S03 E03: Chronicles of T'Avaya: Starfleet Intel’s Centurion Vacation

 

S03 E03: Chronicles of T'Avaya: Starfleet Intel’s Centurion Vacation

(This adventure was inspired by “Squirk’s Scheme” from the Mission Brief Trade Ledgers.)

Cassandra Chand walked along the shore of Chrango Beach. She felt the wet sand between her toes and the breeze in her hair. She remembered her home planet Ceti Alpha V was just the opposite. The sand and the high winds were dangerous there. You couldn’t have walked on the planet’s surface without protection over your body and face. When she was a child, she was rescued from that planet by Section 31 and taken to a secret planet. They knew she was the child of genetically enhanced humans; something that in this day and age is forbidden. But was that really the reason they kept her and the others on Ceti Alpha V hidden? Weren’t they really kept secret so they could be trained as super agents for Section 31? She owed a lot to Section 31. They raised her, educated her, took care of her. Now she was part of T’Avaya’s Starfleet Intelligence team. She was still officially part of S31; she was just “on loan” to SI until further notice. She liked working for SI. She didn’t have to be as lethal, as cut throat. And she liked working with T’Avaya and Miadere. They were her friends, not competitive with her. They looked out for her.

 Here on the beach, being out in the open, wearing a one-piece bathing suit made her feel free. She wanted to run at superfast speed and do somersaults. But that would draw too much attention. She was here with her team on a little vacation, but she still couldn’t afford to be conspicuous. She was enjoying the scenery, the smells, and the sounds of the waves in the ocean when a human male started walking alongside her.

“I’ve never seen you here before,” the man said to her. “Beautiful. Isn’t it?”

Cassandra wasn’t looking for companionship. She looked for a way to let him down easy. “It is. If you don’t mind, I’d really like to enjoy it alone.”

“But why? Everything is better when shared.”

Not everything, she thought. She was saved from having to reply when a Bolian female came up to him on the other side. “Well, Steve, who’s this lovely lady? I thought you said you don’t like females of your own species.”

“Dranda, honey,” he said. “I don’t. I mean, I was just saying hello.”

Then the two of them stopped and argued while Cassandra kept walking. Whew! Cassandra thought. Saved by the Bolian.

 

            Miadere gyrated to the music. She hoped the dance floor was crowded enough that she wouldn’t stand out. She was a Deltan/Orion hybrid, which meant she was a natural dancer and naturally pheromonal. She just wanted to have fun today. She had been on mission after mission as part of T’Avaya’s Starfleet Intelligence team, which was internally known as the “Shadow Centurions”. Miadere had found it very rewarding working for SI. Before that, she had been an intelligence agent for the Interstellar Commerce Protectorate. She was technically still an agent for them; she was just “on loan” to SI. Either way, here she was, finally getting to do another activity she loved, dancing, on a well-deserved vacation on the resort planet Fellebia.

            Miadere felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around and saw her friend Tezek. Miadere smiled and hugged her friend. “I thought you weren’t coming for another hour!”

            “Change of plans,” Tezek said. “I really need to talk to you.”

            They walked off the crowded dance floor into the next room where people were sitting at tables enjoying casual conversations. They found an empty table against a wall and sat down. After a few pleasantries, Miadere said, “Okay, Tezek, why did you ask me to meet you here?” Tezek had a scared expression on her face. She looked at her friend with dark, sullen eyes. “It’s Nissaassaa,” she said. “She’s been kidnapped by a Ferengi.”

             Miadere had never met Nissaassaa, but she knew that she was Tezek’s business partner. Tezek was an Orion, and Nissaassaa was a Boslic. The two of them ran a thriving ground car rental business on Fellebia. They had started the business seven years ago, and it had taken off immediately. The resort planet Fellebia made most of its money from tourism, and many people who visited liked renting transportation so they could see the local sights for themselves.

            “Why would someone kidnap your business partner?”

            “I noticed that Nissaassaa didn’t come to work today. And she didn’t answer my calls. Just when I was about to call the police, a female Ferengi named Squirk came into my office. She told me she had Nissaassaa. And if I wanted her back, I had to give Squirk all of my partnership in the business. She said I have eighteen hours to decide. That was one hour ago.

“You have to find her, Miadere,” Tezek said. “She’s the best friend I ever had. Next to you.”

“Do you know this Squirk?” Miadere asked.

“She is a drug trader. She runs the illegal psytrobain drug trade here on Fellebia; but not just Fellebia, the whole sector. The officials have been after her for years. But she’s too smart to get caught. She has many business deals that are perfectly legal. Please help! They’ll kill Nissaassaa! And I can’t afford to give Squirk controlling interest in my business. She would ruin it. Nissaassaa and I built up a good, honest, reputable business.”

Squirk sounded like a very dangerous Ferengi female. Ever since the male Ferengi named Rom and become the Grand Nagus and given more rights to their females, some took it to the extreme. After centuries of not being able to wear clothes or earn profit, now Ferengi females were coming into their own. Most of the ones that Miadere knew about had started their own legitimate business. But this Squirk must have seen opportunities elsewhere, giving a bad name to all the honest female Ferengi entrepreneurs.

“It’s ok, Tezek. I will help you. Just leave it to me.”

Tezek has asked Miadere for help because she was someone she trusted, and because she was street-smart. She had to help find Tezek’s partner. Psytrobain was a dangerous drug, and its use had run rampant in this part of space. Starfleet Intelligence would gladly approve a mission to find Squirk.

 

Mission log. Stardate 45135.8. Agent Miadere reporting. It’s been years since I’ve seen Tezek, an Orion friend. Her business partner, a Boslic named Nissaassa, has been abducted by a Ferengi gangster, Squirk, who works in the illegal psytrobain drug trade. Tezek has asked me for help. I guess vacation time is over. Starfleet Intelligence has also approved of the mission, because Squirk has been wanted for several years for alleged criminal activities that so far no one has been able to prove.

Lobia offered a cup of tea. T’Avaya accepted. Lobia had hosted a monthly book club meeting the night before, of which Nissaassaa was a regular attendee. The home of Lobia, a male Trill, was the last known location of the missing Boslic woman. T’Avaya had been fine with helping Miadere find her old friend’s missing business partner. Besides, Squirk and his illegal business needed to be stopped, and Starfleet Intelligence agreed.

Lobia told the Vulcan that there was a new person at the meeting last night who came with Nissaassaa. He was an Andorian named Threlkan. T’Avaya asked if he knew anything about Threlkan. He did not. Then the Vulcan excused herself and said she would be right back. She went outside and called Cassandra, who was currently on their runabout, and ordered her to see if the Starfleet Intelligence database had anything on an Andorian named Threlkan. Cassandra ran the name and found that Threlkan was a criminal smuggler. Cassandra transmitted the file to the Vulcan’s padd. T’Avaya went back inside and showed Lobia a holographic picture and asked if it was the same Andorian. Lobia confirmed that it was the same person. The Vulcan thanked him for his time, and for the tea.

“Do you like to read?” the Trill asked her.

“Yes,” said the Vulcan. “I find it a productive and relaxing pastime.”

He put his hand on her shoulder. “What kind of books do you read?” he asked her, smiling. The Vulcan said, “I apologize, but I do not live on Fellebia, and I will not be able to attend any of your book club meetings.”

“Are you sure? How long will you be here? I know we could accommodate you in the next few days. And then, who knows? I would love to learn more about you, and what it’s like as a lovely Vulcan working for Starfleet Intelligence. You must meet some interesting characters; even more fascinating than fiction.” He squeezed her shoulder and reached for her hand.

She knew it was time to end the conversation. “Thank you for your time,” she said, and made her exit.

 

Miadere looked through the window of the skybridge. The view of the city was amazing. Through the glass ceiling she could see other skyscrapers, mostly hotels and stores. Through the side windows she saw the beautiful landscaping and the crowded streets with vendors and tourists. She walked over to the bench next to a sign that had an advertisement for a tour of the ancient Marcovian ruins. There was a Yridian male sitting on the bench. She sat next to him. “You’re pretty—for a girl,” the Yridian said to her.

She gave the proper response, “and you’re never around when I need you.”

The Yridian, Yanti, was a Starfleet Intelligence contact who claimed to have information on Squirk. Miadere gave him two latinum coins. He told her Squirk ran a garment factory on Fellebia. The factory was probably a front for her illegal drug business. She asked for the location of the factory. Yanti said he didn’t know. She gave him two more coins. He said he didn’t know the factory location, but he did know that Squirk had been seen the night before at a hologram arcade called Brandy’s Holo Arcade.

She thanked him and started to leave. He grabbed her hand and said, “I’ll give you back your coins for…an hour alone.” Most people found Miadere quite attractive, even if, like now, she wasn’t even using her Deltan/Orion pheromones on them. And even if she was still into casual sex, which she wasn’t, she was too engaged in helping her friend right now.

“Sorry,” she said. “You couldn’t afford me.” And she quickly walked away.

 

Miadere entered the holo arcade. Just inside the entrance was a large foyer with several rooms and hallways. There was a desk off to the side. Miadere went up to the desk and showed the employee her Starfleet Intelligence badge. She asked to speak to the owner. The person led her down a hallway to an office. He knocked on the door. A female voice yelled for them to come in. The employee let Miadere in the office and left. The Deltan/Orion showed the owner, Brandy, her badge and asked if she had seen Squirk or Threlkan. She showed her holographic pictures of them. Brandy, a female human, said she didn’t recognize them, but she had lots of Ferengi and Andorian customers, and she did not know all of them. She also showed her a holo image of Nissaassaa. Brandy did not recognize her. Miadere asked to see the security footage (she had seen security cameras in the main foyer) from the last two days. Better yet, Miadere asked the footage be transmitted to her SI tricorder. Her tricorder could run a facial recognition program.

Brandy pulled up the security files on her computer. As she was working the computer, the SI agent asked if there had been any fights or anything suspicious recently. The owner said there had not.

Miadere had seen these types of arcades before. The customers would go in, and first, they would use a machine to convert their digital credits—or any other currency--to coins used only in the venue. Then they would walk around and play whatever holo programs they wanted to play, as long as it was unoccupied by another customer. There would be about five holo programs per room, each program being coin-operated. Most of the programs were holographic games. Some were a scene to act out, such as a romantic date on a beach or a scenic boat ride. None of them lasted more than fifteen minutes, to keep people going from holo to holo and inserting more and more coins. And most of them would be of the respectable variety, nothing too “adult”.

Once Brandy had the files ready to transmit, Miadere set her SI tricorder to receive, and the owner transmitted the files. The SI agent watched her tricorder as it received the data. She tapped a button to save the files. Then she ran a facial recognition program. While it was running, the tricorder played the security videos at superfast speed. She was watching the videos and thought what an interesting pastime this arcade was. It certainly catered to people’s desire to stay busy, and to their short attention spans. And a desire to be entertained. There seemed to be a lot of teenage customers.

The tricorder beeped. “Found something?” Brandy asked. The agent replied in the positive as she played back the findings. There was only one positive ID. It was Squirk. Apparently, she had been there the day before. She played three games. She seemed to be enjoying herself. Then she went into another room. Miadere showed it to the owner and asked what room that was. Did it have a security camera? Brandy said it was the office where her night manager worked. And no, there was no camera there. There didn’t seem to be a video of Squirk leaving the office. Brandy said the office had a door to the outside of the building, just like her own office.

“Was the night manager working at the time Squirk entered the office?”

Brandy looked at the records on her computer and said yes; Quenton was working at that time.

“Is he in his office now?”

“No. He won’t be back until tomorrow night.”

“I want to see his office.”

They went to Quenton’s office. She told Brandy to turn on Quenton’s computer console. She did so. Then Miadere started looking on the computer for anything questionable. Brandy knew that Miadere was an SI agent and had authority to conduct a computer search. The agent found the comm log and asked the owner if she noticed any comms that did not pertain to her business. Brandy looked and said everything looked normal. It was all communiques with vendors. Then the agent found the shipping records, purchase orders, and accounts payables. They were both looking for anything questionable when Miadere noticed a payment to Holbert’s Garment Factory. Why would a holo arcade need anything from a garment factory? Brandy furled her brow. The description said the payment was for “supplies”. Well that didn’t help much. The owner embarrassingly said she did not recognize the payment and did not know what it was for. Miadere made sure to get the factory name and address on her tricorder. She thanked Brandy for all her help.

 

Cassandra had stopped her ground car a kilometer away and walked up to the garment factory. It was a one-story building surrounded by trees. She saw a door to the building with two armed guards. There were no windows. She was pretty sure that if it were truly a garment factory, it wouldn’t need armed guards. Her tricorder detected three people inside: one Ferengi, one Boslic, and one Andorian. She pulled out her SI communicator and called Miadere and T’Avaya to let them know she was in position. Miadere reported there were two more guards by a door on the other side of the building. T’Avaya gave the signal that she would implement a diversion. Cassandra broke the secure transmission. Ten seconds later, right on schedule, there was an explosion half a kilometer to the southeast of the building. The guards ran off in the direction of the explosion and Cassandra ran for the door. She quickly used a phaser to blast the door open. At the same time, Miadere ran through the other doorway.

Cassandra saw an Andorian reaching for a disruptor hanging on the wall. Aiming her phaser at him, she told him to stop and put his hands up. She recognized him as Threlkan. She quickly tied him to a chair so she could search for Squirk and Nissaassaa. “Who are you?” he asked. She ignored his question.

“Where’s Nissaassaa?” she said.

“You’ll never find her. The caged animal is released. A great hunt ensues. Set another trap. Another trap. Another trap.”

Cassandra recognized the passage. Threlkan was citing a quote from the Andorian story “Animal or Foe”. He must have been great fun at the book club meeting, but she had no time for that now. She left him tied to the chair and started searching the building. T’Avaya and Miadere should have entered through the back door by now. She turned on her tricorder as she walked down a hallway. Most of the space was unoccupied, filled with old machinery that hadn’t been used in years. Planetary records had indicated that it was indeed a garment factory ten years ago. There were Ferengi and Boslic lifesigns ten meters ahead of her in a large room. Then she detected engine emissions in that room. They were getting away in a shuttle! She ran there with her super, genetically enhanced legs. When she got there, the roof had opened and the shuttle was gone. T’Avaya and Miadere ran in behind her. They had lost Squirk and Nissaassaa.

They went back to Threlkan. Cassandra asked him again where Squirk was taking the Boslic woman. He refused to answer. They told him the local police were already on their way to take him into custody. Then the three agents used their personal transport signals to beam back up to their runabout. They had no time to interrogate the Andorian.

From the runabout, T’Avaya scanned the area of space around the planet for Squirk’s shuttle. She found it, and set a course to follow. The shuttle had been modified with warp engines, but had not entered warp speed yet. It was trying to maneuver around all the tourist traffic around Fellebia. Once the SI runabout Shavokh was close enough to fire, T’Avaya fired upon the impulse engines of the shuttle. It did not stop, but it slowed enough for the Shavokh to overtake it. T’Avaya hailed them and said she and Miadere were beaming aboard.

When Miadere materialized on the shuttle, she quickly found Nissaassaa. T’Avaya arrested Squirk and put handcuffs on her. She did little to resist. They all beamed back to the Shavokh. They used their tractor beam to tow the shuttle back to Fellebia.

“Tezek will be so happy to see you,” Miadere told Nissaassaa. The Boslic woman smiled. “Thank you so mu-…much…rescuing me.”

Miadere said, “Are you okay?”

The Boslic said, “Oh, yeah. Just…What’s going to happen to, to…Squirk?”

Miadere ran a tricorder scan on the Boslic. “Your central nervous system is depressed. Let me take a blood sample.”

“No! Take me to, to, to Squirrrrrk!” Nissaassaa screamed.

“What is happening?” T’Avaya wanted to know.

Miadere said, “I think she’s been taking psytrobain. She has elevated blood pressure and heart rate. Much more that what would be caused by stress. And frontal lobe dysfunction.”

Nissaassaa screamed again, “I have to…Squirrrr--!”

Miadere injected her with a sedative and carried her to a cot. Then she took a blood sample to test for the illegal drug. It didn’t take long to run the test. Nissaassaa had definitely been taking the drug. It did not make sense that Squirk would give her drug to an innocent kidnapping victim. It was expensive and addictive. She wouldn’t give it to someone who couldn’t pay for it. Miadere knew that trascobin could counteract the drug, at least for a short time. She gave the Boslic an injection.

T'Avaya went to talk to Squirk. She was locked in an empty room that they sometimes used as a holding cell. The Ferengi claimed to know nothing about psytrobain or how the Boslic had gotten hold of it. “The lovely Boslic is my business partner. Would you be interested in a partnership yourself? I could use a smart, beautiful Vulcan like you,” Squirk said, showing her crooked teeth. T’Avaya ignored the question and said, “What do you mean she was your business partner?”

“Why, hasn’t she told you? I was going to give her half my shares from her partner, Tezek. So she and I would own the company together.”

 

When the trascobin had taken affect, they questioned Nissaassaa. Miadere also did a deeper scan. She found that Nissaassaa had traces of quanric glass on her hands. That was used in a common vial used for smoking the illegal drug. There was enough of it on her fingertips to indicate she had been a regular user. When confronted, she admitted that Squirk had been her supplier. But then, why did she kidnap her, Miadere asked. Because, as the Boslic said, Squirk was not only her supplier; she had also become her would-be business partner. If Squirk had gotten the partnership of Tezek and Nissaassaa’s rental car business, she would have shared that with Nissaassaa. Squirk wanted part of the business to launder her drug money, and Nissaassaa wanted access to keep using the drug. It was the perfect setup. Nissaassaa had not expected Tezek to ask her friend Miadere for help.

 

“It’s all so appalling,” said Tezek to Miadere. “I never thought Nissaassaa would betray me like that.”

“Did you know she was addicted to psytrobain?”

“No. But she had started taking more and more days off, saying she wasn’t feeling well. I never thought anything about it.”

“And you never saw Squirk?”

“No. Never. And how was that Andorian involved? I never met him or knew anything about him.”

Miadere said, “Threlkan was one of Squirk’s smugglers. He had also become friends with Nissaassaa. She is the one who invited him to her book club.”

T’Avaya said, “Lobia, the book club leader, told me that Nissaassaa had started to become more and more disconnected with her book club friends. Obviously, a result of her increased drug use.”

T’Avaya also mentioned the holo arcade employee, Quenton. He had been buying the drug and paying for it through his employer. The building, i.e. the “garment factory”, had been a major place of operations for Squirk. The local police had found much of his latinum there, plus his computer database of his customers. The authorities had not yet been able to find his drug factory, but it would only be a matter of time.

Squirk, Threlkan, and Quenton had been taken into custody. Nissaassaa would be taken off-planet to a rehab facility. She was also facing charges of illegal drug use and conspiracy.

Tezek said to Miadere, “Well, I guess that means you’re back to being my best friend now. Want to help run my business? I don’t know how I can do it alone.”

Miadere had expected the offer, but knew she had to decline. “You’ll do fine. You know me. It’s not my thing. I would just mess it up for you. But you are very smart. I know you can do it.” They hugged each other. Miadere said she had to leave for her next mission soon. Tezek thanked her, T’Avaya, and Cassandra. This had been one vacation they would never forget.

 

-by the Honorable Kavura, 1/21/25

 

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.