"Bus be advised, engine two is on fire again. Standby."
Name: Rodrick Hale
Nickname(s): Hail
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Heterosexual
DOB: June, 28
Nationality: Torian
Personality: Hale was your generic, stereotypical hotshot pilot, confident in his ability to fly. The type to wear aviator sunglasses, riding his motorcycle off into the sunset. Loves speed, those high-g turns, lives for those combat drops. But Hale is tired, all of that is what he used to be ten years ago. Hale is still sure of his ability to fly, but instead of adrenaline pumping, tense flying, he finds pleasure in leisurely flights when nothing is going on. He enjoys maintaining, refueling and rearming his own dropship, a task generally given to the ground crew. But no trooper wants to have a dropship pilot like that, so he's kept up that facade of the young hotshot.
Hale is honest, relaxed, and you can often find him lounging about somewhere or anywhere. He's introverted, preferring to keep to himself. But he won't try to avoid a conversation if you come up to him to talk. He's a glass half full type of person, usually being optimistic about dire situations.
Appearance: Hale is a shorter man, standing at 5'4", though this doesn't bother him. He says his smaller stature offers him more leg room in the cramped spaces of military vessels. He keeps his black hair short and messy, his face clean shaven, and his hands always clean. When not in his grey flight suit, or his red
IVA suit, he's often in his comfortable white navy fatigues with his worn leather aviator jacket.
Position on The Condor: Shuttle Pilot, Dropship Pilot. Hale is capable of flying a wide variety of aircraft and spacecraft, though he is most comfortable with his own dropship.
Years on The Condor: 0 Years
Skills:- Master dropship pilot. Hale has more than a couple of years under his belt flying a dropship with hundreds of missions, he's capable of fending off several fighter craft while piloting the much slower and heavier dropship, though not for long. He's able to pull of very difficult maneuvers, and has on more than one occasion safely crash landed a critically damaged vessel.
- Military Training. As part of his flight school he's had to learn how to handle himself in a fight, how to use a rifle properly, how to use a handgun properly, how to survive in a hostile environment, as well as escape and evasion tactics.
- Sharp eyes. He has incredible eyesight, a skill he's earned in the early days of his bomber gunner days. He's able to spot a ship a dozen kilometers away with just his eyes without assistance from his instruments, even in the void.
- Multitasking. He's fully capable of flying his, usually two pilot dropship, by himself. He can comfortably monitor fuel and ammunition, operate the communications panel, aim and fire his cannons, and fly all at the same time. Though it's much easier with a co-pilot.
- Void training. He has graduated the Zero-G Operations School, having joined at the recommendation of Major Masut. Hale is capable of doing anything from EVA repairs to combat in a zero gravity environment.
Planetary History: Tor is a planet slightly smaller than Earth, covered in forests and lakes, with a current population of roughly two billion. Around 70 years ago a massive ship was outfitted with an early FTL drive and sent out into space. The colony ship went through a dangerous nebula and was damaged, soon after it found a suitable planet. The passengers quickly disembarked and the colony ship was salvaged and turned into a station. A number of charismatic individuals played on the fears of the colonists, they took positions in the government and made an entire generation of colonists into soldiers. They instigated a war against an alien race called the Zel, and kept the war going to fuel the fears of the colonists. All the while they profited from the arms race. As soon as the war got a little bit out of hand, the wealthy in charge took a number of state of the art ships and fled the system with their pockets full of money. In the void left by them, respectable leaders took charge. They ended the war and helped the Zel rebuild, and tasked their military to find those who exploited the colonists. In their search, they instead found the IOSE and the Tor Commonwealth began their introduction into the galactic community.
Dropship Information: The
D-99NS Black Mulga is a large and sturdy dropship, as the Naval/Stealth variant of the D-99A Mulga Dragon it's capable of short take off and landing. The ship was top secret and officially didn't exist up until the end of the Tor-Zel War. It has enough cargo space to seat 40 fully armored marines, with room to spare for extra munitions or supplies. The ship is capable of both void and atmospheric flight, though it's most comfortable in the void. It's covered in polychromatic armor, a smooth armor plating that changes color and pattern to suit the surrounding terrain at the same time having radar absorbing properties, the ship also has a thermal masking system to make it invisible to infrared sensors. The Black Mulga has three internal weapons bays, two in the wings with enough space for two missiles per bay, and one larger weapons bay in the fuselage with space for up to six missiles. The nose has a modular slot for either a reconnaissance suite, with cameras and upgraded radar, or a retractable weapons suite with twin 30mm autocannons. For defenses there's an ECM module to confuse incoming missiles or targeting systems, flares and chaff if the ECM fails, as well as the armor underneath the stealth plating. Standard procedure in void flight is to compress the atmosphere of the ship into tanks to avoid explosive decompression if the hull is punctured. Each seat has an oxygen tube that troops and pilots plug into their suits. The D-99 Mulga Dragon family is typically crewed by a minimum of three members, the pilot, copilot and 'chief', a third member who sits in the cargo hold to ensure that everything is in order in the back of the bus. The chief also mans the rear hatch medium machine gun. In the cargo bay there is a small armory, when fully stocked has four handguns, four assault rifles, two disposable anti-armor missile launchers, and four suits of hardshell armor.
The objective of the D-99A Mulga Dragon is to drop off their infantry compliment, then stay in the area to provide close air support. The D-99NS Black Dragon keeps that role. The Black Mulga is considered the pinnacle of Torian stealth technology, very expensive, practically invisible, and Hale is very proud of it. His personal D-99NS Black Mulga has a mini-fridge and a small couch bolted to the floor of the cargo bay. He's modified the armory as well, in the racks where the disposable rocket launchers would be, there are no rocket launchers. It is full of snacks, MREs, and a pot.
Other - FF4040
- His minifridge has several packages of diet sausages, Tourist's Breakfast brand cans of food, some hardtack, exactly two and a half bottles of vodka, a bottle of Torian Brandy, one can of hazelnut spread, there's a story about this can of hazelnut spread, and instant noodles.