S02 E10: Chronicles of T'Avaya: The Mighty Gorgan

 

S02 E10: Chronicles of T'Avaya: The Mighty Gorgan

(This adventure was inspired by the Spacewrecks Mission Brief entitled “The Mighty Gorgon”.)

            Mission log. Stardate 45134.3. Agent T’Avaya reporting. The Federation starship USS Gorgon has been discovered adrift in the 14 Eridani System. The Gorgon, a Daedalus-class ship, was one of the most decorated ships in the Earth-Romulan War, which took place from 2156 to 2160. Later, the Gorgon was presumed destroyed while defending Federation territory from a Klingon incursion in the year 2196. My intelligence team, Shadow Centurions, has been ordered by Starfleet Intelligence to destroy the ship before it drifts into the Eridani system’s space lanes. Freighter traffic is heavy in that sector, and the Federation needs those space lanes clear. SI is working in conjunction with Section 31 on this mission. Section 31 has loaned us a Danube-class ship, which has been dubbed “Enabler”, that has been refit as a stealth ship with enough fire power to destroy the Gorgon.

            “Coming up on 14 Eridani,” said Cassandra. As a former Section 31 agent, she remembered having piloted the Enabler on a previous mission. She recalled the helm being sluggish. She adjusted the controls and maneuvered the ship as best she could.

            “Slow to impulse,” ordered T’Avaya, the Shadow Centurion team leader.

            “Does anyone know why this ship was lost and not discovered for almost three hundred years?” asked Cassandra. T’Avaya answered, “Starfleet Intelligence assumes it’s because this area wasn’t widely travelled until recently.”

            “And what happened to the crew?”

            “No one knows. It is tragic that we won’t get to investigate. Our orders are to destroy it immediately,” T’Avaya said.

            Cassandra said, “Don’t you think it strange that SI doesn’t want an investigation?”

            “Perhaps,” said T’Avaya. “But it IS an old ship.” Even as she said it, T’Avaya would indeed like to study the ship before destroying it. Historical ships, especially one that had seen as many battles as this one, were fascinating. “Is the ship in sensor range?” she asked.

            Cass replied, “Yes. Coming into view now.” They looked at the ship on the viewscreen. The USS Gorgon was battle-scarred but still majestic.

            “Once we are in range,” Tav ordered, “use the tractor beam to tow the ship away from the shipping lane. We don’t want to leave any debris in the area.” Then Cass said, “Commander, I’m picking up a strange energy reading from the Gorgon.” (As the leader of the Shadow Centurions, T’Avaya was often referred to by her team as “Commander”.)

            “Specify,” said Tav.

“The ship is armed with nuclear torpedoes. The energy signature is very faint. Most ships would not have detected it. But sensors detect nothing from the engines or comms. And no life signs.” The Gorgon was built in the 22nd century. Nuclear torpedoes were common in that period.

            Then, suddenly a civilian vessel dropped out of warp between the Gorgon and the Section 31 ship. T’Avaya ordered Miadere, the agent at ops, to scan the civilian ship. Miadere ran the scan and checked it against the Starfleet database. She said the ship is registered to a group called the Sons and Daughters of the Earth-Romulan War, an organization dedicated to the education and preservation of history concerning that particular war. Interesting, thought T’Avaya, that the news of this ship’s discovery had reached the organization so quickly.  As the saying goes, “news travels faster than warp speed.” Miadere said the ship was hailing them. T’Avaya said to patch it through.

            The three SI agents looked at the human male on the viewscreen. “I am Commodore Darren Stiles—retired, Starfleet—currently in command of the SS Atlas. We represent the Sons and Daughters of the Earth-Romulan War. We are taking the USS Gorgon,” said the human, ”to the ERW museum to preserve its historical significance. It will be a tangible reminder of that horrid conflict, in which millions of human, Vulcan, Andorian, and Tellarite lives were lost. It will be used to educate future generations on military history, honor the memory of those who served on it and died in the war, and symbolize Federation heritage and technological advancements.”

            T’Avaya replied, “This is T’Avaya. We are here on behalf of Starfleet. The USS Gorgon is Starfleet property, and we have been ordered to take her into custody.” She did not want to reveal that her orders were to destroy the ship. “You have no claim to this ship. You will leave this space immediately.”

            Commodore Stiles refused, and threatened to file a formal report with Starfleet, claiming he had every right to the ship, and that he still had friends in Starfleet who would back him. T’Avaya asked Mia if the Atlas was armed. It was not. T’Avaya then bluffed that she would use her ship’s phasers on them if they did not leave. She also stressed again that this was a Starfleet matter. Stiles very smartly mentioned that T’avaya and her crew were not in Starfleet uniforms. They could show their SI badges, but those could be forged. T’Avaya knew he had her. The only way to prove they were under orders from SI was to send a communique and wait for a reply, and that would take hours. She could ask Starfleet for reinforcements, but again, it would take hours—plus, this mission was supposed to be kept under wraps. She didn’t ask SI why it was to be kept secret. She just did as she was told.

            “Commander,” said Cassandra, “the Atlas is activating her tractor beams at the Gorgon. She is moving towards the Gorgon.” T’Avaya ordered Mia to break the comm transmission. She saw the Atlas moving. Then Mia reported a transmission from the Gorgon. The transmission said the Atlas had used the tractor beam to bind itself to the Gorgon. They were not leaving until they were allowed to take the Gorgon with them.

            Cassandra said, “I’m pretty sure Commodore Stiles is determined to take the Gorgon. His family has a long history in Starfleet. He lost family members in the Earth-Romulan conflict.” T’Avaya and Miadere knew that Cass was a history buff and had studied many Starfleet wars. Cass also mentioned that their ship, SS Atlas, was named after a prominent ship in the ER war.

            T’Avaya had Mia scan the Atlas for the number of personnel. There were ten people aboard. She was about to have them beamed to the Enabler when Mia announced that the Atlas had just beamed two of their crew to the Gorgon. Tav tried to hail the Atlas again. This time the hail was ignored. Their scans showed there was still breathable air on the Gorgon. Cass said that SAD (as the Sons and Daughters group called themselves) was dedicated enough to their cause that they probably had a copy of the original specs for the Gorgon and might try to get the engines or weapons working. Tav decided that she and Cass would beam over to the Gorgon. Mia would raise the shields on the Enabler as soon as she beamed Tav and Cass, and then keep trying to hail Stiles.

            Tav and Cass beamed to the Gorgon with their phasers drawn. They found the two SAD members in engineering. They were unarmed. They were at an engineering console, apparently trying to bring the outdated warp core online. They were not intimidated by the phasers that were pointed at them. They kept working as they introduced themselves. One was a female Tellarite named Javee. The other was a female human named Diana Renaldo. They said they were bringing the engines online so they could take the ship to SAD headquarters on Berengaria V. Their tractor beam did not have enough force to tow the ship on its own.

As T’Avaya again told them that the ship belonged to Starfleet and that SAD had no right to it, Cassandra tried a different tack. She said to Javee, “Did you know there were survivors of the USS Mol Ask’nnar?” Javee finally looked up from the engineering console. The USS Mol Ask’nnar was a Starfleet ship with a Tellarite and human crew that was lost in the era leading up to the ER war. There were no official records as to the fate of the ship, but most believed it destroyed by the Romulans. Cass explained that there was a non-aligned world, called Im’tep, that had discovered an old Franklin-class probe that had a distress call from the Mol Ask’narr. Franklin probes had been launched by Starfleet during the years that Starfleet ships had been destroyed by “pirates” that were later discovered to be Romulans. The probes, in an attempt to reach out to the “pirates”, had messages of peace in all known languages. The probes were never seen or heard from after their launch. Javee knew about the probes and asked how one of them came to have a distress call. Cass said that, apparently, the Mol Ask had been damaged by unknown pirates who abandoned them and left the ship dead in space. Then one of the probes happened to find its way to them. The Mol Ask, with communications and warp drive damaged beyond repair, put a distress signal on the probe and sent it on its way. The probe was found by an Im’tep ship, which led them to find the Mol Ask. Many of the Mol Ask’s crew had perished in the Romulan attack. There were seven survivors who were rescued: two humans and five Tellarites. The ship took them to Im’tep. According to their historical records, the Im’tepians had no subspace communications and no ships that could travel as far as Federation space. Even now, a few traders from aligned worlds visit their planet, but the natives never had any desire to join the Federation, and they mostly keep to themselves. There were rumors that a Tellarite family still lived there in seclusion, descendants of the Mol Ask survivors. The human survivors died shortly after reaching Im’tep.

Javee looked astonished. However, Diana warned her that she was being deceived. These Starfleeters would say anything to distract them. T’Avaya was also intrigued. She had never heard of Im’tep, but it was possible that Cassandra was telling the truth. Cass loved studying history and was a crack researcher. Plus, this could have all been known to Section 31, Cass’s former employer.

Javee said that she had a great-great uncle who disappeared on the Mol Ask. She would be very interested to know more about this Tellarite family on Im’Tep. But for now, she had a job to do.

Just then, T’Avaya got a call from Miadere. She had just picked up the same energy reading from the Gorgon. It was stronger now, so she could tell where on the ship it was coming from. It was not from the engineering section. It was coming from the torpedo bay. Diana said she did not think anything on this ship should still be active and that she would like to see where the energy reading was coming from. T’Avaya was also interested in the reading and said she would escort Diana to the torpedo bay. Diana scoffed at the word “escort”, but she agreed to walk with the Vulcan to the torpedo bay. They left Javee and Cassandra in engineering.

When they got to their destination, they saw two torpedoes. The ship must have had more that had been fired in battle. T’Avaya scanned them with her tricorder. She got an energy reading from one of them. She walked over to it and pulled off the casing. It had a strange pod inside. She also saw the mechanism that was causing the energy reading. The mechanism was a static conduit that would keep the pod intact until just the right time after the torpedo’s launch. She scanned the pod. Her scan picked up some kind of living organism, a virus. She called Miadere and told her to beam the pod to the Enabler for study. Miadere was a biochemical scientist and should be able to determine the nature of the virus. Tav and Diana removed the torpedo from the launch pad. Then Tav was able to shut off the launch mechanism. They went back to engineering.

Javee reported that she was not able to get the engines online. Javee and Diana were both engineers, but the Gorgon’s engines were too old and obsolete to get them working again. They were still determined not to let Starfleet have the ship. T’Avaya, who was also an engineer, examined the warp core herself out of curiosity. She saw that a resonance dampener had been installed underneath the console. It was modern technology that would keep the engines from coming online. It must have been installed by Javee or Diana. But why would they want to install such a thing when they were here to start up the engines? Tav did not reveal her findings until she could learn more about the situation.

Commodore Stiles called Diana to inquire about their progress. She told him it was hopeless. All four women on the Gorgon agreed that they would beam back to their respective ships. Stiles was still determined to stay bound to the Gorgon by tractor beam until Tav’s team let them keep it.

With Tav and Cass back on their ship, Mia told them what she found about the virus. It was a mutagenic virus with Klingon DNA. They all recalled that the last mission of the USS Gorgon was to stop a Klingon incursion. Mia said this virus would have made the Klingons more docile. Tav said, “If this weapon was in one of the torpedoes, then at least some of the key personnel on the Gorgon at the time knew about it. The ship must have had a mission, whether secret or not, to fire the torpedo and infect the Klingons. If we had destroyed the ship as ordered, no one would ever have discovered this virus. Perhaps Starfleet Intelligence knows about it. Or Section 31. Maybe that is why they loaned us this ship to destroy the Gorgon.”

“Perhaps someone on the Gorgon two hundred years ago was working for Section 31,” Cass surmised.

Mia suggested, “And someone on the Atlas could be working for Section 31 now. Someone who knows about this virus.”

Then Tav thought of the device she had found on the Gorgon’s warp core. Now some things were coming into focus. Either Javee or Diana had installed to device to keep the ship from powering its engines. But she still did not know why.

While the team was discussing the situation, a hail came from the Atlas. Stiles appeared on their viewscreen, looking nowhere near as confident and haughty as he had before. “Someone has sabotaged my ship!” he yelled. “The engine is going to overload and blow up us AND the Gorgon. The tractor beam is still bound, and we can’t unlock it. Our chief engineer, Javee, was just found dead, and Diana has disappeared. You’ve got to help us!”

Tav scanned the SS Atlas and saw that their engine was on a build up to critical overload. It could be a trap, she thought, but she still had to try to help them. She said she could beam the crew to Enabler. Stiles did not want to do that. He wanted his ship and the Gorgon saved. She told Mia and Cass to keep scanning the Atlas and the Gorgon and to monitor comms channels. And she told them to keep a constant transporter lock on her and the Atlas’s crew. She beamed over to the Atlas’s engineering room. She immediately recognized the configuration of the civilian ship and its warp core. She had been on this type of ship before. She went to the intermix chamber. Then, Diana appeared from around the corner with a phaser. Stiles, from behind T’Avaya, said, “Diana! What are you doing?”

Diana said she was going to make sure the ship blew up and took the Gorgon with it. She knew she would die too, but—and she didn’t mind saying this since everyone else was going to die—she was on a mission for Section 31 to destroy the Gorgon, and her own life was expendable.

“The mutagenic weapon,” said T’Avaya. “Yes,” said Diana. “It was Section 31’s secret back then, and it will stay their secret.”

T’Avaya realized that was why Diana had wanted to walk with her to the torpedo bay; to see the mutagenic virus for herself. Tav said, “Cassandra and Miadere are still on the Enabler. They will tell Starfleet Intelligence about the virus.”

Diana said, “Section 31 has taken care of that.” She pulled out a small device and held it up. “Your ship is on loan from Section 31. This device will activate your ship’s self destruct as soon as I push this button.”

Stiles pleaded, “Diana, I have no idea what you’re talking about with Section whatever and mutagenic whatever, but you had ancestors that died in the war, just like me. You and everyone on this ship are like family. Don’t you care about us, about the Gorgon?”

Diana’s expression turned from stern and embittered to confused and mistrustful. “I’m sorry, Darren. I do care about all of you. And my great-great grandmother, whom the USS Diana was named after. But this is for a greater cause. The security of the Federation.”

Stiles couldn’t believe it. He said, “You killed Javee. It had to have been you. Have you no shame?” Diana started to quiver. The emotional pain was showing in her face. T’Avaya took that moment to kick the phaser out of her hand. The human woman dove at Tav, knocking her down. Tav immediately jumped to her feet and struck Diana across the chin. Then Tav pulled out her own phaser. Diana froze. By this time, more of the crew had entered engineering. Stiles had them escort Diana out. Tav went back to work on the intermix chamber. She also made sure to pick up the detonator for the Enabler that Diana had dropped. She was able to stop the overload on the Atlas.

 

Once the emergency was over, Commodore Stiles beamed over to the Enabler for a casual visit, and to thank them for letting him have the USS Gorgon and not destroying it. And for saving their lives. T’Avaya had already sent a communique to Starfleet Intelligence informing them of Section 31’s duplicitous actions, both in the past (concerning the mutagenic Klingon virus) and now (wanting the Gorgon destroyed before anyone discovered the virus). She ordered Miadere to destroy the mutagenic virus.

Stiles said to Cassandra, “Before she was murdered, Javee told me what you told her. Is it true, about survivors of the USS Mol Ask’nnar?”

“Yes,” she told him. “I visited Im’tep nine years ago for a Section 31 mission. I actually met one of the Tellarites who was a descendent of the Mol Ask’s crew. They like to keep a low profile. But I’m sure they would be happy to meet some more of their family if Javee had any other relatives.” Stiles told her he would mention it to Javee’s family.

Stiles continued, “My crew has now listened to some of the logs on the Gorgon. Many of her crew were killed in battle with the Klingons. Their bodies were ejected into space. That was the only way to dispose of bodies back then. The ship was so badly damaged that they tried to take escape pods. But there was a reactor breach that caused the escape pods to explode. There must not have been any other survivors, besides the seven that Cass said the Im’Tep ship found.”

T'Avaya said, “A great loss for such a fine ship. The crew served well.”

Stiles said, “You know, my father and grandfather will be so happy to see the Gorgon. She was in many battles during the war, under Captain Gary Stiles and under Captain Milt Fenway. The Gorgon won four awards for gallantry during the war. I couldn’t believe it when I heard she had been found after all these years.”

T’Avaya added, “I am pleased that we didn’t have to destroy her. May she be a monument to you and all your family, and a noble example of the history that Starfleet represents.”

 

-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.