Volatile Combinations is the thirteenth mission in the Augments storyline in Star Trek Fleet Command. It is a short collection step rather than a combat mission: you gather three Dark Matter samples from Missionen running in the Vaara Expanse and turn them in to move the arc forward. The warp to complete is only 1, so there is almost no travel once you are in the region, and finishing it opens the next Augments mission.
Volatile Combinations objectives
The mission lists a single objective, but it leans on work you do elsewhere first:
- Collect 3 Dark Matter samples. The samples come from other missions in the Vaara Expanse, so this step is really about running those missions, picking up the samples they drop, and then handing them in here.
There is no fixed enemy or set-piece fight attached to Volatile Combinations itself. The objective is a count of items, which means your pace depends entirely on how quickly you can source three Dark Matter samples from the surrounding Vaara Expanse content. You cannot mine or buy these samples; they show up only as you clear the Vaara Expanse missions that grant them, so progress on this step is gated behind that surrounding content. Once you are holding all three, the turn-in completes right away.
Wo und welcher Warp
Everything for this mission happens in the Vaara Expanse, one of the galaxy’s later regions. Both the warp to start and the warp to complete read as 1. Warp to complete is the distance the mission asks you to travel out to finish it, and a value of 1 tells you this is a stay-close step: you are not committing ships to long jumps. Keep a ship stationed in or beside the Expanse and the whole collection stays fast and cheap on warp fuel, which also means a lighter account working through the arc is not held up by travel here.
Volatile Combinations rewards
Completing the mission pays 800 Ultra Recruit Tokens, the currency you spend to recruit Offiziere. Volatile Combinations also unlocks the next mission in the Augments chain, so it works as a progression gate as much as a reward stop. For a single-objective collection step, an 800-token payout plus chain progress is a fair return on a short amount of effort, and the tokens go straight into your recruiting pool for later officer pulls.
Tips
Sort out the sample sources before you sit down to finish this one. Because the three Dark Matter samples drop from other Vaara Expanse missions, it is faster to run those missions back to back, collect all three, and only then complete Volatile Combinations, instead of shuttling between the turn-in and the sources. There is nothing to stockpile in advance, since the requirement is the three samples rather than a resource cost, so the only prep worth doing is making sure the source missions are available to run. The low warp cost helps: you can stage from a single system and wrap the step in one short session. If you are working through the Augments arc in order, treat Volatile Combinations as a light checkpoint between the heavier story missions around it, and use the quick turnaround to top up warp fuel and repair any ships before the next part.
