Full Name:
Natalia Jade Aprilia

AKA:
Nat / "The Lynx"

Callsign:
Lynx

Species:
Human

Gender:
Female

Age:
27

Vocation:
Pilot (Freelance/Nova Odessa Knights)

History:
Natalia was born and raised on a world called Nova Odessa, the second planet of five in the Rostov system (formerly known as Gliese-180). She enjoyed the benefits of living on a planet with a strong trade economy, and lived very comfortably with her parents for most of her early childhood. Unlike many of the residents of Nova Odessa, she lived in a small community some distance from the capital. Even so, it wasn't uncommon to see ships flying towards the somewhat closer spaceport, and Natalia was always captivated and enthralled by the sight of a ship or aerospace fighter. She decided at an early stage in life that she needed to fly one of these craft.

Of course, news of the Nomad had reached her parents not long after she was born. They tried their best to keep such information from her, but it was only a matter of time until a sizeable colony was destroyed hundreds of light years away, and by then it was impossible not to know about it.

As she progressed through secondary school, the death toll grew exponentially as the Nomad proceeded through colonized space. Natalia became angry and determined to help stop it. Shortly before she turned 16, she reached out to the New Odessa Knights to express her desire to join the militia. As expected, they were more than willing to accept whomever they could get. She voiced an interest in being a pilot and was given preparatory classes to take throughout what remained of her secondary education, and began talking with a Navy fighter pilot. He saw great potential in Natalia, and trained her as best as he could before she finished school and entered the Knights Naval Piloting Program and began working to earn her commission.

Three years later, she emerged near the top of her class. She was a natural pilot and was given her choice of light vessels to fly. She opted to fly fighters, and volunteered to serve at the front lines of the war with the Nomad. She was a very confident flyer and proved herself in the next few months. Her confidence was contagious, and she earned a reputation among fighter jockeys everywhere, even UWSC pilots. She soon found herself at the head of fighter elements on a regular basis, leading other Knights along with UWSC forces against the Nomad's slaves and AIs. Throughout these years, she'd lose many friends and subordinates, but despite this she still found herself gaining a growing group of loyal followers, all members of the Knights. She became a quite famous ace pilot in the next few years. The name Lynx became one that every pilot had heard, and her very presence was enough to inspire confidence in her flightmates.

Of course, by this point the Nomad had made it deep into Human space, and was closing on Natalia's home system fast. Each battle she grew more anxious, erratic, and desperate. It came to a head when the Nomad's fleet arrived in the region, just days from Nova Odessa. Natalia had returned to her home planet some time beforehand to help train newer pilots in what to expect when facing the Nomad's forces. Though they weren't unprepared from a training and preparation perspective, there's still nothing that prepares one who is facing a seemingly unstoppable enemy who is about to destroy their entire planet. Natalia was temporarily promoted to Lieutenant Commander, with the understanding that the rank and position would only last for the duration of the battle, and was given command of the entire 76th Knights Aggressor Squadron. They had gone over their plans repeatedly in preparation, and were poised to defend the system at a moment's notice for over a week. Around that same time, Nova Odessa began a full scale evacuation of all civilians and nonessential military personnel.

Roughly a week after the evacuation began, the Nomad arrived. The evacuation was still underway, and another squadron was tasked with defending any vessels trying to escape. Even still, even knowing well in advance that the Nomad would soon reach them, Natalia couldn't help but fear for those still being evacuated, and knowing, after years of losing battles, she was all but certain this would be no different. As expected, losses occurred ceaselessly. Still, Natalia came out alive when so many others didn't. The battle lasted for four hours before Nova Odessa was slagged by one of the massive world destroyers. Only 80% of the civilian population was successfully evacuated, and Natalia had lost nearly everyone in the 76th Knights Aggressors. Not long after the planet was completely burned, what remained of the Knights and UWSC forces were ordered to disengage and fall back. Natalia discovered soon after that both of her parents hadn't been evacuated yet.

Natalia became distant, quiet, and distracted after the battle of Rostov. On top of her parents, Natalia had lost every other pilot whom she considered close to her, with the exception of one, and he became just as sullen after the battle. Them and a handful of others were all that remained of the New Odessa Knights. Even still, she had become a symbol of what the Knights were capable of. People were begging her to keep fighting, but after losing everything she had, she didn't know if she still had it in her. She kept flying, but her confidence was shot. What was left of her chain of command recognized this and sidelined her, along with many of the other Knights. They were sent to Earth to train until the final battle.

Natalia was thrown into the fray once more when the Nomad's forces finally arrived, and Natalia was placed in command of what was left of the Knights. All 17 of them. All still fiercely loyal to Natalia. In the moments leading up to the battle, Natalia found herself inspired by her comrades' continued trust in her, and was able to bring herself to focus on the fight one more time. They all fought with everything they had in the battle, despite the insurmountable odds and the inevitable destruction of humanity's home, or maybe because of it. They left everything they had in that battle, but just when it seemed the Nomad's forces were preparing to glass Earth, they just stopped.

In the aftermath it turned out that Natalia didn't lose a single Knight, and immediately after it was confirmed that the entire Nomad fleet was disabled, Natalia took her ship and, along with the rest of the Knights, mounted a search and rescue mission for anyone who may have been left stranded in the Rostov system.

After reporting back that they didn't find anything but some leftover infrastructure on Petrovsk, they were awarded the highest honors by the remnants of Nova Odessa's government and high-ranking military members, as well as given several commendations by the UWSC for their actions, and were given the option to be honorably discharged on the spot. Several stayed, but Natalia and a handful of the remaining 17 Knights split off to find work elsewhere. They were all given their own ships by the New Odessa government, and many struck out on their own to help other colonies get back on their feet.

Valued possessions:
Nat wears a ring with her dogtags as a reminder of her home.

Miscellaneous:
Natalia speaks with a slight Ukrainian accent, and is a good singer.