Letter Bee
Zarkun
NoctisName:
Fox
Gender:
Male
Age:
Physically in his early 20s, chronologically older, exact age unknown
Appearance:
Standing on the short side of average at 5' 9", Fox has a lithe but well muscled classical figure. Of note, Fox bears two, technically three, sets of unobtrusive cybernetics. First is an artificial set of vocal cords, capable of producing a vast range of voices. Second is a series of wireless sensors built into his hands capable of translating ASL to text or speech. Both parts of his body bear faint scars from their surgical implantation.
Backstory:
Personality:
Skills and Flaws:
+ Having spent much of his life being the only one looking after his own well-being, Fox is an experienced jack-of-all-trades survivalist. In particular, since his recovery, he has received proper training in field medicine, Orbital maintenance, and wilderness survival.
+ Through a combination of luck and skill, Fox has survived nearly a decade of regular combat as an exo-frame pilot and cannon fodder for pirate raids, giving him a level of experience many will find hard to match.
- Years of self reliance have left Fox stubbornly independent to a fault, often resulting in him tackling tasks alone that any normal person would ask for help with.
- On a similar note, Fox is slow to trust others, and almost completely unwilling to open up twice should his trust be betrayed the first time.
Equipment:
- S&W 5mm gauss pistol: Built as mil-spec service weapon designed for void & boarding actions; though it works just as well planetside. 30 round capacity.
- utility knife / multi-tool
- PDA
Fox
Gender:
Male
Age:
Physically in his early 20s, chronologically older, exact age unknown
Appearance:
Standing on the short side of average at 5' 9", Fox has a lithe but well muscled classical figure. Of note, Fox bears two, technically three, sets of unobtrusive cybernetics. First is an artificial set of vocal cords, capable of producing a vast range of voices. Second is a series of wireless sensors built into his hands capable of translating ASL to text or speech. Both parts of his body bear faint scars from their surgical implantation.
Backstory:
In 244 SA, after over two years of investigation, the paramilitary company Outer-Orbital Legion was charged with extortion, bribery, human trafficking, and tax evasion. They did not come quietly. It was only after a six month system wide fleet hunt, the combined effort of multiple organizations, both national and independent, that the Legion would be brought to justice.
After the first couple of engagements, it was quickly discovered that not all of the Legion's soldiers were there of their own will. And so, over the course of the six month fleet hunt, the joint task force did it's best to save as many of them as they could. Fox was among the rescued slaves.
During the post-operation clean-up, the I was the UN Social Worker assigned to piece together Fox's story. In terms of official records, Fox did not exist. No birth certificate, school records, or DNA match at any official institution. Unless someone had gone to significant lengths to scrub his identity from the system, he had born and raised outside of civilized space. The further I dug, the more and more the latter seemed to be true.
When questioned about his combat experience, Fox was happy to supply as much information as he could. The young man had spent his teens fighting for various groups of pirates or outlaws before he had ended up in the Legion; typically having been pressed or sold into each subsequent group. Corroborating Fox's stories with after-action and civilian news reports, We were able to place some of his earliest engagements at nearly a decade prior.
However, when it came to his early life Fox clammed up completely, stating that couldn't remember anything from that far back. When pressed further, The young man admitted he had a few hazy memories of his life before the battlefield, but he simply stated that they were, and I quote: "Nothing good." After that he refused to say any more on the topic. Given everything else I'd dug up so far, I decided it would be best to not push the topic further.
After all was said and done, we still had to figure out what to do with him. At the time, Fox had many of the skills of a highly trained soldier and a total lack of understanding of "normal" life. A dangerous mix. It was eventually decided to see about rehabilitating him. He was sent to an out of the way earth-side retreat center with a therapist and a UN Marine Vet to ride herd on him in case things got out of hand.
Six months later when I went to check in on him, a much more put together Fox adamantly stated that he was going join the crew of the Pandora as an Orbital pilot. When I asked him why, he said it was both an opportunity for him to put his skills to use and to start his life over again.
Since then, Fox has thrown himself at this goal, working hard these past four years to achieve it, without getting into any trouble for the most part. (Though I did hear about the ritual initiation hazing from some Marines that went rather sideways) While I haven't seen much of Fox lately, I do believe he has integrated into normal society enough to serve on this mission, and should the worst come to pass, his skills and experience will prove invaluable to the Pandora and Pyxis. See Dr. Holland's psych report or Fox's Orbital training records for more details.
~ Eva Strikler
After the first couple of engagements, it was quickly discovered that not all of the Legion's soldiers were there of their own will. And so, over the course of the six month fleet hunt, the joint task force did it's best to save as many of them as they could. Fox was among the rescued slaves.
During the post-operation clean-up, the I was the UN Social Worker assigned to piece together Fox's story. In terms of official records, Fox did not exist. No birth certificate, school records, or DNA match at any official institution. Unless someone had gone to significant lengths to scrub his identity from the system, he had born and raised outside of civilized space. The further I dug, the more and more the latter seemed to be true.
When questioned about his combat experience, Fox was happy to supply as much information as he could. The young man had spent his teens fighting for various groups of pirates or outlaws before he had ended up in the Legion; typically having been pressed or sold into each subsequent group. Corroborating Fox's stories with after-action and civilian news reports, We were able to place some of his earliest engagements at nearly a decade prior.
However, when it came to his early life Fox clammed up completely, stating that couldn't remember anything from that far back. When pressed further, The young man admitted he had a few hazy memories of his life before the battlefield, but he simply stated that they were, and I quote: "Nothing good." After that he refused to say any more on the topic. Given everything else I'd dug up so far, I decided it would be best to not push the topic further.
After all was said and done, we still had to figure out what to do with him. At the time, Fox had many of the skills of a highly trained soldier and a total lack of understanding of "normal" life. A dangerous mix. It was eventually decided to see about rehabilitating him. He was sent to an out of the way earth-side retreat center with a therapist and a UN Marine Vet to ride herd on him in case things got out of hand.
Six months later when I went to check in on him, a much more put together Fox adamantly stated that he was going join the crew of the Pandora as an Orbital pilot. When I asked him why, he said it was both an opportunity for him to put his skills to use and to start his life over again.
Since then, Fox has thrown himself at this goal, working hard these past four years to achieve it, without getting into any trouble for the most part. (Though I did hear about the ritual initiation hazing from some Marines that went rather sideways) While I haven't seen much of Fox lately, I do believe he has integrated into normal society enough to serve on this mission, and should the worst come to pass, his skills and experience will prove invaluable to the Pandora and Pyxis. See Dr. Holland's psych report or Fox's Orbital training records for more details.
~ Eva Strikler
Personality:
At a cursory introduction Fox is quiet sort of fellow, seemingly more interested in listening than he is in talking. Though once you've read his file, it quickly become obvious that this is a finely honed survival instinct from having spent most of his life being treated as less than human by others. Several years of therapy have helped to take the fanatical edge off of it, but certain habits die hard.
Still, Fox has taken to his new freedom with gusto, sometimes to the point of chafing against against authority figures, especially when he thinks they're wrong. By no means does this make him a loose cannon, he simply values direct experience more than any constructed system of authority. So long as he has a level-headed and veteran senior officer, I don't believe this will be of any real issue.
Once I finally got him to open up a bit, Fox developed a dry, acerbic and rather dark sense of humor, a typical coping mechanism for those who have suffered any kind of serious trauma. He has also had moments of pure childlike joy before almost sheepishly slipping back behind his mask. Presumably, this is on account of some horrific mess of a childhood, which brings me to the one rather broad point of issue.
Fox is completely unwilling to discuss the early years of his life. If you want to know, he's perfectly willing to share the horrible things he's seen or been forced to do on the battlefield, much like a sinner confessing to a priest. But the moment you ask him about his life before that, Fox clams up immediately, offering only silence or one of a handful of vague cookie-cutter answers.
On a similar note, Fox has an, as of yet, unexplained aversion to talking unless genuinely necessary. What I have been able to piece together is that this is connected to his artificial vocal cords. During his initial medical examination, it was determined that his bio-synthetic vocal cords were well over a decade old, placing their implantation before his battlefield days. What little I have been able to glean from Fox on the topic is that their implantation was not due to some accident or illness, but a deliberate action and one almost certainly made against his will.
Despite his issues, Fox has proven to driven and committed to the project. In the not quite five years since we first met, Fox has pieced together a new life for himself, and made enormous strides in improving his mental health. I can wholeheartedly recommend Fox as a member of this expedition.
~ Dr. Holland
Still, Fox has taken to his new freedom with gusto, sometimes to the point of chafing against against authority figures, especially when he thinks they're wrong. By no means does this make him a loose cannon, he simply values direct experience more than any constructed system of authority. So long as he has a level-headed and veteran senior officer, I don't believe this will be of any real issue.
Once I finally got him to open up a bit, Fox developed a dry, acerbic and rather dark sense of humor, a typical coping mechanism for those who have suffered any kind of serious trauma. He has also had moments of pure childlike joy before almost sheepishly slipping back behind his mask. Presumably, this is on account of some horrific mess of a childhood, which brings me to the one rather broad point of issue.
Fox is completely unwilling to discuss the early years of his life. If you want to know, he's perfectly willing to share the horrible things he's seen or been forced to do on the battlefield, much like a sinner confessing to a priest. But the moment you ask him about his life before that, Fox clams up immediately, offering only silence or one of a handful of vague cookie-cutter answers.
On a similar note, Fox has an, as of yet, unexplained aversion to talking unless genuinely necessary. What I have been able to piece together is that this is connected to his artificial vocal cords. During his initial medical examination, it was determined that his bio-synthetic vocal cords were well over a decade old, placing their implantation before his battlefield days. What little I have been able to glean from Fox on the topic is that their implantation was not due to some accident or illness, but a deliberate action and one almost certainly made against his will.
Despite his issues, Fox has proven to driven and committed to the project. In the not quite five years since we first met, Fox has pieced together a new life for himself, and made enormous strides in improving his mental health. I can wholeheartedly recommend Fox as a member of this expedition.
~ Dr. Holland
Skills and Flaws:
+ Having spent much of his life being the only one looking after his own well-being, Fox is an experienced jack-of-all-trades survivalist. In particular, since his recovery, he has received proper training in field medicine, Orbital maintenance, and wilderness survival.
+ Through a combination of luck and skill, Fox has survived nearly a decade of regular combat as an exo-frame pilot and cannon fodder for pirate raids, giving him a level of experience many will find hard to match.
- Years of self reliance have left Fox stubbornly independent to a fault, often resulting in him tackling tasks alone that any normal person would ask for help with.
- On a similar note, Fox is slow to trust others, and almost completely unwilling to open up twice should his trust be betrayed the first time.
Equipment:
- S&W 5mm gauss pistol: Built as mil-spec service weapon designed for void & boarding actions; though it works just as well planetside. 30 round capacity.
- utility knife / multi-tool
- PDA
Model Number:
IPS-XF-MMR-002 - Inter-Planetary Shipping's second generation multi-role maritime exo-frame, AKA "The Jack"; Fox has dubbed his personal unit as "Outrider".
Role:
Originally designed as a multi-purpose space worthy civilian exo-frame, Fox's "Jack" has been so heavily modified that it's almost unrecognizable. With all of it's modifications, the Outrider serves as a reconnaissance, stealth-ops and target designation unit.
Appearance:
Clocking at a mere 6.5 meters tall, the Jack is tiny by most Orbital standards, so much so that it's technically categorized as an "Exo-Frame" despite running on and being built around the same technologies as it's Orbital cousins. Fox's Outrider has a low profile backpack which houses it's comms suite and carries the reconnaissance drones when not in use.
Systems:
While the original Frame had nothing that was particularly noteworthy, Fox's Outrider bears a fair number of specialized add-ons, most of which is from Pantheon Aerospace Engineering.
- Hermes-class communications suite: In addition to an increased comms range over standard equipment, the Her-Comm Suite also has a command & control node and an electronic warfare system.
- Half a dozen Raven-class reconnaissance drones.
- Loki-class stealth suite: A four part suite, the Loki system includes color-changing smart paint, an optical refraction field generator, an emissions control unit and multi-spectrum sensor baffling.
- Artemis-class multi-spectrum laser designator. (attached to the rifle)
- Boston Dynamics' 1-to-1 dynamic control system: Allows the pilot to control their mech as an extension of their own body while still maintaining the option for a traditional twin stick & pedal piloting system.
Weapons:
- Aquilian Armories "Bolt-Thrower" Anti-materiel rail rifle: Featuring a compact bullpup design, the Bolt-Thrower fires 30 mm armor-piercing explosive saber darts. Despite it's destructive potential, the Bolt-Thrower can prove tricky to use. Direct hits against main armor plating, while visually impressive, tend lack the raw force to punch all the way through. On the other hand, limb hits often go clean through, the explosive charge not detonating in time to do any real damage. Semi-Automatic Only.
- Bushido Engineering's Tanto beam-edged saber: Among the more unique beam swords, Bushido Engineering makes use of an advanced ion field polarization technique to "stream" the sword's energy beam down the edge of it's blade. The end result creates a beam saber with half the power draw, and no loss in cutting power. Their primary drawback is the physical blade itself. Most pilots simply don't find the added power efficiency worth the hassle of a physical blade. 3 meters long, the Tanto was built as a knife for standard orbitals, but in the hands of Fox's Outrider, it's a two-handed sword.
- Two IPS point defense light beam vulans: Effectively useless against proper orbitals, though they can be used against smaller, more lightly armored targets. The Outrider has one mounted on the back of each of it's forearms.
Manufacturing History:
In 224 SA, Inter-Planetary Shipping released their XF-MMR-002 aka "The Jack". Intended as a highly adaptable civilian workhorse, the Jack was an instant success thanks to it's simplistic, rugged, and modular design. Quickly becoming commonplace, the Jack saw the creation of a multitude of specialized upgrade kits, for everything from mining to search & rescue. Of course, that's not all it ended up being used for.
Quickly finding it's way into the hands of mercenaries, pirates and paramilitary organizations, the Jack proved to be unexpectedly adaptable to a combat role. Small enough to have a better thrust-to-weight ratio than most proper Orbitals but large enough to still carry weaponry capable of damaging their larger cousins. Relying speed and numbers, combat-modded Jacks quickly became a scourge of the outer system shipping lanes and isolated locales.
Weaknesses: Strength and durability. Even with military grade plating, other upgrades and a rugged construction; at it's core the Jack is still a civilian craft. A clean hit from a weapon that only a true Orbital could tank will heavily damage even the most well armored of Jacks, potentially even crippling or killing the exo-frame. And in a melee fight against a true Orbital, a Jack has to rely on it's smaller size and higher agility to win; being incapable of winning a direct contest of strength.
IPS-XF-MMR-002 - Inter-Planetary Shipping's second generation multi-role maritime exo-frame, AKA "The Jack"; Fox has dubbed his personal unit as "Outrider".
Role:
Originally designed as a multi-purpose space worthy civilian exo-frame, Fox's "Jack" has been so heavily modified that it's almost unrecognizable. With all of it's modifications, the Outrider serves as a reconnaissance, stealth-ops and target designation unit.
Appearance:
Clocking at a mere 6.5 meters tall, the Jack is tiny by most Orbital standards, so much so that it's technically categorized as an "Exo-Frame" despite running on and being built around the same technologies as it's Orbital cousins. Fox's Outrider has a low profile backpack which houses it's comms suite and carries the reconnaissance drones when not in use.
Systems:
While the original Frame had nothing that was particularly noteworthy, Fox's Outrider bears a fair number of specialized add-ons, most of which is from Pantheon Aerospace Engineering.
- Hermes-class communications suite: In addition to an increased comms range over standard equipment, the Her-Comm Suite also has a command & control node and an electronic warfare system.
- Half a dozen Raven-class reconnaissance drones.
- Loki-class stealth suite: A four part suite, the Loki system includes color-changing smart paint, an optical refraction field generator, an emissions control unit and multi-spectrum sensor baffling.
- Artemis-class multi-spectrum laser designator. (attached to the rifle)
- Boston Dynamics' 1-to-1 dynamic control system: Allows the pilot to control their mech as an extension of their own body while still maintaining the option for a traditional twin stick & pedal piloting system.
Weapons:
- Aquilian Armories "Bolt-Thrower" Anti-materiel rail rifle: Featuring a compact bullpup design, the Bolt-Thrower fires 30 mm armor-piercing explosive saber darts. Despite it's destructive potential, the Bolt-Thrower can prove tricky to use. Direct hits against main armor plating, while visually impressive, tend lack the raw force to punch all the way through. On the other hand, limb hits often go clean through, the explosive charge not detonating in time to do any real damage. Semi-Automatic Only.
- Bushido Engineering's Tanto beam-edged saber: Among the more unique beam swords, Bushido Engineering makes use of an advanced ion field polarization technique to "stream" the sword's energy beam down the edge of it's blade. The end result creates a beam saber with half the power draw, and no loss in cutting power. Their primary drawback is the physical blade itself. Most pilots simply don't find the added power efficiency worth the hassle of a physical blade. 3 meters long, the Tanto was built as a knife for standard orbitals, but in the hands of Fox's Outrider, it's a two-handed sword.
- Two IPS point defense light beam vulans: Effectively useless against proper orbitals, though they can be used against smaller, more lightly armored targets. The Outrider has one mounted on the back of each of it's forearms.
Manufacturing History:
In 224 SA, Inter-Planetary Shipping released their XF-MMR-002 aka "The Jack". Intended as a highly adaptable civilian workhorse, the Jack was an instant success thanks to it's simplistic, rugged, and modular design. Quickly becoming commonplace, the Jack saw the creation of a multitude of specialized upgrade kits, for everything from mining to search & rescue. Of course, that's not all it ended up being used for.
Quickly finding it's way into the hands of mercenaries, pirates and paramilitary organizations, the Jack proved to be unexpectedly adaptable to a combat role. Small enough to have a better thrust-to-weight ratio than most proper Orbitals but large enough to still carry weaponry capable of damaging their larger cousins. Relying speed and numbers, combat-modded Jacks quickly became a scourge of the outer system shipping lanes and isolated locales.
Weaknesses: Strength and durability. Even with military grade plating, other upgrades and a rugged construction; at it's core the Jack is still a civilian craft. A clean hit from a weapon that only a true Orbital could tank will heavily damage even the most well armored of Jacks, potentially even crippling or killing the exo-frame. And in a melee fight against a true Orbital, a Jack has to rely on it's smaller size and higher agility to win; being incapable of winning a direct contest of strength.