Tim Pennington

Universe :	Prime Timeline
Name :	Tim Pennington [1]
Species :	Humans

A journalist and writer, Pennington became a reporter for the Federation News Service in 2259. By 2265 he was based on Starbase 47 (Vanguard), where he covered the Federation's expansion into the Taurus Reach area. [1]

Pennington was married to Lora Brummer. Nevertheless, in 2265 he engaged in an extra-marital affair with Oriana D'Amato, an officer aboard the USS Bombay who was in turn married to Robert D'Amato, the Chief Geologist on board the USS Enterprise. [1]

Pennington filed a story on the USS Enterprise's attempt to penetrate the energy barrier at the edge of the galaxy, including the details of the mental effects this had on Gary Mitchell and Elizabeth Dehner and their subsequent deaths. The report was embarrassing to Captain Kirk, who had filed an official report stating that Mitchell had died in the line of duty. [1]

Oriana D'Amato was killed when the USS Bombay was lost with all hands in combat with a Tholian fleet several months after her affair with Pennington began. A distraught Pennington was determined to discover the cause of the loss, despite a Starfleet cover-up. He was apparently successful when a mysterious source gave him a large amount of secret information regarding the incident. [1]

After the story was published, however, numerous factual flaws in the information were discovered. Both the story and Pennington himself were discredited, and he was fired from his job with the Federation News Service. In addition his wife discovered his affair and left him. Unknown to Pennington, the information had been manufactured by Starfleet Intelligence officer T'Prynn as a disinformation effort. [1]

T'Prynn used the merchant Cervantes Quinn to pass the information on to Pennington. Upset by the part he had played in discrediting Pennington and essentially destroying his life, Quinn offered the man a job working with him. Pennington saw this as a way to continue exploring the Taurus Reach in search of stories, in hopes of regenerating his career. [2]

Travelling with Quinn was not without danger. Whilst on a mission with Quinn, Pennington was captured by the criminal Broon and held briefly. He managed to help Quinn escape successfully. [2]

His most risky mission came when Commodore Reyes and T'Prynne convinced Quinn to take spare parts to the Jinoteur system for the grounded Sagittarius. Pennington went alone into a Shedai city in order to rescue Ensign Vanessa Theriault. He considered her to be 'cute' [3], and the two struck up a romantic relationship in the aftermath of the mission. The relationship cooled when Pennington broke a major story related to the real reasons for Starfleet's presence in the Taurus Reach. [4]

Colour key

Canon source

Backstage source

Novel source

DITL speculation

Associated with

References

#	Series	Season	Source	Comment
1			Star Trek : Vanguard, Book 1 - Harbinger
2			Star Trek : Vanguard, Book 2 - Summon the Thunder
3			Star Trek : Vanguard, Book 3 - Reap The Whirlwind
4			Star Trek : Vanguard, Book 4 - Open Secrets

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Last updated : 29 Oct 2017