1.3 Border Dispute (mission)

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## Mission

The *USS* *Tempest (NCC-10535)* answers the distress call of another starship, the *USS Ellesmere (NCC-21464),* after it accidentally crosses into the Neutral Zone and is attacked by Romulans.

## Summary

### Cold Open

While on patrol near Romulan space, the *USS Ellesmere (NCC-21464)* realizes it has accidentally crossed over into the Romulan Neutral Zone. First officer Allison Lewis is on duty on the bridge orders an immediate course correction, but a Romulan warbird decloaks and cripples the *Ellesmere* before it can escape, stranding it in the Neutral Zone.

### Part 1

The *Tempest* is dispatched to help and rescue the *Ellesmere*, though they are told explicitly not to enter the Neutral Zone themselves. When the *Tempest* arrives, Maddox speaks with the Romulan commander, Mheven, who issues an ultimatum that the crew cannot take the *Ellesmere* or its crew. Maddox then speaks to Lewis who reports the *Ellesmere's* damage and casualties, including half the crew and the ship's captain, Laura Blake. Maddox speaks to Mheven again, questioning why she was so deep into the Neutral Zone that they were able to be on top of the *Ellesmere* so quickly. Mheven dodges the question by allowing the *Tempest* to send over a repair team but otherwise does not give any ground, forcing the crew to debate their options. Ultimately, Maddox decides to send over an away team consisting of Goodspeed, Dr. Teal, Lieutenant Eele, and nurse K'at.

Once aboard, the away team splits up, with the engineers proceeding to engineering and the medical officers to Sickbay. The away team orders any nonessential and non-injured personnel to gather in Cargo Bay 2 in case of an emergency beam out. The away team discovers that the *Ellesmere's* computer has been encrypted as part of the Romulan Protocol, a procedure to keep sensitive intelligence from being captured by the Romulans. Goodspeed and Eele begin assisting with repairs without unencrypting the computer first.

Meanwhile, Teal and K'at reach the *Ellesmere's* Sickbay, where they meet the ship's Chief Medical Officer, a Vulcan named G'Trell. Teal and K'at begin assisting, first by helping triage patients and treating minor injuries before helping G'Trell with a delicate surgery. Following the surgery, Teal asks if an autopsy had been done on the captain yet, but G'Trell replies that they haven't gotten to it yet, considering their hands full with keeping injured patients alive and the cause of death being clear cut - blunt force trauma to the head from a collapsing bulkhead. Teal discovers that the captain wasn't on the bridge when the *Ellesmere* entered the Neutral Zone and the subsequent attack, which piques her curiosity.

### Part 2

Teal decides to conduct an autopsy on the captain's body, which is being stored in a cargo bay turned makeshift morgue adjacent to Sickbay. She discovers signs of foul play that contradict the existing story of the captain's death - killed by head trauma from a collapsing bulkhead. Teal discovers the head trauma was actually caused post-mortem and that there are bruises on the neck that indicate strangulation.

Teal shares her findings with Maddox, as well as Holden and Goodspeed, suspecting Dr. G'Trell as the captain's killer. The crew decides to set a trap by returning to Sickbay and claiming the captain is still alive within earshot of G'Trell. His reaction of sincere surprise and annoyance at being deceived convinces the crew that he is not responsible. Teal still confronts him about the strangulation and he agrees that the captain must have been murdered by one of the crew. Maddox reveals the reasoning for the deception to G'Trell and asks the Vulcan to submit to a DNA scan. Though Teal initially fails, K'at is able to confirm that he's a full Vulcan. Satisfied, the crew decides to talk to the first officer and now acting captain, Allison Lewis.

In Engineering, repairs progress, with the crew able to get several systems back online. In the course of their repairs, they investigate the possibility of the ship's systems having been tampered with. Meanwhile, Goodspeed and Teal head to the bridge to question Lewis, ultimately deciding she is also not responsible. Next they talk to the helmsman that was on duty at the time, a Trill named Dalon, who is distraught and believes himself responsible for the mistake that caused the navigational error in the first place.

Goodspeed and Teal then move to engineering to interview the helmsman on duty before Dalen, a Vulcan named Tellek, and may have been at the helm when the mistake was originally made. Teal asks him to submit to a DNA scan but he claims to have Romulan ancestry, properly noted in his file, but foiling any attempt to rule him out as a Romulan agent. Teal remains unconvinced and orders Tellek to report to Sickbay for a minor cut as a pretext to keep him from working on the ship's computer. In the course of conducting further repairs, the crew discovers that the navigation computer had been deliberately tampered with, suggesting Tellek as the culprit.

### Part 3

Teal orders K'at to make sure Tellek actually arrived at Sickbay as she ordered and learns that at most, he dropped his communicator by the door and immediately left again. Teal begins to search the ship for him while Goodspeed and Eele continue repairs. Suddenly, the console that Tellek was working on in engineering explodes, knocking out the ship's warp drive.

Goodspeed issues a ship wide alert for Tellek but a security breach in the shuttlebay is already in progress. The crew realizes that Tellek is attempting to steal a shuttlecraft in order to escape and Maddox orders the *Tempest* to transport anyone into the shuttle bay into the *Tempest's* brig. Tellek attempts to block the transporter signal but ultimately fail, and he and another *Ellesmere* crewmember are successfully beamed into the *Tempest* brig.

With Tellek in custody, the warbird decloaks and attempts to tractor the *Ellesmere* further into the Neutral Zone toward Romulan Space, but Goodspeed is able to raise the ship's shields and stop the tow. Mheven hails Maddox and offers an exchange: Tellek for the *Ellesmere* and its crew. After consulting the crew, Maddox decides to take a firm stance and when Mheven attempts to give another ultimatum, Maddox orders both the *Tempest* and *Ellesmere* to open fire. The *Tempest* enters the Neutral Zone to provide cover to the *Ellesmere*, which is able to maneuver at impulse around the warbird and back to Federation sapce. Defeated, Mheven and her warbird cloak again and are gone.

## Elements

* Characters
	+ NPCs
		- Mheven
		- Allison Lewis
		- Dalon
		- G'Trell
		- Tellek
	+ Supporting Characters
		- Lt. Eele Notus
		- Nurse K'at
* Ships
	+ USS Ellesmere (NCC-21464)
	+ IRW T'varen
* Items
* Locations
	+ Romulan Neutral Zone
	+ USS Ellesmere (NCC-21464)
		- Bridge
		- Engineering
		- Sickbay
		- Makeshift Morgue
		- Shuttlebay

The Border Dispute mission originally comes from the These Are The Voyages... mission compendium book published by Modiphius. Several of the scenario's elements were adjusted or adapted to keep the events consistent with onscreen canon, considering the time period Star Trek: Tempest is set within:

* The Nova-class *USS Nightingale* was adjusted to the Merced-class *USS Ellesmere*, since the Nova-class would not enter service for another three decades.
* To adhere as closely as possible to established canon that there was no contact between Federation and Romulan elements until 2364, the Romulan ship remains cloaked and communication with the Romulan commander is limited to voice only.
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