Tycho IV

From USS Wolff Wiki
Revision as of 06:42, 21 December 2014 by Thedrew (talk | contribs) (1 revision)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
File:Tychoiv.jpg
Tycho IV
Astronomical Location
Quadrant Alpha
Sector 004
Physical Characteristic
Classification K
Surface Gravity 1.3g
Moons None
Additional Information
Affiliation Federation
Population N/A
  [Source]



Tycho IV is a world whose biosphere was devastated in the name of security… and revenge. The breeding ground for both a destructive, blood-consuming creature and for an obsession that nearly destroyed James Kirk and the U.S.S. Enterprise. Tycho IV is the fourth planet of seven orbiting a red dwarf star in Sector 004. It is in a sparsely populated sector, which contributed to the relatively late starmapping performed in this sector, despite its relative proximity to the Federation core worlds.

Climate

Once, Tycho IV was an unsullied Class M world, with a good percentage of ground water, well moderated temperature and an oxygen-nitogen atmosphere. This had led to teeming life, which the dikironium cloud creature fed on. After the destruction of the creature with an antimatter bomb, a huge mass of the planet’s atmosphere had been blown away, and millions of tons of rock was vaporized, releasing dozens of elements and compounds into the remaining air. As a result, the planetary biosphere has almost completely become uninhabitable, and special equipment is needed to breath. Storms sweep over the surface of the planet on a regular basis, though characters in environmental suits can operate on Tycho IV without difficulty.

Geography

Before the destruction of the dikironium cloud creature, Tycho IV was a beautiful world of 60% water, and sloping plains and beautiful valleys. The antimatter bomb has changed all that, shifting tectonic plates, severely damaging the atmosphere, and blasting enough atmospheric mass to reduce atmospheric density. In the years since then the water on the planet has been slowly vaporizing and escaping into space. If significant terraforming does not take place soon, the water needed to restore Tycho IV to a living world will be lost.

Civilization

The only life possibly considered advanced on Tycho IV was the dikironium cloud creature. Evolving from dikironium mists that clung to certain volcanic vents along the southern continent of the planet, the creature was one of the rare examples of non-corporeal life in the galaxy. The dikironium cloud creature was amorphous, acting almost like an amoeba in movements. However, it also had the ability to selectively displace itself in space/time, rendering it immune to physical and energy attacks. Attracted specifically to iron based blood, the dikironium cloud creature grew to crave the taste of humanity following its encounter with the U.S.S. Farragut. It was in observation of the warp-drive capable craft that the creature first learned it could manipulate space/time and move faster than the speed of light. This made the creature’s threat far greater. If the dikironium cloud creature absorbed enough blood to subdivide, its descendents could swarm over populated worlds, laying waste to whole sectors of the galaxy.

History

Tycho IV was an obscure, uninhabited Class M planet. Its most distinctive and interesting feature were southerly volcanoes which vented plumes of the highly rare dikironium gas. It was in those plumes that the dikironium cloud creature evolved.

Largely composed of iron, though the iron was chained similarly to carbon molecules, the creature needed a ready source of iron to grow and multiply. Unable to feed on iron ore in nature, the creature found what it needed in the blood of other native fauna of Tycho IV. It likely would have continued to fill a niche on Tycho IV, but for a chance encounter with an even richer source of iron based blood: mankind.

In 2257, the U.S.S. Farragut, under the command of Captain Garrovick, entered orbit around Tycho IV to conduct planetary surveys. Landing parties began surveying the planet surface while the ship orbited. The iron-blood-rich humans — possessed of a higher grade of the nutrients the cloud needed — attracted the cloud, which attacked one of the landing party. The survivors of the attack reported a sickly-sweet honey smell just before the cloud descended. After recalling the crew, the Farragut broke orbit to leave Tycho IV and report its findings, only to have the dikironium cloud creature leave Tycho IV’s surface for the first time and attack the ship. In the attack, a still green Lieutenant James T. Kirk panicked, hesitating for a split-second and missing the creature with the Farragut’s main phasers. The creature invaded the Farragut, killing 200 crew members before withdrawing. Captain Garrovick was among the casualties, and Lieutenant Kirk was traumatized with horror and guilt over the incident.

In 2268, James Kirk — now Captain, and in command of the U.S.S. Enterprise — encountered the dikironium cloud creature for a second time. This time, it was on Argus X, and Captain Garrovick’s son, Ensign Garrovick, was among the landing party who was attacked by the creature. After Garrovick hesitated in firing and casualties were incurred, Captain Kirk began an obsessive pursuit of the creature, ignoring duty and friendship alike. It was in a later firefight that it was discovered that the Enterprise’s weapons could not affect the cloud, and opened the ship to attack by the cloud. Fortunately, the first crewmember encountered by the creature was Commander Spock, whose copper-based blood drove the creature off.

Realizing that neither his own hesitation on the Farragut nor Garrovick’s hesitation on Argus X made any difference to the result, Captain Kirk was able to put his guilt and trauma behind him. Examining the situation rationally, Kirk decided the only attack that could possibly stop the dikironium cloud creature before it reproduced would be a charge of antimatter. Baiting an antimatter bomb with blood and with themselves, the pair lured the dikironium cloud creature to the immediate area, and detonated the device as the cloud settled over it. The explosion destroyed the creature, but also laid waste to Tycho IV and catastrophically damaged its atmosphere.

While Captain Kirk’s actions were exonerated by the Board of Inquiry, due to the devastating potential of the creature, the Federation took responsibility for the ecological catastrophe left behind. Terraforming and environmental teams have since been working to both preserve Tycho IV’s biodiversity on other worlds, and to repair the shattered ecosystem of Tycho IV, with the hope that one day it will be green again.

Places of Interest

Most interesting places on Tycho IV are terraforming stations or seeding projects, attempting to cleanse the atmosphere, regenerate the biosphere and restore Tycho IV. There are also the volcanic vents on the southern continent. Dikironium continues to vent naturally there, and it is not known if any other dikironium based life forms have evolved… or what their feeding habits might be.

Reference(s)

  • Burns, Eric, Kenneth A. Hite & Doug Sun. Star Trek Roleplaying Game Book 7: Worlds, Decipher, 2005. ISBN: 1582369097.