Gagarin IV
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Gagarin IV is a “scumworld” that serves as the location of the Federation’s premier genetics research and genetic engineering facility. Here, the building blocks of life are studied, and evolution — wisely or not — is hurried along.
The Darwin Genetic Research Station was first proposed and constructed during the 23rd century, amid great debate and references to the Eugenics Wars. Darwin Station was fully online by the 24th century. Someone who has genetic enhancements or resequencing may have received it here. The peaceful scientists of Darwin Station, like many others, are forced to compromise their peaceful beliefs in the wake of the Dominion war. Their understanding of genetics and life processes make them ideal researchers both on the genetic dependency of the Jem'Hadar and on the nature of the Founders.
Gagarin IV is the fourth planet of nine orbiting a blue star, approximately fifteen light years from Andoria. As with most planets orbiting blue stars, the world is very young, and would not likely survive to evolve higher life forms in the future. In many ways, Gagarin IV is a snapshot of the earliest stages of evolution on most worlds — as prokaryotic single celled organisms evolve into early eukaryotic organisms, designed to survive on carbon dioxide and expel oxygen. Were Gagarin IV orbiting a yellow or orange star, within a few million years life in all its glory would likely emerge. As it is, its star will have burnt up sufficient nuclear fuel to change size and luminosity long before that point, and the world’s protolife will have died out.
Climate
A damp world of almost two-thirds water, Gagarin IV is nearly identical in many conditions to Earth when Earth first evolved eukaryotic life forms. The world is new, and the weather patterns can be harsh as a result. Rain and storms come suddenly and often, but disappear as quickly as they come.
The climate is also perfect for the eukaryotic life that is Gagarin IV’s only indigenous life form. The “scum” is generally several inches thick along most river valleys, fed by the rainfall and waterways. Spores and buds fill the air as well, giving the sky a greenish cast, and even making the world look green from orbit. The percentages aren’t so great as to be a problem for breathing, unless someone is allergic. Still, Darwin station is careful to filter its air and water.
Geography
In many ways, the planet’s geographic features are rough and new, without eons of wind and water erosion to soften and smooth terrain. However, the preponderance of green slime — each cubic meter containing literally billions of single celled organisms — on all surfaces in temperate areas makes the rocks and terrain seem smoother from a distance. The lack of sophisticated life forms makes Gagarin IV ideal for genetic research — the eukaryotic life means there is a breathable oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere, but the lack of bacteria, viruses or organisms with complex DNA keeps the research from becoming contaminated.
Civilization
The only population on Gagarin IV is at the Darwin Genetic Research Station, founded to be the Federation’s preeminent Life Sciences research facility. Darwin Station started as a humble building on the banks of a gorge. Later, as the Station expanded and research projects grew in scope and complexity, new, multi-level facilities were constructed on the opposite side of the gorge, with a transit bridge connecting them. Later construction expanded the facility to over sixty acres.
Darwin Station is civilian-run and administrated, though Starfleet supports and supplies the station. Several hundred research scientists are in residence at any time, as well as visiting faculty, assistants, graduate students, workers, test subjects and patients at the attached medical facility. There are many concurrent research projects running, with each project being headed up by a scientific administrator. There is also a central administration that oversees all projects, allocates resources, seeks funding and support, and tries to keep an eye on the overall picture. This is especially important given the natural tendency for research scientists to focus on personal projects to the exclusion of all others. Unfortunately, several Head Administrators have also been researchers at the station, which has occasionally led to conflicts of interest.
History
The Darwin Genetic Research Station was first proposed in the mid 23rd century, garnering considerable debate. The Station’s stated purpose would be to explore the limits of human evolution, both examining the natural processes that led to humanity’s current genetic makeup and predicting the new directions humanity could move into as they spread into the galaxy and filled new ecological niches. The Station would also seek to “move humanity along the path,” actively attempting to engineer the next stage in human evolution. Originally proposed as an Earthbound research facility, Darwin Station became a political hot potato. Though it had been over two centuries, no one had forgotten the Eugenics Wars, where genetically engineered “supermen” inflicted tremendous harm on Earth before being defeated.
Finally, Dr. Rosa Digulio was able to convince the Federation Council to sponsor Darwin Station, on the condition that its research would be conducted in complete isolation. If the researchers accidentally created a new Khan Noonian Singh, the Federation wanted him contained from the beginning. Dr. Digulio gladly agreed, wanting a place with a minimum of potential contamination by outside sources. Andorian representatives on the Council proposed Gagarin IV — a beautiful, simple world with no sophisticated life forms and too warm a climate for Andorian comfort — and Darwin Station had a home.
After being constructed by the Starfleet Corps of Engineers, the Darwin Genetic Research Station went online in 2285. Originally a moderately small, selfcontained facility, Darwin Station swiftly expanded as the breadth and scope of research expanded. All aspects of human genetics were subjects of exploration, and many programs showed promise right from the beginning.
One of the most promising programs was headed by Dr. Sara Kingsley, who synthesized several of the findings of her collegues into a single project, attempting the creation of the next step in human evolution. Dr. Kingsley’s passion for her project was infectious, and her political skills were considerable. Though some colleagues raised concerns, Dr. Kingsley’s appointment as the Head Researcher and Administrator of Darwin Station in 2349 ensured the work would go on. While literally dozens of other projects continued, Dr. Kingsley’s work became the primary focus of the station.
In 2353, the project’s first children were born. Genetically engineered in all ways for survival, the children grew quickly and perfectly. They possessed telepathic and telekinetic abilities that rivaled naturally psionic Federation races. Most remarkable of all, they possessed an active immune system. Their bodies could sense potential sources of disease even from across the room, generate active antibodies that could leave their host and attack the parasite before it could ever invade the child. This was the crowning achievement of the new children’s genetic template, and it would prove to be their curse.
In 2365, the U.S.S. Lantree — a Miranda-class supply ship — made a regular resupply run. One of its crew had a minor flu that triggered the children’s active immune systems. However, the antibodies attacking the disease adapted themselves to attack the host carrying the disease, becoming an entirely new kind of plague. This illness seemed to accelerate the aging process in its victims. The disease spread to all 26 crew members of the Lantree, who died of simulated old age within days.
The U.S.S. Enterprise-D, responding to the Lantree’s distress call, backtracked to Darwin Station. There, they found the same plague had broken out among the researchers. Dr. Katherine Pulaski, the chief medical officer of the Enterprise, was able to determine that the newly engineered children were the cause of the illness. Armed with this knowledge and a pathology of the illness, the crew of the Enterprise was able to develop a transporter-based cure. (TNG: "Unnatural Selection")
Following this scare, the children of Kingsley’s project were placed into isolation for their own protection and the protection of the researchers. Work on the project was suspended temporarily in lieu of developing a way for the children to once again interact with their parents. Of course, other research continues as normal on Darwin Station.
Places of Interest
The only populated area on Gagarin IV is Darwin Station. Within the station, the most interesting locations are the isolation labs where the children are housed, and the extensive computer core, where the sum of six hundred years of human genetic research and development is housed.
Reference(s)
- Burns, Eric, Kenneth A. Hite & Doug Sun. Star Trek Roleplaying Game Book 7: Worlds, Decipher, 2005. ISBN: 1582369097.