TCS Iason

TCS Iason
Primary User	Terran Confederation
Captains	Jedora Andropolos Jedora Andropolos
Service	2613 to 2638

The TCS Iason was an Odysseus-class naval exploratory vessel. She was commissioned on 2613.078 as a long-range exploratory vessel and would go on to serve as a fleet transport and a combination exploratory/research vessel. The Iason was responsible for the first official contact with the Empire of Kilrah, an incident which cost the lives of her crew.

First Contact

In 2629, the Iason was serving as a patrol ship as part of the Confederation’s expanded exploration and colonization of the Vega Sector under the command of Commander Jedora Andropolos. On 2629.105 (alternatively 3/15/2629 and March 16, 2629), the Iason encountered the KIS K’rath’kan. After several minutes, Captain Andropolos transmitted the international wide-band, non-verbal greeting designed by the Committee for Interaction with Alien Intelligences to the unidentified ship. Andropolos opts to keep Iason motionless through the encounter and her guns offline for the Terran Confederation Navy-recommended twenty minutes. Aboard the destroyer, Leader Brath’kar nar Caxki misinterprets the signal as an attempt to neutralize his shields with wide-band radiation. Brath’kar waits three-eighths of a Kilrathi hour before ordering his crew to open fire with full lasers. The Iason is destroyed with all hands lost. The entire encounter lasts twenty two minutes. The incident marks the official first contact between the Terran Confederation and the Empire of Kilrah. Confederation deep-space tracking computers identify an unexplored planet, later identified as Kilrah, as a possible point of origin for the K’rath’kan.

Return

In 2633, the Iason was refitted as a fleet support transport. In 2637 she was again refitted as an exploratory/research vessel. The modified Iason was a 17,000 ton explorer with an enhanced sensor array, ultra-long-range communications system (voice and data) and self-sustaining life support systems rated for a 1.2 voyage at full complement. She carried a jump drive, hopper drive and long-range fusion impulse drive as well as laboratory facilities for astronomy, xenology, planetology and gravitics research. Iason was armed with two twin long-range pulse cannons and a torpedo tube, with twelve N44 torpedoes mounting conventional explosive warheads. Her hull was protected with class 5 heavy-carbon armor and a 4.7 terajoule xenon-charged phase shield generator. She carried one long-range Pelican-class shuttle refitted for research, one Tern-class shuttle, two towed Ferret-class scout fighters with enhanced sensor arrays and nineteen lifeboats. As she set off on her final cruise, she carried a crew of 19 officers and 71 crew plus a research staff of 3 officers, 19 crew and 5 civilians. She had an 8,000 cubic meter cargo capacity, which consisted of provisions, research equipment and an unknown number of research samples.

Final Mission

On 2638.009, Iason departed Port of Hellespont under the command of Jedora Andropolos for a nine-month mapping/research mission in the outer Vega Sector. She put in at Tartarus System on 2638.065 for minor repairs, remaining in continuous communications with headquarters for the duration. On 2638.221 she hopped to V343 to investigate the composition of gas giants in the outer system. Early scans indicated complex radioactives in the outer atmosphere of the ninth plannet, prompting Captain Andropolos to order a ten day layover for analysis after which she would hop back to the Tyr System jump point.