Merhia Dravyn

Merhia Anastasia Dravyn (Rhia to everyone who doesn't want a fist in the face) is a former Coalition pilot, and currently serves as the Executive Officer aboard the Persephone. She is an old friend (and superior) of Alister Blood, and was instrumental in his escape from Earth during his Court Martial. The two are extremely close friends and have shared the last few years of misfortune and piracy.

Background
When Rhia was born, her father immediately took custody of the small baby. Whoever the mother was, whatever her relationship with Conrad Dravyn, it was less important than the baby herself. She was born a Spacer, someone who was born on a ship or station instead of one of the colonies. Due to the nature of her father's life, she spent her childhood almost exclusively aboard those same ships or stations, learning the operations of a starship, how zero-gravity works, the names of the stars and how to navigate by them, and so many other things rather than a more traditional education. When she was old enough to walk, she was old enough to swab the deck, clean the fixtures, calibrate the weapons, and refresh the carbon dioxide scrubbers. She learned how to disassemble, clean, and fires guns before she even understood basic mathematics. When she learned to count, it was balancing books, counting marks, credits, and drachma. When she learned to speak, she learned how to disguise her words to mean something else entirely, and how to make a threat that a man would listen to if he knew what was good for him.

Rhia would eventually have a falling out with her father, and make a dramatic departure from his life, and the only lifestyle she had ever known. Unable to reconcile with her, Conrad allowed her to leave with a large sum of credits, but told her that one day the time would come for her to pay what she owed. He'd done everything in his power to prepare her for life in the cruel universe that existed around them, and let her go. With the money, Rhia found an apartment in New Armstrong, and attempted looking for work. But without any formal qualifications or education to speak of, she found herself at a great disadvantage. She began attending remedial classes at the local community college in her neighborhood, and vigorously worked her way to the equivalent of a high school education. During her time there, she was also given a military aptitude test sponsored by the Coalition military. They were doing a hard recruitment drive, and needed capable men and women to serve. Her grades in school were adequate, through her strong work ethic and determination, but she scored extremely high marks in certain sections of the aptitude test. The Coalition saw potential in her, her knowledge of starships, their systems, and offered her a deal: they would pay for her college, if she agreed to serve with them as an officer.

Rhia attended New Armstrong University of the Sciences, and after four years earned a degree in Military History. Her father had told her so many stories of ancient battles, clever tactics, and ruthless generals to fascinate her as a child. She learned these stories, and more, for herself, and completely dedicated her life to the path that was being set out before her. She'd never imagined she would become a military officer, after the life she lived... especially if they ever found out who her father was. At the conclusion of her senior year, she was given transfer paperwork to the Coalition Naval Flight Academy, where she would continue her education in the rigorous twelve-week course. Again, she was lauded for her exemplary performance and was cited for her clever use of tactics. Her evaluation pegged her as a quick-thinker who worked well under pressure and having the skills required for command. Three weeks after graduating from the academy, she received orders for the CSS Andromeda.

It was aboard this ship that she would meet two men that would come to influence the course of her life as much as her father had: Commander Kenneth Halloran, and Alister Blood. The former was a hard but fair leader, who expected everything from those under his command. The latter was a cocky, trigger-happy little shit that was out for Olympian blood. He got his wish, and a lot more, when the Andromeda was dispatched to the colony of Artemis. Rhia provided air support on the mission, and both saw and heard firsthand the events that unfolded there. She was one of the ones who recommended him for the flight academy, seeing a great amount of potential in him. By the time he returned from the academy, Rhia was the commanding pilot aboard the Andromeda, and welcomed the new junior pilot into her ranks. The two of them grew close, as comrades and friends, and Rhia slowly learned of the tragedies that plagued Alister's life, and that which led him to join the Coalition Navy in the first place.

After Alister was taken to Earth for court-martial, Rhia immediately sensed something suspicious. She'd watched these same people laud his accomplishment, pin medals on his chest, and pile on the commendations. The only reason they'd have turned things around like this, is if they meant to use him as a scapegoat. Six others from the Andromeda's crew who had agreed to testify in Alister's favor died aboard the ship in mysterious circumstances, before they could even make their testimony. Following her intuition, she took a handful of others who were loyal to herself, and to Alister Blood, and provided a distraction. That distraction ended up being the misfire of Andromeda's escape pods, directly at the Coalition Judicial Headquarters. There were zero casualties, as Rhia had calculated, but the ensuing chaos was enough for a team to head onto the ground, retrieve Alister, and escort him onto a shuttle to escape. She lead the team herself, knowing that her entire life would be forfeit after the stunt she'd pulled. But she believed in loyalty to those that deserved it, and saw with her own eyes how the Coalition treated those who made great sacrifices in their name. She'd given everything to the Coalition, just like Alister had, and they'd betrayed him. They'd betrayed her too, and she felt no remorse in doing the same. The two of them rode the shuttle as far as it would go, and began a new life on the run from prosecution. In the end, she couldn't really say why she'd made the gut decision to once again leave the only life she'd known. She only knew that it was the right thing to do... and perhaps God had a hand in it as well, guiding her when she found herself lost.

Personality
Rhia was raised to be smart, cunning, and independent. She values these things as strengths, and strives to exemplify each of them every day of her life. She believes that being smart means more than just reading books, knowing random pieces of information, being able to rattle of facts and figures. Real intelligence comes from bending your mind around difficult situations, finding the hard solutions, solving problems in unconventional ways. To apply the mind to a problem is its duty, as the mind is simply a tool for removing those obstacles. She learned a great deal of 'creative thinking' during her time on her father's ship and amongst his crew, which she carried into her military career. She was always coming up with new tactics to use against the Coalition's enemies, gambling with the lives of her squadron in increasingly dangerous conflicts. Her superiors were always surprised when things worked out, but she wasn't. Things always went about as well as she intended them to.

Cunning means knowing when you're ahead, or finding a way out if you're not. Rhia was well acquainted with the scummy underbelly of the solar system long before she became a pirate herself, aboard the Persephone, and knew that it was all about who could backstab who first, without it coming back to bite them in the ass. Fair fights are for people who don't want to win, and people who complain about a fight not being fair were to weak to do what it took. Never put yourself in a situation where you don't have the upper hand, unless you already have a plan to tip the scales. She's tried endlessly to impress this philosophy onto Alister, in some vain attempt to preempt his reckless schemes. Because one day, the price will be too high, and he'll wish he'd have listened to her after all.

Rhia has never relied on others, with the exception of Alister Blood. He's earned that trust, through hardship, suffering, and carrying Rhia through the darkest moment of her life and back into the light. But other than her implicit belief in her Captain, Rhia considers only herself to be one-hundred percent trustworthy. She's no damsel in distress, no whinging waif, not some poor unfortunate soul who needs a man to save her. Rhia Dravyn fights her own battles, wins them of her own power, and earns every scrap of glory, dignity, and wealth that she has.

The most unlikely thing about Rhia is probably her faith in God. Somewhere along the road of her life, she needed guidance. The sort that no man could give her, and she couldn't even give herself. Her life was turning down an unclear path, and her journey for answers led her to a small, rundown building aboard a now derelict space station. The exterior was crumbling, broken, and decrepit, but the buildings interior was beautiful. Pews carved of actual wood, windows of stained glass where the colors swirled into an elegant picture that lit up just right when the station's simulated day cycle cast the suns beams across it, and a chorus of men and women filling the air with a hopeful symphony. She found herself in a house of God, filthy, alone, conflicted. Her father had told her about these sorts of people, clinging to their invisible man and speaking their empty prayers. He spat on their beliefs, but all Rhia could see was the hope in their eyes, the comfort they gave one another, and the sense of community that they had. She immediately felt this as well, and sat with the congregation for a time, learning the words of the Lord. And she began sneaking away whenever she could, whenever they stopped on another station, or on another moon. She always sought out the children of God, attending sermons, learning the words and psalms, and quietly praying to God for some meaning in her life. God works in mysterious ways they say, and she had a sudden falling with her father. This led her to leaving his crew, and striking out on her own. It placed her on the path, the sequence of events that put her where she is today. She has only ever lost faith in God once... but even then, the Lord sent unto her an angel to protect her and bring her back to the flock. Her faith has been unshakable ever since.

Equipment and Modifications
M99 Tombstone Light Machine Gun - A popular choice for suppressing fire, capable of unleashing hundreds of rounds a minute at incredible speeds, the M99 Tombstone LMG is a weapon to be feared. It features dual-fed by alternating left and right belts in order to reduce the threat of overheating, a system of internal hydraulics that pump out each round with the force to puncture most personnel grade alloy plating, and is equipped with a clamping bipod for securing and stabilizing on almost any surface. Playfully nicknamed the 'Tombstone' for the ease with which it fills a battlefield with corpses, it is a common choice for deployment among soldiers in the Coalition military.

Maelstrom Twin Strike Hand Cannon - This weapon truly lives up to the name of its classification, quite literally a cannon with its incredible stopping power and resulting kickback. One of the few double barreled weapons in production, the Twin Strike is built as a large pistol, a magnetic grip and suppressor coils to absorb the kickback to an amount manageable by a normal human grip. After a hundred initial tests and various configuration combinations, all of which ended in grievous injuries for test subjects (broken wrists, shattered fingers, fractured arms, a few fatal injuries), Maelstrom finally nailed down the technology to further iterate and condense on the double-barreled concept into sidearm form. Each trigger pull fires two slug-sized rounds, ejected with a thunderous boom. After each shot, a manual reload is required to fire the weapon again.

Wrist Mounted Launcher - Integrated into armor, the wrist-mounted launcher is a multi-purpose tool that serves several lethal and functional purposes. Miniature rockets can be loaded, one at a time, into the launcher and fired using the wielder's onboard targeting systems if available, or simply a point and shoot affair if not. Grappling hook cartridges allow the firing of a clawlike mechanism that latches onto a targeted point, where the user can then either retract the line to pull themselves to the point, or detach the line and eject the mounting spike, which can be driven into a flat surface and used as the point of origin for a zip line. Shock charges emit a small burst of electrical energy, enough to overload simple machinery or shock a human of normal size with a harsh jolt. The jolt can be enough to incapacitate a target, using an entire battery, or to shock someone's heart rhythm to function as a defibrillator.

Modal Shock Baton - An extendable, tonfa-like weapon with a secondary side handle for closer grasping against the limb, it exerts an electric charge that erupts upon impact with a target. This shock is enough to leave second-degree burns through light armor, temporarily short out suit-based electronic systems, and can also be switched to a simple concussive repulsor mode that does minimum damage but creates extra distance by knocking your opponent away from you at each contact with the weapon.

NOMAD Armored Flight Suit - Many pilots favor a lighter weight, and yet still durable form of protection that can carry them from cockpit to close-quarters combat in the quick moments of a confrontation. While it cannot withstand puncturing rounds on its own, it is mounted with a Class I Personal Shield Generator, casting a kinetic field in a bubble shape around the wearer. The shield is approximated at being able to take six full-on rounds from most projectile based firearms, and ten direct hits from laser-based weapons. The shield has a two-minute timer before recharging procedures begin, where it subsequently gains ten percent per minute until fully charged again. The generator also absorbs kinetic energy from the wearer, meaning movement charges the generator faster during combat where sprinting and jumping to cover is a common occurrence.