Another Day, Another Threat

Posted on Fri Feb 13th, 2026 @ 11:05pm by Lieutenant JG Varinity Atoro

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Security Suite, then Deck 31
Timeline: S6E6 : Concurrent with the Second Attack
1016 words - 2 OF Standard Post Measure

This posting was really testing Varinity’s commitment to the bit.

What should have been an easy first assignment turned into chaos the moment the Elysium got yanked into another galaxy. She remembered seeing Jared, her predecessor, deep burns charring his skin and fusing with his uniform. The anxiety that burned her throat when she blurted out her interest in filling his role. Months of training, interviews that made her head spin, and sleepless nights as she studied her ass off. Sometimes she’d overhear the fellow security officers wondering if she was losing it when she kept muttering the training materials under her breath. She earned the right to fill the role, even though half the time she felt like she had conned her way into it and didn’t really know what she was doing. A stubborn insistence on showing up those who doubted her kept her pushing to get better.

The first alerts of the incoming Galtonian attack had Varinity at her console in the security suite in a flash. From there, she was able to see what was happening and provide analyses up the chain to the tactical station. As she watched the Elysium’s fighters engage, she called upon prior experience to analyse the current situation.

The first real test of Varinity’s skill as an analyst started shortly after the Elysium left that icy hellhole of a planet. They were looking for resources, and she was tasked with identifying how risky it was to pursue certain sensor readings. Then, Mr. Dosivi and his daughter needed help at the graveyard planet. His ship, the Spheia, had defensive capabilities, but its size really diminished its threat level. He shared a lot of data with the Elysium, and she spent multiple hours with the intelligence department making sure the data hadn’t been tampered with. From there, she ultimately concluded that the small alien wasn’t dangerous. That was probably the easiest assessment she got the privilege of making.

The encounter with the slavers was probably the only other one that shook her to her core aside from the cat-and-mouse game that was happening now. The second the commodore had broadcasted transmissions across the ship, Varinity’s gut screamed at her to get more information. It wasn’t easy to pick between following the little alien’s recommendation of stay the fuck away from them and potentially rescuing some of their own. One was obviously the safer route, and there was a lot of back and forth as she processed the information provided. She knew deep down that Starfleet wouldn’t abandon its people if there was any opportunity to save them. What Varinity didn’t anticipate was just how rough it was going to get. That was a mistake on her part, and she got lucky with the outcome.

Shore leave was nice. So was that space church. She felt like something had happened there, but none of her records contained anything of significance. Maybe she imagined it.

The Zynari things were infuriating. They kept moving her things around, and for a while she thought she had finally lost her marbles. She even considered going to medical to get her head checked out. All she really cared to remember from that experience was how much vino she consumed after the fact.

Varinity scrunched her nose at the console. She was watching the fight against the Galtonians progress when a thought occurred to her. Has it really only been 2 months since the last shore leave?? It felt like it should have been longer.

Focus, she thought to herself. These Galtonians spooked her about as much as the Thaih’ea did. As much as she wanted to help the crew with repairs, Teevs made it clear that they would attack again, which meant her priority was understanding this new threat. Her days, nights, and even dreams consisted of prediction models, using what sensors had gathered and the knowledge Teevs could offer to try and gauge just how much worse the next attack would be. Multiple hours dedicated to pattern recognition from internal sensors, estimating firepower using external scans, and the worst part, estimating casualties. Seeing the vast number of ships appear on her console when this thing started nearly gave her a heart attack.

Looking back on the assessment she gave to Kyle, it really could have benefited from some overestimation.

The ship shook with impacts, and the intruder alert made Varinity snap out of it and grab her phaser. Kyle didn’t need her skills to identify the sudden increase in danger, and she could still reach him through comms or, if she needed to, a console if there was anything worth noting. She was a security officer before she became an analyst, and she’d be damned if she sat in her cosy little corner of the security suite while the rest of the team was being ripped apart. Unless something new came up, any other knowledge she had to offer was vastly redundant at this point.

Tagging along with Bashalan’s team, Varinity made her way down to Deck 31. She could hear the damn hounds well before she saw them. She could smell them as the team moved closer. Their footfalls were different from the first time; chaotic, like a stampede. She advised her team to exercise caution when engaging with the hounds, and they quickly reshaped their approach before reaching the hounds.

It was brutal. The hounds acted like toddlers hyped up on sugar, but with sharp claws and murderous intent. Half the team was taken out early on. Blood splattered across Varinity’s face as someone shielded her from a swipe. Bashalan took a harpoon to the face, and his body failed to block another harpoon from heading right toward Varinity. There was really only enough time to recognise that she was right in the path of a very sharp piece of metal.

Oh cazzo.