Captain Elias Vaughn
vaughn.jpg

Name: Elias Vaughn
Rank: Captain
Position: Commanding Officer USS James T Kirk
Age: 105

Starfleet History
2293: Enters Starfleet Academy
2297: Graduates Starfleet Academy
2297: Lieutenant assigned as analyst in Starfleet Intelligence
2311: Becomes Field Operative
2343: Promoted to Lieutenant Commander
2365: Reassigned to Starbase 375
2368: Reassigned to Starbase 621
2369: Promoted to Commander and reassigned as Field Agent for Starfleet Intelligence
2376: Reassigned to Deep Space Nine as First Officer
2378: Promoted to Captain and named Commanding Officer
2379: Reassigned to USS James T Kirk

Personal History
Elias Vaughn was born Saturday, October 24, 2274, and was raised on the planet Berengaria VII. He was taught about the stars by his mother, which fueled his early passion for exploration. Vaughn's mother died early in his life of Burkhardt's disease. On Berengaria, Vaughn was once attacked by a species of animal known as Draco Berengarius. The creature penetrated into the back of Vaughn's skull, causing some slight brain damage and leaving behind its own DNA traces and a scar running from his neck to his left ear. Vaughn had a dog as a child. Vaughn joined Starfleet Academy in the year 2293 following the Khitomer Conference and the signing of the Khitomer Accords, and discovered that he had a talent for intelligence and tactical operations. Vaughn gave up his dreams of exploration for a career in Starfleet Intelligence.

Most of the first ten years of Vaughn's service to Starfleet Intelligence was spent behind a desk, analyzing data and writing reports. The few times he did manage to get into the field his assignments included shadowing a Benzite engineer eventually found innocent of trading stolen technology, and the infiltration of a Tellarite mining facility. At the age of 24 he was charged with the recovery of a container with a stolen Linellian fluid effigy inside. Before returning the vessel to the embassy he experienced a vision, one of the most peaceful experiences he ever knew. After a decade of desk-bound analysis with Starfleet special operations, Vaughn, holding the rank of lieutenant, was sent on his first major official field assignment in the year 2311. He was to accompany Captain John Harriman and Commander Drysi Gravenor, a woman he thought of as a mentor, on a mission to capture the Romulan flagship, the Tomed. Vaughn's responsibility during the Tomed mission was to steal a shuttle for the three operatives to escape in. Vaughn was nearly killed when the shuttlebay was decompressed, and later had to fight Renka Linavil inside the shuttle. He was later somewhat distraught that he was forced to kill her. Following the successful completion of the mission, Vaughn was one one of only a handful of people who knew the full truth about the events that became known as the Tomed Incident. In the year 2319, Vaughn first partnered with T'Prynn of Vulcan and the two formed a loose partnership that lasted off and on for thirty years.

In 2328, the Cardassian Union and Klingon Empire threatened to go to war over the planet Raknal V near the Betreka Nebula. The Cardassians claimed the world as their own, but the Klingons disputed the claim after the remains of the vessel of the legendary Klingon Captain Ch'gran were discovered on the surface. The Klingons, who wished to recover the legendary hero's vessel, argued that the presence of Ch'gran's ship on the planet constituted a prior claim to the planet. Vaughn was assigned to the Starfleet-hosted arbitration delegation for the dispute aboard the USS Carthage. Federation Ambassador Curzon Dax arranged an agreement between the two powers wherein whichever government could best develop the world's resources would ultimately take the planet. Vaughn was very skeptical about this plan, and said so. His skepticism was proved out as the so-called "Betreka Nebula Incident" stretched out for eighteen years with few tangible results. It was aboard the Carthage that Vaughn first met the ship's science officer Lieutenant Ian Andrew Troi, with whom he began a long friendship. Vaughn would eventually be introduced to Troi's wife Lwaxana, and children, Kestra and Deanna. He attended Kestra's funeral on Betazed in 2336.

Vaughn's travels exposed him to many tragedies; Verillian children orphaned by war, the hopelessness of a Lethean veteran asylum and the genocidal holocaust on Arvada III. Vaughn's mission also brought frustration, he was unable to do anything as he witnessed the deaths of eleven thousand men in the civil war on Beta VI and could not have foreseen the assassination of an Elaysian governor. In 2343, Vaughn first met Starfleet Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Stargazer. The two would meet several times over the ensuing years, including during a coup d'état on Darnak VII. In late 2343, after Vaughn's promotion to Lieutenant Commander, Vaughn and T'Prynn retrieved Special Emissary Raisa Tartovsky from the planet Devniad as the Cardassian Union annexed the planet. Tartovsky was uncooperative, believing Vaughn to be a disguised Cardassian, forcing Vaughn to stun her and carry her back to his ship. Vaughn delivered Tartovsky to Starbase 47, where he reported to his superior in Starfleet Intelligence, Captain Uhura. Uhura ordered Vaughn to return to Raknal V and give her his assessment of the situation there. Vaughn returned to Raknal V on the Carthage, and he and Ian Troi went down to the planet's surface together. Vaughn and Troi became trapped as a building collapsed on them due to Romulan sabotage. All evidence of the Romulan involvement was destroyed and Ian Troi died from his injuries. Vaughn was severely injured and spent several months in recovery. After returning to duty, he tracked down Dax on Risa and informed him of the Romulan involvement at Raknal V. The two pooled their resources and discovered the truth about Ch'gran, thus convincing Klingon Chancellor K'mpec to cede the planet to Cardassia, finally ending the "Betreka Nebula Incident." At some point in his career Vaughn designed part of the curriculum for Starfleet's Advanced Tactical Training course.

In 2347, following the Khitomer Massacre, Vaughn and T'Prynn met rival SI agent Ruriko Tenmei on the planet Kora II in Cardassian space. Vaughn and Tenmei were familiar with each other through their impressive after-action reports, and considered each other rivals. Vaughn and T'Prynn were tasked with assisting in the defection of Cardassian scientist Cren Veruda, the developer of an artificial intelligence that would give Cardassia a significant tactical advantage over the Federation. The mission went bad, and Vaughn found himself captured and brought to a glinn named Madred for interrogation. Vaughn was rescued by Tenmei who was on the scene undercover as an agent of the Obsidian Order named Kree Omiturin (An amalgam of "Ruriko Tenmei"). After being freed by Tenmei, the pair of S.I. agents freed Veruda from his confinement and managed to disable Veruda's A.I. system. Vaughn found himself irritated not only by the fact that he met his chief rival as she rescued him from an operation gone bad, but also by the fact that he found himself attracted to Tenmei. Tenmei worked with Vaughn and T'Prynn frequently after that, and both were present when T'Prynn was tragically killed in a transporter accident aboard the USS T'Plana-Hath in 2349. Following T'Prynn's funeral on Vulcan, Vaughn and Tenmei began a romantic relationship. In 2350, the two had a daughter, Prynn Tenmei, named in honor of their late colleague. While Tenmei took a leave of absence from SI to raise her daughter, Vaughn continued to be heavily involved in intelligence matters, to the detriment of his family life. In one instance, Vaughn was called away from his daughter's fifth birthday celebration by Admiral Presley to deal with a coup on Gemworld, the Elaysian homeworld.

In 2365, while working a mission specialist gathering and analyzing intelligence from the Federation/Cardassian border, the ship Vaughn was working on was contacted by a Cardassian dissident named Gaten Russol, who hoped to change Cardassia's policy toward other worlds, including Bajor and the disputed border colonies. Although Vaughn was ordered by Admiral Alynna Nechayev not to directly involve himself in the Bajoran situation, Nechayev nevertheless re-assigned Vaughn to Starbase 375, and ordered him to regain contact with Russol and establish a dialogue with him. In 2367, following the incursion with the Borg, Vaughn took part in a classified mission to Alexandra's Planet involving Romulans and an Iconian gateway. No other details of this operation have been released to the general public, although certain Starship captains, including Jean-Luc Picard, viewed the case-file during the Gateways Crisis of 2376. In 2368, following the Klingon Civil War, Vaughn was assigned to Starbase 621, analyzing starship movement along the Tzenkethi border, when he was again contacted by Gaten Russol, with whom which Vaughn had maintained sporadic contact. Russol informed Vaughn that the Cardassian prefect on Bajor, Gul Skrain Dukat, was about to make a fraudulent offer of peace and withdrawal to the Bajoran people in exchange for the Bajoran Resistance movement standing down and ceasing hostilities. Russol explained that Dukat's position in regards to the Bajoran resistance had grown desperate, and if the Bajorans really wanted the Cardassians to leave Bajor, now was the time to push their efforts. Vaughn passed this information on to the Bajoran refugee Keeve Falor at the Valo II re-settlement camp following the Solarion IV affair. Falor then passed the information on to the resistance on Bajor, who made their final push against the Cardassians, finally driving them out of Bajoran space.

In 2369, after Vaughn was promoted to Commander and Benjamin Sisko took command of Deep Space 9, a rogue copy of Crem Veruda's AI software matrix re-constituted itself on the planet Uridi'si. Vaughn and Ruriko Tenmei (who had just returned to active duty after 19 years) were sent on the T-Plana-Hath to deal with the A.I. as they had before. The T'Plana-Hath and the USS Valkyrie arrived at Uridi'si just as a Borg cube summoned by the A.I. arrived on the scene. The A.I. believed itself to be sophisticated enough to assimilate the Borg rather than be assimilated by them. After a pitched battle that left the T'Plana-Hath crippled and forced the Valkyrie to retreat, the Borg ship linked with the planet-side computer where the A.I. resided, and uploaded the A.I. As Tenmei was the only officer aboard with enough experience with the A.I. to take it out, Vaughn was forced to send Ruriko Tenmei and the Valkyrie on a one-way mission to the Borg ship to ensure that the A.I. was destroyed. Ruriko Tenmei was successful in her efforts in destroying the cube and the A.I., but was presumed killed in action. Prynn, who was at Starfleet Academy at the time, blamed Vaughn for her mother's death.

In 2375, following the murder of Jadzia Dax, Vaughn was aboard the USS Nautilus as it, along with the Twelfth Fleet, prepared to liberate Betazed from Dominion control. This offensive was preempted when the Dominion attacked the Fleet at Starbase 19. However, during this battle, Vaughn received a message from the Betazed resistance proposing a new plan to overthrow the Dominion occupiers, which Vaughn then put into motion. Working with the crew of the USS Enterprise-E (including Deanna Troi the daughter of his deceased friend Ian Troi), Vaughn infiltrated Dominion-occupied Betazed, and freed murderer Hent Tevren from custody. Tevren knew of long-forgotten lethal mental techniques that the Betazed resistance could use against the Jem'Hadar. Although Tevren was killed during the escape, Troi learned enough from Tevren to teach the resistance how to defeat the Jem'Hadar by overloading their empathic centers, which shut down the soldiers minds. The War also saw Vaughn visiting Panora and witnessing the destruction of Jem'Hadar vessels over Tiburon. At some point in Vaughn's career he became aware of the rogue agency that called itself Section 31, a secretive organization which dealt in black ops and the kind of activities that went against everything that the Federation stood for. Vaughn joined a small cabal of Starfleet officers who had dedicated themselves to the destruction of Section 31. In 2375, this cabal obtained an illegal holoship used in a failed Section 31 operation in the Briar Patch following the affair between the Ba'ku and the Son'a.

In April of 2376, Vaughn was sent to search the Badlands with the USS Enterprise-E in response to a rumored Breen presence. At the time the war weary Vaughn was considering retirement. He confided in Captain Picard who suggested Vaughn would not be happy sitting back and letting worlds go by and suggested he turned to writing or teaching. Shortly after the Enterprise found a wrecked Cardassian freighter, the Kamal, within which Vaughn discovered one of the missing Bajoran Orbs. The Orb, the Orb of Memory, flooded Vaughn's mind with long-forgotten memories and dreams of his youth, reminding him of his long-lost dream of being an explorer. One memory that was not his was of the final moments of the Bajorans and Cardassians who died on the Kamal years earlier. In this vision, he also saw a man that he had never met, who he later identified as missing Starfleet captain, Benjamin Sisko. Vaughn began to re-evaluate his life and career at that point. He became determined to live life for the moment, to enjoy it, even if that meant leaving Starfleet if they wouldn't agree to his wishes. Upon arrival at DS9, and Captain Picard returning the Orb of Memory to to Bajoran Colonel Kira Nerys, Vaughn assisted Kira and station personnel in saving the station when the rogue Jem'Hadar soldier Kitana'klan sabotaged the station's fusion core. Vaughn later met with Kira, and told her of his experience with the Orb. Vaughn was astonished to discover that Kira had experienced the same vision of the Kamal and Sisko as Vaughn had. With that, Vaughn put in the request to leave SI behind, and fill the vacant first officer's position on Deep Space 9. At first, Vaughn's superiors were reluctant to grant him his request. But after Vaughn threatened to resign from Starfleet if they did not agree, they gave in, not wanting to lose a man of Vaughn's experience and knowledge.

Two weeks later, using the 'holo-ship' acquired the previous year, Vaughn assisted in the covert removal of the displaced Ingavi from the planet Sindorin, who had lived on Sindorin ever since the Cardassian Union annexed their homeword of Ingav decades earlier. Section 31 attempted to breed their own Jem'Hadar soldiers at lab located on the Badlands based world using the expertise of genetically enhanced scientist Ethan Locken. The situation grew out of Section 31's control when Locken betrayed them and established his own agenda. Section 31 informed the genetically-enhanced Dr. Julian Bashir of DS9 of the situation, hoping that the Doctor could clean up their mess for them. Following the operation, Vaughn recruited Dr. Bashir into the secret cabal of officers that wage the secret battle against Section 31. During the Gateway crisis in May, Vaughn commanded the USS Defiant during Starfleet's evacuation efforts at the planet Europa Nova after a lethal radiation coming from a gateway leading to the Delta Quadrant infected the planet's atmosphere. He later negotiated with the xenophobic Jarada for temporary use of their territory for displaced Europani refugees.

Vaughn later commanded the USS Defiant on a three month mission of exploration in the Gamma Quadrant. Vaughn's daughter Prynn had been assigned to the Defiant as Conn officer prior to Vaughn's arrival at the station, and before departing on the mission, Vaughn made it clear to Prynn that her personal feelings about him notwithstanding, she would have to treat him with the respect due a superior officer if she wanted to participate in the mission. Vaughn and Prynn had a more personal reunion after Vaughn had a near-death experience on an un-named world in the Gamma quadrant that helped to release a lifeform known as the Inamuri into this plane of existence, and saved the world of the Vahni Vahltupali from destruction. The reality of almost losing her father made Prynn realize how much Vaughn meant to her, and the two began to heal their wounds together. The reconciliation was short-lived, however, as the Defiant soon discovered a crashed Borg vessel, the assimilated USS Valkyrie, in the Gamma Quadrant and an assimilated and still-alive Ruriko Tenmei within. Vaughn brought Ruriko back to the Defiant, hoping that her humanity could be restored. When the Assimilation imperative proved too strong for Ruriko to resist, Vaughn was forced to kill her in order to prevent her from assimilating Prynn, her own daughter. Prynn, not believing that her mother would have assimilated her, once again blamed Vaughn for her mother's death, and once again stopped speaking to him. Other notable incidents of the expedition included the aversion of a genocidal civil war on the homeworld of the Yrythny, and an encounter with an ancient space-born artifact that had trans-temporal repercussions for several of his crew. Upon returning to the Gamma Quadrant end of the Bajoran wormhole, Vaughn and the Defiant arrived in the aftermath of the seemingly impossible: The closest star, Idran, had moved three light-years closer to the wormhole. The species native to Idran, the Eav'oq, shared a link to the Bajoran Prophets similar to the one possessed by the Bajoran people. During the Gamma Quadrant expedition, Vaughn commanded the Defiant through eleven direct first contacts, exchanged sub-space friendship messages with sixteen other species, recorded or obtained 644 new types of life, and (with the help of probes) mapped over 1200 cubic light-years of space.

After returning to the Alpha Quadrant, Vaughn was despondent over the renewed loss of both his wife and daughter, and sought the counsel of former Bajoran Kai Opaka Sulan at the monastery at Ashalla. Vaughn had met the former Kai during the Gamma Quadrant mission, and then at her request happily agreed to return her home to Bajor. Agreeing to help Vaughn, Opaka exposed him to another Orb, this time the Orb of Unity. During the encounter, the temple was seized by parasite infected monks who hoped to take over Bajor for their own purposes. This left Vaughn trapped in his own orb experience, in which he came to terms with his grief in a prophet created simulation of a mental institution in Earth's 1950s. During his orb experience, he met Captain Benjamin Sisko during his own sojourn with the Bajoran Prophets. Together, Vaughn and Sisko sought to leave the celestial temple behind, and return to linear existence. With the assistance of Kira Nerys, who had flung open the arks of all of the Orbs at once in a confrontation with the alien queen parasite, Vaughn and Sisko returned to Bajor just in time to deal with the parasite threat. After returning to the linear plane with Sisko, Vaughn approached Prynn, not wanting to be separated from her again for any reason. Prynn agreed to accompany Vaughn to induction of Bajor into the United Federation of Planets, but despite this promising start Prynn remained distant from Vaughn, canceling three separate dinner dates with her father over the next several months. After the induction of Bajor into the United Federation of Planets, Vaughn assisted with the integration of Bajor's militia into Starfleet by conducting interviews and making evaluations. Vaughn, during that time, celebrated his 102nd birthday.

In early 2377, after the mind-controlled Taran'atar brutally attacked Captain Kira and Lieutenant Ro Laren, Taran'tar hijacked the runabout USS Euphrates and took Prynn hostage. Vaughn immediately went in pursuit of Taran'atar in the Defiant, eventually catching up to him on the former Cardassian world of Harkoum. Upon locating Taran'atar, the two played a game of cat and mouse through the abandoned Obsidian Order prison known as Grennokar - a game that Vaughn lost. Fortunately for Vaughn, Prynn had escaped from her confinement, found a weapon, and had caught up to Taran'atar and Vaughn. Before Prynn could incapacitate Taran'atar (or vice-versa), Taran'atar was transported out of the prison by the Intendant of the mirror universe (who had believed Taran'tar to be an ally). Vaughn and Prynn were rescued from the exploding prison by a Cardassian woman who appeared to be the Mirror Universe's version of Iliana Ghemor. After returning from Harkorum, Captain Kira relieved him from duty because she thought he made going after Taran'atar personal. After Sisko talked to Kira and he talked to Vaughn, she reinstated him and ordered him to ops to talk to the Terran Rebellion with the senior staff. He offered and accepted to go with Kira to the mirror-Bajor to stop Ghemor. Sometime before 2379, Vaughn was promoted to captain and commanded Deep Space 9, before accepting a reassignment to the USS James T. Kirk on a deep space assignment. In 2380 he returned to the Bajoran system as part of Operation Gamma to deal with the Progenitor threat.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License