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| Negative Space Background |
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| by Jason "Rodzilla" Rodzik |
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| Posted on September 26, 2004 |
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For the second part of our background on Negative Space, we have biographies of all of the main characters involved in the game.
LTN. Frank D. Mossback
Function: Lieutenant of Delta Squad 73, CRF-ZULU Company
Callsign: "Eltee"
Status: Monitored
Career History: Mossback joined the CRF when he was already a veteran of several interstellar conflicts. His failed assassination attempt of dictator Jaojin-Zamat of the Cuturu system got him ousted from the Presidio SpecFor division Avernus. He was blacklisted by most security companies within the Presidio and had no other place to turn than the CRF. To this very day Avernus operatives monitor his actions when he enters the Hamilton-Asher zone around Sol system. Mossback is a loudmouthed and aggressive individual. His relationship with CRF-ZULU Company can be described as ‘tentative’ at best. CRF-ZULU assigns all their shitty jobs to his squad.
Shepherd
Function: Company Android of Delta Squad 73, CRF-ZULU Company
Callsign: "Shepherd"
Status: Classified
Career History: Shepherd is the second Company Android to be assigned to Delta Squad 73, the previous one having been mysteriously flattened to pulp by a gravity plate of the inner hull of Delta-73’s battleship, the UESC-Katsuragi. Shepherd is an android fabricated in the labs of LyndonTech, a recently bankrupted planetary division of IBS, and has been reassigned from overseeing the environmental systems of an obscure UESC probe station to his current assignment: babysitting a group of sociopath marines on the very outer edge of completely nowhere. Shepherd spends most of his time either defragging Katsuragi's dataliths or pondering how he could hack his own synthbrain in order to upload a new careerplan to the Primary Dominion Controller.
Jonas Kurtz
Function: Senior Pilot of the UESC-Katsuragi’s Anti Gravity Craft
Callsign: "Harbinger"
Status: Active
Career History: Kurtz has been a buddy of Mossback as far back as the times when they worked for Avernus. Together they have killed and maimed entire planetary populations of bug species and neo-commies, and perhaps, some innocent bystanders as well. The two of them are not really keeping score and from the window slits of an AGC Spaceframe bomber, they all look like little ants anyway. Kurtz is well known for the longest bombing run ever attempted within the Presidio. He dropped 20 planetbuster nukes upon the rebellious factory world of Baishen, outran the subversive cruiser fleet guarding the planet via slingshot around the system’s primary star and dropped out of light speed near the allied rebel world of Raniyama. There he fired his total payload of Juno-V Antimatter missiles into the main ocean near the capitol, causing a tsunami that traversed the entire planet 3 consecutive times. When radio traffic from the drowned planet ceased, the last major rebellion of the 2230’s had ended (the Raniyama rebels were considered to have capitulated) and Jonas Kurtz became known as the legendary "Harbinger". When Mossback got ousted from Avernus SpecFor, Kurtz went with him, unable to say goodbye to "the Old Betty". There were just too many happy -if bloody- memories. She was his favourite bomber after all.
Elmo Bryant
Function: Junior Pilot of the UESC-Katsuragi’s Anti Gravity Craft
Callsign: "Upside"
Status: Active
Career History: Bryant is a legend in his own right. He got assigned to Delta-73 because of an incident in which the planetary mayor of Cialus Secundus got both his legs torn off. Straight out of flight academy, Bryant got assigned to a squad flying the newest type of stealth cruisers from AGC Spaceframe. This type of stealth cruiser was made of Teiton Anti-light plating, which gave the entire craft the appearance of a featureless black box. Someone humorously painted "This Side Up" on one side of the craft, with a little arrow indicating the belly of the ship. It was an age-old joke of Presidio dropship pilots, but Bryant hadn’t really caught on. He was unfamiliar with the ship’s design and as he was assigned computer maintenance detail, he overzealously assumed that simply inverting the black craft with help of the robotic docking clamps would correct the error. This in fact turned out to be inconsequential to the ship, which could take off or fly from any position or direction, except that the chainmetal fuel hose still attached to the ship violently sliced through the ship’s immediate vicinity as it inverted. The mayor, who was christening the ship at the time, had no way to evade the fuel hose that came sweeping past, and was permanently shortened by one-third of his length. So began the laborious and torturous career of Elmo Bryant, nicknamed "Upside", which ultimately saw him sent off to the Katsuragi and Delta Squad 73.
PVT. Wayne Kuchera
Function: Private, Delta Squad 73, CRF-ZULU Company
Callsign: "90210"
Status: Active
Career History: Kuchera was forced into CRF service by his parents: a yuppie couple of 3rd tier shareholders from the world of Kepikea. Having burned away his brain with stims at age 16 and doing nothing else but surfing, Kuchera was targeted by the Community Trash Division for immediate biological reclamation upon complaints of him tipping over sleeping Dunecalves (an indigenous type of cow grazing along the coasts). He was sent off into CRF service and by way of a series of unfortunate incidents, to Delta-73. It is entirely unclear whether Kuchera fully grasps the situation or if he just considers it to be a very long trip. He has never shown any inclination to try and get home.
PVT. Barry Speers
Function: Private, Delta Squad 73, CRF-ZULU Company
Callsign: "Ragdoll"
Status: Monitored
Career History: Barry Speers was born on the ethnic British world of Maxwell. At age 16 he entered the ESA University of Kelvinshire where he majored in physics and graduated with honors at age 20. Considered to be an example of the finest British colonial society could produce, Speers was quickly recruited by the scientific division of Maxwell’s orbital enclave: Wellington. There he pursued a career as a researcher in zero-gee weaponry and armour. He married and had two children. Life was perfect for Barry Speers until ten years later, his wife divorced him and took their children with her. From there on, Speers’ life spiralled downward. His career crashed (the elitist society of Wellington did not look favourable upon dysfunctional families), he suffered streaks of alcoholism, stim abuse and paranoia. When he was laid off several months later, Speers continued to come to work, much to the chagrin of his fellow workers. After several reprimands and failed job interviews at the station’s Spacedock Services, Speers was asked to leave Wellington. It isn’t entirely clear what happened next, for strangely malfunctioning security cameras and monitor drones were unable to record the tragedy at Wellington’s Omicron Labs, but when Speers left the station a large part of the research team had been brutally shredded by zero-gee explosives. The PR department of Omicron Labs covered up the case, but corporate assassins were immediately dispatched to neutralise Speers. He managed to evade them for several months until they caught up with him at Sanguinus Prime where he was executed by the very same incineration devices he helped create. As far as the corporate security division of Wellington’s Omicron Labs was concerned this was the end of a very unfortunate affair. Speers however, using several outlawed cloning techniques performed only on Sanguinus Prime, had duplicated himself and his brain. The Speers clone fled further towards the Line Colonies, and ultimately enlisted into CRF service at Hale Base. Sheridan Kirk, the marine commander of the base, wasn’t too picky and decided that Speers would be a perfect addition to an already volatile outfit: Delta-73 (Kirk had hated Mossback’s gut since ages). Though the local Presidio A.I. informed the commander of Hale Base that Delta-73’s android would have to monitor Speers closely, all further reports about Speers history were suppressed. Only Shepherd knows the true story of Speers’ origins, and Speers doesn't know that.
PVT. William Ray Hickox
Function: Private, Delta Squad 73, CRF-ZULU Company
Callsign: "Goatboy"
Status: Active
Career History: Hickox joined up with the CRF because his father and granddaddy had done so before him. In fact, the Hickox men had a glorious history of partaking in some of the most bloody and inane conflicts ever to have fought in the Presidio. Most of them never did live longer than their 25th birthday. William lived a pretty ordinary life up until his 15th and from there on joined Zulu-Companies’ Alpha-42 squad upon entering CRF service. His stint as tracker during his time with this prestigious squad earned him the nickname "Goatboy". He used to freak sentry patrols out by creeping up to them undetected and making ‘baaaahhh’ sounds in their ear when he returned from a recon mission. This eventually led to an unfortunate shooting incident in which William lost his right arm and three sentry guardsmen their lives. Hickox was punished in the usual way CRF-Zulu Company distributes its copious amounts of disciplinary shit: he was sent off to Delta-73.
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