| Ah'Rika Tu'Saki | |
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 | |
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Race |
Ku'Tollan |
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Homeworld |
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Date of Birth |
37-35 PB |
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Allegiance |
- Vuldak Empire |
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Rank |
Captain of VNS Forxire |
Captain Ah'Rika Tu'Saki is female Ku'Tollan naval officer notable as the first of her species to serve in the Vuldak Navy, acting as commanding officer of the VNS Forxire as of 2 PB.
Personality[]
Ambition has always been Ah'Rika's greatest defining trait, be it in her education, while playing sports or in her military career. Advancing up the ranks is something she preoccupies herself with often, with the caveat that she refuses to resort to underhanded tricks or cheating to make her way up the ladder. Everything Arrie has amassed in her career has been hard-earned, and she expects no less than the same mentality of earning their keep through hard work and determination from any man or woman serving under her.
History[]
Early Life[]
Ah'Rika's life began in the city of Saki, an economic center along the coast of Prae'Lonth's northwestern continent. Her parents, both minor bankers working hard to make a living, instilled in her the value of both a dollar and the work it took to earn that dollar, as well as the classical Ku'Tollan values of strong ambition and tenacity in all things. Her childhood was relatively comfortable-all her needs were meant, and given enough dedication and sweat, her parents usually gave her anything she wanted.
Just months before completeing her education and reaching adulthood, Ah'Rika's home country of Tarinth was invaded in the south by their longtime rivals in the nation of Karason. Tarinth's universal draft led to Ah'Rika being ordered into the military the moment she was old enough, where she was allowed to enter into the prestigious Sea And Air Forces thanks to a history of strong academic performance and quickly settled on piloting as the job she wished to pursue.
What became known as the First Twilight War saw Ah'Rika fly dozens of sorties against Karasonian forces, racking up both a decent kill count and a wide reputation for incredibly bold fighting style. Entering the service as an enlisted wingman, Arrie rose to the rank of Senior Lieutenant by the end of the two-year conflict, a success that made her chose to stay in the military as a lifetime career following the war's end.
Over the next decade three more major conflicts across Prae'Lonth had Ah'Rika get into some sort of action, be it flying escort for neutral planes, bombing missions or straight-up dofights against enemy forces. The Twilight Wars were what truly formed the young pilot into the kind of brazen, all-or-nothing leader that attracted the attention of more than just her own species in 4 BB.
First Contact[]
At the spry young age of thirty, a fully matured Lt. Colonel Tu'Saki was among the Tarnith delegation to the very first summit held by alien visitors. A Vuldak cruiser on exploratory duties made contact with the Ku'Tollan people several years after the end of the Twilight Wars, when the planet's various nations had begun to band together into a single global governance. Attending the massive meeting of national dignitaries and Vuldak officials left Ah'Rika absolutely enamored with their newfound friends; even as the Confederated Nations of Prae'Lonth were singing official treaties welcoming all citizens of the Empire to their world, she was fantasizing about being among the first Ku'Tollans to travel to distant star systems.
The opportunity to do so showed up within a month, as the still-coalescing Prae'Lonth Space Forces reached a deal with the Vuldak Navy wherein some of the best Ku'Tollan military minds would spend two years traveling with Imperial vessels, learning about their tactics, technologies, and the risks and rewards of stellar combat. With a status bordering damn near on war hero, Ah'Rika was easily accepted into the program. Soon she began visiting ships from all corners of the navy, from frigates on light patrols to front-line cruisers and even the occasional dreadnought.
Through the entire experience she payed immaculate attention to every detail, learning all she could and filing constant reports on what she'd discovered travelling with Prae'Lonth's tenative new allies. When the journey finally expired, Ah'Rika hopped aboard the VNS Foxfire to return home, joining the cruiser as it prepared for a journey that would lead it near Prae'Lonth before reaching a starbase to be decommissioned. The seemingl boring flight would take a turn that radically altered the rest of Ah'Rika's life in ways she never foresaw.
Battle of Denfir[]
The small military base at Denfir where Ah'Rika was picked up had spent years as the operating headquarters of the VNS Foxfire, the prototype for a cruiser that would make use of artillerized laser cannons abandoned due to massive inefficiencies in it's power systems making the main guns all but useless. Relegated to a quiet life patrolling an unimportant garrison, the vessel had finally been scheduled for retirement in 2 BB, it's last voyage to be a stop at Prae'Lonth to drop off Ah'Rika.
Engine troubles forced the vessel to stay in dock just long enough that, as it fired off into sublight, a Kasmari battleship dropped out of hyperspace in orbit of the planet. Caught completely off guard and never much in a fight to begin with, the Foxfire was devastated by an assault from fighters launched by the rebel ship, barely driving off it's attackers long enough to limp away, communications gone and it's home base obliterated, into an ion cloud near the edge of the system where they could hide from enemy sensors.
The surprise attack not only knocked out the ship's long-range comms and hyperdrive, but caused massive casualties that the vast majority of the command staff and all but a skeleton crew of personell survived. Ah'Rika, wounded herself from standing too close to an exploding conduit, was determined in the next eight hours by several of the survivng officers to have more combat experience and first-hand knowledge of both command and Vuldak naval tactics than anyone else aboard thanks to her career on Prae'Lonth and two years abroad.
With so many lives still at stake and no-one better qualified to command the ship in it's time of need, Ah'Rika dutifully accepted the position now thrust upon her and began trying to formulate a plan for escaping the cloud alive. With the damage to their hyperdrive and comms irreparable and no spares available, it was clear their only hope was to somehow capture the enemy vessel or steal their driveor use thier communications system-a nigh impossible task in the mind of any normal officer, but Ah'Rika's penchant for brazen, fearless assaults, combined with some previous research on the Foxfire, gave her a halfway feasible plan.
Her plot was not a terribly complex one-based on what she had read out of curiosity before coming aboard, the main issue with the Foxfire's power systems was that it could not supply sufficient energy to run both the shields and long-range cannons at sufficient strength to survive a direct battle. Knowing that there was no way to remedy that flaw from their current position, Ah'Rika instead ordered that every scrap of metal they could spare be either welded to the hull or used to reinforce structural integrity; they would run with as much makeshift armor and no shields, pouring everything into weapons in the hopes of being able to utterly cripple the enemy battleship with their opening shots.
It took two days of tense, hurried work to put her plan into place, but withno better options available, the crew moved furiously to ready the Foxfire as she had requested. When every single piece of metal not needed for critcal systems had been used to reinforce the ship, a mildly nervous Ah'Rika ordered they charge full-speed out of the cloud; once outside they found their oppoent within minutes, already launching fighters and preparing it's mass drivers. Dumping most of their remaining power systems into the cannons, the Foxfire unleased a hellish series of blasts that utterly annhilated the battleship's shields and ripped straight into the hull. The rigged-up armor easily absorbed multiple torpedo impacts, shrugging off projectiles as if they were nothing more than peashooter rounds
Horrified at what had just been unleashed by the supposedly helpless cruiser, the fighters broke off and scattered, making no attempt to launch a counter-attack as the Vuldak ship easily cruised in and came within shuttle range of the battleship. Ah'Rika's demands that the ship's captain surrender his vessel and prepare for boarding was nearly met with return fire, but with no way of knowing what else the Ku'Tollan could pull, he begrudgingly accepted the demand, surrendering fully to a nearly crippled vessel and it's haggard survivors.
[]
The incredible victory was immediately seized upon by Imperial propaganda, held up as an example of the unstoppable determination of Vuldak crews, the overconfidence of the Kasmari and the value of the latest race to enter the galactic scene to the Empire. Ah'Rika herself, now known throughout civilized space and hailed as a hero of the space age on Prae'Lonth, attracted the attention of Admiral Carlisle Drahgan himself; seeing the amazing potential in her as a commanding officer, the commander of the Vuldak Navy personally offered Ah'Rika command of the Foxfire once it had been refit with enhanced armor and state-of-the-art power systems that would finally remedy it's major flaw.
Ecstatic and honored, Ah'Rika wholeheartedly accepted induction into the Vuldak Navy at the rank of Captain, command of the vessel she had helped save and a position within Drahgan's own fleet. In the next three years, she quickly became one of the empire's rising stars, an example of the ideal officer as well as a living symbol of the bond between Prae'Lonth and the empire. Through a series of both minor and major encounters with Kasmari forces she secured her reputation as one of the boldest CO's in the fleet, and a friendship with Carlisle close enough to spawn just a few rumors about the future emperor having... exotic tastes.