S03 E05: Chronicles of T’Avaya: Cardassia Prime Cut

 

S03 E05: Chronicles of T’Avaya: Cardassia Prime Cut

(This adventure was inspired by the campaign “Cardassia Prime Cut” from Last Unicorn Games.)

 

Mission log. Stardate 45136.7. Agent T’Avaya reporting. We are enroute to Gequeria, a planet on the border of the Badlands. A Vulcan archaeological expedition has discovered many artifacts on Gequeria. Vulcan Minister of State T’Pir has ordered that at least some of the Gequerian archaeological findings be offered to the Cardassian Union.

The Federation has a treaty with Cardassia to help them rebuild after the Dominion War. Minister T’Pir would like to establish closer ties between Vulcan and the Cardassian Union as a way of building friendlier relations. The Federation is aware of, and approves of, this goal.

A Cardassian politician, Gul Nereg, is currently on Gequeria at the request of Minister T’Pir. However, Starfleet Intelligence has reason to believe Gul Nereg may be part of an underground Cardassian movement that seeks to undermine Cardassia’s treaty with the Federation. My team has been ordered to determine Nereg’s true intentions and stop him if necessary.

 

T'Avaya greeted the Vulcan archaeological team on Gequeria. Her under cover name was Ambassador Kitrev. Starfleet Intelligence had arranged her cover with Minister T’Pir. T’Avaya’s guise was a Vulcan ambassador who was sent to discuss with Gul Nereg what artifacts would be given in good faith to the Cardassians. As usual in covert ops, T’Avaya was wearing a holo disguise. She appeared to be a much older Vulcan woman. Cassandra Chand, a genetically enhanced human on T’Avaya’s SI team, was also undercover as V’Rela, Kitrev’s Vulcan aide.

Dr. Styrak, the field supervisor for the archaeological expedition, greeted Ambassador Kitrev and V’Rela and led them to the team’s homebase tent. Styrak said they had uncovered many items on the planet. Some had been identified as remnants of the Bra’ni, a belligerent space-faring race that died out a millennia ago.

Dr. Styrak introduced them to Gul Nereg, who had arrived two days ago. The Gul seemed unusually friendly for a Cardassian. He was looking for items for a Cardassian cultural museum that had been destroyed during the Dominion War and was being rebuilt. Styrak took them to see the artifacts, which were displayed in a separate tent. Nereg seemed especially interested in the Bra’ni artifacts. He picked up one piece that was in the shape of a humanoid head. It was a shiny gold color with a smooth texture. He mentioned that it reminded him of the old Cardassian God of Adversity. He held it up to a light. The beam of light shone through the cutout “eyes” of the piece.

Styrak agreed that it was the most stunning artifact they had found. They had labeled it the “shining king“. According to what the Vulcan archaeologists could interpret from other inscriptions, the piece was a sculpture of the head of the most celebrated Bra’ni king. It was surely a prized item that the Vulcans would like to donate to the Federation Museum of Culture and History. Nereg paused. He said his people would find it most fascinating in one of their museums. To avoid an argument, Ambassador Kitrev changed the subject and asked about other artifacts that Styrak could show them.

Styrak showed them other Bra’ni artifacts. There were some very well-preserved miniature stone statues, weapons, and other trinkets that could have been jewelry or religious items. Nereg made some comments that showed he had studied the ancient Bra’ni culture and archaeology in general. He said it was a hobby of his. His political mentor had been a student of xeno-history.

Nereg said the Bra’ni were said to be logical, like the Vulcans, except they expressed emotions. Styrak said there was a group of Vulcans that believed in logic without suppressing emotions. They were called the V’tosh ka’tur. Styrak had been part of the group many years ago. He had come to find that his emotions were too overpowering, so he left the group and checked himself into a rehab center to learn emotional control.

Ambassador Kitrev found it interesting that Styrak would share that part of his past. Styrak said it would be illogical to be ashamed of his past; the past was a fact; it was something that could not be changed. Nereg also found it interesting that such a group of Vulcans existed. “So not all Vulcans are unemotional,” he said.

Ambassador Kitrev, as T’Avaya, suddenly remembered a member of the V’tosh ka’tur she once knew. He was a very friendly, though eccentric, Vulcan she had met on Station Tyrellia. He had told her he liked her hair, and that she was highly intelligent, even moreso than other Vulcans. He had shown her his collection of obsolete currencies from different worlds. He was very proud of his collection. He said he respected all Vulcans, whether emotional or not. It was a pleasant memory. But she couldn’t mention it now. She simply said, “the V’tosh ka’tur are an obscure cult on Vulcan, very small in numbers. They have generally integrated into standard Vulcan culture, tending not to call much attention to themselves.”

Dr. Styrak added, “most certainly. But many of them are still my friends.”

“Perhaps you could introduce me some time,” Gul Nereg said.

“That is quite possible,” Styrak said.

 

/---------------------------------------------------------/

          Later on, Ambassador Kitrev and V’Rela went back to the artifact tent. “Cassandra,” said T’Avaya—it was just the two of them, so they used their real names--
“I want you to request a meeting with Nereg. See if you can find out anything about a secret Cardassian dissident group. He may be willing to tell you more in private than he would in front of me or Styrak.” Cassandra agreed.

          T’Avaya picked up the shining king. Cassandra asked what she was doing. T’Avaya said she was hiding a tracker on it. She was taking precautions in case something happened to it. Nereg had seemed interested in it, and Styrak had seemed unwilling to give it to him.

 

/---------------------------------------------------------/

 

“I have always admired Cardassians,” V’Rela said.

Gul Nereg was intrigued. V’Rela had asked to meet with him in private. The reason why—he had no idea. He replied, “really? Are you a member of this V’tosh ka’tur?”

“And if I were?” V’Rela was baiting him. In her true identity, Cassandra, she was trying to learn more about him--find out if he was part of an underground Cardassian dissident group.

Nereg smiled. “Then I would ask you to share a bottle of kanar with me.”

Cassandra had never liked the syrupy taste of kanar. As V’Rela, she said, “I wanted to ask how you became interested in xeno-history and the Bra’ni.”

He poured himself a drink and started talking. He was staring directly into her eyes. She listened intently. Then they talked about other things: the Dominion War, Vulcan ideology, Cardassian religions, Federation policies. Then V’Rela said she felt Cardassia had lost a lot in the Dominion War, and how she had always felt that Federation ideologies were too broad and optimistic to benefit Cardassia. She said she understood the Cardassian need to expand, something the Federation would never understand. Nereg agreed with her. He told her the Federation had colonized planets too close to the Cardassian border.

They spoke for two hours, until V’Rela was called by Ambassader Kitrev to accompany her to a Vulcan social event with the archaeologists. She left Nereg with his kanar.

 

The next day, Styrak and his team were at a new dig site when they suddenly heard an explosion. They looked around and saw a black dust cloud to the south. They ran towards it. There had been an explosion in the tent holding the artifacts. By the time Styrak got there, other members of the expedition were walking around the site and scanning with their tricorders. Most of the artifacts had been destroyed.

Kitrev and V’Rela were immediately notified and came to the site.

No one had been in the tent when the explosion happened. There had been no casualties. One of the archaeologists found the detonation device. It had been a common explosive. Kitrev asked why anyone would want to blow up the artifacts. Styrak and the others had no idea. The tent had held the culmination of all their hard work. None of them would ever want it destroyed.

Kitrev asked to speak to Styrak alone. Then Kitrev told him that she had put a tracer on the artifact known as the shining king. She pulled out her sensor device and showed him that the tracer and the artifact were still intact. The tracer showed the location of the artifact was Nereg’s scout ship, which had docked on the far side of the archaeological site.

They went to the base tent and Styrak called Gul Nereg and told him there had been an explosion. He asked the Gul to come to the site. They went back to the explosion site and met Nereg there. Nereg looked perfectly innocent as he asked how the explosion happened and if all the artifacts had been lost in the explosion. They told him it would take days to go through and log it all, but many of the artifacts had been destroyed.

Nereg asked to speak with V’Rela. The two of them walked a few meters away from the others. He told her it was such a pity that all of that history, especially Bra’ni history, had been lost. He asked her if the shining king had been found. She looked him in the eyes and asked why he asked about that one in particular. He said it was the most valuable piece in the collection. She agreed with him and told him it would be a shame if that piece were lost.

Then he whispered to her, “what if I told you I have the piece.”

“I don’t understand,” she said. Nereg, thinking he could trust her, admitted he had stolen the idol and was going to give it to the military force of Seraph Alpha II. They, in turn, would it to sell to the highest bidder. Then the Seraphians were going to invade a Federation colony world on the border of Cardassian space. V’Rela asked why he was doing this. He said he was part of an underground group that wanted nothing to do with the Federation. His political mentor had told him how Cardassia needed to stand on its own and not ally itself with enemies. He was loyal to his mentor.

V’Rela said she sympathized with him, and she was sorry she had to break his trust. He was about to ask her to explain when she pulled out a phaser and pointed it at him. She motioned for Kitrev and Styrak to join her. She told him he was under arrest for stealing the idol and for blowing up the artifact tent. It took a second for him to shake off his initial shock. Then he asked how they could prove it. Styrak said that while the Cardassian was talking to V’Rela, the archaeological team had found his DNA on the explosive device. And Kitrev, who now told him she was working for Starfleet Intelligence, had put a tracer on the idol and had already sent someone to his scout ship to retrieve it.

Nereg looked at V’Rela. “You are also with Starfleet Intelligence?” She told him she was. She did not feel the need to share with him that she was not actually a Vulcan. She simply told him she was sorry she had to betray him.

 

When they were back on their own ship, the Shavokh, and had deactivated their holo disguises, Cassandra was telling T’Avaya that she grew up in an environment where there were no dissident groups. As T’Avaya and SI knew, Cassandra had been raised by Section 31. It had never occurred to her to rebel against the status quo. Cassandra admired Nereg for being different. And she admired the V’tosh ka’tur for going against the cultural norm. T’Avaya had never considered what it must have been like for her being raised in such an authoritarian environment. Cassandra had been raised along with a small group of genetically engineered humans and their offspring that Section 31 had rescued from Ceti Alpha V. It was much easier to handle a small group and quell any adverse thinking, unlike a large planet like Cardassia Prime where adverse thinkers were few in numbers but could grow enough to make a difference.

T'Avaya told Cassandra about her friend in the V’tosh ka’tur. Cassandra thought it amazing that Vulcans could accept people in their own culture who were counter culture. T’Avaya said that most Vulcans accepted them—though things had been different centuries ago--as long as they committed no illegal acts.

Cassandra observed that Gul Nereg had simply been doing what he thought was the right thing. But his methods condoned violence and lack of compassion. That was often the way of Cardassians. She thought about what would be the “correct way” or the “correct reason” to rebel. T’Avaya said that in a peaceful and just society, one could express their thoughts meaningfully and publicly, without punishment or need to rebel. As long as they weren’t violating the rights of others. There were many places on Vulcan where the citizens engaged in friendly debate on different philosophies. T’Avaya’s favorite Vulcan philosopher, T’Mee’an, once said, “individuals should have the ability to think freely and independently without external constraints.”

 

-by the Honorable Kavura, 2/7/25

 

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.