks. Otaan had an old Andorian phaser rifle that had been left on Gnash-Kidha since the Vulcan-Andorian skirmishes centuries ago. Otaan had an ancestor who befriended an Andorian back then. The rifle no longer had any power; he had kept it as a relic. Otaan said the Andorian’s descendants now live on Sa’idi 3, and asked Drurl to take the rifle to them--not as a weapon of war, but as a gesture of friendship. He thought the Andorians might like having a relic of their past. Drurl agreed to deliver it.”

“Has anyone else been there looking for Drurl or asking questions about him?” T’Avaya was hoping to find out more about Lagala.

“There was a Klingon woman who was looking for him. At that time, I had never heard of him, so I had nothing to tell her.”

“Did you know that he acquired a cloaking device?”

“No. He would not have gotten it here. At least not leagally.”

“Thank you, Tuban. You’ve been very helpful.”

“Is Drurl there now?”

“Drurl is dead.”

“...dead? Oh…How did he die?”

She answered, “I am still investigating. May I speak with Otaan?”

“Let me see if I can patch him through. One moment.”

She waited. And then she spoke to Otaan.

After her talk with Otaan, she checked her SI receiver again. They had sent her the data she had asked for. Namely, that the shuttle that had crashed was registered in Drurl’s name, and he had “stolen” it when he was exiled. The Klingons had tried to take all his property when he was disgraced, and the shuttle was one thing he was able to take with him. It did not have a cloaking device at that time. She did not know where he got it, but such things were always available on the black market, for a price.

Then she heard another buzz. She was receiving another call. This one was from Thihl. He wanted her to meet him at the weather net planetary base. He was still investigating the possible sabotage.

As she was leaving the house to meet with Thihl, her father spoke to her, “Leaving? Aren’t you going to have breakfast?”

She had much to discuss with him, but now was not the time.

“I am working, father. I will return later.”

“When?”

“I do not know. But I will return. Then we will talk.” She touched his shoulder. Then she left the house.

 

Thihl introduced T’Avaya to his worker on duty in the main room, Rassaal Ch'oshroleth. Thihl showed them the phase array settings. He told them everything looked fine now, but the recorded data showed the settings had been locked a month ago so that there had been no autonomic recalibration. Rass said to Thihl, “I have always kept an eye on this system. I never noticed a lock setting. I did think it odd when the planet’s temperature started unexplicably rising. And I reported it to you.”

“Yes, you did,” Thihl said. “But how did you not notice the lock setting? It’s one of the key screens you are supposed to check.”

“I’m sorry. I know it was careless of me.” Rass’s antennae drooped slightly. T’Avaya said, “Who else has been in this room?”

“I have a staff of ten, both Vulcans and Andorians. They come in and out of this room several times a day to check readings and make adjustments. I have interviewed all of them. They all had the opportunity to engage the lock, though I don’t know why any of them would do such a thing.”

“What about non staff members,” T’Avaya asked.

“Only staff are allowed here. Security cameras did not show any unauthorized personnel.”

“And there is no way anyone from outside could gain control, perhaps from one of the weather satellites?”

“Impossible.”

“And anyone on your staff would have the skills to do this?”

“Yes.”

Rass said, “There have been Vulcans snooping around outside the building. Perhaps they were able to turn off the cameras and sneak in.”

Thihl thought that highly unlikely. The base was occupied round the clock, and it was never without at least five members of his staff at any given time. And again, what would be the motive?

T’Avaya said, “Rass, how long have you been on Sa’idi 3?”

“About three months. Why?”

Thihl said, “Rass transferred here from Vaghar colony.”

“The records show,” T’Avaya said to Rass, “that there was one night you were in this room alone. You sent your coworkers to the other room to monitor some anomalous readings.” Rass’s antennae turned backwards. “Are you accusing me of something?” Then T’Avaya finally lowered the bomb. “Vaghar colony, where you are from, relies on its export of creakjon. That is a fruit that is also a major export of THIS colony. You were interfering with the weather system to inhibit the crops.”

“Is that true, Rass?” Thihl said. Rass looked around. “No. I am loyal to you, Thihl. And this colony.”

“Why don’t you save it for your trial. I’m charging you with interfering with the weather system. A very serious offense.” Rass thought of running away. But there was no where to go. He had been caught.

 

Lagala was ready to return to Qo'noS’. She had the amulet. T’Avaya had told her about Otaan and the Andorian rifle. Lagala thought it a satisfactory tale. It had given Drurl a reason to be here that had nothing to do with her. As she started to board her shuttle, she was stopped by two guards, one Vulcan and one Andorian.

“What is the meaning of this?” she said.

T’Avaya scanned her with a tricorder. “Please set down your travel case.”

“I will NOT,” Lagala quipped. Then the Andorian guard raised his phaser and ordered her again to set down the case. Lagala did as she was told. T’Avaya opened the case. In it she found a mek’leth, a tricorder, and something else: a jewel necklace. T’Avaya held up the necklace and said, “This is a temor-chor amulet of the House Rudov, Drurl’s house. Why do you have it?”

“What do YOU know about Klingon amulets. It is MINE!”

“I think not. This has House Rudov’s symbol on the back.” The Klingon growled at the Vulcan. “You meddling fool. Why does it matter? Let me go in peace.” T’Avaya spoke again. “Rival houses sometimes take objects from their dead rivals as a token of victory. Like a battle notch. Usually when they are responsible for the rival’s death. You sabotaged Drurl’s shuttle and caused it to crash. Then you took this amulet for your token of victory.” Lagala spat at the Vulcan. The guards took the Klingon into custody.

 

Jhataoh Sh'ikiakrot held the rifle and admired it. “Very nice. Primitive lines. I’ve only seen these in museums. An ancient weapon, and yet, a symbol of peace. Imagine. My ancestor used this to shoot a wall down to end a bloody fight between us and the Vulcans.”

T’Avaya was pleased the Andorian shen appreciated the gift. Mayor Sarash said, “The Klingon Drurl lost his life to deliver this to you. He knew the value of family and honoring the past.” Those words went into T’Avaya’s ears like a sharp needle in her vein.

 

T’Avaya was back in the meeting room with Mayor T’Lisai and Mayor Sarash. “Why did Lagala kill Drurul? There are many rival houses among the Klingons, if they all sought to kill each other, the race would have died out long ago,” Sarash said.

T’Avaya answered, “ When Lagala was questioned after her arrest, she revealed that Drurl had stolen Lagala’s brother’s lover. It would seem sometimes Klingon love goes beyond rival houses.”

“They are a race of passionate emotions,” T’Lisai said.

“And what of Rass? How did we come to have a traitor among our own?” asked Sarash.

“He made a deal with a friend on Vaghar colony to slow our production of their rival fruit. Vaghar has been having internal problems of late, mostly involving labor disputes. It has been affecting their economy.” The two mayors were satisfied that the threats had been eliminated. Now T’Avaya knew it was time to deal with her own internal issues.

Zhivka: the passing down from elder to younger. As it was in the past, so it shall always be. T’Avaya and Valath both wore brown robes with a red sash. The sash had the Vulcan symbols Rata ("concept"), Tafar ("discipline"), and Tapan ("process"). Valath picked up a ceramic pitcher of martu-vata tea. He poured the tea into a metal cup that had an engraving of the emblem of Surak. He lowered the pitcher and drank a swallow of the tea. Then he handed the cup to his daughter. She drank the tea. He changed the words in the ancient Vulcan. Citing their old wars, their forgotten kindred. Then he lit a votive candle. Together they both recited the words of Surak. One must honor the past. The past is useful only if we learn from it. What happens next has not been written. The vre-katras around them began to glow from within. It was the katras of their ancestors. The two Vulcans could feel the ancient energy surrounding them. Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. May they all Live Long and Prosper in our memories and in future generations. 

-by the Honorable Kavura

 

Thank you for reading my Star Trek Adventures: Captain’s Log mission report. Captain’s Log is a solo roleplaying game by Modiphius Entertainment.