- For other uses, see Tran.
Tran was a 23rd century Human male who was employed as a navigator assistant crewman aboard the freighter Merchantman around the year 2285.
Biography
Tran had been a member of the Merchantman's crew for some time, and had a standoffish relationship with Farrendahl, the ship's felinoid navigator. The two worked in close quarters and often traded insults, but shared a great deal of cameraderie.
Tran and Farrendahl's quarrels, and their other behavior in general often prompted the Merchantman captain to assign them "demerits" as discipline. Tran and Farrendahl found these meant nothing when they once tried to leave the starship for shore leave at a port of call, but were barred from leaving the ship by the [captain]]. The two left anyway, and the incident was not addressed after their return.
In the year 2285, the Merchantman took on a single passenger, the Klingon Valkris, and made for neutral space near the border of the Klingon Empire. In a chance encounter with Valkris, Farrendahl was warned of the vessel's upcoming destruction, and chose to flee in a shuttlecraft. Despite the rivalry with Tran, she chose to wake him and take him with her. They piloted the freighter's scout shuttle to a point near Merchantman, eclipsed from view of the decloaking bird-of-prey, IKS B'rel. When Kruge's B'rel opened fire, Tran and Farrendahl allowed their ship to be flung outward by shockwaves and debris, hiding evidence of their survival from the Klingons. Their craft's range would bring them near a highly populated shipping lane, where they expected to be rescued. A report from Starfleet later confirmed the two survivors being found. (TOS novelization: The Search for Spock)