Name: Fuka Astor-Nakano (typically shortened to Fuka Nakano)
Callsign/Nickname: Peacenik
Age: 34
Gender: Female
Appearance: 
The first thing people usually notice about Fuka is her height. Standing at six feet and two inches she'd be of impressive stature had she been a man, and for a woman it's even more so. She attributes her height to her father's genes, as by all accounts her grandfather towered above his peers. Instead of a giant's bulk, she has a professional soldier's lean muscles and powerful core, a build suited to long treks carrying heavy gear. Fuka's youthful appearance belies her veteran status, her years of combat experience concealed by a fresh-faced complexion lacking imperfections. Closer inspection reveals trace marks of reconstructive surgery, with jagged marks scattered across her cheek and brow. These tiny details are leftovers from the blast that put an end to her infantry career, the damage to her face minor enough that it left no lasting complications. The same cannot be said for her left arm. While not entirely blown off, it was mangled to uselessness, requiring amputation and replacement from just above her elbow.
Nationality: Dual American-Japanese citizenship
Personality: Outwardly Fuka is laid-back and cheerful, sometimes overly so depending on the circumstances. This is something of a facade. While she is genuinely a believer in the power of a positive outlook, she's far more measured and deep-thinking than she lets on. While she did her best to buck family tradition, her upbringing in a clan of political blue bloods and officers rubbed off on her. She sees herself as a warrior-scholar, well-educated and capable of intelligently discussing politics and history but is really supposed to be on the battlefield. Combat is where she's happiest, as it's the only place where she feels she's living up to her potential.
Despite her family background and service to the N/UN and its various constituents, Fuka is not really a believer in its goals or legitimacy. That isn't to say that she's a saboteur or a rabble-rouser; she simply does not trust it to last. She remembers enough of the world pre-Heavenfall to be wary of taking sides; having watched once unshakable powers collapse in the face of unexpected calamity, she assumes the same will happen again. Part of her reasoning is that much of its power projection relies on people like her: mercenaries. If the so-called United Nations are busy battling cartels in the ruins of Central America or trying to rebuild in the remains of Los Angeles, how can they compete with the largely intact Chinese or a megacorporation that gets too confident? That said, she is highly patriotic, bordering nationalistic, regarding her home countries. Japan and the United States are part of the N/UN, and more importantly, they and the N/UN have the same enemies, so she'll fight for it.
History: Fuka Nakano-Astor was not just a military brat; she was
the military brat. Her father was Major-General Thomas Astor of the United States Army, stationed in Kanagawa Prefecture as the head of Major Command Japan. Her mother was Kaede Nakano, pharmaceutical executive turned Kanagawa governor who fostered a close relationship with General Astor. They were married within a year of meeting, and Fuka was born not long after, one of five children in total: two older half-brothers from her father's previous marriage and a half-sister from her mother's, with a full-blooded sister following three years later.
Her lineage was star-studded. The Nakanos were old money, some of the first commoners to make their fortune trading with the outside world, while the Astors had a legacy of military excellence going back to the Civil War. (Indeed, Thomas was somewhat legendary for having achieved the rank of major-general at the impressively young age of forty-five). Every child in the Astor-Nakano clan was expected to achieve greatness in some way, and regardless of whatever career they chose they would all do at least one tour of armed service. The pack accompanied Thomas on his rounds and sat in on some of his less sensitive meetings to get acclimated to the bureaucracy, picking up the idiosyncracies of Army life.
This path had been laid out for Fuka before she was born, and in truth she didn't want to walk it. But growing up immersed in the military meant she saw no other outcome for herself. Her older siblings were rarely seen figures due to their burgeoning careers (ROTC and eventual officers' commissions for her brothers while her sister followed the elder Nakano into politics) but they were measuring sticks against which Fuka was often compared. By her early teens she had more or less come to terms with the fact that she would be joining up as soon as she was allowed, unless of course the Soviets set off nuclear war.
This was a reasonable concern at the time, but as it turned out, everyone had been preparing for the wrong armageddon. The Cold War became an afterthought in the wake of the Heavenstrike, and suddenly General Astor was no longer preparing to defend Japan against Communist aggression but struggling to restore peace and provide relief in the wake of swallowed coastlines and wrecked infrastructure. The United States, reeling and near collapse, recalled its military personnel piecemeal, members of all branches gathering at what bases remained to hitch the first ride home. In this crush of refugees, Fuka, bored and unsure of what would happen next, turned her eyes to the sky and watched the escort fighters assigned to protect the airlifts.
When the family made it to the now fractured United States Fuka was enrolled in the best schools remaining to finish her education, and at seventeen she joined the Army just like her old man wanted. But instead of ROTC she walked into the first recruiting office she could find and signed up as an MOS 11X: Undetermined Infantry, a groundpounder. This was partly practical, as in the aftermath of the Heavenstrike, the Army was significantly reduced, lowering the opportunities for an officer, but it was also Fuka's first display of independence. She didn't want to push pencils and deal with office politics like her father did, she wanted to actually do something! She craved excitement, and she went looking for it in the Rangers.
She fought through the selection process and earned the coveted scroll, assigned to the 75th Ranger Regiment and thrown into conflicts south of the border. With Mexico's government essentially collapsed the cartels were getting bolder and the U.S., desperate to maintain some degree of stability, responded in kind. For the next four years Fuka was deployed to the border region and beyond, raiding suspected stash houses and clearing known sicario hangouts.
She served with distinction but without much enthusiasm. The rush she got from combat was nice, but Fuka still felt unfilled. She was missing something which she could not identify, and while she was proud of her achievements she didn't mind getting released from her contract early. That said, she would have preferred her honorable discharge to have been from a reduction in force instead of an injury. On a routine patrol her team was ambushed by cartel gunmen with anti-tank weapons stolen from a government depot, their MRAP destroyed by a direct hit. Fuka had left the vehicle just seconds before the attack and managed to escape alive, but shrapnel from the blast peppered her face and shredded her arm.
She got a Purple Heart and a ticket out, and soon after her family's money got her a prosthetic arm. The replacement limb was as near a match in function to her old one as she could hope but there was no fixing the phantom sensations from her missing limb. Fuka chalked it up as the price of survival, and now that she was out of the Army she could focus on her next move. Her sisters, now properly embroiled in politics and knowing her sympathies lay with them, suggested she run for office on the strength of her service and family history but Fuka had no interest in gladhanding. Instead she turned her eyes back to the interceptors that captured her imagination as a girl.
Naval flight school required a bachelor's degree so she enrolled on a whim, majoring in Geopolitics and minoring in Political Science. She chose this just in case she did feel the call of public office but by the end of her schooling she was only more convinced she belonged in the sky. After college came officer school, and from there the flight school. By 25 Fuka was fighting again, having traded her boots for wings.
Again she was deployed southward, first facing off against Columbian and Venezuelan forces as they struggled against the U.S. for control over resources. She was later deployed to her native Japan to assist the JSDF in defending against harrying attacks from Chinese-allied Cambodia and Laos. It was there that she found her calling. Dogfighting was what she was good and it was what she wanted to do, the high-speed high-stakes game of tag her ultimate goal. She wanted to do nothing but that.
After her eight-year contract was up Fuka did not reenlist, instead jumping ship to Shattered Steel. She'd get to do the same work but for better pay, and she'd feel like she made her own choice instead of just following along with her parent's plan for her.
Personal Gear: M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System in 7.62mm.
Springfield XD-M in 10mm.
Survival KnifePersonal Aircraft: F/A-18F Super HornetAircraft modifications: - The 18F was originally a two-seat variant of the Hornet, but the Navy converted some of its stock to single-seaters due to a lack of personnel post-Heavenstrike. Fuka's more comfortable serving as her own Weapons Officer.
- Upgraded avionics
- Upgraded Radar: AN/APG-81
- Iron ball paint to absorb radar waves
- Glossy black paint scheme and stylized rabbit head on tail
Anything Else: - The handle "Peacenik" dates back to her days in the Rangers. She would regularly volunteer (and in some cases actively badger) for patrols likely to come into contact with the enemy, and Peacenik was bestowed on her as an ironic trophy.
- Her "black bunny" style livery is in honor of the lieutenant commander who trained her to fly, a veteran of the VX-4 evaluation squadron.
- Fuka semi-jokingly calls herself the family's black sheep due to her sibling's achievements and her comparative lack. Her half-brothers, Thomas Jr. and Evan, are career officers in the U.S. Army while her sisters went into politics. Her full-blooded sister, Ayaka, is a Congresswoman out of Arizona, while Chieko is a member of the Japanese Diet. Yōko, the highest climber, is Deputy Prime Minister. All three are known for their hawkish and nationalistic tendencies, with Ayaka calling for the United States to rebuild and start projecting power while Chieko and Yōko push for Japan to increase its military and take a harder stance against pro-Chinese nations in Southeast Asia to solidify control of disputed territories (namely the Senkaku Islands). Fuka is sometimes approached by lobbyists looking to get an in with her family, which she finds amusing and annoying.
- She used to smoke heavily but has recently begun to wean herself off the habit using sweets.
