S02 E05: Chronicles of T’Avaya: Love, Romulan Style

 S02 E05: Chronicles of T’Avaya: Love, Romulan Style

 

               Phelan showed the picture to the Benzite concierge. The concierge indicated that he had not seen this person before, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t been there. It was a large hotel. Rosseau V was a very popular tourist planet. Phelan knew this hotel was the largest, most posh hotel on the planet. Therefore, the ONLY one that Jerass Bihn would even think about bringing his girlfriend to.

               Phelan left the hotel and crossed the street. There was a beach with a huge waterfall, another popular attraction on Rosseau V. The pink sand and purple sky made for a very romantic scene, not to mention the green waterfall and river. He had never been romantic, but now, his heart sank—knowing the woman he had loved was enjoying all this with someone else. He looked around at all the people on the beach. He saw a Trill couple standing ten meters away. Could it be? Why, it was! Ledza and Jerass. They were walking and holding hands. Then they stopped and kissed. Disgusting! He thought. Ledza deserved so much better than that lump of flesh Jerass.

               Phelan quickly reached into his pocket for an unused data pad. He typed in a note. He walked over to a stranger and asked him to deliver the pad to the Trill woman, Ledza. Then, before Ledza and Jerass could see him, Phelan quickly left the beach.

               Ten minutes later, Phelan met with Ledza in a park on the other side of the hotel.

“How did you find me?” Ledza asked him.

“It wasn’t easy,” Phelan answered, not offering any further explanation.

“You can’t just come here and interrupt my vacation like this!”

“Can’t I? You should be here with me, not HIM!”

Ledza looked sadly at Phelan. “I’m in love with him. And how long have you been out of prison?” she asked him.

“I escaped,” he said. “Not that it would matter to you.” Her eyes opened wider. “Escaped! You mean they’re looking for you? Oh, darling, please go back. Starfleet security is probably already here. They could be watching us now.”

“No. They would have arrested me by now if they had found me. Look,” he said as he held her hands, “I need to know where you hid the file on the Irniarine.”

The Irniarine had allied with the Federation. Then, a Klingon bird of prey destroyed three Irniarine unarmed cargo ships. Ledza and Phelan were both records keepers on Starbase 451 at the time. They received a transmission from the USS Dragonfly reporting that a more detailed search and scan had revealed that the cargo ships were destroyed by a Romulan warbird that had disguised itself to fool sensors to make it register as a Klingon ship. Phelan, who was a Tal Shiar agent of the Romulan Star Empire, did not report the transmission to the Starbase commander, and erased all Starbase records of having received it. The USS Dragonfly was destroyed shortly thereafter, presumably by the same Klingon (Romulan) ship. Ledza had conspired with Phelan to keep the transmission a secret.

Ledza had been Phelan’s lover, until she could no longer take his egotistical posturing. He had been too abrasive, too stern with her, and she had left him. Then she had exposed him to Starfleet as a Romulan spy. Phelan was devastated. Not for being exposed as a Romulan who had been surgically altered to appear human, but for being betrayed by the only woman he had ever loved. Phelan had infiltrated Starfleet five years ago. He had always been loyal to the Empire. When he met Ledza, his world had changed. She had shown him grace and kindness like he had never known before.

Now, as Ledza held her head up to look at him again, she told him she still had the file, and that she would give it to him if he would leave her alone. After his cover had been revealed, she had kept her copy of the Irniarine file and not told anyone about it, out of deference to Phelan. Now, Ledza promised to meet Phelan in the same park in another hour. She would bring the file then.

After she left, another woman approached Phelan.  “Virib,” the woman said, “You are under arrest for breaking out of a Federation prison.” He felt a pointed metal object at his side. He knew what it was. A phaser. The woman had called him by his Romulan name instead of his undercover human name. “Please,” he said to the woman softly. “Let me explain.” Phelan/Virib turned his head and saw the woman’s face. She was Vulcan. He explained that he was here on Rosseau V to obtain records that would prove the Romulans and not the Klingons had destroyed the Irniarine cargo ships. He hoped that by showing the data to Starfleet, he could get leniency on his sentence. And he couldn’t go back to Romulus, so why stay loyal to the Empire? They would execute him for having been unmasked as a spy. His hope to find Ledza again had kept him from committing suicide, as most captured Romulans did.

               As he was talking to the Vulcan woman, he heard a shrill whistle and turned and saw a man being chased by a planetary security guard. The man had apparently stolen something. Virib saw the Vulcan woman had also turned her head to see the excitement. Virib took that chance to run away. As he ran, he knocked over a jogger and rushed into the direction of a more crowded section of the park. The Vulcan ran after him. She did not want to use her phaser in the crowded park. She chased him for a few seconds and realized he had disappeared.

 

Mission log. Stardate 45131.9. Agent T'Avaya reporting. I was sent on a mission to recapture an ex-Tal Shiar agent, a Romulan named Virib, who escaped from a Federation prison. I have tracked him to the planet Rosseau V, where he has followed his former lover, a Trill named Ledza. When I caught up with the ex-agent, he informed me of a Romulan warbird under the sensor guise of a Klingon bird of prey that had destroyed three Irniarine cargo ships. He said he would give me the proof in return for leniency on his sentence. I was unable to speak with him further, because he used a distraction to escape from my sight. I will continue to search for him.

 

T’Avaya used her authority as a Starfleet Intelligence (SI) agent to gain access to several security videos from hotels, restaurants, and other public places in order to find Virib. She knew he was carrying a personal dampening field, so using sensors to find him was not a viable option. She also looked at records from ships that had been to Rosseau V in the last two days. She knew he had covered his tracks well. He was ex-Tal Shiar, after all. But she had found him once, and she would find him again. She had familiarized herself with Virib’s records and knew that the Trill woman he had met in the park was Ledza Triar, his former lover on Starbase 451. Ledza was the one who had exposed Virib as a Tal Shiar agent.

T’Avaya tracked down Ledza for questioning, but apparently the Trill woman did not have anything to offer as far as Virib’s whereabouts or his intentions.

               Based on info from the video surveillance, T’Avaya went to interview a doorman at a popular sports stadium. Virib had spoken to the doorman, and that had been the last time he was seen in public. The doorman remembered Virib because he had been the only person to ask about a back entrance. Virib had said he was meeting a friend in the back because it was less crowded. T’Avaya followed the doorman’s instructions to get to the back entrance. It was halfway around the large stadium. Whereas the main entrance was crowded, the back entrance was deserted, and there were no cameras. She saw that the door had a touch pad that required fingerprint authorization.  The Vulcan used her own Starfleet Intelligence-issued de-locking device to bypass the touchpad. She entered the building. There was a long hallway with several doors on each side. She scanned for lifesigns. Her tricorder picked up a Vulcan lifesign ten meters ahead. She noticed a strange resonance along with the lifesign readings. She followed the readings.

               T’Avaya approached room with a force field. She used her phaser to break the controls and release the force field. She entered the room. There was a wooden chair in the center of the room. There was a Vulcan woman sitting in the chair with her hands tied behind her back. T’Avaya immediately recognized her.

“T’Shanik,” T’Avaya said, as she moved toward her to untie her. The two Vulcans women had met seven years ago at a symposium at Starfleet Headquarters. They had kept in touch over the years. The SI agent knew that T’Shanik had served as the flight controller on the USS Dragonfly for the last year and a half. T’Shanik explained that she and the crew of the Dragonfly had taken escape pods right before the ship had been destroyed by a Romulan warbird, the same warbird that had destroyed the three Irniarine cargo ships. The Dragonfly had sent a transmission to Starfleet that the ship was Romulan instead of Klingon, but Virib had intercepted the transmission. It could not be a coincidence that T’Shanik, a member of the Dragonfly’s crew, was here now as a prisoner. T’Shanik said her escape pod had been intercepted by the Romulan warbird and that she didn’t know of any other survivors from her ship.

               T’Avaya explained that she had been tracking a Romulan named Virib. T’Shanik said Virib had just visited her in her cell.

               “Where is Virib now?” T’Avaya asked.

“He went to see the Romulan commander, Botan. He said he could convince Botan to release me,” T’Shanik answered.

               “Why are they holding you here, and why would they release you?”

               “They are holding me to gain more knowledge about Starfleet. They also asked how much Starfleet knows about their sensor misdirections that made our sensors detect the warbird as a Klingon bird of prey.”

               “How much did you tell them?”

               “I have revealed nothing so far. They know it is unfortunate that they have captured a Vulcan, as their interrogation methods are less effective on Vulcans.”

               “And how does Virib think he can convince Botan to release you? For that matter, why would he do such a thing?”

               “Virib has been a deep undercover agent for five years. He has become sympathetic to the Federation. He believes he can convince Botan that I am useless to him. I am a Lt. J.G. with limited knowledge that would be of use to the Romulans. Much of the general Starfleet knowledge I have has already been made known to Romulus by their intelligence agents.”

               T’Avaya thought that was a strange statement. If really probed for information, which the Romulans could do in time, T’Shanik possessed much knowledge as a Starfleet officer that the Romulans would be interested in, especially as someone who served aboard a starship. But she did not pursue the matter at this time. She asked how many Romulans and others were here. The younger Vulcan answered there was only the Romulan commander Botan, Virib, and the Trill woman Ledza. And they had a cloaked Romulan scout ship in orbit around the planet. As T’Avaya had assumed, Ledza must have been working with Virib all along. When asked why the Romulans were here on Rosseau V, T’Shanik said they were testing some kind of new drug that could be used against the Federation.

The two Vulcans went in search of the others. They found another room down the hall. The door was closed, and the two Vulcans remained outside the room.  T’Avaya used her tricorder and was able to determine that it was most likely Botan, Virib, and Ledza in the room behind the door.

               The younger Vulcan told the SI agent there was a computer control room around the corner. She led T’Avaya to it. In the control room, T’Avaya saw the communications console and a dampening field controller. There was also a control for a force field for the room T’Shanik had been in. This was a simple base that had only minimal use to the Romulans. It was probably used as a meeting place more than anything else, such as covert meetings for Tal Shiar agents like Virib, and as a secret lab for testing their drug. T’Avaya used her own Starfleet Intelligence comm device to send a message to SI to let them know about the secret facility and the cloaked ship in orbit. Her comm device was a special issue type that sent coded, untraceable messages. She also knew that once SI received her message, they would send immediate backup in the form of planetary security forces.

T’Avaya quickly checked the computer to see if she could find anything else useful while T’Shanik stood by silently.  Then T’Avaya asked her to find a way to lead the others into a room where she could activate a force field. T’Avaya would activate the force field once they were there. T’Shanik agreed to do it. When T’Shanik left the control room, T’Avaya stayed and monitored the computers. It was not surprising that T’Shanik, of all the crew of the Dragonfly, had been the one to survive. She had always been very determined. After once failing the entrance exam for Starfleet Academy, T’Shanik had studied hard and came back the next year and passed the exam with flying colors.

Agent T’Avaya left the control room and walked down a hallway to another room. Sensors had picked up another Vulcan in this room. The door was locked. She used her phaser to open it. She entered the room and saw . . . T’Shanik. But now T’Shanik seemed weaker, paler, more disheveled than she had been before. The young Vulcan woman was sitting on the bed, the only piece of furniture in the room. T’Avaya raised an eyebrow. Then she said, “Have you been injured?”

“No,” T’Shanik said. “I am well.”

T’Avaya put her phaser back in its holster on her belt and pulled out her tricorder. Her scan of the Vulcan prisoner showed no signs of duress.

“Do you know that I just spoke to ‘you’ eight point seven minutes ago?”

T’Shanik raised the sleeve of her wrinkled tunic and showed the intelligence agent a large mark on her right forearm. “They took a DNA sample and made a clone of me.”

T’Avaya raised her eyebrow again. “Indeed.” So that was the reason her scan from the control room had picked up an extra resonance from the other “T’Shanik”. It also explained why the one she had untied had been so agreeable to everything she said.

 

“Hello, my Vulcan friend,” Botan said to the duplicate T’Shanik.

“Come. Sit.” Botan, Virib, and Ledza were sitting at a table drinking Romulan ale. Without saying a word, “T’Shanik” sat with them. They knew she would break out of her restraints eventually. It had been a test of the cloned Vulcan’s strength.

Suddenly, they heard an alarm. “It’s the perimeter alert! Someone else had entered!” Botan said. They all got up from the table. They headed out the door. Virib saw movement at the end of the hall. “That way!” he yelled. They ran down the hall and into another room. As soon as they were in the room, a force field went up in front of them. They turned around to go back through the door, and suddenly another force field went up. They were trapped. “This is madness!” said Botan.

Then, they saw a Vulcan step up to the doorway on the other side of the force field.

“T’Avaya!” said Virib. “It’s the Starfleet Intelligence agent that came for me!” he told Botan and Ledza. “What is the meaning of this?” Botan said to the Vulcan.

She replied, “I have detained you until planetary security can get here.” She had activated the force fields from the control room. Then, the real T’Shanik stood beside the Vulcan agent. Virib said to Botan, “You said this facility was secure!”

Botan replied, “Ack! It’s your fault. You led Starfleet Intelligence here!”

Virib held Ledza’s hand. “It’s alright,” he told her. “We will still find a way to be together.” Ledza smiled at him. T’Avaya pulled out her tricorder again and scanned the people behind the force field. “Interesting,” she said. “There is not only a resonance from the T’Shanik clone, but also from . . .”

She turned off the tricorder and said to Virib, “You must be aware that Ledza is a clone.” Ledza looked up at Virib with a slight smile and a faint look of contentment in her eyes. Nothing like the Ledza that T’Avaya had observed earlier in the park talking to a pleading Virib. It was also noteworthy that this Ledza didn’t mind hearing that she was a clone. Virib answered T’Avaya, “It was why I needed the records from Ledza in the park. The recorded transmission from the USS Dragonfly had an encoded Romulan signal attached, telling me where to find Botan’s ship. He and his crew had been working on cloning experiments.”

“You touched her and got a sample of her DNA in the park. Do you also know,” said T’Avaya, “that the clones are unstable? According to my tricorder scans, they will deteriorate in a matter of days.” Virib looked down at Ledza with sadness. “Yes. I had hoped they would have found a way. But at least I get a little time with someone who loves me.”

So the Romulans had been working on cloning humanoids, not some kind of drug. But their operation here would be shut down. And it was fortunate for Starfleet that the cloning experiment was a failure.

 

Virib and Ledza sat on the ground looking into the purple night sky. They could clearly see the asteroid belt around Rosseau V. They listened to the rhythmic sound of the vibrating pulsar. They listened to the other rhythmic sound—the vibrating clouds. Both sounds had their own musicality. The separate rhythms were like two instruments trying to find one another. Seconds passed. Then, the two sonic rhythms came together in perfect sync. They made a sound that was tranquil, romantic.

Virib and Ledza gazed lovingly into each other’s eyes. Then, Ledza suddenly grew pale and her Trill spots seemed to melt away. Then the rest of her face, her body . . . she went limp, seemingly turning to liquid. Then, she was gone. Virib knew this was the end. It was all he could have hoped for. To see his love and experience the beauty of Rosseau V one last time with her. Even if she was just a clone. He couldn’t go back home to Romulus. They would never let him return. Not after being a disgraced Tal Shiar agent. He didn’t care.

The two Starfleet security guards walked up to him, handcuffed him, and escorted him away. At least they had allowed him this one last time with his love.

 

“How is your grandmother?”

“She did not survive the Bendii syndrome.”

T’Avaya said solemnly, “I grieve with thee.”

“It was difficult,” T’Shanik said. “For her and all the family.”

T’Avaya’s communicator beeped. She looked at it. She had just received a message from Starfleet Intelligence.

“Virib has been returned to prison,” she said.

“He was an interesting study,” T’Shanik said. “The Tal Shiar are known for their discipline. Yet, he fell in love so deeply that he was willing to give up everything for it.”

“Romulans can be quite passionate in certain instances,” T’Avaya said. “Other races as well. In my experiences, I have seen humans go to extremely illogical lengths in the name of love and other strong emotions. I have known some Vulcans who envy them, for it does not always cause negative outcomes. There can be the drive for self-sacrifice, or the drive to save someone you love.”

T’Avaya herself had once been compelled illogically by a “love” for her father. She thought of that time in her not-to-distant past. The emotion had affected her judgment and caused her pain. Her family had not adapted all the mental disciplines of traditional Vulcans. They wanted 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. She fully embraced this philosophy of life. Though emotions could be painful at times, she had been taught that experience of some emotions was the best way to be honest with oneself.

 

-by the Honorable Kavura

 

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