We’re back with another NPC for your game! Continuing with October’s theme of Starfleet Academy, we have a former professor who might have been one of your PC’s teachers during their training. She’s been around for some time and now is in a new and challenging position looking for allies.
Captain Vesena left Starfleet Academy for Deep Space Five… and no, that’s not a typo. You might not have heard about it but DS5 is part of canon and on the outkirts of several episodes. During the TNG episode “Parallels,” where Worf is jumping between quantum realities, the Cardassian Union is using the Argus Array to spy on the station since it’s a major shipyard. When he returns to the “prime” quantum reality they weren’t but that plot could still be hatched in your game. Likewise, if you look at the map in the Star Trek Adventures book, DS5 is way on the edge of Federation space towards the core so it would be an important frontier base for resupplies so your players might frequently stop by.
The next time Deep Space Five enters Star Trek canon is in the movie First Contact when the station reports the destruction of Ivor Prime by the Borg as they warp towards Earth. While this happens in 2373 (a few years after the standard date for Star Trek Adventures) it points to DS5’s important position on the edge of space closest to the Delta Quadrant. In Last Unicorn Games’ Star Trek: Deep Space Nine RPG they interpret this as a shift from DS5’s original mission of building and refitting ships to a command post for Borg defense. Captain Vesena fits right into that narrative as someone who still understands the Borg threat, even with the Dominion and Klingons making more noise.
There is a full backstory with plenty information to draw from below but here are a few plot hooks to get you started.
- The player’s ship is contacted by Admiral Nechayev who asks them to deviate from their current mission to find and detain Captain Vesena. She stole a ship from Deep Space Five and has gone rogue with a cadre of devoted officers (possibly even Chris Park) on some bizarre mission. When they’re found, what excuse will they offer the crew? A secret Borg threat or something more immediate? They fled because they didn’t feel secure in DS5 but who in Starfleet would try to silence information?
- On a scheduled service stop at Deep Space Five, the crew gets ready for an inspection. While it’s not her usual duties, Captain Vesena has volunteered for the task and suddenly the senior officers are stuttering cadets being stared down by the disappointed campus mother.
- One of the player characters gets a subspace message from Captain Vesena pleading for help. She is not the collected and supportive woman they remember from the Academy but visibly scared and panicked. She says she has important data on Borg movement and warns of a possible attack but no one is listens. She pleads with them to come to DS5 and help convince Starfleet that she’s right. Will the players risk their careers for a favorite teacher? What if there really is a Borg threat? What if it’s something else on her scanners?
Click below for the full PDF!
