Deala: ‘2 stars. Great views. Rubbish guides.’

Posted on Sat Jun 6th, 2026 @ 8:14pm by Lieutenant JG Varinity Atoro & Lonian Royal Sovereignty & Lieutenant Damien Blackford

Mission: Season 6: Episode 7: Crossroads of Destiny
Location: Niea IV :: Deala
Timeline: MD4 Late Morning
2523 words - 5 OF Standard Post Measure

"You are... insane," Varinity wheezed. She and Damien had spent all morning hiking in the Equatorial Range, and the trail he had picked had a note that said to be cautious of decreased air pressure, but the air was so heavy near sea level anyways that she thought it wouldn't be that big a deal.

Boy was she wrong.

The only saving grace was that they were on their way back down toward the town of Deala. Only her thighs burned after the uphill walk. With the way her legs were trembling, it was a miracle she didn't trip and start rolling down the hill. "Remind me to never... go hiking with you. I do not have bones anymore... only jello..."

Damien glanced back at Varinity as she slowly trailed behind him, the ghost of a smirk playing on his lips as he stopped, turning to face her properly, grabbing his water bottle, and taking a quick swig. "Oh, come on, Vanity." He said, walking back over to her. "It's not been that bad. This is nothing compared to some of the hikes my father used to take me on to prepare me for the Academy Survival Courses. Besides, you were on the Security Track at the Academy. Some of the planets they dropped us on for the Land-Based Survival course were a hell of a lot worse than this."

He chuckled again, shaking his head, offering her his water bottle. "Come on. It's not that much further to the bottom. I'll tell you what. If you can make it the rest of the way, without complaining, I'll cook you whatever dinner you want when we get back to the Ship tonight."

The mention of food snapped Varinity's attention to Damien. "Oh, no you don't! Last time... you ruined a perfectly good carbonara!" She snatched his offered water bottle and took a sip. "In my defense, the LBS wasn't done at 0730," she teased, before winking at him. "I'd only trust your cooking if our lives depended on it." Wiping her brow, she gave the bottle back to Damien.

Damien rolled his eyes at her comment. "That's only because you have impossibly high standards when it comes to cooking. Especially when it comes to cooking Italian food. I never had any complaints before you." He raised an eyebrow, watching her. "Really? Well, lucky you. My LBS started at the crack of dawn. Maybe the instructor just didn't like my group." He said with a smirk.

Varinity tsked at him. "There is only one right way to make Italian food, Gus!"

Damien simply rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "You're impossible." He muttered with a grin. "Come on. Enough lollygagging. Time to get moving."

Another couple kilometres of downhill went by before the two made it to the bottom. Varinity sighed in relief as she plopped down onto a bench that was by the trailhead. "Ahhh, flat land!"

Damien rolled his eyes again as they reached the bottom, dropping onto the bench next to her. "Good Lord Vanity. Just how did you pass the LBS if you can't even manage a simple hike?" He asked, laughing as he pulled his water bottle back out again.

"Anything is possible with the promise of good vino and the threat of being forced to repeat that god-forsaken class," Varinity responded, making a teasing face at him.

Damien smirked, offering her the water bottle again. "Oh come on." He said, nudging her with his elbow. "The class wasn't that bad.Now. Intermidiate Andorian. That was a difficult class. I nearly failed my final exam!"

Varinity responded to that with an exasperated breath. "No comment," she agreed, accepting the water bottle. "Hmm... I think I would much rather rather go hiking with you than take that final exam again."

Damien grinned at her comment. "I will take that as win."

Several other people were passing by the trailhead, and ahead of them was the community park of Deala. Among the people were a pair of guards on patrol. Their route was casual as they conversed with each other, then one looked toward the trailhead. Some quiet conversation passed between them, then they changed their route to go toward the trailhead. Their uniforms were blue with silver accents, and a symbol etched into their shoulder looked very much like the one on those pillars Varinity had noticed. "Sorry to disturb you," a female guard spoke up, once they got close enough to the pair on the bench. "Are you from the vessel Elysium?"

Damien looked up as the guards approched, and he glanced over at Varinity as they spoke. Clearing his throat, Damien nodded. "We are." He said, standing up, offering his hand towards them. "Lieutenant Damien Blackford." He said, gesturing to himself, then gesturing towards Varinity. "And Lieutenant Junior Grade Varinity Atoro. Can we help you with something?"

Any relaxed mindset Varinity had gotten into during the hike faded as she turned her attention to the guards. She knew better than to visibly tense, but the grip on Damien's water bottle tightened slightly. She let Damien introduce them as she stood as well, falling silent to see where this would go.

A seemingly satisfactory answer, the female guard continued. "We're conducting an investigation into someone who arrived on your vessel, by the name of Teevs Dosivi. Do you know of this individual?" She presented a datapad toward them, with Teevs' image on it.

That made Varinity raise a brow. Teevs wasn't a threat. What the hell could he have done to warrant an investigation?

Damien's eyes glanced towards Varinity as the guards presented the datapad, then looked back down, taking the datapad, scanning it, appearing as if he was examining the contents of it, before passing it back. "May I ask what the nature of the investigation is?" He asked, crossing his arms behind his back, appearing to take a more professional approach. Behind his back, he raised a hand towards Varinity, gesturing for her not to say anything, just yet. He knew Teevs, or at least, he thought he did, and everything he knew about the man suggested that this must just be a mistake.

Varinity didn't need to look at him to see the gesture. Hell, Damien didn't even need to signal to her; she was already wary of this. Instead, she watched the guards closely.

The guard accepted the datapad back. "Treason, unfortunately," she replied simply. "We are trying to uncover the motive."

Damien's eyes widened slightly at the mention of treason, and his hands tightened into fists behind his back. Teevs, a traitor? Surely not. Now he was sure there had to be some mistake. "Treason?" He repeated, feeling a ball of unease coiling in his stomach. "What.. what kind of treason?" He asked, fighting to keep his voice calm, and as full of as much authority as he could muster.

The guard's eyes briefly tracked some passers-by as Damien's reply caught their attention. "He aided an enemy of the Sovereignty by bringing illegal property to our planet," she replied, putting the datapad away. "He has no prior criminal history, so we don't know why he would commit such a serious offense. We're conducting character interviews to see if anyone has observed anything that could aid our investigation."

Damien's eyes flicked to the passers-by as well, feeling his heartbeat increase, as he looked back, glancing behind him at Varinity, catching her eye, before turning back to face the guards, forcing what he hoped looked like a convincing smile onto his face. "Well, I'm very sorry." He said, clearing his throat. "But I've only ever seen Teevs in passing. The Elysium is a very big ship, after all. It's easy to miss people. If you have any further questions, I would recommend contacting the ship directly. I'm sure one of the Senior Staff would be more than happy to cooperate with you and provide any information you need." Something about this felt off.

"I'm sure that can be arranged," the female guard replied. She eyed Damien for a few seconds, reading his not-fully-confident smile, the glance to Varinity, the way his hands were conveniently out of sight. "If you're returning to your vessel, perhaps you can take some of the investigation details with you to your supervisor? This case is rather sensitive, and I'm afraid our system will only allow us to share so much over standard communication channels."

Damien's smile faltered slightly, but he quickly attempted to hide it. "My apologies." He said, his voice containing a hint of nervousness that wasn't completely hidden. "But information of this kind would need to be passed through the... proper channels. I'm afraid I'm not authorised to handle such things. Now, if you'll excuse us." He jerked his head to Varinity, indicating that it was time they made a hasty exit. "We're needed back on our ship. Duty calls. And, as I'm sure you understand, it wouldn't be proper to be late."

This was not sitting right in Varinity's chest. The guards were awfully tense for a routine patrol. The way they subtly kept themselves ready for escalation. One's eyes kept glancing around while the other conversed. Asking if they were from the Elysium first gave her the fleeting impression that they already knew the answer.

The female guard then turned to Varinity. "It's only a couple questions."

Varinity blinked as the attention shifted to her. She glanced at Damien, picking up on his discomfort. Her own intuition was practically screaming at her to run for the hills, but at the same time, it sounded like Teevs might be in trouble. She knew he wasn't a threat; hell, he hated the idea of even taking up arms to fight the Galtonians. She didn’t buy the treason story, but it felt wrong to just... not do anything.

"Can, um... can we just have a quick moment?" Varinity asked, pointing between her and Damien. When the guards nodded, she snagged Damien's sleeve with a couple fingers to gently pull him aside.

"Damien, I know we're sensing the same thing," she began in a hushed tone. She only ever used his first name when she was serious. "But we also both know that Teevs wouldn't commit treason, right?"

Damien opened his mouth to protest, but quickly shut it at the use of his first name. He couldn't even remember the last time she'd used that. He sighed, glancing over his shoulder at the two guards, before looking back at her. Running a hand nervously through his hair, he sighed. "No." He eventually said, letting out a shaky sigh. "I mean... I..." He trailed off, his mind reeling, before he shook his head. "No. He wouldn't." He said, tone firm and final.

He let out another sigh. "Okay. Look. They clearly think he's done something. Even if we know better, I don't think they're just gonna let this go. I think... I think I should go and find him. Talk to him. See if I can figure out if he knows what this is all about."

It was incredibly infuriating to not have any real proof that the guards were up to something, even with all the surveillance Varinity had observed. Maybe she was being paranoid and wanting something to happen, but she did not like this. She glanced at the guards, who were watching them converse. Knowing they were being watched sent an unwelcome shiver up her spine.

A moment from one of her Academy courses filtered into her mind. Reconnaisance techniques. It was when she and Damien had made up some verbal code to quickly convey information, and at the time it really only earned them the bragging rights of creative stupidity. But if it meant gaining an ounce of information into this alleged investigation... "I don't trust this, and I don't want you to go alone, but if something has happened, one of us needs to be able to get information to command. You still remember our drink code?"

The idea was simple: one would go ahead to scout an area under surveillance, and they reported back by asking their partner to save a seat at the bar and order a beverage that was either green, yellow, or red to indicate safe, caution, or danger. No response meant it was reasonable to assume some unplanned loss of comms, anything from engaging in combat to capture, or even the option she never dared to think about. It was stupid because shouting about a cherry margarita while being shot at kind of... well, ruined the mood of the simulations. It never counted for any of their grades because, when they used it, it meant sending someone in alone, which their professor had strong opinions about. But this felt like a fleeting opportunity, and it was a plan they had practiced before.

Damien glanced back at the guards before quickly averting his eyes. They were clearly watching them, waiting for an opportunity to say or do something, and it honestly felt like they were running out of time. Looking back at Varinity, he raised an eyebrow at her mention of their old drink code, slowly nodding. They'd never actually had the chance to test it out in a real-world situation, but... Well, now seemed as good a time as any. "Of course, I remember it." He said, running a hand nervously through his hair, before sighing and nodding. "Alright. I think it's our best plan. The question is, how do we go out putting it into place?"

"You went and got drinks with Teevs, right? Just exaggerate the story as something you suddenly remembered," Varinity proposed. She then turned her attention fully toward the guards.

Damien nodded before turning around and following Varinity back towards the guards, his hands twitching nervously at his side as they approached.

"Sorry, I really don't know the guy," Varinity told the guards, seeing them about to probe further. She was perfectly content to lie in the face of something that sketched her out. She pointed at Damien with her thumb. "I lost a bet to this guy so I get the pleasure of doing his work, so I'm going to have to decline. But that does mean he's free to at least see your evidence so we can inform our superiors."

With a nod, the guards approached Damien so he would be close enough for the transport.

Damien glanced at Varinity, giving her what he hoped was a comforting 'don't worry. I got this' Smile, before the guards transported them all away.

Varinity gave Damien a look that asked him to be careful as he disappeared. A few seconds passed, then a minute. The longer her communicator remained silent, the more concerned she got. After about five minutes, she gave in and hit her communicator. "Atoro to Blackford. Some friends are going for drinks later and I'm saving you a seat. What do you want?" Her breath began to quicken as the silence grew. He wouldn't drag out a prank like this, considering the tense situation. "Damien, respond!"