Ansen Valyr

Summary
Ansen Valyr is one of the younger, yet exceptionally promising Officers to have come out of the Academy in recent years. She is a Junior Operations Officer aboard the Saber-class USS Lammergeier NCC-61815, which is assigned to Task Force 11.

Of both Vulcan and Betazoid origin, she grew up in relative comfort on Betazed under the sometimes-tumultuous care of her Betazoid mother, and the somewhat stern guidance and tutelage of her Vulcan father. During the Dominion occupation of Betazed in late 2374, her parents refused to participate in the resistance movement operating out of the sewers of Dalaria City, instead opting to live in and under the oppressive heel of the Dominion at an encampment on the outskirts of the City out of fear of reprisal. Her parents struggled to instill a coherent upbringing for Ansen, as they couldn’t come to grips over the conflicting nature of their relative backgrounds, and it led to some difficulty during her youth, that would last later into her life. Recently, she has begun to better cope with who she is, and has found relative internal peace through Meditative techniques, and other ventures into social activities which eluded her early on.

Otherwise, a brilliant mind, Ansen graduated from the Academy near the top of her class, and though she had the opportunity to select other more prestigious postings, she opted for the small Lammergeier under the advisement her Mok’bara instructor, a Klingon warrior who himself had fought alongside the ship’s Captain, Jackson Palmer, many years earlier.

2364 - 2375: Early life struggles with Emotionality
Born on Betazed to parents of vastly differing origins, Ansen Valyr struggled from an early age to cope with the conflicting nature of her dual heritage. Whereas Betazoids are not only expected to share their emotionality through telepathic and empathic abilities, they’re in many ways, encouraged to do so. However, the emotionality of a Betazoid is somewhat less extreme than that which is experienced by Vulcans, and is to an extent, why the Vulcan people have elected to suppress their feelings, lest they find themselves overwhelmed by their emotions, and are left unable to think or operate from any semblance of logic or reason. Making matters worse for Ansen, was the disagreement over how she should be raised, her father preferring a traditional Vulcan upbringing, and her mother preferring that of a Betazoid. The contentiousness between her parents reached a peak when Ansen was just seven-years old, and the prospect of divorce proceedings became a possibility, which only further exacerbated the confusion their daughter was experiencing.

It all came to a head soon after, when a distraught Ansen accidentally lashed out telepathically and empathically at the children in her school, imparting the intensity of her Vulcan emotions upon them, causing them to become physically violent with one another.

Confronted with what their daughter had inadvertently caused, Ansen’s parents agreed to put aside their differences in favor of figuring out how to best raise her, and cope with her conflicting heritage. Seeking out the guidance and advice of other, similarly mixed-parents, they began instilling a sense of temperance in Ansen. She was not to entirely suppress her emotionality, nor was she to so openly share it with the others, rather instead to rein it in and harbor it up. The new method of rearing their daughter proved moderately successful, in that no further incidents of lashing out had occurred, however they also discovered that as a result of being cut off empathically, and telepathically from everyone else around her, that Ansen became ostracized from her peers. She had trouble making friends, a problem that would continue on for her into her adolescence, and also later into adulthood. As for her parents, they remained amicably married, but the love once shared between them had faded, another facet which Ansen had detected in them, and which she internally felt guilt over, blaming herself for their disillusion, something that would be made worse years later when she would leave Betazed, only to learn that they had conceived of another child, Ansen’s eventual brother, Tysen.

2375: Surviving the Dominion Occupation of Betazed
As the Dominion War raged on in the background of her life, never had Ansen or her parents expected the bloodiness of the conflict to spill over onto the shores of their idyllic home world of Betazed. In fact, neither had Starfleet for that matter, a lesson they soon learned when the Fleet responsible for ensuring the security of the Federation’s Crown Jewel had been caught out of position during a training exercise, allowing a contingent of opportunistic Dominion Forces to swoop in, and take Betazed.

In the initial bombardment of the planet, tens-of-thousands of Betazoids were killed, especially in the Dalaria region of the planet where defense networks and a Starfleet outpost had been located. As residents of Dalaria City, the Capital of the region, Ansen and her parents wee fortunate to not have been among the many casualties incurred during the invasion. Subsequently, thousands more Betazoids were killed, either as members of resistance cells fighting and throughout the city, or as recompense and punishment by the Dominion for actions taken by said resistance cells. Not wishing to be made an example of; Ansen’s parents refused to fight, and in turn refused to allow their daughter to fight, instead moving themselves and her into one of the Dominion’s containment camps along the periphery of the city, which had been built to keep the populace of Betazed in check during their occupation. There, Ansen would watch in sadness as one-by-one, families would disappear overnight, taken by the Dominion as part of their experiments on the telepathic and empathic abilities of their people.

Witnessing the barbarity of the Dominion forces, and how they treated their subordinates greatly angered Ansen, who desired greatly to leave the encampments and join the resistance, but her parents continued to refuse her wishes out of fear for their daughter.

When in the middle of 2375, Starfleet in coordination with resistance elements on the planet managed to break the Dominion hold, and free the occupied world, Ansen recognized them as the heroic liberators they were. It motivated her into applying for Starfleet in secret, and when she was accepted, revealing her intentions to her parents only after, she left Betazed behind and went to Earth.

2375 - 2379: Starfleet Academy
Arriving at Earth, Ansen began her Starfleet training in San Francisco, excelling in every field of her academics, earning placement on the Admiral’s List for her high marks. However, she continued to have trouble developing friendships and or relationships with her fellow cadets, once again leading her to be ostracized from social groups. Around the same time of completing her first year, she returned to Betazed over an extended break to visit her parents, only to discover that in her absence they had not only rediscovered their love for one another but were also expecting the birth of a second child, who was born just prior to Ansen’s return to Starfleet Academy. Once more, the feeling of guilt over having caused the divide in her parents some years earlier returned and left her feeling truly alone in a world that didn’t seem to want her to be a part of it.

Desperate for anyone to show a genuine interest in her, and to make friends, she began seeking out counseling support and guidance, who in turn recommended her seek out a number of extra-curricular activities to partake in. After trying and failing her hand at a varying sort of them, she’d finally found a niche in which she somehow fit, joining a Klingon Mok’bara class, and making fast friends with some of her fellow students, who showed her a great deal of deference as she learned social norms from them. Years would continue to pass on for Ansen at Starfleet Academy, and she would continue to excel until in 2379 she’d graduated in the top five percent of her class, putting her in line to able to choose whatever assignment she so desired upon her commissioning.

A decision which weighed heavily on her, though when she learned of the upcoming extended mission to explore the Shackleton Expanse, she’d made her choice, selecting the Lammergeier under the advice of her Mok’bara instructor, a Klingon Warrior that had fought beside Captain Palmer many years earlier, and who spoke highly of the man.

2379 - Present: USS Lammergeier NCC-61815
Specifically requesting to join the mission to explore the Shackleton Expanse, newly commissioned Ensign Valyr was assigned to the Saber-class USS Lammergeier as a replacement for crew which had opted out of the extended assignment. Tasked as the Officer in charge of Ops during delta-shift, Ansen gradually began to settle into her new place in life aboard her new home, though she again had some trouble developing friendships among them. In need of guidance, she sought out the ship’s Chief Medical Officer, a Vulcan whom she’d hoped might’ve been able to help her fit in a little more and get a better grip of her sometimes-tumultuous tide of emotions through effective meditation.

Regardless of her ongoing personal hang-ups, Ansen has more than proven herself a capable and reliable Operations Officer.

Appearance
Of slender build and considered moderately short by common standards, Ansen displays the heritage from which half of her hails due to the pointedness of her ears, though they are slightly less conspicuous when contrasted to fullblood Vulcans. The other half of her mixed background can be seen by the near-black irises of her eyes, the telltale sign of any Betazoid. Her hair is a shade shy of the true black that is also common of her Vulcan heritage, and she prefers to wear it in a short cut with bangs swept from left to right across her brow ridge.

Motivation
Ansen joined Starfleet in the wake of the liberation of her home world, viewing the organization as a true force for good. She is excited to explore the unknown regions of the Shackleton Expanse, spreading the good will of the Federation and it’s mission of peace. On a personal level, she hopes to continue to understand the finer details of her heritage, how they conflict with one another, and potentially, how they might benefit one another.

Episode 01

 * Day 01 | 0000 hrs. | Thread Title with Character 01, Character 02, Character 03