Elias Vaughn

Commander Elias Vaughn was a Starfleet officer who in the 2370s was over one-hundred years old and an officer with eighty years experience in Starfleet Intelligence, Special Operations and Tactical.

Despite his low rank (kept to maintain a low profile), Vaughn was on a first name basis with most of the Admiralty and had a higher security clearance than some.

Vaughn was a critical player in several crucial events in Starfleet history. Among them, the Tomed Incident, the Betreka Nebula Incident, the disaster at Arvada III, the civil war on Beta III and the liberation of Betazed from the Dominion.

Then, after a chance encounter with the Bajoran Orb of Memory, Vaughn decided to pursue his lost dream of being an explorer. After taking the vacant First Officers position at Federation starbase Deep Space 9 at age 101, Elias Vaughn commanded the USS Defiant (NX-74205) (II) on a three-month mission of exploration in the Gamma Quadrant and continued to contribute to Starfleet.

Early Life
Elias Vaughn was born Saturday, October 24th, 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, 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. 

Starfleet Operations
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. 

Tomed
After a decade of deskbound analysis with Starfleet special operations, Vaughn, holding the rank of lieutenant, was sent on his first major 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. 

The Betreka Nebula Incident
When the Cardassian Union and Klingon Empire threatened to go to war over the planet Raknal V in 2328, Vaughn was part of the Starfleet-hosted arbitration aboard the USS Carthage. Federation Ambassador Curzon Dax proposed an agreement where whichever power could best develop the world's resources would ultimately take the planet. Vaughn was very skeptical about this plan, and his skepticism was proved out when the "Betreka Nebula Incident" stretched out for eighteen years. It was aboard the Carthage that Vaughn first met Starfleet officer Ian Andrew Troi, with whom which he began a friendship. 

Further Operations
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.
 * The established 2339 as the date for the Arvada III tragedy, however it also established the tragedy as a plague outbreak, which may either be inconsistent with what Vaughn experienced or indicate another period of strife on the world which Vaughn was involved with.

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 (NCC-2893). 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 saved Special Emissary Raisa Tartovsky from the planet Devniad in Cardassian space. His superior in Starfleet Intelligence at this time was Captain Uhura.

Soon after, Vaughn and Troi returned to Betreka, where Troi was killed in an explosion caused by Romulan sabotage. Vaughn was injured and spent several months in rehabilitation. After informing Dax of the Romulan involvement at Raknal V, the two teamed up and discovered the truth about Ch'gran, thus convincing Klingon Chancellor K'mpec to ceded the planet to Cardassia. 

Ruriko Tenmei
In 2347, Vaughn met rival SI agent Ruriko Tenmei on the planet Kora II in Cardassian space. The two were sent to help a Cardassian scientist by the name of Crem Veruda defect to the Federation. Veruda had developed an Artificial Intelligence for Cardassia that would give the Cardassians a significant tactical advantage over the Federation. Tenmei and Veruda managed to neutralize the Cardassian AI.

Two years later, following the death of T'Prynn in a transporter accident, Vaughn began a romantic relationship with Tenmei. 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. 

Bajor, the Gateway and the Borg
In 2365, while working a mission specialist gathering and analyzing intelligence from the Federation/Cardassian border, Vaughn was contacted by a Cardassian dissedent 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, 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 Gateway crisis of 2376. 

In 2368, Vaughn was assigned to Starbase 621, analyzing starship movement along the Tzenkethi border, when he was again contacted by Gaten Russol, with whom Vaughn had maintained sporadic contact with. Russol informed Vaughn that the Cardassian prefect on Bajor, Gul Skrain Dukat, was about to make a fraudulant 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 Bajoran's 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 on the Valo II re-settlement camp. Falor 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, Vaughn was promoted to Commander. On a mission to Uridi'si, in order to keep a copy of Crem Veruda's AI from falling into the hands of the Borg, Vaughn was forced to send Ruriko Tenmei on a one-way mission to a Borg ship to ensure that the AI was destroyed. Ruriko Tenmei was believed dead, and Prynn, who was at Starfleet Academy at the time, blamed Vaughn for her mother's death. 

The Dominion War
In 2375, Vaughn was aboard the USS Nautilus (NCC-31910) 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. 

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. 

2376
In early 2376, Vaughn was sent to search the Badlands with the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E) in response to a rumoured 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, reminded Vaughn of his lost dream of being an explorer. Vaughn began to re-evaluate his life and career at that point, determined to live life for the moment, to enjoy it, even if that meant leaving Starfleet. After returning the lost orb to Bajoran Colonel Kira Nerys and saving station Deep Space 9 from Jem'Hadar sabotage, Vaughn requested to fill the vacant post of first officer on the station.

Vaughn's superiors were reluctant to grant him his request at first, but gave in after Vaughn threatened to resign from Starfleet if they did not comply. 

Using the 'holo-ship' acquired the previous year, Vaughn assisted in the removal of the Ingavi from the planet Sindorin, after Section 31 attempted to breed their own Jem'Hadar soldiers at lab located on the Badlands based world. Vaughn then recruited Dr. Julian Bashir for the secret battle against Section 31. 

Mission Gamma
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 Vahltupani. 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 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 to prevent her from assimilating her daughter, Prynn. 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. .

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. This was seemingly accomplished by the Bajoran prophets, who considered the people of that system, the Eav'oq, to be their children, as well as the Bajorans. 

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. 

Return to the Alpha Quadrant
After returning to the Alpha Quadrant, Vaughn was despondent over the re-newed loss of both his wife and daughter and sought the council of former Bajoran Kai Opaka Sulan at the monastary at Ashalla. Vaughn met the former Kai during the Gamma Quadrant mission, and then happily agreed to return her to Bajor. 

Agreeing to help Vaughn, Opaka exposed Vaughn 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 a in prophet created simulation of Earth's 1950s. During his orb experience, he met Captain Benjamin Sisko during his 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. Despite this promising start, and Prynn accompanying Vaughn to induction of Bajor into the United Federation of Planets, Prynn remained distant, canceling three separate dinner dates with her father. 

After the induction of Bajor into the United Federation of Planets, Vaughn assisted with the integration of Bajor's militia into Starfleet. Vaughn, during that time, celebrated his 102nd birthday. 

2377
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. 


 * The saga of Deep Space Nine will continue in Fearful Symmetry'' by Olivia Woods available in July 2008.

Vaughn
During Vaughn's second orb experience he took on the identity of Eli Underwood, a patient at the same insane asylum as Benny Russell. While there he interacted with numerous members of the staff and other patients, all of who were representations of his friends and family. 

Kira
During her vision in Warpath, Kira encounters a man named Ghavun, who was a representation of Vaughn.