Name Gabriela Del Rosario
Age 35
Appearance Gabriela is still good looking for her age; a 5 foot 2 inches with an athletic triangle body and a sightly straight back. She got her long brown hair from her mother, but she would often tie up her hair into a French braid, and her thin mouth. Meanwhile, she has her father's hazel eyes and his rectangular face. The lips were a combination of her father's short upper lips and her mother's slightly turned outwards under lip, making her whole mouth rather thin. Her nose is straight and narrow. And her jawline doesn't project. A
sleeve tattoo of a Japanese demon covered her right arm. It's based on her father's tattoo that he wanted to get during his youth.
She would often be wearing her service uniform which is provided by NATO when she's in charge. Her service uniform contains a navy blue suit coat and optional skirt, a white shirt, and neck tab. Her jacket has a single row of four gold-colored buttons and her rank insignia is the gold sleeve stripes. She's rarely seen wearing the white combination cap that many captains do. Her service uniform made her appear older than she is as many people had mistaken her to be forty or fifty years old. In her private cabin, she often wore a white tank top and gray trousers with gray boots. She sometimes gets her lunch in that outfit.
Personality Gabriela has been in the military for eighteen years and her personality has changed since that time. Once an out of control teenager, she became a mature woman who made a name for herself. She's a dependable person, who has helped out during the attack on Earth and her time aboard several NATO-U.S ships. But, she isn't the only to ask questions about the mission. She also would take full responsibility for her actions, making her known to be a woman of integrity. She'd rather suffer the consequences of being wrong than lie and be caught. But, she wouldn't cover from another person's mistakes.
Her ambition is to finish this mission and return to Earth famous, but she knew that might not happen. To someone, she had been fear mongering often while talking about politics or other serious topics; however, she claimed that she was just “being a realist.” Gabriela is also able to make the tough decisions in life. She was the captain after all and was loyal to NATO. After her mother's and two other siblings' deaths in the attack, she hated the Martians for what they did to NATO and their citizens; but, she kept the hate to herself and tried to get help before she left for Seattle. With her new role and help, she has able to keep her anger towards Martians under control.
She might lose control if someone kept pushing her buttons and talked about the attack.
History Gabriela was born in Porto, Portugal to a military family. Her father had been in the military for thirty years. Her mother was the “military mom” as she dealt with five children while her husband was deployed. The five childrens' names are Paulo, Victória, Flávio, Cristiano, and Gabriela. Gabriela was the second youngest and looked up to the middle child, Flávio. He was six years old when she was born and wanted to be like his father. And she looked up to Flávio as a role model than the other siblings.
When she was twelve, Flávio was in the Middle East fighting against ISIL. His vehicle hit a land mine and killed him among with three other soldiers. Her life forever changed when she learned that he died in the Middle East. She not only lost a sibling, but she lost one of her closest friends. As she became a teenager and her growth spurt got out of control, the thought of Flávio gone forever changed her. Gabriela started to smoke weed at the age of fifteen during a party at one of her friend's houses. At the age of sixteen, she didn't listen to her father and mother's advices and her life was going downfall until one night.
Gabriela was in the back seat as her friends were driving while intoxicated. Suddenly, the driver lost control and flipped the car seven times before stopping. Help soon arrived, but it was too late. Almost all of her friends had died on the scene and she was near death as she was dragged to an ambulance. Before they arrived to the hospital, she had died for about seven hours before she woke up on a hospital bed. Her family was thankful that she survived the crash, but she had to stay at the hospital for several months before she could return home. After she came home, she forced on recovery and finishing up school. Then at the age of eighteen, she joined the Navy.
She went to Escola Nava (The Portuguese Naval School) in Alfeite and hoped that she could become a line officer. She learned English, French, and Germany during her time. After getting the naval school done, she was sent to the United States by NATO. She went to the Surface Warfare Officers School and got basic training of warfare at sea, including ship handling, communications, ship maintenance and the ship’s operational and weapons systems. After Surface Warfare Officers School, she received intensive training aboard several U.S-NATO ships. Then, the attack on Earth by the Martians happened. She was aboard one of the ships when several ships started to attack cities around the world.
Gabriela kept her cool and kept the crew mates calm as they tried to stop the attacking, After the fighting between the Martians and NATO stopped, she had learned that Porto was one of the cities hit and learned that her mother and two more siblings died. Her father suffered life threatening wounds and was staying at one of the hospitals. She immediately requested leave and traveled to her wounded father.
She spent as much time as she could before she had to return to work. A couple months after the attack, she was greeted by several NATO officers and requested that they talk. They offered her to be in a classified operation involving the FTL drive, the new revolutionary technology made by researchers. They also showed her the frigate that would install the drive, NSS Intrepid XDS-5. And lastly, they told her that she would become the captain of the NSS Intrepid. Gabriela knew that accepting this offer would mean that she was leaving her remaining family behind, but she would be honoring both her mother's and siblings' memories.
She proudly accepted their offer.
Vignette Porto was one of the cities that suffered during the attack by Matians months ago. NATO had been trying to help with rebuilding several cities, including Porto. It was the second largest city in Portugal before the attack, now they are the eighth largest. Many of the famous landmarks were either damaged or destroyed, like the iconic Café Majestic and Sé do Porto (Porto Cathedral). Many other sites recognized by UNESCO were being rebuilt by private or public funds, which NATO has allowed for the moment. The city was still busy as Gabriela Del Rosario had left it a couple years ago, but something felt different about the city. She saw construction crews all over the city, rebuilding one area at a time. As she drove beyond the city, she finally saw her old home that had seen better days.
The house was originally built in the early 1900s and then updated by her family in the early 2000s. It had an incredible view of the Ponte LuĂs I (Dom LuĂs I) and Douro River. There's also a garden that her mother overlooked when she got the house. Since her death, her husband had decided to get a gardener to manage it. Gabriela went to the garden and saw her father, sitting on the only bench in the area. The day was coming to an end as she went to her father. She slowly placed her hand on her father's shoulder and saw his reaction. He smiled at the sight and gave her a hug as it had been a while since he last saw her.
"O que você está fazendo aqui? Eu pensei que você tem treinamento?" his father asked as she saw her daughter in her formal uniform. She sat down on the bench and told her father to take a seat. She didn't where to start, but she had to tell her father everything. Gabriela only grew closer to her father since her mother died. This was because that he was deployed all over the world, 'proteger o mundo de ameaças' he would often say to his children.
"Fath-." she caught herself as she was speaking English. His memory was getting old and he slowly was losing the ability to speak English. Once upon a time, he was able to speak several languages during his time in the army. From English to Arabic, he studied those languages to better understand the world. The children would often get lessons about English or French when father was around.
She spoke to her father in his native language, "Eu terminei o treinamento, pai. Mas, eu ter sido chamado pela NATO para uma missĂŁo secreta."
"A missĂŁo secreta?"
"Sim." Gabriela clarified to her father, "Vou dizer-lhe sobre esta missĂŁo, mas vocĂŞ deve mantĂŞ-lo para si mesmo." He nodded and she started to tell everything that she knew about this mission. From the FTL drive to the ship, she told him about everything that she knew. It took a few minutes and some words had to be repeated, but she felt better that she was telling the truth to her father. As the sun went down and the moon went up, everyone was able to see the stars above them. The lights in the garden turned on automatically.
"Eu sou grato que vocĂŞ me disse. Faz-me sentir melhor." he thanked her daughter as he gave her a hug. A tear rolled down his face as this could be the last time that he would see one of her daughters.
"Todos em nossa famĂlia seria tĂŁo orgulhoso de vocĂŞ. Estou orgulhoso de vocĂŞ, querida." he cried as he was still giving her a hug. Gabriela kept saying 'obrigado' as she started to cry as well. They cried for a few more minutes as she whipped her tears away and realized the time.
"É hora de eu ir.." she said to her father as she just stopped crying, "Mas, eu não quero deixar você e os outros para trás."
"Eu sei que você não quer nos deixar para trás, mas você já fez a sua se sobre esta missão." he said as he stood up from the bench and grabbed his daughter's hand. They started the walk to the rental car as her father kept speaking.
"VocĂŞ está fazendo isso para sua mĂŁe, Victoria, Cristiano e, especialmente, Flávio. E eles de lhe disse a mesma coisa que eu fiz para vocĂŞ. E eles de lhe disse a mesma coisa que eu fiz para vocĂŞ. SĂł nĂŁo se esqueça sobre a nossa famĂlia e nĂŁo morrer tambĂ©m." he told his daughter that as he opened the car door. Gabriela understood what he meant and she knew that it was time for her to go. Before she got in the car, she gave her father one last hug as she said to him,
"Eu te amo."
Her father hugged her back and responded, "Eu também te amo." She got in the rental car and started it up as she saw her father waving at her. She waved back as she backed the car up towards the street and started to drive away from her home. Gabriela was now looking forward to the future as she knew that everyone in the family would be so proud of her. There was just one more place that she had to stop before leaving Porto for good: the cemetery. It was late at night as the fifteen minute drive from the house to the cemetery was easy. There was no traffic at night and no-one often visited at night besides the night guards.
The car stopped nearby the cemetery and she started to walk towards the tombstone of her mother. The cemetery was empty and dark as she stopped in front of her mother's tombstone. The tombstones of Victoria, Cristiano, and Flávio were right next to their mother's. Flávio's tombstone was the first one up and then her mother's was placed next to his tombstone. And finally, both Victoria and Cristiano's were placed next to their mother as well. Gabriela remembered each and every one of them. Her mother was the greatest cook around and she would always be cooking, because she didn't want fast food in their kids' lives. Victoria wanted to travel around the world and often asked if she could go with her father. Cristiano was a great artist, who would often draw boats when the whole family was at the beach. And there was Flávio, the best middle brother that anyone could have. He always saluted at his father every time that he saw him.
Those memories always made Gabriela laugh as she looked back; but, she saw her teenage self as well. The parties, drinking with her friends, smoking, and playing truth and dare. She managed to push those terrible memories back as she was forced in the present. She started to speak towards the tombstones in English, "I am going to be away for a while. I don't know If I am ever coming back, but I will always honor your memories and our family name. I am joining this mission so I can honor our family and our world. I will be going beyond our system and traveling around the entire universe to answer the questions of life. If I don't come back, I just want to tell you that I will miss you guys. But, if I do come back, I will bring you guys bouquets of flowers."
She placed her hand on every tombstone as she walked pass them. It was a way for her to say goodbye without saying the actual word. She started to walk to her car as it was almost midnight. She needed to sleep before the plane ride to Seattle, but she knew that she won't get any sleep at all.
