Turn. Full circle. Turn again. And then will burn the lambent flames while hell will lift its head. So pray for me while I am numbered with the dead.

[Jadwiga]

Organization Name: NAV-107 Nimue
Type: Other (Phantom Treasure Ship)
Established: 03 March 2341 AD (c. 50 years ago)
Base of Operations: Research Station Carina, Neptune
Other Details: Less a faction than the crew of a single ship, most of the denizens of the Nimue sport VELA uniforms with ship-specific insignia patches.

History: The Insurrection period was one of ferocious battles and rampant destruction, as mankind saw many of its greatest works laid waste. Among the dreams to find their end in a mobile armor's flames were the fledgling attempts at interstellar transit. Massive ships that once held humanity's hope of sailing the vastness of the void were hastily stripped of their engines and refit into carriers and weapons arrays. On more than one intrasolar battlefield did these ships of the line see their last moments trailing burning plasma while their cannons blazed. This, combined with their unusual configurations and the sheer scale of their hulls, made their final moments an unforgettable spectacle for the survivors. By war's end only a handful remained, and they went down famously in its conclusionary struggles with all hands still on board.

Thus when the war was over, and the first sightings of a stray Vanguard began circulating, they were dismissed as mistakes or hoaxes. An enormous vessel that cruises at a madman's pace, gleaming with St. Elmo's Fire? One that appears seemingly at random, that ships labor in vain to catch, only to watch it vanish into the aether? To all but a select few, the phantom ship has become little more than an urban legend. A modern Flying Dutchman to be feared, or chased in vain.

---

Notable Assets:
NAV-107 Nimue (Late Model Mother Vanguard)
*1 x XM-AR10 Nero
*1 x XM-OC08 Luciana
* 4 x XM-SP00 Seahunter

 

[Jadwiga]

NAV-107 Nimue
Unit type: Mother Vanguard-class interplanetary transport
Accommodation: standard crew compliment 435; maximum passenger capacity 2,200
Dimensions: overall height 595 meters, overall width 150 meters, overall length 656 meters
Armor materials: Laminated Armor
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion Reactor, output unknown
Propulsion: Voiture Lumiere solar sail rigging; Thermonuclear Rockets, output unknown

Equipment and Design Features:

• Voiture Lumiere: An interplanetary propulsion system, which uses the concept of catching and converting solar wind energy to propel the vessel. A power beam (fired from either the aft deck or, preferably, a relay satellite) can alternatively be used to initiate the reaction. The sail arrays captures the winds (or power beam) with thin curtains of light particles and uses a special conversion process to generate an intense light pressure which is then used as thrust. The system also allows the Nimue to build up speed over time as it travels between planets. Following Newton's laws of motion, the ship will accelerate indefinitely as long as it keeps moving.
  • St. Elmo's Fire: When in use, the Voiture Lumiere causes spatial distortions in the surrounding area. This effect helps to deflect minor debris in the ship's path, but can also trap and even accelerate stray sources of energy (such as beam weapon shots). The effect routinely causes flickers and flares to dance around the bounding field, in a manner reminiscent of the Saint's fire.
• Umbrella of Artemis: The ship's primary defensive mechanism is the Umbrella of Artemis, intended to aid it in crossing through shoal zones and sheltering from hostile attack. While in operation, the ship cannot actively use its solar sail, as many of the emitters are mounted on the Nimue's yardarms.

Armaments:

• 8 x multibarrel CIWS, mounted on main deck
• 20 x 2-barrel main gun, retractable, mounted in two lines of 5 on either side of the ship
• 1 x Lohengrin Positron Blaster Cannon, mounted beneath bow
• 2 x 16-tube surface-to-air missile launchers, mounted on main deck
• 24 x surface-to-ship missile launchers, mounted in sets of 6 (3 forward facing, 3 aft facing) on either side of bow and stern

Mobile Weapons:

• 1 x XM-AR10 Nero
• 1 x XM-OC08 Luciana
• 4 x XM-SP00 Seahunter

Technical and Historical Notes:
The Vanguard Extrasolar deveLopment Agency (or VELA) was one of the many international space agencies of the pre-insurrection era sometimes dubbed the Pax Automata. It was established as an outward-focused interstellar transit agency, tasked with developing and operating new vessels for the purpose. The centerpiece of this project was a series of self-sustaining exploration ships engineered for occupancy over an extended duration. As they were to be mankind's first step beyond the Solar system, and away from Mother Earth, they were dubbed the Mother Vanguard.

Early models of the Mother Vanguard resembled frilled submarines, with the solar sails arranged in a series of rings along a slender hull. The intent was to even out both thrust distribution and ease of access to solar winds from any direction. For these smaller models the thrust was sufficient to pass from one end of the system and back in a matter of months. However, these ships were also only as large as was required to crew the propulsion system itself. For a ship to be large enough to support a modest colony of scientists and all the systems to be self-sustaining, the sails would have to be exponentially larger. Such a scale would preclude them from being extendable from the ship itself, and thus mounted on side pylons like the solar panels of old. Designs for these models came to resemble nested blossoms along a central frond. Some were even designed with a triple-masted scheme, with the intent to have the base of the masts rotate round the body, providing the most surface area with any being obstructed.

The tug and pull of resource allocation, limits of internal space, budget, and crew availability forced concessions to be made away from the ideal forms. A few variants of the design began construction at the Argonavis shipyard on Triton, slated to be based out of the Carina orbital station upon completion. Most were about two thirds complete when the Insurrection broke out. When the demands of all-encompassing conflict finally reached them, the ships were conscripted into humanity's life-or-death struggle. Much of their scientific survey and colonization equipment was pre-empted or stripped away, as were their innovative (but fragile and cumbersome) propulsion systems. The result were ships that more closely resembled ancient sailing vessels, their hulls heavily reinforced and laden with rows of naval guns. They proved successful enough that even more were rushed into production, though these later models suffered from instabilities as a result of their haste.

All told, some two dozen Mother Vanguards were in service at their operational peak. Serving as the backbones of fleets, as forward operating bases and weapon platforms to establish perimeters, they made large and well-defended targets at the heart of several key engagements. They were far from infallible, of course, and as the mobile armor swarms learned and adapted, these behemoths began to die colorful and highly visible deaths. By all accounts, every last one of the 24 ships of the line met its demise by war's end. The final three (the Hotspur, Failnaught, and Renown) were lost in the final days of the war.

In truth one of their number had managed to escape from its fate some several months prior. The seventh sister, Nimue, had suffered severe structural damage in an ill-fated melee over Venus. It was ordered abandoned and set to be scuttled so that the machines could not assimilate the technology. Her captain, Rashad Azeri, opted to remain on board to guide her on her final course, intending on using the surviving sails to plow the ship into the sun, ensuring not even the scraps could be used to make more mobile armors.

What would have been his final moments proved to be highly spiritual ones. His life flashing before his eyes, Captain Azeri had a profound religious experience, during which he longed for his family, and came to the conclusion that ships like the Nimue were integral to the future. With no small effort, he managed to veer the ship around the sun instead, using the sails to perform a gravitational slingshot and put the ship on a course for Neptune. Most of the ship managed to survive the passage. Yet between the damage from the battle and the ravages of its solar transit, many of the Nimue's systems failed long before it reached its destination. Captain Avesti died of exposure while Neptune was still just a blue dot on the horizon.

The war was almost over by the time the ship limped within range of Carina. Between reassignments to the front and the ravages of mobile armor attacks, VELA had all but ceased to exist. What supplies Argonavis had left from Mother Vanguard production were put toward restoring the crippled hulk. Though still lacking the intended engines for interstellar transit, the Nimue of the Post Insurrection era has taken up VELA's fallen banner. Behind a cloud of superstition and urban legend, the ghost ship works in secret to rebuild the infrastructure for interplanetary travel, in the hopes that one day their original mission can be resumed. That one day a new Nimue, with another Avesti on board, might sail the stars and chart humanity's future.

 

[Jadwiga]

XM-AR10 Nero
Unit type: mass production transformable mobile suit
Accommodation: pilot only, in standard cockpit in torso
Dimensions: head height 18.5 meters
Weight: standard weight 33.4 metric tons
Armor materials: nano-laminate armor over rare-metal alloy on movable frame
Powerplant: Ahab Wave reactor, power output rating ~3860 kW, mounted in chest
Propulsion: Ahab Thrusters/Thermal Phase Transition Thrusters, output rating ~140,000 kg
Performance: maximum thruster acceleration ~4.19 G

Armaments:

• 2 x Guided Laser, mounted in chest (MS mode only)
• 2 x Huge Sonic Blade, mounted on arms
• 2 x Beam Deflection Unit, mounted in arms

Technical and Historical Notes:
In the waning days of the Insurrection, as the mobile armor horde was being pushed back at great expense, coalition forces began to learn far more about their foes. From the study of the remains of defeated units to the reclamation of war-ravaged production facilities, the information gleaned amid the mobile armor retreat allowed great insight into the technologies that powered them. Strategies were refined. Countermeasures were improved. And new units were constructed to try to fight fire with fire. One of these efforts was a manned mobile armor dubbed "Kraken", composed of two docking mobile suits.

Nero was the smaller and lighter of the two units. Lightweight and skeletal, it was built to resemble a squid skimming along the water. In place of tendrils, it mounted two enormous blades readily capable of cleaving hulls of ships, suits, and mobile armors alike. Behind these were mounted beam deflection units, which used powerful bursts of electromagnetic radiation to bend and redirect beam fire. Not only could it turn aside mobile armor beam cannons, but also shape and direct the beam fire of its partner unit while docked. Its only ranged weapons were a pair of guided lasers in its torso, which were shielded under its shoulder armor in its flight form. When fired in concert with the deflection units, the multitude of beams burst out like innumerable tentacles, sweeping away missile bursts or carving through Pluma throngs.

That said, the Nero was ultimately built for speed, much as the Seahunter. Its combat style was constant motion, both to put punishing amounts of inertia into its blade swings, and to keep its spindly frame from suffering physical blows. While it fought up close in a frenzied dance, it relied on the Luciana to provide it with covering fire. In many engagements the Kraken would commonly remain in close proximity to a Mother Vanguard as base defense until a route opened to a mobile armor. As such, many of the Kraken teams were lost defending their home ship to the death.

---

XM-OC08 Luciana
Unit type: mass production transformable mobile suit
Accommodation: pilot only, in standard cockpit in torso
Dimensions: head height 19.0 meters
Weight: standard weight 44.4 metric tons
Armor materials: nano-laminate armor over rare-metal alloy on movable frame
Powerplant: Ahab Wave reactor, power output rating ~3980 kW, mounted in chest
Propulsion: Ahab Thrusters/Thermal Phase Transition Thrusters, output rating ~120,000 kg
Performance: maximum thruster acceleration ~2.70 G

Armaments:

• 2 x 3-tube electromagnetic wire launcher, mounted in forearm subarms
• 1 x Huge Breast Beam Cannon, mounted in chest
• 2 x 3-tube anti-air missile launcher, mounted in shoulders
• 2 x 6-tube multi-launcher, mounted in forearm pods (dorsal)
• 2 x 6-tube anti-ship torpedo launcher, mounted in forearm pods (bow)
• 2 x grapple claw, mounted in forearm pods (ventral)

Technical and Historical Notes:
In the waning days of the Insurrection, as the mobile armor horde was being pushed back at great expense, coalition forces began to learn far more about their foes. From the study of the remains of defeated units to the reclamation of war-ravaged production facilities, the information gleaned amid the mobile armor retreat allowed great insight into the technologies that powered them. Strategies were refined. Countermeasures were improved. And new units were constructed to try to fight fire with fire. One of these efforts was a manned mobile armor dubbed "Kraken", composed of two docking mobile suits.

Luciana was the larger and more heavily armed of the two. It was loaded down with missiles and artillery to help counter Plumas and contain opposing mobile armors. While it drew inspiration from the aging Pisces line, its form was structured to resemble an octopus while transformed. Its many arms mounted a walking arsenal of anti-air missiles, anti-ship torpedoes, anti-armor mines, anti-beam depth charges, and anti-ordnance chaff. Its massive chest cannon was intended for use in concert with the Nero's deflection units for bending, refracting, or scattering the fire. It also mounted electromagnetic wires for self-defense, capable of immobilizing opposing units until a companion unit could come to its aid.

That said, the Luciana was ultimately built for stability and defense, serving as the pedestal the Nero sat atop when docked. Otherwise, its combat style was to hang back and provide support fire to the Nero. In many engagements the Kraken would commonly remain in close proximity to a Mother Vanguard as base defense until a route opened to a mobile armor. As such, many of the Kraken teams were lost defending their home ship to the death.

---

XM-SP00 Seahunter
Unit type: mass production transformable mobile suit
Accommodation: pilot only, in standard cockpit in torso
Dimensions: head height 17.53 meters
Weight: standard weight 49.8 metric tons; max gross (with equipment) ~57.1 metric tons
Armor materials: laminate armor over titanium alloy on movable frame
Powerplant: ultracompact fusion reactor, power output rating ~1870 kW, mounted in chest; 2 x ultracompact battery, output rating ~850 kW, mounted in legs
Propulsion: rocket thrusters, output rating ~230,000 kg
Performance: maximum thruster acceleration ~4.02 G

Armaments:

• 2 x "Igelstellung II" 40mm multi-barrel CIWS, fire-linked, mounted in head
• 3 x anti-armor blade, mounted on back and forearms
• 4 x shock blade, mounted in shins and toes
• 2 x laser torch, stored in knees
• beam pistol, hand-carried in use

Variants:

• Type A (Early Type): Initial production model. Retains visored optics suite from earlier Astray models.
• Type B (Late Type): Revised production model. Introduces modular headbase for ease of sensor suite swapping.
• Type C (Hammerhead): EWAC/sniping specification. Adds an extended sensor suite, Gunchery beam bow, and head port.
• Type L (Warshark): Anti-Pluma drone attack specification. Adds 12 x Remora Skinner remotes and head-mounted control suite.
• Type O (Whaleshark): Anti-MA melee defense specification. Adds FAP armor system.
• Type P (Sawshark): Anti-MA melee attack specification. Adds a beam chainsaw and head port.
• Type S (Angelshark): Variable-role remote specification. Adds 10 x Armata Skinner remotes and head-mounted control suite.

Technical and Historical Notes:
The Seahunter is one of the Astray series' innumerable children. Though originally conceived as an anti-submarine unit, the design was as readily adaptable as most of its Astray brethren. As such, alternate models were produced for both aquatic and space use, and numerous equipment options were proposed.

The primary function of the Seahunter was as a nimble strike fighter. Its exceptional speed allowed it to charge in and out of melee range swiftly, delivering a flurry of blows while keeping a foe off balance. The upper body mounted broad fins with anti-armor blades for wearing down an opponent's defense. Its legs mounted stalwart shock blades with dedicated batteries, intended to puncture weakened armor and deliver paralytic electrical pulses.

During the Insurrection period, most Seahunter variants were modified into one of three prevailing specifications. Team leaders often used Hammerhead units to oversee the battle from a safe distance, where they could also execute ranged attacks of opportunity. Sawsharks engaged the Mobile Armor directly, while Warsharks kept sub-units occupied. As none were particularly sturdy, their survivability depended on their continual motion. A moment's hesitation or an unfortunate choice in direction spelled doom for many Seahunter pilots.

Several teams of Seahunters were originally assigned to the Nimue. As the ship lacked a launch catapult, and its hangar was designed for support craft, their flight modes made them more compatible than most with the peculiarities of its layout.

 

[Jadwiga]

Name: Sulris Azeri
Age: 38
Gender: Female
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 132
Eye Color: Hazel
Hair Color: Chocolate
Ethnicity: Afro-Iranian
Classification: Newtype
Appearance: Sulris is a remote and mysterious soul, in looks, air, and demeanor alike. A very private person who prefers to keep her own counsel, she speaks very little, and very softly when she does. Much of her communication is instead through her deeds and body language. Her terseness, directness, and decisiveness create a looming command presence when she wills it, but one that quickly recedes again into the background. This aloof and distant air is only accentuated by her exotic near-eastern looks. Her long and rippling chocolate mane, caramel skin, and eyes of bright hazel make for a captivating countenance, which is often all one truly sees of her. Her penchant for loose, masculine uniforms obscures her otherwise tall and modestly curvy figure. When out and about from her ship, she also tends to swaddle herself in a well worn hooded mantle, keeping to back ways and side passages. All in all, her life is that of a walking shadow with a comely face, who keeps even those dearest firmly at arm's length.

Other Information:

• Occupation: Ship Captain
• Likes: Wood, strawberries, bay windows, floral arrangements, privacy, romanticism.
• Dislikes: Crowds, irreverance, insects, lowbrow humor, artificial flavors, destruction of antiquities.
• Leitmotif: Night of Beijing

Biography: Sulris was always a quiet girl. She was the youngest child in a large family almost entirely comprised of scientists, and while she didn't lack for intelligence, she always felt her place was at one side. She was the one who watched the watchers. She was the one who listened intently to their tales of all the galaxy's wonders they were straining their eyes at. She held no further desire than to be their audience, recording the knowledge that flowed from lip to lip as living proof they had lived. It was a simple thing, but she was a simple child. Without the Insurrection, she likely would have lived an unremarkable life as a transcriptionist or librarian.

But the war did break out. She watched earnest tales turn to pained whispers and anxious pacings. The plethora of aunts and uncles and cousins drained away as men and women of science were called to the mortal service of their species. The family's little pocket of Neptune's cove, The Ridge, found its halls quiet and empty. She found herself waiting alone in the tropical habitat, minding the plants and the few animals that still lived there. At war's end she was the only child of a widow. Her extended family of 32 people from three generations had been pared to 8 from two.

Tragedy does not relieve survivors of the responsibilities of living. Nor did it serve to either inspire or inhibit Sulris. Her life continued in the manner her environs required - she completed her education and fell into place as a cog in VELA's scientific engine. Her inclinations toward listening and observing led her into turns as secretary, personnel officer, project coordinator, and yeoman. Drifting from team to team and topic to topic, she picked up a little knowledge about a lot of things, the better to speak the languages of colleagues. She was more cheerleader than the commander her father had been, yet the outcome was similar. Here was a soft-spoken Azeri serving, in her own little way, as the breeze to nudge VELA's reconstruction forward.

It was with her usual silence and composure that she eventually accepted command of the Nimue. The notion left her ill at ease, being handed control of the ship her father died on, in part just because she was his daughter. She was assured vociferously that it was due to her own merit, her decades of managing teams of personalities and coordinating groups of eccentrics into productive wholes. But it could not be denied that there was something poetic about placing the charismatic young Azeri into the same chair her father had given all to save. Despite her misgivings, Sulris came to rationalize that her post was less as controller than castellan. The clerk to mind the business while the craftsmen create. The quartermaster outfitting stalwarts with the resources they need.

Or indeed as the Lady in the Lake herself, watching over men of destiny, while holding fast to the instruments of their deliverance.

Mobile Weapon: NAV-107 Nimue

Combat Style: Rusalka
Combat Theme: Impossible
Strengths: Aloof, distant, and analytical by nature, Sulris prefers to hold everything at arm's length. In any given situation she leans toward removing herself from the ring entirely, the better to perch at one side and observe. If forced into an altercation, her natural response is thus to withdraw as far as possible in order to assess the opposition and formulate a defense. Any actual engagement is rarely direct. Instead, she acts by proxy, offset, or subterfuge, leaving herself the enigmatic specter on the other side of a murky tangle.
Weaknesses: Obfuscation is rarely a viable defense, and acting by proxy only works if there are proxies to act by. Her strengths are highly dependant on allies and favorable conditions, leaving her hard-pressed to do anything but perpetually flee otherwise.

 

[Jadwiga]

Name: Alasdair Wallace
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Height: 5'11"
Weight: ~160 lbs
Eye Color: Cerise
Hair Color: Pale Lavander
Ethnicity: Eurasian mix
Classification Natural
Appearance: Al cuts a youthful, lanky, and somewhat androgynous figure. While already naturally slender, his albinic features and bookish nature render him a milky, fair-skinned waif that's readily overlooked. This makes him something of a hapless bumbler, despite his best efforts. He can be quite insistent to the point of tunnel vision when excited, but his averageness and the trivial nature of his pursuits make it difficult for him to hold people's attention, let alone interest.

Other Information:

• Occupation: Investigative Journalist
• Likes: Old movies, dominoes, grass, coffee, long fiction.
• Dislikes: Cemeteries, cotton balls, bright lights, short attention spans, vanilla.
• Leitmotif: ?

Biography: ? (A self-described freelance journalist on Europa. Alasdair spends his days chasing down as much as he can about peculiar stories, writing about them, and then trying to hawk those stories to various publications. Intrigued by rumours of a ghost ship, he sets out to gather information about sightings of the Nimue.)

 

[Jadwiga]

Name: Nik Argyris
Age: 43
Gender: Male
Height: 6'5"
Weight: ~250 lbs
Eye Color: Cognac
Hair Color: Raven
Ethnicity: Balkan
Classification: Natural
Appearance: Nik is an imposing tower of swarthy skin and brutish muscularity. He's also a fairly simple man, with simple tastes and simpler demands. What effort he bothers to expend in regards to himself is directed narrowly, but intently. Concentric rings of tattoos flow from his throat to his clavicle, and off down his arms to the wrists. Matching patterns resume from the tops of his thighs to the ankle, with the torso between bare of mark or body hair. A slim, precisely groomed beard spans his jawline and extends upward into a tidy mustache. In contrast, his raven hair is a frequently messy mop that runs to the base of the neck. His lone visible scar bisects his right cheek, most of the others too subtle or too hidden by body art to notice.

Other Information:

• Occupation: Flight commander
• Likes: Brevity, pies, eating, mint, sleeping in a car/truck bed
• Dislikes: Knife throwing, know-it-alls, bad timing, tea sets, and dating
• Leitmotif: Unkindness

Biography: Once there was a boy named Nikolaos who spent his days on the shores of Keramoti. His was a normal life in a seaside town full of fishing and tourists. Then the Insurrection came and co-opted his formative years. The war ended just as he came of age, interplanetary strife having lasted just long enough to harden him into dead-eyed foot soldier, and then abandon him. Even if his home hadn't been reduced to a wasteland on another planet, he was unable to transition back to idyllic fishmongering or tourist herding. He resigned his fate to being a mercenary until it brought him his untimely end. Somewhere along the way, he dropped the latter half of his name - it was clunkier than he cared for, and frankly, his victories were his own, not 'the people's'.

Some six years into the AI era, his roving brought him to cross paths with a drifter youth in much the same position. Though eight years his junior, the young man had also been snatched up for grist in the war machine, and invasively modified in a manner he couldn't escape. Nik's sympathy for him brought him to take the kid under his wing, looking after him and mentoring him like a younger brother. He taught him how to cope. How to survive in a world where their ilk had become pawns for rival regents and merchant princes. And besides, having someone to look after gave his life some modicum of purpose.

Still, survival was one thing, but fostering someone else deeper into the same trainwreck of a life he'd ended up in was not his taste. Even for a so-called 'Human Debris', there had to be better ways. Despite his best efforts, the doubt nagged at him, and it only took one poor turn, one serious injury, for him to swear it all off and leave his ward behind.

Guilt over that decision colored the ones that came after, and he began veering more toward contract work as a laborer and civilian escort pilot. In AI 20, his reputation led Capt. Sulris to track him down on Io, and recruit him to be a flight officer on her ghost ship. The decision to take her up on it would ultimately prove a fateful one, for in time it led him to cross paths again with his protegee. Zhivka, as she was known now, had grown up. She had grown out. And while their partnership eventually rekindled, it proved far more uneasy than before. Nik's reserved nature chafed around Zee's flamboyance, and her lackadaisical nature chafed under his strictness.

Despite this fractious relationship, the two make an impeccable team when times are tight. And thanks to that, the crew of the Nimue can rest easy at night, knowing that under the duo's care, the stalwart Kraken will always watch over them.

Mobile Weapon: XM-AR10 Nero (XMC-001 Kraken)

Combat Style: Nix
Combat Theme: Prototyp
Strengths: There's a time for strategy, and there's a time for kicking the door down. Nik is perfectly capable of either, but most at home in the latter. On foot, his preference is to use his statue to plow through an opponent with all the subtlety of a guillotine. If he has to beat a man to death, he'll do it, but he'd sooner bide his time and put more energy into a single decisive strike than pepper them with flurries. In the Nero, he rarely has such opportunities - the suit's design usually requires an elaborate dance of charges and feints. But with the Luciana along to box an opponent in, he can more readily wait, watch, and go for the kill when the moment is right.
Weaknesses: His plodding pace can have difficulties against particularly nimble targets. Moreover, his preference for getting in close and taking a target out in one or two judicious blows leaves him vulnerable to other attackers in the meantime. Either he has to take opponents in succession, or he has to deal with the distraction of evading them. He operates best when he has someone watching his back.

---

Name: Zhivka Pandev
Age: 36
Gender: Trans-Female
Height: 6'1"
Weight: ~160 lbs
Eye Color: Hazel
Hair Color: Raven
Ethnicity: Indo-Carribean
Classification: Human Debris
Appearance: Zee is a self-made woman in every possible connotation, both figurative and quite literal. Every detail of her being has been carefully crafted, honed, and planned according to her preference, and all things counter erased to just as exacting a standard. Her raven curls are meticulously rolled and poised. Where her figure dips into valleys, her muscles are chiseled from endless hours of intense exercise. Where her figure swells with feminine fullness, she's seen herself pronouncedly rounded by numerous rounds of medical augmentation. She tolerates no defect in her visage or her character and is quick to mock them in others. At the same time, her standards for what constitutes a "defect" can seem self-serving, even mischevious.

Other Information:

• Occupation: Flight officer
• Likes: Meat, candy, volleyball, meditation, and the sensation of heavy bass.
• Dislikes: Hospitals, restrictive order, fungi, beer, and arguing.
• Leitmotif: High Tide

Biography: There's no record of a "Zhivka Pandev" prior to ten years ago, and the few living souls who remember her former existence are loathe to discuss much about it. Neither fact is an accident. Zhivka (or 'Zee') has seen to the meticulous erasure and silencing of nearly all things pertaining to her past life. What remains is the following: 1) She was born into poverty on a lunar colony. 2) She was one of many street children snatched up for military experiments in the Insurrection's waning days. 3) She met Nik after the war and has been chasing him around ever since.

The truth is she barely remembers her life before meeting Nik, and what she can recall she'd sooner forget. Orphaned by the insurrection, hadn't even reached puberty before she was on a government operating table. She'd like to think it was a better option than starving in a fetid gutter, but that would imply she ever had a choice in the matter. Her prize for surviving multiple rounds of being stabbed in the spine and left in agony for days was a computer socket in the base of her neck. One which let her be strapped into a war machine as human processing circuit, and shipped out as cannon fodder in a succession of impotent skirmishes.

Somehow she stayed alive long enough to see the war end. Her prize for that? Ending up right back where she started. So she did what she had to to survive. She took any sort of work she could get. She crashed with whoever was willing to give her enough space to lay down. To keep her sanity, she became so accustomed to dissociating from what her body was doing that by the age of sixteen, she was living in something of an endless sleepwalk. Her first happy memory is of being hired as a security cracker as part of an assassination attempt. The actual assassin was a burly man with similar life experience. One who actually took pity on her once the job was done, and offered her a place to stay.

They stayed together for eight years all told. To him, she was a student, a little brother even. To her, he was an idol. The more she learned from him, the deeper her affections grew, as well as her desire to impress. Even when the gap between them thinned to just age and outlook, she sought out ever more challenging jobs specifically to push herself, to let herself show off. In lieu of expressing the complicated things she was feeling, she expressed her affections through death-defying performance. In so doing, she unwittingly pushed Nik further and further away.

One day she woke up in the hospital with a three-week hole in her memory and a nanite bath reassembling her left side. The only personal effects waiting for her were a bank card and a note urging her to do something else with her life. Something better. Something more constructive. Something not so mortally perilous.

She took it to heart. With no one else to impress but herself, she began to meticulously remake mind and body into her ideal form. She took a new name, forged a new persona, and left the little boy with the vacant gaze behind for a vivacious woman of action. On the surface, she was a software specialist with a knack for rebuilding failing operating systems. More secretly, she was a skimmer and seductress, using her wiles to get places she shouldn't and help herself to their valuables. She was ultimately so successful in both skill and shameless self-promotion that, in AI 21, Capt. Sulris dragged her out of a dive on Europa and offered her a job as a systems analyst.

Whether her former mentor had a hand in her selection remains a matter of some debate between them. Either way, the end effect is clear. Reunited aboard the ghost ship, Nik and Zee became an impeccable team in the field, if a fractious one in their spare time. His exacting professional standards and lax personal ones clash with her exacting personal standards and lax professional ones. She routinely flirts with him (much to his dismay) and passes it off as teasing. But deep down her feelings for him still run white hot. Both her complex affections for her idol, and her rage at her abandonment.

Mobile Weapon: XM-OC08 Luciana (XMC-001 Kraken)

Combat Style: Bækhest
Combat Theme: Exalted Earthworm
Strengths: Left to her own devices, Zee tends to be quite malicious in a fight. It's rarely enough to simply eliminate the target. She engages it in whatever manner is strategically safest for only as long as it takes to put it on the backstep. Once it's on the defensive her aggression builds, and once it's at her mercy, her toying can turn sadistic. Often this means setting up an elaborate ambush, or carefully manipulating the environment to herd a target just where she wants them, only to close in and dissect them at her leisure. She's seduced plenty of marks right into a shiv or a strangling. Being a fire-support unit, the Luciana affords her few opportunities to fully express this penchant. But it does have some sizeable claws. And more than enough electric strings.
Weaknesses: At her best she's cool-headed and methodical, at one with her machine. At her worst, she descends so fully into vitriol as to become myopic. She flutters. She overcomplicates. If pushed, she gets too worked up and vents her frustrations to the detriment of operational security. She operates best when she has someone more stable and centered to rein her back in.

 

[Jadwiga]

Name: Suri Tzeitel
Alias: "Shiloh", "Chi Lowe", "Chileska Lowe"
Age: 32
Gender: Female
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 152 lbs
Eye Color: Sinople
Hair Color: Platinum Blonde with red streak
Ethnicity: Latin-Aryan
Classification: Gundam Fighter
Appearance: Shiloh cuts a tall and commanding figure. Between her height, her high visiblity coloration, and her aura of physicality, she has the hawkish looks of a natural born leader. Even compared to her taller and more massive cohorts, she has a singular presence of authority and dominance. A pity, then, that she has little to no interest in actually leading. At least, not in a manner that extends any further than her own self-centric ends. She puts a great amount of care into her preening appearance - making a point of keeping all her angles sharp, tan, athletic, and hard even in the seemingly soft places.

Other Information:

• Occupation: Mobile suit pilot
• Likes: Leather, racing, lightning, naturism, lettuce.
• Dislikes: Babies, heavy/loose clothing, abstraction, idleness, anything artificial or synthetic.
• Leitmotif: One Stray Spark

Biography: Once upon a time there were three red birds. The first was a brilliant scarlet who hailed from the north, and braved the snow and the cold to announce the arrival of spring. The second was stained in ashes as barren as the wastes they were born to, bearing red only along their sharpened edges. The third was a proud and well-coifed native of the southern lands, where new sprouts strove to bloom amidst the desolation. On her head and upon her breast she bore a bright vermillion. Yet her wings and tail were singed and black, her pale lips blanched by a diet of humiliation.

A similar parable is told of ancient Japan. How on a particular day a cuckoo sat silent before Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu. Nobunaga declared he would kill it if it didn't sing. Hideyoshi declared he would convince it to sing. Ieyasu commented he would wait for it to sing. Of the three, only he would become shogun.

These were the sorts of tales Captain Azeri told to Shiloh upon her recruitment. She's still not sure what the hell that woman was on about.

One thing she knows well? Hard times and adaptation. Holding your head up to take one on the chin. She became a fighter out of necessity as much as pride, and she doesn't dwell on or regret a bit of it. That sort of spirit might be what caught the Captain's eye that night on Europa. What led her to seek the alley cat out and offer her a home. Shiloh's not much one to be domesticated - hell she thought it was a come-on at first, and had to be convinced the offer really wasn't for that sort of work. But over time she's come to accept a bit of camaraderie, even a bit of friendship from her fellows on the Nimue.

And hey. At the very least, she got a ruddy big chainsaw out of the deal.

Mobile Weapon: XM-SP00 Seahunter (XM-SP00/P Sawshark)

Combat Style: Destroyer
Combat Theme: Neuro Sis
Strengths: Being both headstrong and self-assured as a frontliner, Shiloh's merry abandon in battle makes her a swift and hard-hitting combatant. Her natural athleticism and ample endurance lets her take and dish out with equal measure. She is never more alive than when she's getting to let herself go and embrace her primal nature, cleaving from target to target while pushing herself to her limits.
Weaknesses: Her dogged pursuit of martial art and satiating her gladiatorial thirsts makes her a excellent escort fighter. It doesn't do her as many favors in any other situation though, where her lusts and vices can make her careless. Her drive to follow fights to conclusion can readily lead her to overextension - following her thirsts deep into opposing territory, only to look up and find herself lost or surrounded.

---

Name: Oriol Kariuki
Age: 24
Gender: Female
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 110 lbs
Eye Color: Chestnut
Hair Color: Mahogany with yellow streaks
Ethnicity: Negroid
Classification: X-Rounder
Appearance: Sleek, suave, and even-tempered. Oriol lives up to her name with her penchant for vibrant colors, but is otherwise an easygoing and level-headed sort. Her eyes are wide and shining. Her lips often curled in a good-natured smile. Her figure is a beanpole of modest height - long, slim, and just shy of petite. She loves patterns and layers, often sporting the eye-catching but practical attire of a low-key fashionista.

Other Information:

• Occupation: Vulture
• Likes: Architecture, fashion, machinery, bonfires, seafood
• Dislikes: Dolls, knives, chalk, parrots, cucumber
• Leitmotif: Be Good To Me

Biography: Ori is too young to remember the insurrection. The only world she's ever known is the aftermath. Her memories of growing up are ones of doing whatever it took to survive, and being on constant alert for danger or opportunity. She has few memories of her family. Fewer still that she's willing to talk about. About all her closest contacts know is that she keeps a picture of her father close, and hopes to catch back up with him one day. That and she has an acute phobia of knives and other visibly sharp edges, but not of needles or twisted metal.

At some point in her teens she set off on her own. Her perceptive skills and nimbleness landed her work as a Vulture, where she could both see obstacles and frequently squeeze past them. She only grew bolder as time wore on, bouncing from crew to crew charging higher fees for more challenging work. It was during one of these more daring raids into an abandoned station that her crew ran afoul of the ghost ship. With neither side willing to cede to the facility or its contents, a skirmish broke out that saw several Vultures slain and many more routed. Ori was one of the few who was left aboard to die or be captured.

She wasn't going to go down without a fight.

For the better part of a day, she used her skinniness and saavy to evade, elude, thwart, and entrap her pursuers. When she was finally backed into a corner, she was ready to go out in a blaze and take some of them with her. But it was at that point a woman appeared in their midst. A peculiar woman who wore no armor and bore no weapon, yet was confident enough to stride out before her and ask her name. A woman who just had something about her, something that somehow got her talking. A woman who in turn offered her a job, and a new home.

Mobile Weapon: XM-SP00 Seahunter (XM-SP00/C Hammerhead)

Combat Style: Avisio
Combat Theme: Hammerhead
Strengths: Ori's sharp eyes, keen ears, and gut instincts make her a natural spotter. At any given time her situational awareness is very high, a blend of her latent preternatural abilities, raw talent, and hard-won experience. Her hunches are usually right, and the ease with which she can read the vibe makes her seem almost empathic. Thus, while she may not be the best fighter, her observational skills give her high survivability.
Weaknesses: Her tendency is to err on the side of caution, which can make her risk-averse and quick to flee. It should also be noted that while she might seem empathic at times, her skill is for reading rooms, not minds. This is important because, in being unable to truly know what other people are thinking, she's also less likely to know how to move them. Being able to deduce a situation comes to little if you're suffering from Cassandra syndrome.

---

Name: Lauretta MacShuibhne
Age: 46
Gender: Female
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 135 lbs
Eye Color: Robin Egg
Hair Color: Midnight with teal streaks
Ethnicity: Northern Pacific
Classification: Coordinator
Appearance: Lauretta is an old soul from a bygone era. Her tastes run classic and traditional, frequently channeling the hallmarks of influence and affluence. She would call them elegant. Others would call them stuffy. But given the cool intensity of her gaze, or the lethality imbuing her smile when slighted, few are keen to argue her choices. Her aura is professional. Professorial. At once demure and demanding. Her frame is a slender willow, its thinness belying the strength and power more befitting a hickory switch. Thanks to her Coordinator genes, both her mind and body are as sharp as a razor, and should be handled with just as much care.

Other Information:

• Occupation: Systems analyst
• Likes: Obedience, gentility, birds, windy days, red wine
• Dislikes: Crassness, criticism, men, closed spaces, slimy textures
• Leitmotif: Technologies

Biography: Maiden name Lauretta Lai. Goes by Laura among friends, but resists the nickname Lorelei.

Born in an incubation chamber on Neptune. Trained for work in the Mother Vanguard project. Retrained for work on the war effort. Retrained again of her own volition for postwar restoration work. Established a distinguished record of service in system inception, administration, repair, and organization. Married a doctor a few years into the Post Insurrection calendar. Found they had a similar origin in a machine womb. Produced their genetic child in a similar fashion. Trained child for work in the restoration effort. Works alongside her on expeditions, sometimes including the use of mobile suits.

Has a reputation for being difficult to work with. Emphatically denies this fact and would challenge the character of anyone who asserts it. Is nonetheless regarded as an adequate mother by those close enough to observe her. Noted to be a strict disciplinarian with high standards. Also noted to be unusually, even divergently dedicated to occupying the traditional maternal archetype of antiquity. Insisted upon a traditional wedding dress for her marriage ceremony, and to observe traditional rites such as being carried across the threshold. Acted as a caregiver to her wife during her subsequent recovery. Underwent hormone therapy in order to nurse their IVF/AI child.

Nature of relationship to command unclear. Was one of many crew members originating from Carina and Argonavis. Was not chosen by Captain Azeri and expresses no overt loyalty to or respect for her. Exhibits tendencies of defiance toward authority, yet also abides by Azeri's requests without incident.

Mobile Weapon: XM-SP00 Seahunter (XM-SP00/L Warshark)

Combat Style: Dreadnought
Combat Theme: Spice
Strengths: Laura is an anchor. A backbone. A rock of stability to which her fellows gravitate. The softness of her smile and ferocity of her aura lend her a presence that looms and intimidates. Many are those of lesser will who met her ire and felt the cold gaze of a Great White upon them. She is a woman of tremendous skill and even greater resolve, who readily instills servile desire by fear or attraction. As much in life as in her Warshark, she is inclined to sit at one side sipping her tea while her minions tear her opposition apart.
Weaknesses: Her weakness is that of all bullies - she's only a terror to those who fear her. If stood up to she has little recourse, and little desire to even bother with it. Such 'difficult people' are merely a nuisance to be discarded, or delegated to an underling. Breaking through her swarm leaves her having to defend herself in melee. And while she's quite capable of doing so, her lack of interest in it leaves her seeking an escape or a patsy to pass it off to.

---

Name: Helena MacShuibhne
Age: 22
Gender: Female
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 112 lbs
Eye Color: Haro green
Hair Color: Raven with magenta streaks
Ethnicity: Northern Pacific
Classification: Coordinator
Appearance: Helena is her mothers' daughter - an immaculate conception of science and industry. Every detail of her appearance and personality was carefully selected and perfectly executed, creating a dutiful modern-day Snow White. Her skin is stark white, her hair is jet black, her lips are ruby red. Her figure is so precisely balanced between soft and hard, thin and fat, tall and short that she could pass for a life-size doll. She even wears glasses despite having perfect vision. Her personality is similarly precise, and similarly devoid of color or character. She is often as cold and submissive as a robot, flat and obedient.

Other Information:

• Occupation: Software Engineer
• Likes: Information science, mathematics, work, her mothers, fizzy drinks
• Dislikes: Chaos, strangers, fire, unhealthy foods/habits, bananas
• Leitmotif: Millions of Stars

Biography: Born in an incubation chamber on Neptune. Trained for work in the Mother Vanguard restoration project.

That is to say, she hails from a vat in orbit of Neptune but has spent most of her actual life aboard the Nimue in one form or another. A daughter of both the docs and the docks, life aboard space ships and space stations is all she's ever known. Her mothers have seen to it that her head is full of facts and figures, so she knows all too well that planets exist and what life on them looks like. She's seen the Earth of old, or at least as much as files and footage can simulate. She's walked on Jupiter's moons and seen her seas. But these experiences left little more impression on her than a visit to the hydroponics bay.

What little humanity she has come to exhibit has arisen from interactions with friends her own age. Ori in particular has been a softening influence, although their friendship is a furtive one to escape parental supervision. Helena is what she was made to be - broadminded, intellectually curious, a quick study. Her tightly controlled upbringing has made her a superhuman savant, but left her with little self-identity. With Ori, her horizons are truly expanding, letting her question the world and her place in it for the first time.

Mobile Weapon: XM-SP00 Seahunter (XM-SP00/S Angelshark)

Combat Style: Corvette
Combat Theme: System Error
Strengths: A flighty prodigy of lateral thinking, Helena fills whatever role is needed at the moment. She bobs and bounces from task to topic, reconfiguring and compartmentalizing her thoughts to keep all her juggled balls in the air. What she lacks in personality she gains in being a supercomputer. The Angelshark is well-structured for her needs - the ability to swap between several modes in either or both arms gives her a wide degree of flexibility, and makes her an amorphous, ever-changing foe to contend with.
Weaknesses: Her greatest weakness is the constraints of the physical upon the mental. She can think up ten solutions in a moment, but none of them can be implemented due to a lack of materials. She is really only as versatile as the means she's given. And that assumes her ideas are even appropriate for the task - being quick-footed and inventive doesn't guarantee her solutions will actually work.