Post by Rabbit on Feb 10, 2011 20:46:08 GMT -5
Faction: Republic
Department: Army
Rank: Sergeant
Name: Shereshoy Kelborn (Usually goes by "Sheresh")
Race: Human/Zeltron hybrid
Age: 25
Height: 5'2"
Weight: 135 lbs
Birth place: Ordo
Appearance:
There are several things about Sheresh that compete for immediate attention, when one first meets her. The most obvious trait is her short stature - she stands at a mere 5'2", which is unusual, given her statuesque Zeltron lineage. But, what catches most eyes are her flaming red hair and pinkish skin. Her hair comes from her mother, but her skin-tone is tempered by her human father's genes; instead of being all-out pink, or red, her skin has a "pink tint" that makes her seem to glow under certain lights. Combined with the red hair, she can create a rather stunning picture - when it suits her.
Most of the time, Sheresh keeps her waist-long hair tamed in a neat braid. Her hair is fine, though - almost too fine - and no matter how much she tries to "tame" it, she almost always has little wisps that hang down into her face, or flutter in the wind. This gives her no small amount of grief, since she tries her best to keep a precise military appearance... If her hair wasn't such a personal vanity for her, Sheresh's more practical side would be tempted to just "cut it all off!"
From top to bottom, Sheresh is a stunning woman - but doesn't really realize it. She has flawless skin, honey-brown eyes, full lips, and a curvy figure (that gives her no amount of consternation during quarterly weigh-ins). But, thanks to her no-nonsense Mandalorian upbringing, Sheresh is rather oblivous to the effect she may have on impressionable males in her proximity. Her beauty is natural and effortless - a blessing of her Zeltron mother (or, in Sheresh's private opinion, a curse, since her appearance often garners more attention than she's comfortable with).
In uniform, Sheresh's appearance is as spot-on as she can manage - though she has a mechanical streak to her that sometimes can't resist crawling into spaces and under things that have the propensity of leaving grease stains behind on her otherwise immaculate flight-suit. The sight of a bemused, oil-smudged Sheresh is not uncommon - though, it tends to get her teased, more often than not.
Out of uniform - which is surprisingly rare (Sheresh is far more comfortable in her flight-suit and boots, than anything else) - Sheresh can be usually be seen in comfortable, practical clothing. She favors loose-fitting tunics, pants, and the ubiquitous boots - though she does have a penchant for bright colors and favors oranges, bright blues, and flashy hues of pretty much any shade.
Personality: Sheresh's personality is definitely an interesting by-product of her Mandalorian upbringing and her Zeltron genetics. On one hand, she's all business, practicality, and professionalism - when there's a job to be done, Sheresh is a woman that can be depended upon to get it done right the first time. She believes in duty, honor, and reliability - the watchwords of her father's aliit (clan) with all of her heart - and her personal ethics have held her in good standing as a soldier.
On the other side, Sheresh is a free spirit. She isn't afraid of a little competition (in fact, she thrives on it) and she isn't afraid to speak her mind. Her entire life has been spent around men - as a girl, there was always her father, her brothers, and her uncles. As a young woman, there was the male-dominated culture of the Republic Army. Sure, there were other women around, but Sheresh has always felt more comfortable around men and would rather be "one of the boys" than "just a girl" any day of the week.
As such, she can be rather assertive, a bit cocky, and even a wee bit over-bearing at times. She has a heart of gold, though, and nothing means more to her than "the squad". A by-product as a Mandalorian child, Sheresh puts all her heart-and-soul in being part of the team. She thrives on it and the best of her personality can be seen when working alongside others toward a common goal.
There is one...darker...aspect of Sheresh's personality. She doesn't talk about her past and doesn't like any of her fellow service members knowing that she was born and raised a Mandalorian. As friendly and warm as she can be with members of her own unit, Sheresh is surprisingly taciturn about her past. In many ways, her effusive personality is a front - deep inside, she worries about what might happen if others "connected the dots" so to speak. To that end, she never reveals her full name - "Shereshoy" - and never talks about her family. When the squad sits down to cut loose in their down-time, Sheresh never shares funny stories about growing up or where she's from. In fact, in many ways, her past is a carefully guarded secret that keeps many from getting "too close".
On first meeting, Sheresh can come off as being all business and military proficiency, but her real self comes out around others of her unit. She loves to drink, swear, and flirt - at times, she can seem quit high on life itself. That's when the Zeltron in her comes out and she can be a contradiction of opposites. But, at the end of the day - despite her secrets or her private worries - what defines Sheresh most, is her sense of loyalty and her love for every second life has to offer.
Skills:
Attributes:
Physical Strength: 5
Intelligence: 7
Speed: 5
Leadership: 6
Unarmed: 5
Melee Weapons: 4
Ranged Weapons: 6
Alignment: +2
Bio:
For all intents and purposes, Sheresh's life story is fairly mundane - if one discounts the fact that she was born into a Mandalorian clan. Luckily for her future career as a Republic pilot, Sheresh is the first-born daughter of a Mandalorian mechanic, from a little-known clan.
Sheresh's father - Wad'e Kelborn - was a fairly humble man, of humble origins. He wasn't the fiercest warrior, or the baddest of the bad - but he was a dedicated Mandalorian who followed the Resol'nare with every breath he took. A native of Ordo, Wad'e made a living as a mercenary in his early years. A job in his mid-twenties took him to Zeltron, however, where he met and married Sheresh's mother, Ar'ia Jahn.
Wad'e - who's primary goal in life was to a buir (or father) and to raise a family - was content to set aside his life as a mercenary and to return with Ar'ia to Ordo where they settled down. Shortly after their marriage, their first sons - Waylon and Wyndon (twins) - were born. Wad'e opened up shop as a mechanic and life seemed idyllic.
As was customary among Mandalorian couples who had first born sons, Wad'e and Ar'ia waited until the twins' fifth birthday to try for another child. Eight months after her older brothers' birthday, Sheresh was born prematurely. Little did Wad'e suspect, that this one event would begin the eventual disintegration of his family.
As a Zeltron, Ar'ia never fully converted to the Mandalorian mentality. She followed the Resol'nare with Wad'e, because she loved him. And despite her misgivings, she stood by as Wad'e took up his responsibilities as a Mandalorian father and began to teach his five-year-old sons how to live as Mandalorian men. This left Ar'ia alone for long periods of time with Sheresh; loneliness, depression, and resentment soon began to build up in Ar'ia and it only became worse when Wad'e left her pregnant a year later.
And, alone. With fears of abandonment, isolation, worry, a growing belly, and a year-old-daughter.
Things did not get any better.
Wad'e and Ar'ia's last child together was yet another boy - Saa. By now, Ar'ia knew well what would happen when first Sheresh turned of age and then her little brother - and the Zeltron mother wanted none of it. Ar'ia's empathy was strong and she often had peculiar premonitions of the future. And what Ar'ia sensed on the horizon for her children, was nothing but war, heartache, and loss.
Sheresh's early memories of her childhood were not bad, per se. But, they were uncomfortable for the young half-Zeltron. More so than any of her brothers, Sheresh had inherited her mother's natural empathy and it was hard for such a small child to make sense of her mother's depression. During those early years, Sheresh also felt her father's and her brothers' absences deeply and by the age of seven, she wasn't a stranger to loneliness, either.
Ar'ia had had enough, by Sheresh's seventh birthday. In a desperate bid to keep her last two children safe, Ar'ia took the children and left Ordo while Wad'e was guiding the twins through their verd'goten. Wad'e - now freed from the obligations of raising his eldest sons - had all the time in the world to track what was left of his family down. He found them - in an unfortunately predictable move on Ar'ia's part - en route to Zeltron. The two parents confronted each other and by the end of that encounter, Sheresh and Saa both found themselves in their father's custody and their mother...simply gone.
Wad'e and Ar'ia had agreed to declare their marriage "shuk'la riduurok" - "a broken love" - the Mandalorian phrase for a divorce. Ar'ia wanted to take Saa and Sheresh with her to Zeltron, but Wad'e would have none of it. Sheresh was just old enough to remember her parents' passionate argument - which very nearly ended in blows on both party's part - even though both parents thought she was soundly asleep.
The memory of her parents' fight over her and her brother and the abrupt disappearance of her mother, would stay with Sheresh for the rest of her life.
Usually, Mandalorian girls were trained in the ways of clan and culture by their mothers. In the even that the mother was an aruetti (as in Sheresh's case), the closest Mandalorian female relation took over. It was just Sheresh's luck that - by the age of seven (almost two years past her coming of age) - she was now bewilderingly motherless.
And her father had no female relatives of an age capable of taking over the duties her mother had forsaken.
So, in typical Mandalorian fashion, Wad'e rolled with the punches and did what he had to do. Saa was of age, so Wad'e merely treated Sheresh as if she were another son...and taught her and Saa together, no differently than he had the older twins. Waylon and Wyndon, who had passed their Verd'goten, were still young enough to stay at home, but now old enough to help Wad'e in teaching their younger siblings.
Sheresh would remember this time one of peace - or, at least, as close to peace as one got with three Mandalorian men and one young boy. Wad'e moved from their small home on Ordo shortly after divorcing Ar'ia and an entirely new phase of life began for Sheresh on Concord Dawn. Wad'e chose to move, in order to be closer to his two surviving brothers - Kul and Rander - and their families. Kul was the eldest and widowed without children. Rander was the youngest and had married an aruetti as well - a Correllian nurse and midwife. Sheresh was almost immediately taken under the wing of her Aunt Marta - it would become a relationship that would change Sheresh's view of Mandalorian life as she grew older. And, a relationship that she would always look back on with great fondness.
As luck had it, Rander and Marta had three boys of their own as well - within the small familial homestead, Marta and Sheresh were the only women. This didn't seem to bother Sheresh, though, nor did it bother her plethora of male relatives. While Marta provided a motherly ear and guidance in the ways of becoming a woman, the majority of Sheresh's interaction was spent out in the jungles and towns with her father, brothers, uncles, and cousins.
They taught her how to shoot, how to spar, how to make her own weapons. They taught her how to track, how to hunt, how to feed herself from the land. They taught her how to be her own mechanic, how to be her own blacksmith, how to rely as much as she could by her hand and her hand alone. As Sheresh approached her own Verd'goten at the age of 13, she had found her niche in the Mandalorian way of life - while her brothers and father had taught the way of a soldier well, she found that her gifts lay mostly in making, fixing, and breaking things.
By the time Sheresh was 10, Wad'e had noticed that his daughter was the one child most likely to take after his own work as a mechanic. While she was still expected to prowl through the jungles with her brothers and to know how to defend herself - and others - in a battle, Wad'e began to spend more and more time teaching Sheresh his old trade. By this time, the twins' had chosen work as bounty hunters in the wider galaxy beyond and one of Sheresh's older cousins had moved to Ordo to start his own family.
For the Kelborn aliit, time marched on.
These early years shaped Sheresh's social ease among men. Though, being a young half-Zeltron growing up without the guidance of her mother left its own unique burdens and scars. Wad'e (who wasn't a bad father in the slightest - even if the rest of the galaxy found his parental skills dubious at best) tried to help his daughter make sense of things as best as he could, but about the only thing he could really help with, was telling her about her mother.
While this hurt for both father and daughter, it was done - though, Wad'e kept most of the conversations centered around what Ar'ia was like and what he had observed about her Zeltron genetics. In some ways, this matter-of-fact approach to things hurt Sheresh more than it helped her - her father was not highly forthcoming on the reasons for his divorce from Ar'ia. Or, why she had never tried to contact them since then.
Marta tried to help, but the challenges of a maturing Zeltron female were much different than those of a human female. Sheresh's hormones were hard for her to control and she was prone to random bursts of anger, frustration, and tears. Her empathy began to grow, as well - especially with those closest to her. Namely, her brothers. Most particularly, Saa.
As Sheresh rapidly approached her 13th birthday, the final "gift" of her mother's lineage started to form - leaving her even more baffled and confused than the others. Her pheromones began to mature and before Sheresh quite knew what to make of things, she was turning heads. A LOT of heads.
In true father's fashion, Wad'e intervened - and this time, his intervention was actually helpful. If, abrasive. While he didn't really understand Zeltron pheremones, or teenage hormones, he definitely had first hand experience of the chaos Sheresh's mother's pheremones could create. And he nipped any potential disasters in the bud, through five very effective means:
1). By making it VERY well known that if any male decided to actually act on any impulse caused by his daughter's lineage, Wad'e would make damn sure his body was never found. And if it was, it would be unidentifiable.
2). By very bluntly informing his daughter that regardless of what she may have inherited from her mother, "frivolous behavior" was NOT the way of a respectable Mandalorian woman. At least, not before the age of 16. He made a point of pontificating quite thoroughly on the twin Mando'ad virtues of "self-control" and "discipline."
3). By (more) gently informing his daughter that when the "time came", she should at least choose it because SHE wanted it and had actually THOUGHT about it - not because her pheremones got the better of either party.
4). By "keeping her focused on her training." I.e...by making sure Sheresh didn't HAVE time to dwell on her changing body and the affect it may or may not have been having on the male population.
5). By subtly manipulating events so that she was never far out of sight of a male relative. Ever. Or, out of certain key parts of her armor for any length of time...
This method of addressing the issue didn't fix all of Sheresh's pheremonal issues...but it did, at least, dissuade a large majority of opportunities to "explore" the implications of her Zeltronian heritage. And while Sheresh couldn't change who she was, or seperate herself from what came naturally to her, her father at least made certain that she was practical, disciplined, and focused.
Despite the upheavals of her mother's absence and the emergence of her Zeltron traits, Sheresh entered Mandalorian adult-hood on a pretty even keel. Her month-long verd'goten - split between both Ordo and Concord Dawn - was a rousing success and toward the end of her 13th year, she was officially declared a Mandalorian vod. It was now up to her how she wanted to live her life, though the cultural expectation was that she would stay under her father's roof until 16.
Sheresh honored tradition - as she had her whole life - and joined her father's business as his official apprentice. Around this time, Wad'e moved into the nearby city - with his children all but grown up, it was time for him to focus once more on his own career and less on his obligations as a father. While living in the city, Sheresh discovered something that she loved even more than fixing broken parts -
Swoop bike racing. Or, really, races of any kind. The faster and more dangerous, the better.
While her father didn't quite approve of her choice of pasttime, Sheresh found racing to be a perfect outlet for her pent-up hormones - one that was safer for the general male population, at least. Most of the other racers in the city were about her age - some slightly younger, some a lot older - and were almost all male. She did, however, find her first female friend - a brash Zabrak named Jaree.
From the start, the two were practically inseperable. When Sheresh wasn't fixing up broken droids, bikes, and other things in her father's shop, she was usually hanging out with Jaree at the race tracks or local watering holes. The two weren't exactly troublemakers, but they were two young Mandalorian females enjoying the freedoms of youth, in between the training of their childhood and the responsibilities of official adulthood.
During this time, Sheresh finally the freedom to explore those aspects of herself that had made her so uncomfortable as a child and pre-teen. She began to realize that there were...advantages...to her empathy. Especially when racing or when picking a friendly fight with Jaree. With her father's discipline instilled in her, she began to realize that even her pheremones weren't necessarily a "bad" thing, either - it made her approachable, for one, and for another, it helped overcome the social awkwardness inherent in youth.
Jaree became a big help for Sheresh - especially emotionally. The young Zabrak was brash, but fairly self-contained. She was a good listener and seemed to posses a double dose of Mandalorian sensibility. Jaree became Sheresh's confidant...and for the first time, she began to admit the things she hadn't even been able to tell her brothers. About the feelings of abandonment she had from her mother's abrupt departure from her life. About her doubts that left behind - especially concerning the Mandalorian way of life. About her okay-but-not-the-grandest relationship with her father. About her fears in losing others close to her.
At 16, Jaree and Sheresh discovered another aspect of Zeltronian genetics... Gender didn't matter much in the grand scheme of a Zeltron's pheremonal attraction. Nor did it matter much for a Zeltron's heart.
As Sheresh began exploring the waters of self-discovery and love, a lot of her worries from the past were put to rest (or, so she thought at the time). During these teen years, she embraced the Mandalorian virtue for which she was named - "sheresoy", or "lust for life." She worked hard at her apprenticeship. She drank when she could and raced whenever she got the chance. And she loved freely, without inhibition.
At 17, her father gave his blessing for her to move into a place of her own and freed her from her apprenticeship. Sheresh was now free to own her own shop (which Wad'e dutifully helped her set up) and she moved into a small apartment above her garage, with Jaree. Sheresh stayed on Concord Dawn and opened up a garage specializing in anything that flew - starships, freighters, swoop bikes, etc. Jaree, who was popular because of her Zabrak heritage, officially started her career as a mercenary. This caused Sheresh some amount of emotional turmoil - after all, she still remembered the difficulty she had had as a child, when her father left her behind with her mother. But, Jaree was patient and the two worked through it. While Sheresh was more emotional than most Mandalorian females, she wasn't as emotional as a full-blooded Zeltron female.
Life was good and things seemed to be working out.
Until word came back from one of Jaree's "jobs" in the Outer Rim....
Unlike Sheresh, all of her brothers (Saa included) went out into the greater galaxy as soon as they all turned 16. Saa and Sheresh were the closest out of the bunch, though, and Saa had even spent time at the swoop tracks with his sister and her Zabrak girlfriend a time or two. Enough times, at least, for him to become friends with Jaree, too. So, when Jaree decided to take hire as a mercenary, Saa signed up as well - two Mandalorians were better than one and both were thankful for the company of a familiar face, their first time away from home.
After the success of their first mission, Jaree and Saa decided to stay "in business" with one another. This made Sheresh a bit nervous, but she satisfied herself with the thought that, with both of them looking out for each other, no harm would come to either. This belief was abruptly shattered shortly after turning 18.
Word came back from Tatooine, where Jaree and Saa had taken an ill-advised contract with a Hutt.
They were both dead.
All of Sheresh's emotions and fears from her childhood overwhelmed her almost immediately. She drowned in depression, loneliness, and heartbreak. Of all her aliit, Saa was the dearest to her. And before leaving for Tattooine, Jaree had asked Wad'e for his permission to join Clan Kelborn as Sheresh's official partner, on her return.
Same-gender couples, while rare among the Mando'ad, were not unheard-of, or discouraged. Wad'e had given his consent, and gladly.
The double loss was more than Sheresh could take. But, unlike her mother, her depression only lasted for so long, before it turned to anger. Anger toward Jaree, for failing to honor her promise to come home. Anger toward Saa, for pushing Jaree toward a contract that was ill-advised.
Anger from the past surfaced, too. Anger at her mother for leaving her. Anger at her father for leaving them and for laying the groundwork for Ar'ia's eventual abandonment. Anger at both of her parents for getting divorced.
Anger at the Mandalorian culture, for glorifying the very things that had taken away the people Sheresh most loved.
Sheresh soon became intimately acquainted with one fact of Zeltronian genetics that she hadn't known before -
When a Zeltron was anger, her anger burned deep, long, and hot.
Wad'e didn't deal with this sudden change of demeanor in his daughter and it wasn't long before both of them were caught up in a screaming match. A screaming match that almost ended in blows. A screaming match that reminded Sheresh only too well of the last time she'd seen her mother.
The next morning, the young Mandalorian turned her back on all that she was and went to visit the Republic represenative stationed (at the grudging tolerance of the general population) in one of the diplomatic buildings in the heart of the city.
72 hours later, she was on the first flight out of Concord Dawn, destined for one of the many Republic military's training facilities in the Inner Rim. From that point on, she was "dar'manda" - a Mandalorian who had turned her back on her people, her clan, her Mand'alor, and her culture. And who had, by doing so, given up her soul.
At first, Sheresh's enlistment into the Republic Army was uneventful. Because of her Mandalorian upbringing, she passed basic training with flying colors; it wasn't long before she was a freshly minted private in the Army Air Corps. There, her skills as a mechanic served her well and for the first six years of her military career, Sheresh kept her head down, her nose (relatively) clean, and gained reputation as a hard-working, dependable, and professional soldier.
Sheresh's duties as a mechanic put her in constant contact with the world of both Army and Navy aviation. At first, any attention she recieved was strictly in relation to her skills as a mechanic. But, some old habits were hard to break, as Sheresh slowly discovered...
For the space of her first enlistment, Sheresh kept pretty much to herself. She distracted herself with her duties and did her best to not stand out (no small feat for a female with obvious Zeltron blood). But, slowly, over time, some of her stand-offishness began to fade. The heart would heal - even when Sheresh thought it wouldn't - and in some ways, her natural affinity for sentient interaction helped her to gradually overcome her desire to be left alone.
The change in Sheresh's disposition didn't happen overnight and it took her four years, but at the start of her second enlistment, things seemed to settle down for her emotionally. By then, she was 23 years old and had just made corporal. As a junior NCO she found a camraderie similiar to what she had once had with her brothers and her aliit. The similarity - instead of scaring Sheresh away - drew her in and gave her something to smile about again.
In her second enlistment, Sheresh also made the switch from ground forces, to mobile squads - which were smaller and tended to be more close-knit. This similiarity to her past also drew her out of her shell and she was able to strike easy friendships with her almost entirely all male flight unit.
Sheresh also began to realize that her impulsive - and unnecessarily dramatic - run from home hadn't been the smartest thing in the world. A part of her missed her aliit - her father, her brothers. And as things began to heat up in the galaxy, between Republic forces and Mandalorians, Sheresh began to worry if she had picked the wrong side. What if she met her brothers, or her father, or her uncles, or her cousins on the battlefield? What if the fighter plane she kept tuned, was the one that took one - or all - of them down?
She began to realize that her past was a liability - and one that could possibly cause problems if she let it be too well known. So, while Sheresh began to creep back into the social waters around her, she simultaneously began to keep her past a close-kept secret.
And as for the decision to join the Republic Army...Sheresh was, at heart, a Mandalorian - bred and raised to stay the course, no matter what it was. She had made her decision - however rashly - and she wasn't about to betray her honor a second time. A dar'manda she had become. A dar'manda she would remain.
As she grew older - 24, 25 - Sheresh finally began to let go of the anger she had harbored against Jaree and Saa. And while she never pursued a relationship with another woman, some of Sheresh's defenses began to crumble in face of a few healthy (if brief) intimacies. Towards the end of her second enlistment, Sheresh was finally comfortable with the female - with the soldier - that she had become. Her natural zest for life had returned, along with her enjoyment of the social scene, and her openness (to a point) with others. Her emotions and empathy were no longer turned in toward herself and something of a sparkle was starting to return to Sheresh's eyes.
She'd even taken up swoop bike racing again, in her down-time, when the time and place allowed for it. This return to an activity of the past not only healed a number of emotional wounds, but lead to the greatest turning-point of her life...
At 25, Sheresh's dependability, resourcefulness, professionalism, and track records caught up with her. Her superiors had learned of her past-time and had been keeping an eye on her for some time - finally, her Sergeant Major approached her and offered her a chance to move on in her career.
When asked if she wanted to be a pilot, Sheresh didn't even think twice. By this time, she had worked long enough in the Army Air Corps to know exactly what kind of pilot she wanted to be, too - so, when presented with the opportunity of a lifetime, Sheresh took it. And went to Flight School with the full support and recommendation of her entire chain of command.
Sheresh took flight school by storm. Among others like her, Sheresh finally let go of her last inhibitions. What surfaced was a confident, sexy, talented, and no-nonsense female who excelled in the classroom and in the air. Six months later, she graduated at the top of her class...and at her graduation, her life took another strange turn for the unbelievable.
Among the flight community, the name "Commander Vossk" was legendary. So, too, were the stories of the flights he had lead. There were rumors that he occassionally showed up at graduations, to consider candidates for his command. No one knew if Vossk had ever approached a pilot before in person - but the hope was always there and was one actually encouraged by the flight instructors to promote the best in competition.
Sheresh didn't think much of the stories and the legends about Commander Vossk...until she was approached at graduation by a red-skinned Zeltron officer she had never seen before. The young pilot had finished top of her class - helped along by her natural competiveness and her Mandalorian discipline - and had unwittingly caught the attention of several high ranking flight officers.
Vossk, however, got to her first. And before she knew it, Sheresh was off on a new adventure, as the newest member of a crew on the Anthelion...
Password: Bylgia
RP Sample:
Commander Crass Vossk looked up at the world as he ripped through the air at twice the speed of sound.
He lived for this.
Suddenly, on nothing more than a whim, he flicked his flight stick up. Each exhaust port had a movable vent on the end, controlling which way the thrust was sent. Thrust vectoring wasn't new, but few enough jets used it. It made the ship immensely maneuverable. The nose of his venom did a 180 as he kept flying forwards... and then he cut the engine.
"Where you at, Punch?"
The Commander's voice cackled through Sheresh's helmet and her back straighthtened reflexively.
"Punch here, Rabbit. At your seven."
The younger pilot knew she shouldn't feel like this was her first time a cockpit, but she couldn't help how damn nervous she felt about everything. She'd heard stories about Commander Vossk - he was more than a little legendary in the flight community. Any Republic fighter pilot with even half a bit of talent, would hope against hope at being asked to join his squad. She herself was a woman of humble beginnings, however, and despite her swaggering walk and tough act through flight school, knew her place in the pecking order. Or, thought she did. When she was approached by Commander Vossk at the end of her graduation ceremony, she was half-tempted to squeal, throw herself at him and kiss him soundly on the cheek. She had settled instead, for a crisp salute and a modicum of humbled professionalism.
And now? Here she was, on her first flight with Commander Vossk and company and she felt like it was her first day at flight school, all over again.
Crass looked up at her through his canopy. He WAS traveling backwards, though rapidly slowing down.
"Roger that."
He reversed his course with the same method. The g's on his body were insane, and had he not had a flight suit he probably would have passed out. He saw plenty of red as it was.
"The Venom isn't exactly the old Starhawk you used to break in flight school, is it?"
Truth be told, Kelborn reminded him of himself back when he was a boot pilot. At least skill wise. He hoped that she wasn't quite as girl crazy as he was back then. Oh wait...
"The speed will catch up on you, and so will the handling if you're not careful."
Indeed, the Starhawk was an old interceptor that was phased out forever ago. It was somewhat fast, but had the turning radius of a bath tub. Completely opposite of the state-of-the-art F-47 Venom.
Sheresh had to admit...keeping up with the Commander was...interesting. A challenge. She always liked those. However, the meaning of his words sunk - she thought - and she couldn't help blinking a bit as the air pressure rattled the Venom's frame around her.
"Wait a minute...you want me to go backwards in this thing?"
It had been interesting enough watching him do it. Sheresh had top notch skills, but she wasn't one to pull crazy stunts (to the eternal gratitude of her flight school instructors). Having the Commander zoom underneath her at random was rattling enough. Surely he didn't expect her to return the favor.
"And no, this isn't at all like the Starhawk, you've got that right," her voice hiccuped a bit as she considered her options.
Going backwards at g-force speeds had never really been her thing.
Crass shrugged mildly. Or would have, if he wasn't embedded into his seat from a mixture of the G's and the seat straps.
"Not necessarily yet, no. In atmo, if you don't know what you're doing, you die. I think that-" he stopped suddenly in mid-sentence and feigned some sort of surprise when his sensors pick up a few blips.
This was a training run, but they had a few UAV's to "jump" them out in the world. Would be entertaining to see how she handled an enemy that actually evaded your missiles.
"Oh no. We've got four contacts bearing down on us. Vector two tree niner. What are we going to do? We're all going to die!" he said in the most deadpan voice just before he ripped off towards the 'attackers.'
The UAV's themselves tracked them both, and would shoot nothing more than dummy rounds and lasers that would tell them that they were "dead".
Sheresh had to roll her eyes at the Commander's rather bland sense of humor. Thankfully, he couldn't see her.
She focused immediately on the task at hand, however and processed several different things in mere milliseconds. Two UAVs were actually bearing down at Vecter two-tree-niner...two more had just veered off on a sudden arc toward her starboard.
"Two heading toward vector one-tree-five."
Inwardly she thought, watch this!
If going backwards was what she had to do, Sheresh didn't think twice. She cut her engine and watched with detatched amusement as the UAVs sailed right past the nose of her Venom. Then she kicked it back into gear and did a split-second belly roll to the side, just in time to put the UAV's in her sight.
Gotcha, she thought, as she pressed down on her trigger.
"Roger that. Romeo one is at your six."
Crass was behind her within moments, ready to mop up anything that tried to get her six. The classic engine cut. It was brilliant, really... probably more than she knew. The UAV's were known for being light and fast... but couldn't quite decelerate as fast as a full sized starfighter.
"Be careful about doing that against a full sized starfighter, though. That got me shot down once."
No sooner did he say that, than the shrill whine of his airplane ripped into his ears.
"Someone wants to play, I'm breaking off, Punch."
He yanked the stick up, practically going from forward to straight on a dime. Each time he did that he screamed into the mask, bleeding off as much pressure as he could. It hurt like hell. The lock was still on, but that would change... as he did one of his spins to point his nose back down to the deck.
This time though, instead of cutting power... he redlined it. Without being able to see anything but a small dot that wasn't red, his fighter slowed to a stop and then rocketed forward, towards the uav. A quick blurt of the trigger into its nose sent it into imaginary flames, and hurdling towards the deck.
"That got me shot down once."
Now, there was a story. Was it okay to take one's commander out for drinks and a talk? Sheresh wasn't exactly sure how politics worked in the smaller, tight-knit world of pilots. But, if she was allowed to do so, she was putting that on her list of things to do. She bet Vossk had a LOT of stories.
She's managed to hit ONE of the UAVs that she'd "tricked" into ending up straight in the center of her crosshairs. The other one, however, was a lot trickier. She watched out of the corner of her eye, as Vossk peeled into a spin and she had to admire his skill. No wonder he was an Anthelion leader.
However, he seemed so focused on the UAV he was tracking, that she didn't think he noticed the one that had peeled off it's own course to follow his six.
"Vector four, on your six, Rabbit. Keep course. I'm right behind ya'."
Sheresh didn't even blink, as she abruptly pushed her stick down in a sharp acceleration. Her nose tanked immediately in response and she was following the Commander's downward spiral at a speed that threatened to peel her lips back against her teeth. Her concentration was almost entirely focused on the UAV tailing Vossk's venom - but she still had an eye on her radar. Vector two was still coming 'round to play.
"I've got Vector four in my sites, Rabbit," her voice was completely level, belaying the intensity of the moment. "Roll port."
Crass had, in fact, not seen the other UAV sneak up on him like that. He had gotten to focused on the one... and his mind hadn't taken this seriously. Which was why he let out a quick expletive and began a quick evasive maneuver to throw off his aim. Which was when he heard that sweet voice to roll port. He did, without question or hesitation... trust was a thing you had to do in his line of work. If he couldn't trust his wing...man, who could he trust?
"Light his ass up, Punch."
He popped imaginary missile counter measures to keep the fictitious missiles from blowing him into a theoretical kingdom come. After he was free, the man broke off and circled back around to stay with Kelborn's six. He was a little really embarrassed from the mistake. But everyone made mistakes, and this was something of a teachable moment.
"Complacency kills. So does tunnel vision."
Vector four went down without a fight - it was rather anti-climatic, Sheresh thought. A part of her felt bad for thinking it, but a bigger part of her looked forward the time when this WASN'T a training run. When the enemy really WOULD go down in a blaze of defeat. She forced herself not to think of the lives that went that way. She didn't have the luxury to indulge in that aspect of her Zeltronian heritage - as a fighter pilot, empathy could kill her. She wondered absently how Crass had learned to deal with it. He was full-blooded, after all.
Her lips quirked a bit at he entered flawlessly into "instructor mode". Of course, this flight was just as much for his benefit as for hers. This was the first of many training runs they'd do together. She was his designated wingman - how THAT had happened, Sheresh couldn't even begin to fathom - and they had a long way to go. Though, if this first run was any indication, they made a damn good team.
She could hear the hint of embarassment in his voice.
Ahh.. she thought. This is where the empathy comes in handy...
As long as she didn't let it distract her, she could keep tabs on him by virtue of their shared genetics. Even at g-force speeds and tight rolls, a Zeltron's empathy was on-point.
"Roger that, Rabbit," she kept her voice even as she scanned her radar - this was the other great thing about being at least half a Zeltron.
She was so used to processing a thousand emotions at any given time, that she had multi-tasking skills like nobody's business. She could think, talk, and take down the enemy, without skipping a beat.
"Though, it IS hard to take these UAV's seriously," she wasn't sure if she should have admitted that last part - but there it was.
He probably didn't want - nor need - any reassurance. But, it was just who she was.
"Speaking of which," she grinned as she spotted the last UAV. "Vector two's lonely. Shall we take him out together?"
Department: Army
Rank: Sergeant
Name: Shereshoy Kelborn (Usually goes by "Sheresh")
Race: Human/Zeltron hybrid
Age: 25
Height: 5'2"
Weight: 135 lbs
Birth place: Ordo
Appearance:
There are several things about Sheresh that compete for immediate attention, when one first meets her. The most obvious trait is her short stature - she stands at a mere 5'2", which is unusual, given her statuesque Zeltron lineage. But, what catches most eyes are her flaming red hair and pinkish skin. Her hair comes from her mother, but her skin-tone is tempered by her human father's genes; instead of being all-out pink, or red, her skin has a "pink tint" that makes her seem to glow under certain lights. Combined with the red hair, she can create a rather stunning picture - when it suits her.
Most of the time, Sheresh keeps her waist-long hair tamed in a neat braid. Her hair is fine, though - almost too fine - and no matter how much she tries to "tame" it, she almost always has little wisps that hang down into her face, or flutter in the wind. This gives her no small amount of grief, since she tries her best to keep a precise military appearance... If her hair wasn't such a personal vanity for her, Sheresh's more practical side would be tempted to just "cut it all off!"
From top to bottom, Sheresh is a stunning woman - but doesn't really realize it. She has flawless skin, honey-brown eyes, full lips, and a curvy figure (that gives her no amount of consternation during quarterly weigh-ins). But, thanks to her no-nonsense Mandalorian upbringing, Sheresh is rather oblivous to the effect she may have on impressionable males in her proximity. Her beauty is natural and effortless - a blessing of her Zeltron mother (or, in Sheresh's private opinion, a curse, since her appearance often garners more attention than she's comfortable with).
In uniform, Sheresh's appearance is as spot-on as she can manage - though she has a mechanical streak to her that sometimes can't resist crawling into spaces and under things that have the propensity of leaving grease stains behind on her otherwise immaculate flight-suit. The sight of a bemused, oil-smudged Sheresh is not uncommon - though, it tends to get her teased, more often than not.
Out of uniform - which is surprisingly rare (Sheresh is far more comfortable in her flight-suit and boots, than anything else) - Sheresh can be usually be seen in comfortable, practical clothing. She favors loose-fitting tunics, pants, and the ubiquitous boots - though she does have a penchant for bright colors and favors oranges, bright blues, and flashy hues of pretty much any shade.
Personality: Sheresh's personality is definitely an interesting by-product of her Mandalorian upbringing and her Zeltron genetics. On one hand, she's all business, practicality, and professionalism - when there's a job to be done, Sheresh is a woman that can be depended upon to get it done right the first time. She believes in duty, honor, and reliability - the watchwords of her father's aliit (clan) with all of her heart - and her personal ethics have held her in good standing as a soldier.
On the other side, Sheresh is a free spirit. She isn't afraid of a little competition (in fact, she thrives on it) and she isn't afraid to speak her mind. Her entire life has been spent around men - as a girl, there was always her father, her brothers, and her uncles. As a young woman, there was the male-dominated culture of the Republic Army. Sure, there were other women around, but Sheresh has always felt more comfortable around men and would rather be "one of the boys" than "just a girl" any day of the week.
As such, she can be rather assertive, a bit cocky, and even a wee bit over-bearing at times. She has a heart of gold, though, and nothing means more to her than "the squad". A by-product as a Mandalorian child, Sheresh puts all her heart-and-soul in being part of the team. She thrives on it and the best of her personality can be seen when working alongside others toward a common goal.
There is one...darker...aspect of Sheresh's personality. She doesn't talk about her past and doesn't like any of her fellow service members knowing that she was born and raised a Mandalorian. As friendly and warm as she can be with members of her own unit, Sheresh is surprisingly taciturn about her past. In many ways, her effusive personality is a front - deep inside, she worries about what might happen if others "connected the dots" so to speak. To that end, she never reveals her full name - "Shereshoy" - and never talks about her family. When the squad sits down to cut loose in their down-time, Sheresh never shares funny stories about growing up or where she's from. In fact, in many ways, her past is a carefully guarded secret that keeps many from getting "too close".
On first meeting, Sheresh can come off as being all business and military proficiency, but her real self comes out around others of her unit. She loves to drink, swear, and flirt - at times, she can seem quit high on life itself. That's when the Zeltron in her comes out and she can be a contradiction of opposites. But, at the end of the day - despite her secrets or her private worries - what defines Sheresh most, is her sense of loyalty and her love for every second life has to offer.
Skills:
- Mechanical aptitude
- Quick reflexes
- Flirting
- Drinking
- Sharpshooter aim
- Empathy
Attributes:
Physical Strength: 5
Intelligence: 7
Speed: 5
Leadership: 6
Unarmed: 5
Melee Weapons: 4
Ranged Weapons: 6
Alignment: +2
Bio:
Shuk'la Riduurok [Birth-7]
For all intents and purposes, Sheresh's life story is fairly mundane - if one discounts the fact that she was born into a Mandalorian clan. Luckily for her future career as a Republic pilot, Sheresh is the first-born daughter of a Mandalorian mechanic, from a little-known clan.
Sheresh's father - Wad'e Kelborn - was a fairly humble man, of humble origins. He wasn't the fiercest warrior, or the baddest of the bad - but he was a dedicated Mandalorian who followed the Resol'nare with every breath he took. A native of Ordo, Wad'e made a living as a mercenary in his early years. A job in his mid-twenties took him to Zeltron, however, where he met and married Sheresh's mother, Ar'ia Jahn.
Wad'e - who's primary goal in life was to a buir (or father) and to raise a family - was content to set aside his life as a mercenary and to return with Ar'ia to Ordo where they settled down. Shortly after their marriage, their first sons - Waylon and Wyndon (twins) - were born. Wad'e opened up shop as a mechanic and life seemed idyllic.
As was customary among Mandalorian couples who had first born sons, Wad'e and Ar'ia waited until the twins' fifth birthday to try for another child. Eight months after her older brothers' birthday, Sheresh was born prematurely. Little did Wad'e suspect, that this one event would begin the eventual disintegration of his family.
As a Zeltron, Ar'ia never fully converted to the Mandalorian mentality. She followed the Resol'nare with Wad'e, because she loved him. And despite her misgivings, she stood by as Wad'e took up his responsibilities as a Mandalorian father and began to teach his five-year-old sons how to live as Mandalorian men. This left Ar'ia alone for long periods of time with Sheresh; loneliness, depression, and resentment soon began to build up in Ar'ia and it only became worse when Wad'e left her pregnant a year later.
And, alone. With fears of abandonment, isolation, worry, a growing belly, and a year-old-daughter.
Things did not get any better.
Wad'e and Ar'ia's last child together was yet another boy - Saa. By now, Ar'ia knew well what would happen when first Sheresh turned of age and then her little brother - and the Zeltron mother wanted none of it. Ar'ia's empathy was strong and she often had peculiar premonitions of the future. And what Ar'ia sensed on the horizon for her children, was nothing but war, heartache, and loss.
Sheresh's early memories of her childhood were not bad, per se. But, they were uncomfortable for the young half-Zeltron. More so than any of her brothers, Sheresh had inherited her mother's natural empathy and it was hard for such a small child to make sense of her mother's depression. During those early years, Sheresh also felt her father's and her brothers' absences deeply and by the age of seven, she wasn't a stranger to loneliness, either.
Ar'ia had had enough, by Sheresh's seventh birthday. In a desperate bid to keep her last two children safe, Ar'ia took the children and left Ordo while Wad'e was guiding the twins through their verd'goten. Wad'e - now freed from the obligations of raising his eldest sons - had all the time in the world to track what was left of his family down. He found them - in an unfortunately predictable move on Ar'ia's part - en route to Zeltron. The two parents confronted each other and by the end of that encounter, Sheresh and Saa both found themselves in their father's custody and their mother...simply gone.
Wad'e and Ar'ia had agreed to declare their marriage "shuk'la riduurok" - "a broken love" - the Mandalorian phrase for a divorce. Ar'ia wanted to take Saa and Sheresh with her to Zeltron, but Wad'e would have none of it. Sheresh was just old enough to remember her parents' passionate argument - which very nearly ended in blows on both party's part - even though both parents thought she was soundly asleep.
The memory of her parents' fight over her and her brother and the abrupt disappearance of her mother, would stay with Sheresh for the rest of her life.
Aliit [7-13]
Usually, Mandalorian girls were trained in the ways of clan and culture by their mothers. In the even that the mother was an aruetti (as in Sheresh's case), the closest Mandalorian female relation took over. It was just Sheresh's luck that - by the age of seven (almost two years past her coming of age) - she was now bewilderingly motherless.
And her father had no female relatives of an age capable of taking over the duties her mother had forsaken.
So, in typical Mandalorian fashion, Wad'e rolled with the punches and did what he had to do. Saa was of age, so Wad'e merely treated Sheresh as if she were another son...and taught her and Saa together, no differently than he had the older twins. Waylon and Wyndon, who had passed their Verd'goten, were still young enough to stay at home, but now old enough to help Wad'e in teaching their younger siblings.
Sheresh would remember this time one of peace - or, at least, as close to peace as one got with three Mandalorian men and one young boy. Wad'e moved from their small home on Ordo shortly after divorcing Ar'ia and an entirely new phase of life began for Sheresh on Concord Dawn. Wad'e chose to move, in order to be closer to his two surviving brothers - Kul and Rander - and their families. Kul was the eldest and widowed without children. Rander was the youngest and had married an aruetti as well - a Correllian nurse and midwife. Sheresh was almost immediately taken under the wing of her Aunt Marta - it would become a relationship that would change Sheresh's view of Mandalorian life as she grew older. And, a relationship that she would always look back on with great fondness.
As luck had it, Rander and Marta had three boys of their own as well - within the small familial homestead, Marta and Sheresh were the only women. This didn't seem to bother Sheresh, though, nor did it bother her plethora of male relatives. While Marta provided a motherly ear and guidance in the ways of becoming a woman, the majority of Sheresh's interaction was spent out in the jungles and towns with her father, brothers, uncles, and cousins.
They taught her how to shoot, how to spar, how to make her own weapons. They taught her how to track, how to hunt, how to feed herself from the land. They taught her how to be her own mechanic, how to be her own blacksmith, how to rely as much as she could by her hand and her hand alone. As Sheresh approached her own Verd'goten at the age of 13, she had found her niche in the Mandalorian way of life - while her brothers and father had taught the way of a soldier well, she found that her gifts lay mostly in making, fixing, and breaking things.
By the time Sheresh was 10, Wad'e had noticed that his daughter was the one child most likely to take after his own work as a mechanic. While she was still expected to prowl through the jungles with her brothers and to know how to defend herself - and others - in a battle, Wad'e began to spend more and more time teaching Sheresh his old trade. By this time, the twins' had chosen work as bounty hunters in the wider galaxy beyond and one of Sheresh's older cousins had moved to Ordo to start his own family.
For the Kelborn aliit, time marched on.
These early years shaped Sheresh's social ease among men. Though, being a young half-Zeltron growing up without the guidance of her mother left its own unique burdens and scars. Wad'e (who wasn't a bad father in the slightest - even if the rest of the galaxy found his parental skills dubious at best) tried to help his daughter make sense of things as best as he could, but about the only thing he could really help with, was telling her about her mother.
While this hurt for both father and daughter, it was done - though, Wad'e kept most of the conversations centered around what Ar'ia was like and what he had observed about her Zeltron genetics. In some ways, this matter-of-fact approach to things hurt Sheresh more than it helped her - her father was not highly forthcoming on the reasons for his divorce from Ar'ia. Or, why she had never tried to contact them since then.
Marta tried to help, but the challenges of a maturing Zeltron female were much different than those of a human female. Sheresh's hormones were hard for her to control and she was prone to random bursts of anger, frustration, and tears. Her empathy began to grow, as well - especially with those closest to her. Namely, her brothers. Most particularly, Saa.
As Sheresh rapidly approached her 13th birthday, the final "gift" of her mother's lineage started to form - leaving her even more baffled and confused than the others. Her pheromones began to mature and before Sheresh quite knew what to make of things, she was turning heads. A LOT of heads.
In true father's fashion, Wad'e intervened - and this time, his intervention was actually helpful. If, abrasive. While he didn't really understand Zeltron pheremones, or teenage hormones, he definitely had first hand experience of the chaos Sheresh's mother's pheremones could create. And he nipped any potential disasters in the bud, through five very effective means:
1). By making it VERY well known that if any male decided to actually act on any impulse caused by his daughter's lineage, Wad'e would make damn sure his body was never found. And if it was, it would be unidentifiable.
2). By very bluntly informing his daughter that regardless of what she may have inherited from her mother, "frivolous behavior" was NOT the way of a respectable Mandalorian woman. At least, not before the age of 16. He made a point of pontificating quite thoroughly on the twin Mando'ad virtues of "self-control" and "discipline."
3). By (more) gently informing his daughter that when the "time came", she should at least choose it because SHE wanted it and had actually THOUGHT about it - not because her pheremones got the better of either party.
4). By "keeping her focused on her training." I.e...by making sure Sheresh didn't HAVE time to dwell on her changing body and the affect it may or may not have been having on the male population.
5). By subtly manipulating events so that she was never far out of sight of a male relative. Ever. Or, out of certain key parts of her armor for any length of time...
This method of addressing the issue didn't fix all of Sheresh's pheremonal issues...but it did, at least, dissuade a large majority of opportunities to "explore" the implications of her Zeltronian heritage. And while Sheresh couldn't change who she was, or seperate herself from what came naturally to her, her father at least made certain that she was practical, disciplined, and focused.
Shershoy [13-18]
Despite the upheavals of her mother's absence and the emergence of her Zeltron traits, Sheresh entered Mandalorian adult-hood on a pretty even keel. Her month-long verd'goten - split between both Ordo and Concord Dawn - was a rousing success and toward the end of her 13th year, she was officially declared a Mandalorian vod. It was now up to her how she wanted to live her life, though the cultural expectation was that she would stay under her father's roof until 16.
Sheresh honored tradition - as she had her whole life - and joined her father's business as his official apprentice. Around this time, Wad'e moved into the nearby city - with his children all but grown up, it was time for him to focus once more on his own career and less on his obligations as a father. While living in the city, Sheresh discovered something that she loved even more than fixing broken parts -
Swoop bike racing. Or, really, races of any kind. The faster and more dangerous, the better.
While her father didn't quite approve of her choice of pasttime, Sheresh found racing to be a perfect outlet for her pent-up hormones - one that was safer for the general male population, at least. Most of the other racers in the city were about her age - some slightly younger, some a lot older - and were almost all male. She did, however, find her first female friend - a brash Zabrak named Jaree.
From the start, the two were practically inseperable. When Sheresh wasn't fixing up broken droids, bikes, and other things in her father's shop, she was usually hanging out with Jaree at the race tracks or local watering holes. The two weren't exactly troublemakers, but they were two young Mandalorian females enjoying the freedoms of youth, in between the training of their childhood and the responsibilities of official adulthood.
During this time, Sheresh finally the freedom to explore those aspects of herself that had made her so uncomfortable as a child and pre-teen. She began to realize that there were...advantages...to her empathy. Especially when racing or when picking a friendly fight with Jaree. With her father's discipline instilled in her, she began to realize that even her pheremones weren't necessarily a "bad" thing, either - it made her approachable, for one, and for another, it helped overcome the social awkwardness inherent in youth.
Jaree became a big help for Sheresh - especially emotionally. The young Zabrak was brash, but fairly self-contained. She was a good listener and seemed to posses a double dose of Mandalorian sensibility. Jaree became Sheresh's confidant...and for the first time, she began to admit the things she hadn't even been able to tell her brothers. About the feelings of abandonment she had from her mother's abrupt departure from her life. About her doubts that left behind - especially concerning the Mandalorian way of life. About her okay-but-not-the-grandest relationship with her father. About her fears in losing others close to her.
At 16, Jaree and Sheresh discovered another aspect of Zeltronian genetics... Gender didn't matter much in the grand scheme of a Zeltron's pheremonal attraction. Nor did it matter much for a Zeltron's heart.
As Sheresh began exploring the waters of self-discovery and love, a lot of her worries from the past were put to rest (or, so she thought at the time). During these teen years, she embraced the Mandalorian virtue for which she was named - "sheresoy", or "lust for life." She worked hard at her apprenticeship. She drank when she could and raced whenever she got the chance. And she loved freely, without inhibition.
At 17, her father gave his blessing for her to move into a place of her own and freed her from her apprenticeship. Sheresh was now free to own her own shop (which Wad'e dutifully helped her set up) and she moved into a small apartment above her garage, with Jaree. Sheresh stayed on Concord Dawn and opened up a garage specializing in anything that flew - starships, freighters, swoop bikes, etc. Jaree, who was popular because of her Zabrak heritage, officially started her career as a mercenary. This caused Sheresh some amount of emotional turmoil - after all, she still remembered the difficulty she had had as a child, when her father left her behind with her mother. But, Jaree was patient and the two worked through it. While Sheresh was more emotional than most Mandalorian females, she wasn't as emotional as a full-blooded Zeltron female.
Life was good and things seemed to be working out.
Until word came back from one of Jaree's "jobs" in the Outer Rim....
Dar'manda [18-19]
Unlike Sheresh, all of her brothers (Saa included) went out into the greater galaxy as soon as they all turned 16. Saa and Sheresh were the closest out of the bunch, though, and Saa had even spent time at the swoop tracks with his sister and her Zabrak girlfriend a time or two. Enough times, at least, for him to become friends with Jaree, too. So, when Jaree decided to take hire as a mercenary, Saa signed up as well - two Mandalorians were better than one and both were thankful for the company of a familiar face, their first time away from home.
After the success of their first mission, Jaree and Saa decided to stay "in business" with one another. This made Sheresh a bit nervous, but she satisfied herself with the thought that, with both of them looking out for each other, no harm would come to either. This belief was abruptly shattered shortly after turning 18.
Word came back from Tatooine, where Jaree and Saa had taken an ill-advised contract with a Hutt.
They were both dead.
All of Sheresh's emotions and fears from her childhood overwhelmed her almost immediately. She drowned in depression, loneliness, and heartbreak. Of all her aliit, Saa was the dearest to her. And before leaving for Tattooine, Jaree had asked Wad'e for his permission to join Clan Kelborn as Sheresh's official partner, on her return.
Same-gender couples, while rare among the Mando'ad, were not unheard-of, or discouraged. Wad'e had given his consent, and gladly.
The double loss was more than Sheresh could take. But, unlike her mother, her depression only lasted for so long, before it turned to anger. Anger toward Jaree, for failing to honor her promise to come home. Anger toward Saa, for pushing Jaree toward a contract that was ill-advised.
Anger from the past surfaced, too. Anger at her mother for leaving her. Anger at her father for leaving them and for laying the groundwork for Ar'ia's eventual abandonment. Anger at both of her parents for getting divorced.
Anger at the Mandalorian culture, for glorifying the very things that had taken away the people Sheresh most loved.
Sheresh soon became intimately acquainted with one fact of Zeltronian genetics that she hadn't known before -
When a Zeltron was anger, her anger burned deep, long, and hot.
Wad'e didn't deal with this sudden change of demeanor in his daughter and it wasn't long before both of them were caught up in a screaming match. A screaming match that almost ended in blows. A screaming match that reminded Sheresh only too well of the last time she'd seen her mother.
The next morning, the young Mandalorian turned her back on all that she was and went to visit the Republic represenative stationed (at the grudging tolerance of the general population) in one of the diplomatic buildings in the heart of the city.
72 hours later, she was on the first flight out of Concord Dawn, destined for one of the many Republic military's training facilities in the Inner Rim. From that point on, she was "dar'manda" - a Mandalorian who had turned her back on her people, her clan, her Mand'alor, and her culture. And who had, by doing so, given up her soul.
Cin Vhetin [18-25]
At first, Sheresh's enlistment into the Republic Army was uneventful. Because of her Mandalorian upbringing, she passed basic training with flying colors; it wasn't long before she was a freshly minted private in the Army Air Corps. There, her skills as a mechanic served her well and for the first six years of her military career, Sheresh kept her head down, her nose (relatively) clean, and gained reputation as a hard-working, dependable, and professional soldier.
Sheresh's duties as a mechanic put her in constant contact with the world of both Army and Navy aviation. At first, any attention she recieved was strictly in relation to her skills as a mechanic. But, some old habits were hard to break, as Sheresh slowly discovered...
For the space of her first enlistment, Sheresh kept pretty much to herself. She distracted herself with her duties and did her best to not stand out (no small feat for a female with obvious Zeltron blood). But, slowly, over time, some of her stand-offishness began to fade. The heart would heal - even when Sheresh thought it wouldn't - and in some ways, her natural affinity for sentient interaction helped her to gradually overcome her desire to be left alone.
The change in Sheresh's disposition didn't happen overnight and it took her four years, but at the start of her second enlistment, things seemed to settle down for her emotionally. By then, she was 23 years old and had just made corporal. As a junior NCO she found a camraderie similiar to what she had once had with her brothers and her aliit. The similarity - instead of scaring Sheresh away - drew her in and gave her something to smile about again.
In her second enlistment, Sheresh also made the switch from ground forces, to mobile squads - which were smaller and tended to be more close-knit. This similiarity to her past also drew her out of her shell and she was able to strike easy friendships with her almost entirely all male flight unit.
Sheresh also began to realize that her impulsive - and unnecessarily dramatic - run from home hadn't been the smartest thing in the world. A part of her missed her aliit - her father, her brothers. And as things began to heat up in the galaxy, between Republic forces and Mandalorians, Sheresh began to worry if she had picked the wrong side. What if she met her brothers, or her father, or her uncles, or her cousins on the battlefield? What if the fighter plane she kept tuned, was the one that took one - or all - of them down?
She began to realize that her past was a liability - and one that could possibly cause problems if she let it be too well known. So, while Sheresh began to creep back into the social waters around her, she simultaneously began to keep her past a close-kept secret.
And as for the decision to join the Republic Army...Sheresh was, at heart, a Mandalorian - bred and raised to stay the course, no matter what it was. She had made her decision - however rashly - and she wasn't about to betray her honor a second time. A dar'manda she had become. A dar'manda she would remain.
As she grew older - 24, 25 - Sheresh finally began to let go of the anger she had harbored against Jaree and Saa. And while she never pursued a relationship with another woman, some of Sheresh's defenses began to crumble in face of a few healthy (if brief) intimacies. Towards the end of her second enlistment, Sheresh was finally comfortable with the female - with the soldier - that she had become. Her natural zest for life had returned, along with her enjoyment of the social scene, and her openness (to a point) with others. Her emotions and empathy were no longer turned in toward herself and something of a sparkle was starting to return to Sheresh's eyes.
She'd even taken up swoop bike racing again, in her down-time, when the time and place allowed for it. This return to an activity of the past not only healed a number of emotional wounds, but lead to the greatest turning-point of her life...
At 25, Sheresh's dependability, resourcefulness, professionalism, and track records caught up with her. Her superiors had learned of her past-time and had been keeping an eye on her for some time - finally, her Sergeant Major approached her and offered her a chance to move on in her career.
When asked if she wanted to be a pilot, Sheresh didn't even think twice. By this time, she had worked long enough in the Army Air Corps to know exactly what kind of pilot she wanted to be, too - so, when presented with the opportunity of a lifetime, Sheresh took it. And went to Flight School with the full support and recommendation of her entire chain of command.
Sheresh took flight school by storm. Among others like her, Sheresh finally let go of her last inhibitions. What surfaced was a confident, sexy, talented, and no-nonsense female who excelled in the classroom and in the air. Six months later, she graduated at the top of her class...and at her graduation, her life took another strange turn for the unbelievable.
Among the flight community, the name "Commander Vossk" was legendary. So, too, were the stories of the flights he had lead. There were rumors that he occassionally showed up at graduations, to consider candidates for his command. No one knew if Vossk had ever approached a pilot before in person - but the hope was always there and was one actually encouraged by the flight instructors to promote the best in competition.
Sheresh didn't think much of the stories and the legends about Commander Vossk...until she was approached at graduation by a red-skinned Zeltron officer she had never seen before. The young pilot had finished top of her class - helped along by her natural competiveness and her Mandalorian discipline - and had unwittingly caught the attention of several high ranking flight officers.
Vossk, however, got to her first. And before she knew it, Sheresh was off on a new adventure, as the newest member of a crew on the Anthelion...
Password: Bylgia
RP Sample:
(Dire helped me out with this one - we RPed it over IM, so it may read a little funny. I tried to edit as smoothly as I could... But, if nothing else, it's a fun [if awkwardly structured] read. Enjoy...)
Commander Crass Vossk looked up at the world as he ripped through the air at twice the speed of sound.
He lived for this.
Suddenly, on nothing more than a whim, he flicked his flight stick up. Each exhaust port had a movable vent on the end, controlling which way the thrust was sent. Thrust vectoring wasn't new, but few enough jets used it. It made the ship immensely maneuverable. The nose of his venom did a 180 as he kept flying forwards... and then he cut the engine.
"Where you at, Punch?"
The Commander's voice cackled through Sheresh's helmet and her back straighthtened reflexively.
"Punch here, Rabbit. At your seven."
The younger pilot knew she shouldn't feel like this was her first time a cockpit, but she couldn't help how damn nervous she felt about everything. She'd heard stories about Commander Vossk - he was more than a little legendary in the flight community. Any Republic fighter pilot with even half a bit of talent, would hope against hope at being asked to join his squad. She herself was a woman of humble beginnings, however, and despite her swaggering walk and tough act through flight school, knew her place in the pecking order. Or, thought she did. When she was approached by Commander Vossk at the end of her graduation ceremony, she was half-tempted to squeal, throw herself at him and kiss him soundly on the cheek. She had settled instead, for a crisp salute and a modicum of humbled professionalism.
And now? Here she was, on her first flight with Commander Vossk and company and she felt like it was her first day at flight school, all over again.
Crass looked up at her through his canopy. He WAS traveling backwards, though rapidly slowing down.
"Roger that."
He reversed his course with the same method. The g's on his body were insane, and had he not had a flight suit he probably would have passed out. He saw plenty of red as it was.
"The Venom isn't exactly the old Starhawk you used to break in flight school, is it?"
Truth be told, Kelborn reminded him of himself back when he was a boot pilot. At least skill wise. He hoped that she wasn't quite as girl crazy as he was back then. Oh wait...
"The speed will catch up on you, and so will the handling if you're not careful."
Indeed, the Starhawk was an old interceptor that was phased out forever ago. It was somewhat fast, but had the turning radius of a bath tub. Completely opposite of the state-of-the-art F-47 Venom.
Sheresh had to admit...keeping up with the Commander was...interesting. A challenge. She always liked those. However, the meaning of his words sunk - she thought - and she couldn't help blinking a bit as the air pressure rattled the Venom's frame around her.
"Wait a minute...you want me to go backwards in this thing?"
It had been interesting enough watching him do it. Sheresh had top notch skills, but she wasn't one to pull crazy stunts (to the eternal gratitude of her flight school instructors). Having the Commander zoom underneath her at random was rattling enough. Surely he didn't expect her to return the favor.
"And no, this isn't at all like the Starhawk, you've got that right," her voice hiccuped a bit as she considered her options.
Going backwards at g-force speeds had never really been her thing.
Crass shrugged mildly. Or would have, if he wasn't embedded into his seat from a mixture of the G's and the seat straps.
"Not necessarily yet, no. In atmo, if you don't know what you're doing, you die. I think that-" he stopped suddenly in mid-sentence and feigned some sort of surprise when his sensors pick up a few blips.
This was a training run, but they had a few UAV's to "jump" them out in the world. Would be entertaining to see how she handled an enemy that actually evaded your missiles.
"Oh no. We've got four contacts bearing down on us. Vector two tree niner. What are we going to do? We're all going to die!" he said in the most deadpan voice just before he ripped off towards the 'attackers.'
The UAV's themselves tracked them both, and would shoot nothing more than dummy rounds and lasers that would tell them that they were "dead".
Sheresh had to roll her eyes at the Commander's rather bland sense of humor. Thankfully, he couldn't see her.
She focused immediately on the task at hand, however and processed several different things in mere milliseconds. Two UAVs were actually bearing down at Vecter two-tree-niner...two more had just veered off on a sudden arc toward her starboard.
"Two heading toward vector one-tree-five."
Inwardly she thought, watch this!
If going backwards was what she had to do, Sheresh didn't think twice. She cut her engine and watched with detatched amusement as the UAVs sailed right past the nose of her Venom. Then she kicked it back into gear and did a split-second belly roll to the side, just in time to put the UAV's in her sight.
Gotcha, she thought, as she pressed down on her trigger.
"Roger that. Romeo one is at your six."
Crass was behind her within moments, ready to mop up anything that tried to get her six. The classic engine cut. It was brilliant, really... probably more than she knew. The UAV's were known for being light and fast... but couldn't quite decelerate as fast as a full sized starfighter.
"Be careful about doing that against a full sized starfighter, though. That got me shot down once."
No sooner did he say that, than the shrill whine of his airplane ripped into his ears.
"Someone wants to play, I'm breaking off, Punch."
He yanked the stick up, practically going from forward to straight on a dime. Each time he did that he screamed into the mask, bleeding off as much pressure as he could. It hurt like hell. The lock was still on, but that would change... as he did one of his spins to point his nose back down to the deck.
This time though, instead of cutting power... he redlined it. Without being able to see anything but a small dot that wasn't red, his fighter slowed to a stop and then rocketed forward, towards the uav. A quick blurt of the trigger into its nose sent it into imaginary flames, and hurdling towards the deck.
"That got me shot down once."
Now, there was a story. Was it okay to take one's commander out for drinks and a talk? Sheresh wasn't exactly sure how politics worked in the smaller, tight-knit world of pilots. But, if she was allowed to do so, she was putting that on her list of things to do. She bet Vossk had a LOT of stories.
She's managed to hit ONE of the UAVs that she'd "tricked" into ending up straight in the center of her crosshairs. The other one, however, was a lot trickier. She watched out of the corner of her eye, as Vossk peeled into a spin and she had to admire his skill. No wonder he was an Anthelion leader.
However, he seemed so focused on the UAV he was tracking, that she didn't think he noticed the one that had peeled off it's own course to follow his six.
"Vector four, on your six, Rabbit. Keep course. I'm right behind ya'."
Sheresh didn't even blink, as she abruptly pushed her stick down in a sharp acceleration. Her nose tanked immediately in response and she was following the Commander's downward spiral at a speed that threatened to peel her lips back against her teeth. Her concentration was almost entirely focused on the UAV tailing Vossk's venom - but she still had an eye on her radar. Vector two was still coming 'round to play.
"I've got Vector four in my sites, Rabbit," her voice was completely level, belaying the intensity of the moment. "Roll port."
Crass had, in fact, not seen the other UAV sneak up on him like that. He had gotten to focused on the one... and his mind hadn't taken this seriously. Which was why he let out a quick expletive and began a quick evasive maneuver to throw off his aim. Which was when he heard that sweet voice to roll port. He did, without question or hesitation... trust was a thing you had to do in his line of work. If he couldn't trust his wing...man, who could he trust?
"Light his ass up, Punch."
He popped imaginary missile counter measures to keep the fictitious missiles from blowing him into a theoretical kingdom come. After he was free, the man broke off and circled back around to stay with Kelborn's six. He was a little really embarrassed from the mistake. But everyone made mistakes, and this was something of a teachable moment.
"Complacency kills. So does tunnel vision."
Vector four went down without a fight - it was rather anti-climatic, Sheresh thought. A part of her felt bad for thinking it, but a bigger part of her looked forward the time when this WASN'T a training run. When the enemy really WOULD go down in a blaze of defeat. She forced herself not to think of the lives that went that way. She didn't have the luxury to indulge in that aspect of her Zeltronian heritage - as a fighter pilot, empathy could kill her. She wondered absently how Crass had learned to deal with it. He was full-blooded, after all.
Her lips quirked a bit at he entered flawlessly into "instructor mode". Of course, this flight was just as much for his benefit as for hers. This was the first of many training runs they'd do together. She was his designated wingman - how THAT had happened, Sheresh couldn't even begin to fathom - and they had a long way to go. Though, if this first run was any indication, they made a damn good team.
She could hear the hint of embarassment in his voice.
Ahh.. she thought. This is where the empathy comes in handy...
As long as she didn't let it distract her, she could keep tabs on him by virtue of their shared genetics. Even at g-force speeds and tight rolls, a Zeltron's empathy was on-point.
"Roger that, Rabbit," she kept her voice even as she scanned her radar - this was the other great thing about being at least half a Zeltron.
She was so used to processing a thousand emotions at any given time, that she had multi-tasking skills like nobody's business. She could think, talk, and take down the enemy, without skipping a beat.
"Though, it IS hard to take these UAV's seriously," she wasn't sure if she should have admitted that last part - but there it was.
He probably didn't want - nor need - any reassurance. But, it was just who she was.
"Speaking of which," she grinned as she spotted the last UAV. "Vector two's lonely. Shall we take him out together?"
