S03 E06: Chronicles of T’Avaya: Extraction and Rescue

 

S03 E06: Chronicles of T’Avaya: Extraction and Rescue

(Part of this story is based on the mission log “Extraction” from the Continuing Missions website.)

 

Mission log. Stardate 45137.1. Agent T’Avaya reporting. Our assignment is to rescue Tuglian, a Deobulan Starfleet Intelligence agent. Tuglian was on an undercover assignment working for a Ferengi business man who was illegally smuggling passengers to and from enemy territories. Starfleet Intelligence has just learned that Tuglian was captured by the Cardassians and is being held in a prison camp on Agnellus.

Centurion Domitius (T’Avaya) stood between the trees and looked at the building a few meters in front of her. Wearing her black catsuit with tactical gear, she made her way toward the building. Her focus was sharp, her mind calm. She approached the door on the north side of the building. There were two Cardassian guards, both with disruptors. They looked bored. She could understand why. They were constantly on guard duty, but why would strangers ever come here? The planet was barely class M, with uncomfortably high temperatures and inhospitably thin air for humanoids. Centurion Domitius approached the guards slowly. They spotted her when she was twelve meters in front of them. “Halt!” one of the guards said. Domitius turned around and ran. The two guards ran after her, firing their disruptors. She was wearing senatanium body armor and a personal electronic force field, both of which saved her life. She ran past a borenum tree. The tree had a thick trunk. Following her, the guards ran around the tree. They had run so fast that they didn’t notice the pit that was waiting for them. They fell ten meters to the bottom of the pit. Then a sonic device put them to sleep.

Meanwhile, with the guards away, Centurion Quintus (Cassandra) quickly approached the north end door of the building. With a quick flick of her wrist, she disabled the force field and the electronic lock on the door. The polaron dampening unit that Centurion Petronius (Miadere) had made worked perfectly. Quintus was inside the building in two seconds.

The inside was dimly lit, and the walls were covered in an array of high-tech sensors and cameras. She wore a helmet and visor that had its owns sensors and cameras. It spotted a ceiling camera at the entrance. She took it out with a phaser. Her helmet’s sensors told her Tuglian’s current location. If her Starfleet Intelligence contact had given her the correct information, she had to navigate a complex maze of hallways to get to Tuglian’s cell. She walked with a quiet grace, her feet barely making a sound as she crossed the floor, her helmet sensing the patterns of light and shadow.

Centurion Quintus approached her first obstacle: a laser grid that crisscrossed the hallway. She flexed her body into an acrobatic roll, twisting in mid-air; her hands brushing just beneath the laser beams; her feet going over the beams and landing softly. She continued across, defying the lasers. She flowed from one move to the next as if she was dancing, her movements an effortless combination of balance, strength, and speed. She found the controls to deactivate the grid before she moved on.

Her next obstacle was a room surrounded by motion sensors. She didn’t hesitate. She gripped the edge of the doorway and flipped up onto the narrow ledge above, her body arching like a cat in mid-air. She leapt across, twisting her body in a mid-air somersault to avoid tripping the deadly red beams; her arms outstretched as she landed lightly on the opposite side of the room. A quick turn, and she was through, her mind as focused as the red beams. Again, she deactivated the trap.

Finally, Quintus made it to Tuglian’s holding cell. She peaked through the small window on the metal door. She saw him sitting on the floor. She used her polaron dampening unit to unlock the door. She entered the cell. She raised her helmet so the Denobulan could see her human face. She told him she was here to rescue him. If he was too weak to walk, her genetically engineered body could easily carry him. She saw bruises on his arms. She knew Cardassians were known for torturing their prisoners. Had they found out that Tuglian was a Starfleet Intelligence operative? She had no time to find out. She needed to get him out.

 

Centurion Domitius and Centurion Petronius activated their Cardassian holo disguises and walked through the entrance that Centurion Quintus had left open for them. They moved through the empty hallways. Centurion Quintus having already removed the obstacles that would have trapped or killed them. They were following a layout of the compound—a layout that they had memorized—that came from a Starfleet Intelligence operative. They found the command center. Gul Mendik was there. He looked up from his console at the two Centurions. “Why did you two leave your posts?” he asked them. Domitius flinched when she saw his face. Through her holo disguise, Domitius said, “Something approached us from the woods. We chased it. It turned out to be a venomous animal. Its venom destroyed the casing of our disruptors.”

“Fools! Letting yourselves be bested by an animal. Get your replacement weapons and return to your posts!”

They left the command center and went to the armory and got two disruptors. “Did you do it?” Domitius whispered to Petronius. “Affirmative. Systems will shut down in ten minutes.” Petronius had successfully sabotaged the computer systems while Domitius was being berated by the Gul.  

 

Quintus helped the Denobulan stand up. She told him she was here to rescue him. “Wait,” he said. “If they find out I’m gone, they’ll kill my family.” Quintus knew he was a Starfleet Intelligence agent and had no immediate family. She also did not have time to argue. “The systems are going to go down in approximately eight minutes. We need to get out of here. Starfleet will protect your family.” He still seemed unwilling, but went along with her. They left the cell and went down the hall toward one of the exits. Quintus was carefully watching the monitor on the inside of her face shield, which would alert her if anyone was approaching.

 

Domitius was headed for the south exit of the building. She remembered Gul Mendik. She had seen him six years ago when she worked on Station Tyrellia. He was a Cardassian soldier with political aspirations. He had been to the station to negotiate a trade agreement. She had not personally met him, but her impression of him was that he was even more arrogant and dangerous than most Cardassians. How fitting that he would be at this facility. She thought about how the Cardassians had formed a pact with the Federation, but still kept secret facilities like this one. The Cardassians had lost so much in the Dominion War that they knew they would have to make changes and sacrifices in order to survive. But still, she thought, they could not stop being what they were: belligerent and deceptive. It would take generations for a cultural shift of their mindset.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a new reading on her visor. Petronius, who was following closely behind her, also had a visor that picked up the same reading: someone was coming up quickly behind them. They ducked around the corner. They stayed hidden as two Cardassian guards walked by. They watched the readings on their face shields until it was clear. Then they kept walking toward the exit. When they were ten meters from the exit, they saw Quintus and Tuglian enter from another hallway. Then, right on time, the power in the building went out. The hallway went dark. The SI agents, with their face shields on, could still see. Quintus picked up Tuglian and carried him, as she had already warned him she would do. They needed to get out before the emergency power kicked in. In two seconds, they were out the door and outside the building. Domitius activated her personal transporter field, set for four people, and they all disappeared in a glowing orange light.

As soon as they were on their runabout, the Shavokh, they removed their helmets. Domitius and Petronius headed for the cockpit and set the controls for liftoff. Quintus set Tuglian down and removed her helmet. She led him to the cockpit with the others. He sat in one of the chairs toward the aft section. As they zoomed into the atmosphere, Petronius reported that they were being followed by a Cardassian scout ship. Domitius kept steering the Shavokh until they were clear of the planet’s atmosphere. Not even the Cardassians were crazy enough to fire at them while they were still in the atmosphere.

Then Petronius announced the Cardassian ship was hailing them. Domitius said to put it on the viewscreen. It was Gul Mendik. “You have something that belongs to us,” he said. They knew he could see Tuglian sitting in the background.

Domitius announced, “He is a Federation citizen that you unlawfully captured. We have reclaimed our citizen in the name of Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets.”

Mendik asked to beam over and speak with them. Domitius thought it an unusual request, but she acceded. Both ships came to a stop. Mendik beamed over.

“Chief engineer T’Avaya, so good to see you again,” the Cardassian said.

Domitius, or rather T’Avaya, kept her composure and simply raised an eyebrow. She had not expected him to remember her from Station Tyrellia. She simply replied, “Gul Mendik.” Petronius and Quintus looked from T’Avaya to Mendik, waiting for an explanation. T’Avaya led them all to the aft briefing room section. Tuglian, Mendik, and T’Avaya sat at the table, while Miadere (Petronius) and Cassandra (Quintus) stood by.

Tuglian spoke to T’Avaya, “As I tried to explain to your friend,” he looked at Cassandra and back at T’Avaya, “I didn’t need rescuing. They have treated me well.”

T’Avaya said, “Interesting. Cardassians are known for torturing their prisoners.”

“Oh, but we have changed,” Mendik said. “Now that we are rebuilding after such a devastating war, we have had to…reevaluate some of our procedures.”

The Vulcan was not sure of Mendik’s true intentions. So, perhaps the best thing to do was simply to ask. Even if he lied, she may be able to tell a truth from the lie. “What do you want?” she asked him.

Mendik gave her a close-mouthed, smarmy smile. Then they heard a loud sound and the ship shook violently. The Cardassian ship had fired on them. They went back to the cockpit and hailed the other ship. Mendik was the first to speak. “Glinn Najin, what is the meaning of this?”

“Tuglian is deceiving you, Mendik.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” the Gul said.

“What is going on here?” T’Avaya said.

Tuglian explained that Frilk, the Ferengi he was working for, two weeks ago had sent him to pick up a Romulan, Rildan, who was carrying secret plans for a battleship to be built by Romulans and Cardassians in a joint effort. But Tuglian and Frilk knew the Romulan actually wanted to defect to Hordrak, a non-Federation world. Tuglian ferried Rildan to Hordrak. The Cardassian he was supposed to meet was Mendik, who was in reality a sympathizer. Mendik helped Rildan to quietly disappear on Hordrak, blending in with the locals. Then Tuglian went back to Bangmenon, where Frilk ran his operation. But the Cardassian Central Government was still expecting Rildan to share the plans for a battleship. They ordered Mendik to kidnap Tuglian to find out Rildan’s location. To keep his cover intact, Mendik had to follow orders. He kept Tuglian as a “prisoner” in the compound. He knew it would only be a matter of time before Glinn Najin, his second in command, got suspicious. Mendik had always been good at playing the hard-nosed Cardassian Gul, perhaps even overplaying the part, so that no one would suspect him.

And now, here they were. They needed to get away from Glinn Najin. Now, Mendik knew his own cover was permanently blown. It had only been a matter of time. He would not be able to return home. T’Avaya ordered Miadere to cut communications. Then she ordered warp drive. They broke away from the small ship that Najin was on. It was not fast enough to follow them.

“You must take us to Hordrak to find Rildan,” said Tuglian. T’Avaya asked him to explain.  “Najin has been searching for him. He knows that Tuglian took Rildan to Hordrak. He has notified Central Command. They have ordered a Cardassian soldier to find him. The soldier was ordered get the battleship plans or they will kill him.”

Mendik said, “It will take some time for them to locate him on Hordrak. We must find him first.”

“I have some idea where he might be,” Tuglian said.

“Set a course for Hordrak,” T’Avaya said to Miadere.

 

As part of the underground movement, Rildan had surgery on his face, in case anyone was looking for him. He still had the ears, because many non-Federation worlds had Romulans who had left the empire, were stranded, ostracized, or any number of things. His work as a technical repairman was satisfying. He got to travel around a large city and use his hands and his mind. And he could choose not to take a job if he needed some time off. He rarely did that, though. He loved working and staying busy. But now, the work was HIS choice.

He had carried the secret schematics for a new battleship with him here to his new home. He simply had not found the nerve to destroy it. It was an accomplishment to him as an engineer. He was an advocate of peace. But what if another threat came, like the Dominion? Perhaps then, the Federation would take a look at his schematics out of need. No. That was a pipe dream. Maybe he would just keep the most brilliant parts of his schematics and repurpose them for something other than a warship…if he ever got the chance to build such a thing.

 

Centurion Domitius, in her holo disguise, followed Tuglian into the humble home of a Denobulan surgeon. This Denobulan, unlike Tuglian, had high cheekbones and long straight hair. The surgeon, Alnam, greeted Tuglian with the proper salute, the one that only a member of the underground would know. Tuglian gave the proper counter salute. He introduced Domitius. Then he explained that the Cardassians were looking for Rildan. Alnam showed them a picture of Rildan’s new face and told him where he had advised him to find work. That was all the help he could give, for no one person could know too much about a defector, for the sake of everyone’s protection.

Domitius and Tuglian set out to find Rildan. They knew he would be using a different name. All they could do was show people his image and ask if anyone had seen him. They went to the area Alnam had recommended and started with employment agencies. Domitius started on the upper east side, while Tuglian started on the upper west side. Both of them had the power of flashing their SI badges, though it served to make some individuals very leery on this non-aligned world. Domitius, however, found a desk clerk who recognized Rildan’s image. The clerk told her that “Lanue” was installing lighting at a construction site. After a bit of insistence and threatening legal action from Starfleet, Domitius got the address from the clerk’s manager. She left the employment agency and took a public transport to the construction site.

Domitius stepped off the transport. The unfinished building in front of her had a few walls missing and electrical wires strewn about. The ground surrounding it was black, muddy, and full of trash. Hordrak was an industrial planet, not considered beautiful, but a place where one could earn a decent living. There were those who came her to shun the luxurious life of the Federation, calling the Feddies weaklings, spoiled, aristocratic. It was a more rugged life here. And yes, there were felons who came here to escape Federation law.

She entered the building through a doorway (the doors had not been installed yet). There were several carpenters working around the walls. She walked through several doorways until she found him. Rildan, or rather Lanue, was installing wiring in a wall panel. She introduced herself, first by saying that his friend Tuglian had sent her. When she explained the situation and told him she needed to get him to safety, he said he couldn’t leave his job and that he could take care of himself. She tried to warn him about what the Cardassians would do to him as a prisoner.

“Are you familiar with B’re’kot?” he asked her. “Yes,” said Domitius. It was a Romulan holiday. It was a day when the “peasants” paid homage to all their previous emperors for taking care of them. The custom was started centuries ago by a greedy emperor. The “homage” at first was half a laborer’s earnings for a day. In modern times, it had changed to be merely a burning of a note that praised the emperor. The only reason the custom became more benevolent, so they were told, was because giving half a day’s earnings was too rough on the citizens.

Lanue was still working as he said, “I used to wholly embrace the holiday. I would write my note praising the mighty emperor and his empire. We Romulans have always had our ways. Conquer and expand. The military gets the most glory. I was but an engineer. I proved my worth by designing a battleship. But then I realized my design would only cause more death and destruction. So I left. Here I can live in peace.”

“That is very noble,” said Domitius. “I also have a background in engineering. My work has also been put to questionable use in the past. Please listen to me. If you stay here, the Cardassians will find you. And you will not be living in peace. They will torture you. Use your engineering gifts for their own nefarious purposes, much like the Romulans.”

He listened to her as he kept working. “And if I go with you,” he said, “you will take me somewhere—someplace where I can live in peace?”

 

Tuglian showed the desk clerk the picture of Rildan. The clerk did not recognize him. As Tuglian started to leave, he saw a Cardassian questioning another employee in the building. As the Cardassian left the building, Tuglian followed him. He followed the Cardassian two blocks and into a mechanical repair business. This time Tuglian watched from the side as the Cardassian showed an image of Rildan to the desk clerk. The clerk didn’t recognize the image. Tuglian followed him out and then ran in front of him, pulling out his phaser and his SI badge. The Cardassian stood defiantly and said SI had no authority here. Tuglian said his authority was wherever SI sent him. The Cardassian kicked the phaser out of his hand and charged him. Tuglian punched his opponent in the face, causing him to stumble. The Denobulan then ran toward him and tackled him to the ground, pinning him. Tuglian cuffed his hands behind his back. A crowd had gathered around to watch. A policeman came through the crowd to diffuse the situation. Tuglian showed his badge and said he was taking the Cardassian into custody. He called the Shavokh to beam up himself and his prisoner. He hoped T’Avaya was able to find Rildan.

 

Several hours later, when Lanue had finished his work shift for the day, he agreed to beam up to the Shavokh. T’Avaya fixed him a hot cup of kintare. She sat at the table with him and Tuglian. The Cardassian was in the Shavokh’s brig awaiting transport to a Starfleet starbase, his single-person ship in tow. (The starbase would most likely send him back to Cardassia, but this was an SI mission, and SI was more concerned with protecting their charge.) Lanue had been unsure about Domitius, but Tuglian was able to convince Lanue that he really needed to find another planet to call home, or the Cardassians would only send someone else to hunt him. He agreed he would leave Hordrak.

Then, Lanue tensed and rose from his chair as Mendik entered the room. Tuglian quickly assured him that Gul Mendik was a friend. Lanue sat back down, not taking his eyes off Mendik. As Mendik took a chair across from Lanue, he explained that he too would have to leave his home. He had been exposed as part of an underground group that smuggled defectors to freedom.

So Lanue and Mendik both would have to find a new place to live. Mendik said he had contacts who would help Lanue. And where would Tuglian go? He had been placed by SI to infiltrate Frilk’s smuggling business, but now that Tuglian had been exposed, he knew Frilk would not take him back. He was still a good field agent with SI, and they would send him on other missions. And now that SI knew Frilk was doing the honorable work of helping defectors, they might just look the other way concerning his other operations. (Frilk had been involved in other illegal smuggling deals. Would SI be willing to leave Frilk’s business alone for the greater good? Only the top brass at SI headquarters knew.)

Gul Mendik told T’Avaya why he remembered her on Station Tyrellia six years ago. He had looked into her records and seen that she had done her duties with distinction. He had thought to possibly recruit her into his underground group to help defectors. But his visit to the station was cut short when he got called away for another mission. T’Avaya said she was honored that he had considered her. Would she have accepted? She told him it was indeed possible. It would have been a life of helping people. But now, she was an SI agent, and she thought it was the best possible job for her. She was still helping people. She was keeping the United Federation of Planets safe from threats from without and within—some threats that the general public didn’t even know existed. She found it very satisfying. He completely understood her position and wished her well.

 

-by the Honorable Kavura, 2/27/25

 

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.