Second in the run of Trek covers I did for FASA corporation,” The Vanished” was probably the least visible out of them all. The supplement had been published previously using cover art by another illustrator and I was told that Paramount licensing was not happy with the way a female figure had been depicted – her Star Fleet tunic skirt was too tight/too short…which seemed to contradict the definition of a Star Fleet tunic-skirt.
To be honest I thought the first cover illustration was great but I was all too happy to get the work.
This was one of the few covers Jordan was less than thrilled about – specifically the blue reflected highlight on Sulu’s face and the large hands on the security guard behind him. I thought we was going to kill the project but between the tight deadline and the fact that he loved the ship, monster and background it went to print. As a second printing it didn’t get a very large run; FASA was also unsuccessfully experimenting at the time with packaging the supplements in a cardboard sleeve that could be hung from a peg which also hurt sales.
…and there was that yucky blue highlighting!
24″X16″ ink and Dr. Martin’s dyes applied with airbrush on cold-press illustration board. Detail added with colored pencils, designers markers and gouache. August 1983
David R. Deitrick, Designer 
I come from a family of Trek fans and no one was more excited about these covers than my nephew Erik (Taveres). It was frustrating for him though because his buddies didn’t believe him when he’d tell them his Uncle David was doing the covers for the books they were carrying around – the different surnames didn’t help much for that matter. I decided to give him a hand: it’s hard to tell with a small image like this but scattered in the numbers in the computer readout on the back cover are his phone number, birthdate and street address. I also sent him an autographed cover signed “Uncle David”….
Incredible backstory! FASA created a small independent trader ship perfect for RPG groups called the Tavares Class. Is the name a nod to Erik (Taveres)?
Yep . Erik is my nephew.
At the time he would get frustrated because our differing last names made it difficult to convince his gaming buddies that we were related so I arranged with Jordan for this particular Easter Egg.
I did a similar thing with the painter for the second “Vanished “ supplement. Hidden among the numbers on a computer screen on the back cover is/was Erik’s street address number, his phone number and birthdate.