Commander Elias Vaughn
Commander Elias Vaughn was a Starfleet 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 3 and the liberation of Betazed from the Dominion to name a few.
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 Nine at age 101, Elias Vaughn commanded the USS Defiant on a three-month mission of exploration in the Gamma Quadrant and continued to contribute to Starfleet.
Early Life
Elias Vaughn was born October 24th, 2274, and was raised on the planet Berengaria VII. He was taught about the stars by his mother, which fuels his early passion for exploration.
Vaughn's mother died early in his life Burkhardts disease.
Family Life
Vaughn and Ruriko Tenmei began a romantic relationship in the year 2349 after the death of their mutual friend T'Prynn of Vulcan.
The next year, Ruriko gave birth to a daughter, Prynn Tenmei. Vaughn was away on assignment on the day of Prynn's birth.
Vaughn was called away from Prynn's fifth birthday to help Starfleet deal with a coup on the Elaysian homeworld. This is part of a pattern of Vaughn not being in his daughter's life, as Vaughn would always put the mission above all else. Resentment started to grow within Prynn concerning her father's constant absences.
Prynn joined Starfleet Academy in the year 2369 in part to be closer to her father.
Soon after, Ruriko Tenmei was killed while on assignment with Vaughn. Prynn blames Vaughn for her mother's death, and the two did not speak again for over seven years, until they are reunited on Deep Space Nine.
Starfleet Academy
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. (Section 31 novel: Abyss)
Starfleet Operations
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 Tomed. This was remarkably more interesting than some of his previous assignments, among whichh were shadowing a Benzite engineer eventually found innocent of trading stolen technology, the infiltration of a Tellarite mining facility, and the recovery of a container with a stolen Linellian Fluid Effigy inside. (TLE novel: Serpents Among the Ruins novel: DS9: Avatar book one)) .
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. (TLE novel: Serpents Among the Ruins)
In the year 2319, Vaughn first partners with T'Prynn of Vulcan and the two form a loose partnership that lasts off and on for thirty years. (novel: DS9: Lesser Evil)
When the Cardassians discover the ancient wreck of Ch'Gran, a ship that the Klingons consider being sacred, on the planet Raknal V near the Betreka Nebula in the year 2328, war threatens to break out between the two powers. Vaughn attends a Starfleet hosted arbitration in which Starfleet ambassador Curzon Dax proposes a contest between the two powers to see who can best develop the world's resources. Vaughn is very skeptical and says so to Dax. Vaughn also meets Starfleet officer Ian Troi with whom which he begins a friendship. (TLE novel: The Art Of The Impossible)
Approximately 2340: Vaughn plays a role in the aftermath of the disaster on Arvada III. (Date here is speculation on my part. Beverly Crusher was young, age unspecified, during the events of the Arvada III tragedy. She would have been 16 in 2340.) ((novel: DS9: Avatar book one))
In 2343, Vaughn meets Starfleet Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the U.S.S. Stargazer. The two will meet several times over the ensuing years including during a coup on Darnak VII. (TLE novel: The Art Of The Impossible, comic: Divided We Fall)
In 2343, after Vaughns promotion to Lieutenant Commander, Vaughn and T'Prynn save Special Emmissary Raisa Tartovsky from the planet Devniad in Cardassian space. His superior in Starfleet Intelligence at this time was Captain Uhura.
Soon after, in 2343, Vaughn and Troi return to Betreka, where Troi is killed in an explosion caused by Romulan sabotage. Vaughn is injured and spends several months in rehabilitation.
After informing Dax of the Romulan involvement at Raknal V, the two team up and discover the truth about Ch'Gran. Soon afterward, the Klingons cede the planet to Cardassia and negotiate for the wreckage, thus ending the Betreka Nebula Incident. (TLE novel: The Art Of The Impossible)
In 2347 Vaughn meets 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 manage to neutralize the Cardassian AI. (novel: DS9: Lesser Evil)
In 2349 T'Prynn is killed in a transporter accident on board the USS T'Plana-Hath.
At some point in Vaughns career he became aware of the rogue agency that calls itself Section 31, a ranch of SI that deals in black ops and the kind of activities that go against everything the Federation stands for. Vaughn joined a small cabal of Starfleet officers who have dedicated themselves to the destruction of Section 31. (novel: DS9: Section 31: Abyss)
In 2367, Vaughn takes part in a classified mission to Alexandras Planet involving Romulans and an Iconian Gateway. (novel: DS9: Demons Of Air And Darkness)
In 2369, Vaughn was promoted to Commander. On a mission to Uridisi, in order to keep a copy of Crem Verudas 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 is destroyed. Ruriko Tenmei is believed dead. (novel: DS9: Lesser Evil)
In 2375, Vaughn participated in the liberation of Betazed from Dominion control. (novel: TNG: The Battle of Betazed)
Later that year, Vaughn obtains an illegal 'holo-ship' used in a failed Section 31 operation in the Briar Patch. (novel: DS9: Section 31: Abyss)
In early 2376, Vaughn is sent to search the Badlands with the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E in response to a rumored Breen incursion. While there, Vaughn discovers one of the missing Bajoran Orbs Of the Prophets. The orb, the Orb of Memory, reminds Vaughn of his lost dream of being an explorer. Vaughn begins to re-evaluate his life and career. ((novel: DS9: Avatar book one))
Deep Space Nine
After returning the lost orb to Bajoran Colonel Kira Nerys and saving station Deep Space Nine from Jem Hadar sabotage, Vaughn requests to fill the vacant post of First Officer on the station.
Vaughns superiors are reluctant to grant him his request at first, but give in after Vaughn threatens to resign from Starfleet if they don't comply. novel: DS9: Avatar book two))
Using the 'holo-ship' aquired the previous year, Vaughn assists in the removal of the Ingavi from the planet Sindorin after Section 31 attempts to breed their own Jem Hadar soldiers at lab located on the Badlands based world. Vaughn then recruits Dr. Julian Bashir for the secret battle against Section 31.
Vaughn later commanded the USS Defiant on a three month mission of exploration in the Gamma Quadrant.
After a near death experience helping to release a lifeform known as the Imnamuri into this plane of existance while in the Gamma Quadrant, Vaughn has a reconciliation with his daughter Prynn, who was assigned to the Defiant as Conn officer.((novel: DS9: Mission Gamma: Twilight))
The reconciliation is short-lived, however, as the Defiant discovers a crashed Borg vessel in the Gamma Quadrant and an assimilated and still alive Ruriko Tenmei. When the Assimilation imperitive proved too strong for Ruriko to resist, Vaughn was forced to kill her to prevent her from assimilating Prynn. Prynn once again blamed Vaughn for her mothers death, and once again stopped speaking to him.((novel: DS9: Mission Gamma: Lesser Evil))
After returning to the Alpha Quadrant, Vaughn has another encounter with a Bajoran orb, this time the Orb of Unity, during which he meets Captain Benjamin Sisko during his sojourn with the Prophets.
After returning with Sisko, Vaughn approaches Prynn, not wanting to be separated from her again. The two are slowly making progress toward reconciliation. .((novel: DS9: Unity))
After the induction of Bajor into the United Federation of Planets, Vaughn assisted with the integration of Bajors militia into Starfleet. Vaughn recently celebrated his 102nd birthday.((novel: DS9: Worlds of Deep Space Nine volume 2: Bajor - Fragments and Omens))