Valyn Amarik (KIA)

Personnel File

Name:

Valyn Amarik

Rank:

Lieutenant

Position:

Asst. Chief Intelligence Officer

Species:

Romulan

Age:

38

Gender:

Female

Orientation:

Heterosexual

Birthplace:

Warbird Galvadan
Orbit of Romulus

Height:

5ft 6in / 1.68m

Weight:

135lbs / 61kg

Hair:

Blonde

Eye color:

Hazel

Played by:

Katee Sackhoff

Writer:

BipSpoon

Interests

Music

Martial Arts

Holonovels

Gambling

Clandestine Operations

Painting

Romulan History and Politics

Tactics

Piloting

Education

2360-2363: Romulan Intelligence Academy

Specialization in Special Operations and Clandestine Ops

2375-2377: Starfleet Academy

Specialization in Intelligence and Security

Service Record

2360-2375: Various Ranks, Agent, Tal Shiar

2374-2375: Colonel, Commander, IRW Irixidon - Shock Troops

2378-2379: Ensign, Security Officer, USS Enterprise-E

2379-2381: Ensign-Lieutenant, Security Officer, Starbase 157

Decorations

2374: Romulan Cross of Glory - Awarded for her performance in the Battle for Hilor 5 with Shinzon of Remus

2377: Academy demerit for fighting

2379: Commendation for performance at the Bassen Rift

Valyn Amarik was an Asst. Chief Intelligence Officer and a Tal Shiar defector in the 23rd century. She went from a war hero, to a traitor in the time span of a year and her loyalty shifted to what she once thought would remain her mortal enemy. She grew up without the love of a family, but only the acceptance of the Tal Shiar. She only ever found that acceptance once again in Starfleet, in Starfleet she found it even more. She was sent to the USS Theurgy to assist with the Parasite threat by Rear Admiral Anderson, an ally and confidante from the Dominion War.

Biography

2343-2353

Born in the year 2343 on the Romulan Warbird Galvadan, in orbit of the homeworld. The circumstances surrounding her birth remained in large part a mystery and a secret. Shortly after her birth she was shuttled from the Warbird to the Citadel Vat’Theldun. She was the youngest of five children brought to the Citadel, that year, and the last. Part of a training program designed to raise the perfect Tal Shiar soldiers, only her and one other survived past age ten.

She grew up with no mother or father. She grew up instead, only with teachers. Each teacher brought with them a new set of harsh lessons, lessons that often brought with them dangerous and often life-threatening consequences. Failure was not tolerated. Valyn grew particularly close with one instructor, an older Romulan man who taught martial arts. He had been the only instructor to teach not only through harsh and brutal lessons, but also through kindness. It had been the only time she’d been offered such a thing, at least from her instructors.

Despite the nature of what she knew her life would be, she was still a child. She took every shred of childhood she could get. Her ‘brother’ offered her what he could, though they were the same age. When time would allow, he would study at the door to their quarters to allow her time to draw or paint when she had finished her work. If she was caught by one of their guardians, she would have her hands whipped and be forced into solitude. She tried to offer her brother the same kindness. He would try to grow plants from the seeds they’d salvage from fruit, and when he would, Valyn would try to draw what attention she could, to steal what little time for him that she could manage.

At the age of ten the children were required to make an ascension with one another to the peak of a Romulan mountain. They were each given a pack with supplies before setting off. The trip was going well, until about halfway through the trip, a storm struck. The pair realized that half of their supplies had been sabotaged and there was no feasible way that there would be enough for the pair of them. They tried to make it last, but it was made clear to them that if they did not reach the summit in the allotted time, they would be left on the mountain to rot. The brother began rationing the food and fashioning weapons to hunt anyhow, but Valyn knew it would take too long and they would never reach the summit in time, and failure was not tolerated. Valyn smashed her brother's head in with a rock. She made the ascent in time, with plenty of food.

2353-2359

As the sole remaining child in the program, Valyn was granted the full attention of each instructor. She was to rise early each day and attend lessons ranging from basic mathematics and reading, to espionage and disruptor combat. The Citadel itself wasn’t much of a comfortable home, she was only afforded a small room with a desk, a bed, and a trunk. Any belongings not considered essential to her studies were considered to be contraband and she had to hide them, something she grew quite skilled at.

By the time she reached age fifteen, Valyn had completed all education that most Romulan youth were required to, and then some. She was required to begin assisting the Tal Shiar in field assignments, even before reaching her adulthood. Her first assignments were simple ones, she was to travel to colonies within Romulan space and eliminate or imprison a dissident. During that time, she learned another of her passions, piloting. She would never be a fighter pilot for the Empire, her fate was sealed where it was, but she loved being behind the controls of a nimble spacecraft.

2360-2363

In the year 2360 Valyn was sent to the Romulan Intelligence Academy to formalize and cement her education. She was to graduate with certifications in Clandestine and Special Operations. She excelled in her classes, but struggled at first to get along with many of her classmates. As a child she had never learned many of the social queues needed to thrive in such an environment, that combined with an over-inflated sense of ego and unhealthy dose of arrogance, made for a rocky first year. Within a month she had come to physical blows with a classmate, that Romulan passion coming flying out in true force. She had not, however, used the skills she had been taught to fight him, instead adopting the fighting skills of a street brawler. No disciplinary action was brought forward but it was made clear that if it was to happen again, both of them would be expelled from the Academy. Valyn was there under Tal Shiar orders, and she knew that very likely they had a hand in the lack of her punishment, as her classmate shortly thereafter, dropped out.

The remainder of her years in the Academy were far more stable. Valyn learned the social abilities that she had been unable to at the Citadel and had actually made some allies. The academy was a place of intrigue and backstabbing and allies were crucial to survival. Some of them even became her friends in later years. She knew that after graduation, she would speak to none of them again, but it was the first time she’d truly seen that the Tal Shiar had taken something valuable from her in her youth. Companionship. She knew she had been robbed and wronged and she would never forget it. She was a wrathful woman. Upon graduation she was given full rank within the Tal Shiar and again vanished into the wind.

2364-2374

As it would happen, the year that Valyn would turn to full duty for the Tal Shiar, was the year that the Romulan Star Empire returned to intergalactic politics in full. Valyn was one of many assigned to investigate destroyed outposts along the neutral zone. The Senate suspected that the Federation was behind the attacks, but the Tal Shiar knew better. Valyn knew that the Tal Shiar wanted to keep the truth about the attacks a secret. Valyn took a shuttle, capable of cloak and piloted by only one to investigate. She flew to a research outpost that they had lost contact with and upon arrival, found only debris. She quickly detected only antiprotons, no trace of phaser fire. She detected antiprotons, and three lifesigns in an escape pod, faint but still alive. She beamed the survivors aboard and began irradiating the debris to remove all traces of antiprotons. Once aboard, she questioned them. They gave all the information openly, and willingly. It wasn’t Starfleet. It was a new enemy, in a weapon of mass destruction, shaped like a cube. She killed them, and beamed them back into the wreckage. There was no sign of this new enemy once she had left.

The farce held, and tensions between the Empire and the Federation persisted, as per the Tal Shiar plan. Valyn continued to go where ordered, mostly minor missions, until 2366. The plot to lure the Enterprise-D into the Neutral Zone led her to be aboard one of the many scout ships along the border. She was placed on a warbird as the Tal Shiar handler for the mission. The plan, of course, did not come to fruition.

The secrets returned to the Empire by T’Pel resulted in Valyn being placed upon a Federation mining colony. She stayed there and gathered information. It was not her ideal assignment, and one that she heavily objected to. The outpost however, was directly on the neutral zone, and she quickly learned that it was a jump point for a great number of smugglers and dissidents trying to leave and in some cases, enter, Romulan space. She was there for a reason. She thrived, and in her time there, was able to eliminate and capture a great deal of enemies to the Republic, and thwart several trying to enter the Republic as well, even though the assignment was only roughly a year long.

By 2370 Valyn and the Tal Shiar were keeping a watchful eye on the situation developing around Bajor regarding the Dominion. Another major political power entering the galactic fray, was not something that the Romulans wanted to contend with, no matter how inflated their sense of power was. The Beta Quadrant was becoming more unstable than the Romulans had hoped to deal with and while it would allow for potential expansion, it also created risk to their own borders. Cardassia. Maquis. Dominion. All of it created uncontrollable variables, which were unacceptable. During this time, the Romulans once again began to withdraw more closely into their own borders. Valyn's operations started to become domestic once again, controlling dissidents within Romulan space.

She herself thought that the Dominion were a threat that would need to be dealt with, but many did not agree. The attack on the founders homeworld was the final blow required to cripple their resistance to Dominion forces. She was not with the Tal Shiar forces in the Gamma Quadrant. She was on the other hand, aboard Deep Space 9, posing as a Vulcan scientist, waiting to send word back to Romulus in the case that their forces did not return. She waited for two weeks. When the Defiant returned, and the Romulans did not, it was clear that there were no survivors. She booked transport, and sent word to command.

Where the Romulans did not wish war with the Dominion, they had no such qualms with the Klingons. When the Klingons attacked Romulan outposts in the year 2372 Valyn was assigned to a Warbird as a handler once again, and was sent to attack any Klingon Warbird lingering too close to the Neutral Zone. They endured losses to their forces, but they also inflicted their own. She took part in ground combat whenever possible. The Tal Shiar was particularly concerned about the Changeling threat during this time, and the already paranoid Romulan culture grew even worse. Simple conversations began with a bloodletting.

In 2373 when the non-aggression pact with the Dominion was signed, Valyn was openly disapproving of it to her confidantes within the Tal Shiar, and some of them even agreed. The Romulans were just as ambitious as the Dominion and many of them thought that it would eventually come to blows, the very fact that the Dominion crossed their borders without hesitancy was proof of their lack of respect of the Romulan Empire. Valyn itched for a chance to fight them, and she started to prepare for the inevitable. During the months before the Romulans were drawn into the war, her operations nearly ceased as she was held on duty at the Citadel, simply listening to intercepted communications. She used the chance to perfect her skills. To fight harder. To fight better.

2374-2375

Image: Amarik serving in Security on the Theurgy, before switching Departments.

As the year went on, the time finally came as Senator Vreenak was killed. The Romulans entered the fray. Valyn was one of the first to volunteer. She was assigned again as a handler, this time as the overseer of a group of Reman Shock Troops, led by a man named Shinzon. She was to keep them in line, and keep them fighting. She was to work with Shinzon, and to win battles. She did so happily, and was even more shocked when she met him and realized that he was a human. A human that masqueraded as a Reman, but a human nonetheless. It did not take long for the Human commander to earn her respect, a feat which not many could achieve. He was a phenomenal fighter, and he drew greatness from his troops. She very seldom needed to encourage much from them, on the contrary she often fought alongside them. Not long into the war, Romulan Command granted Shinzon full autonomy, and Valyn was to continue to serve as a handler to his forces.

Shinzon went on to lead twelve major engagements, all of which were successful. The two became allies, though never closer than arms length. It was a mutual respect, nothing more, or so Valyn thought. They spoke at length about each battle before and after. It was simply respect between two soldiers. Valyn earned a reputation as a brutal and ruthless warrior. She took no prisoners and gave no ground. Some of the Remans did not approve of her. There were several times when a soldier had been wounded and she had simply put them out of their misery instead of dragging them across the battlefield. She was cold to them. She did not treat them with the regard she would treat a Romulan soldier and though she did not realize it, Shinzon took note. It was a cold fate that she gave them, but one she thought better than leaving them screaming in pain on the battlefield, since she could not take them to safety. In her own way, she thought it was a kindness. During her time in the war she was granted the Romulan Cross of Glory for her service.

In the seventh battle of Shinzon’s career, Valyn was sent ahead to the Dominion encampment to open the gate from within, and to download the computer core for the Tal Shiar, and to hopefully kill their Vorta commander. She was not successful. Little did she know, that was the point. The mission had not been relayed properly through Shinzon. It was the first time she had allowed a mission to be relayed through another, instead of taking the briefing herself. He had misinformed her about the base defenses to make her fail. When she breached the computer core, she was gunned down immediately. She was treated, and brought into custody. When they realized that she must have been Tal Shiar, they attempted to trade her in return for another prisoner. The Romulans returned that prisoner dead in response, and denied that Valyn existed. Valyn was sent to a Dominion internment camp. The Romulans never came for her. In the camp she befriended a Federation officer. The two defended one another from the cruelty of the Jem’hadar and bonded over the war. Valyn was not fit for the life of a prisoner. More than once she fought her captors, and more than once, even killed one. It earned her her fair share of beatings. Beatings which her Federation ally would try to save her from. Never did she think she’d have anything in common with the Federation. She’d believed everything she’d been told about the Federation. She had been wrong. Once again, she’d been wronged.

When the war ended, still the Romulans did not come. However, that officer ensured that she was not left behind. He knew that it would be a hard road for her in Federation space but the Federation took her in. She was brought to Starfleet Headquarters and debriefed by then Commodore Anderson. It was a long, lengthy process that took nearly a week, but by the end of it she had told him everything. She had hidden nothing from him. For another week she was kept in custody as they decided what to do with her but Anderson offered her a chance. A chance to join Starfleet. A chance she took.

During her debriefing she was given the choice to sell out everything that she had believed in for a chance at another life. It was a decision that did take some thought. In the end though, she chose herself over the Tal Shiar. The Romulans had shown her no loyalty, so she did not show them any in response. She offered Commodore Anderson information that put an end to no small number of Tal Shiar operations behind enemy lines. She gave them names, objectives, and locations. She gave them anything and everything they wanted. Notable of the information she provided, was the name of a Romulan agent posing as a Vulcan within Starfleet headquarters, only in a low ranking position, but no less in San Fransisco. The agent was able to be apprehended based on the information. In return, Anderson sponsored her entrance into Starfleet Academy. Her loyalty had been proven. She continued to provide information through all the operations to act on the data that she had provided.

2375-2377

Just after the war, she began at Starfleet Academy. She specialized in Security, knowing that with her skillset she knew she would be successful. She faced a much harder road at Starfleet Academy than she did at the Intelligence Academy. She did not make friends as easily, as some held a grudge for the Romulans not joining the war sooner, and more than that, for the years and years of battles and conflict between the Federation and Romulans. She didn’t blame them, but it did come to blows. This time however, she earned a demerit. Anderson made it clear that it would not be tolerated within Starfleet in a private conversation. It did not happen again. Not publicly, at least. She would always be a fighter at her core, but she'd learned her lesson.

She did well in her classes and eventually made some friends. Most of her classmates were far younger than she was, and many did not have the life experience that she did. That was a blessing and a curse. Many of her younger classmates enjoyed the stories she could tell, those that she was willing to tell at least, but it was difficult to relate to her peers. She was able to become friendly with a teacher's aide in a piloting class however, and the duo remained in contact even after her graduation. During the Academy she earned herself a reputation as a remarkably hard worker, who would work herself to the bone before she accepted failure. That however, was also a detriment. She also earned herself a reputation as a classic Romulan. She was passionate at the best and worst times, as well as cagey, secretive, and sometimes even paranoid.

2378-2379

Image: Amarik serving in Security on the Theurgy, before switching Departments.

Her first Starfleet posting was aboard the USS Enterprise-E. To be posted on the Flagship of Starfleet was the highest honor that she could possibly think of, and not one that she wanted to spit in the face of. She was to continue to consult with then, Rear Admiral Anderson on Romulan affairs when needed as an Intelligence Operative, but chiefly, she was a Security officer, and she excelled at it. She had found a new home in the Federation and though she’d now spent time among the humans, she did struggle to fit in. It was not Romulus. It was difficult to mesh Romulan values with those of humanity. The Federation was warm, welcoming, and friendly for the most part. It was just not something that she was used to. On the Enterprise she was finally able to be a person outside of her career, and she began to paint, and to use the holodeck for fun and not just for drills, nor under the cloak of night alone.

2378 was mostly peaceful, sans the occasional away mission that grew into a few firefights. All of which were done with the ‘stun’ setting. That was something completely new for her, but she performed to near perfection with firearms, and the handful of times that she had to fight hand to hand it was made clear that she was an expert when it came to a fight. Where she fell short was when it came to interpersonal contact. She turned to her comrades to learn those skills. She grew closer to another crewmember, Lieutenant Henry during that year. He was due to be transferred to the USS Indiana by the end of the year, but he took her under his wing, to show her the ropes of Starfleet. He was also a Veteran of the War, and had only been temporarily placed on the Enterprise while the Indiana was undergoing a refit.

She grew a great deal under his guidance. Her superiors made note in her file that in those months she grew exponentially as an individual and as an officer. Things continued until 2379 the Enterprise was sent the Romulus to meet with the new Praetor... Shinzon. She did not know what he was up to, but she knew it was something. She did not trust him, how could she after what had happened? She did attempt to warn the Captain, however her direct superior stopped her from going further than above his head. She was unable to. By the time she had decided to simply go above his head and do it anyways, it was too late.

The battle of the Bassen Rift was brutal, and many of her friends and crewmates died in the fighting. Shinzon had been a figure in her life that, just like the Tal Shiar, had taken a great deal from her. She’d given the Empire so much and it continued to take from her. When the Remans boarded the ship, she joined in repelling their forces. When her superior officer, Master-at-Arms Dan Barringer, was shot dead, she took command of her squad. It was second nature to her. Commanding during battle and fighting had been bred into her from a young age. While she was no longer using a disruptor, the Compression Rifle did just the same. Her and her companions pressed the assault through the deck and repelled the boarding party, pushing them towards the front of the ship, towards the forcefield until they had nowhere to go. As a Tal Shiar agent, she’d have gunned them down against the force fields.

She didn’t. Instead, she stunned them and took them prisoner. That was the Starfleet way of doing things. Once done, they moved towards the rest of them, and continued until the battle was done. The Romulans that joined the battle had earned her respect as well, and on some level, she hoped that the battle would be the start of a new era between the Romulans and the Federation, with the death of Shinzon. The Enterprise however, never recovered, and she was sent to Starbase 234 for her new assignment.

2379-2381

She was given a Commendation for her performance at the Bassen Rift and placed on the Starbase, again as a security officer. It wasn’t long before she was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, and promoted to Deputy Chief Security Officer of Security on the Station. She was close to the Klingon border, and had started to grow quite used to them. She’d actually started to like them. Her tasks on the station were relatively mundane, consisting of patrols, and the occasional away mission to the Planets within the system but she did miss the adventure and excitement of being on a starship. She still consulted with Anderson from time to time, and had earned his trust. All of her provided information had been truthful. Over the years, the Romulans had realized where she was, and had also reached out to her, asking for her allegiance back, and for her to spy on Starfleet. She promptly forwarded the transmissions to Anderson, each time she received it.

Eventually she received a heavily encrypted communication from Anderson, moreso than usual. He explained that the news on the FNN about the USS Theurgy and her crew were all lies, and that he wanted her aboard. She accepted at once. It was her perfect operation. Clandestine. Dangerous. High Stakes. It would allow her to save people too, to make up for some of the things she’d done for an Empire who didn’t care. So she waited. When the 'IKS Kajunpak’t showed up, she walked aboard, and never left, heading for her new posting.

Personality Profile

Valyn was instinctive, strong, cagey, cocky, confident, and held a grudge. She was remarkably passionate in everything she did, that Romulan trait running deep into her core. She was certainly not averse to having a good time, but it was hard to break her outer shell and get her to share. She was someone who had experienced a great deal of trauma in her life, and it was plain that some of her behavior is a result of that. Over the years her streak of disobedience has subsided a great deal, but she was certainly no ‘yesman’. She was often hotheaded, as clearly noted in her propensity to fighting. She was also prideful, stubborn, and competitive.

Her time within the Tal Shiar left her with a feeling of loneliness that she yearned to fill, though her mistrusting nature made it difficult for that void to ever find occupants. She was a stereotypical Romulan, driven to near paranoia at times. Her quarters were immensely private, as much as a Starfleet ship would allow. Her most private belongings were in a Romulan Lock Box, a box which was locked not only by a biometric scan of her eye, but by a song. It was a song her brother used to sing to her, something none but herself would know. Privacy was paramount to her, as it was to most Romulans. She had an unfortunate history with trust, each time she trusted she either had to end it for the mission, or she was betrayed, leading to her cagey and mistrusting nature, an obstacle she was only just trying to overcome upon her assignment to the Theurgy.

Physical Profile

Valyn was of average height, but was very well built. She was muscular but not overly so, however the muscles she did have were toned to near perfection. She was a Romulan of the southern variety, meaning she had a distinct lack of cranial ridges and could easily be mistaken as a Vulcan if not for her streak of fiery emotions. It was obvious she spent a great deal of time working out. She had hazel eyes and almost-shoulder-length blonde hair. She walked with a confident posture. She had a muddled scar on her lower right stomach, that even a dermal regenerator would not fully heal, left from a Jem’hadar rifle. When speaking English of her own accord and not through a universal translator, Valyn spoke with the accent of the man who taught her English. It was a strong southern US accent.

Appearances

Season 02, Episode 01: Advent of War

Director's Cut