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Helen Mellanby

"The true Soldier fights not out of a desire to destroy, the true Soldier fights to protect "

0 · 478 views · located in The Milky Way Galaxy

a character in “Nebula's Dawn: Lance of Liberty”, as played by Colonel_Masters

Description

Name: Helen Mellanby

Image

Age: 27

Place of Birth: New Sydney, uncertain location

Gender: Female

Occupation: Currently Officer in the New Sydney Garrison, Was studying law before the Insurgency.

Rank: Major NSG 1st Armored battalion (New Sydney Garrison "Guards")

Appearance: Helen is the ethnic mix which characterizes the later stage of the human colonization of the Cosmos under the Federations guidance and the symbolic blending of nations; The Federations greatest achievement to date.

Blond and Black eyed Helen is in appearance mainly Caucasian but she is a mixture and boasts a Sound genetic make-up largely thanks to the lessons learned by humanity after the numerous screw ups during the initial expansion to the Stars (despite such Screw ups continuing to the present day, such as the one that left Helen orphaned)

Despite a number of unpleasant injuries sustained during the recent fighting against the insurgency Helen remains a state of good health and has few visible scars, the majority of them burn marks on her right arm and hand the latter being amputated and replaced with a cybernetic model (made to appear as a normal hand but a simple touch can determine its true identity with ease)

Helen's hair is normally cut short and she does not bother much with decoration since the start of the insurgency. During peacetime Helen never wore her uniform while off duty and liked to separate her civilian life from her military one, since the Insurgency Helen has dispensed with her old habits and wares her uniform at all times along with her combat gear.

Unlike the Federation Military the Guards Uniform does not offer much protection and bares more similarity to the military uniforms of old despite the largely useless armor strapped to it.

Height: 5'4"

Weight: Normal (I am hopeless with this)

Personality

General: Like many orphans in the Federation Helen grew up in an environment where loyalty to the Federation and discipline are the foundations of a healthy spirit.

Helen has since the beginning of the Insurgency grown distant from the Federation and considers the well-being of her fellow colonists her first and last concern despite the Federation's "we are all part of one nation" attitude to its colonists.

Helen is still a believer in the cause of the federation and has on numerous times been called an indoctrinated fool by Insurgency supporters, regardless as a member of the Garrison Helen makes sure the Law of the Federation is obeyed while looking after the well-being of the locals.

Helen is a reserved personality but she is not a calm or quite one; Helen likes talking to just about anyone and has a genuine interest in what most people have to say, on the other hand Helen especially during these turbulent times is tired, nervous and afraid.

Helen knows that in such a state the chances of her making a mistake are far greater than in the past and thus questions almost her every action.
This hesitancy when noticeable does not have anyone apart from Helen concerned and that fact alone causes Helen even greater fears over the trust others have in her leadership.

With a full blown insurgency on the Guard's hands Helen knows she has no choice but to assume a leadership role, Helen fears more than anything making a mistake that will get further guards and locals killed.

Privately Helen is beginning to think that the war against the insurgency is turning from a suppression of an armed rising to a battle of self-preservation of the Guard and locals who still support it and the federation.

From a young age Helen did what she considered to be right however since her sudden promotion due to the near complete destruction of the NSG Helen lacks the self-confidence she once held and feels overburdened with the responsibility entrusted to her.

Helen believes in leading from the front (leading her force into combat from the front lines) and has been at least partially responsible for the Guard's change of tactics in the aftermath of the Insurgency, A change which improved the organization and moral among the troops.

Helen knows that the rate of casualties among the officers of the guard has increased but also notes that the causality rate for the guard is currently greater than the overhaul reinforcement rate.

Helen feels that too much has changed too quickly and has seen her sense of security burn like her hand however Helen tries not to display her concerns.

Helen views her work in the guard as beyond mere soldiering and has actively been involved in her local community, so much so that Helen is seen by some as a future political leader.

Helen despite her hesitations feels in her heart that her future lies with the betterment of the community, maybe even as a leader outside the field of battle.


Likes: peace and quiet, being involved, her homeland, the guard, 8 hours sleep (rare luxury) driving, camping, Traveling in New Sydney, talking to local people, knowing what tomorrow will bring.

Dislikes/Phobias: events outside her control and understanding, destruction, death and desperation.

Quirks/Idiosyncrasies: plays with her army knife when thinking about something on occasion, (will update)

Equipment

Helen owns little else other than an extra uniform along with the one she currently owns and the few weapons the guard can lay its hand on at this time. As the commanding officer of the 1st armored battalion Helen on paper seems to be in control of a powerful combat unit, this assumption has one major problem; the guard hardly has any tanks, gunships or other heavy equipment left. With only 6 serviceable tanks along with a few dozen armored cars and two close air support gunships under her command Helen can only afford raid like offensives against the Insurgents. The 1st armored also suffers from a crippling lack of combat ready soldiers and a dire supplies shortage, unless the Federation sends aid soon the unit will be unable to survive for long.

History

Brief Background History:

Helen grew up among the unfortunate victims of early colonization efforts, her family most likely died from one of the many plagues which struck early human settlements In New Sydney before the time in which further colonists where given a vaccine to counter the effects.

As in many cases Helen was moved from one place of care to the next until like many before her she found her way to one of the many new Federation orphanages which had been established as a direct result of the growing number of Orphans.

Helen unlike others like her remained on New Sydney; the place of her birth which had its own Federation Orphanage opened by the then military governor after a particularly bad year (before local civilian administration was elected)

Life was a strict affair in the orphanages but Helen and was treated fairly and given as much as a state run establishment can give; Food, shelter, education even a reason to exist in the universe after the extensive upbringing to have faith in the Federation cause.

The orphanages could not give the young unfortunate children the family stolen from them by the ever changing fortunes of destiny but In Helen's case it wasn't as bad as others who unlike her remembered the life stolen from them.

Helen's grew like many orphans taken in by the Federation accepting the fact that the time and effort spent by the Federation to raise her and others like her did not come free and that one day Helen would have to fight for the federation to repay the debt.

Such subtle and not so subtle indoctrination was the business of the federation orphanages and while some remained skeptical of the outright cases of federation propaganda most accepted the fact that they had a duty to the federation just as the federation had a duty to them.

Helen was specially selected by the Federation Military testers who periodically came to the orphanages to become an officer and upon reaching seventeen years of age was sent along with others of her "brood" to the recently created Federation Officers Academy to complete her training and eventually become the core of the newly forming New Sydney Garrison.

Helen at first an anxious teenager looking for her place in the universe adopted Areca as her home and sought to belong in the fast developing colony.

As she began to receive her first duties Helen began involving herself personally in the well-being of the locals she increasingly considered her own community and who likewise accepted Helen as one of their own. At 18 years of age shortly before completing her training Helen was formally adopted by Admiral (retired) Jefferson Mellanby and his wife with whom she had established a relationship during her training.

Helen's military career was mainly uneventful until the beginning of insurgent activity's in the area a few years ago, In fact Helen had began studying law thanks to the special deals offered by the Federation Military to its officers .

During the great insurgency Helen was not an active member of the guard and thus escaped death unlike many of her fellow officers who where not as lucky, she was recalled to military service as a captain and was part of the counter attack against insurgents in the battered city of Areca.

The attack caused the destruction of most of Areca's Guard forces along with the loss of many guard units in other areas of new Sydney thanks to mutiny's within the guard and numerous acts of insurgence.

Helen was badly burned in her right hand and leg when her own tank suffered a direct hit by Insurgent mines. Eventually Areca was retaken by the guard however it was truly a pyrrhic victory (a victory so costly it's not really a victory at all) and many units of the guard following the reorganization of its forces were forced to merge in order to retain even a shred of combat effectiveness.

Helen due to her actions on the day, her part in the reorganization, the fact she was among the few officers to survive the initial attacks was promoted to Major and now in the wake of renewed Insurgent attacks is the officer in charge of coordinating the Federation efforts against the Insurgency with the special forces being sent and is awaiting the Salient's arrival.

So begins...

Helen Mellanby's Story

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Character Portrait: Helen Mellanby
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One week before the Salient's arrival in the Arcturus System

Morning came to New Sydney as the Arcturus sunlight began to illuminate the surface, for millions upon millions of years the same cycle had repeated itself just as it had back on Earth, "while the stars shine bright there is hope" was a favorite line among those who could comprehend the beginning of each new day.

The Earth began to rattle, dust rose from the desert's soil as a formation of bulky machines advanced along the landscape breaking the timeless silence of this world and bringing a very different message to this seemingly unchanging realm.

The speeder shook for a few moments sending Helen's head straight to the metal bar which held the roof in place, the desert was by no means flat gentle land. Helen braced her head for a few moments swearing silently, this speeder was certainly not designed for comfort.

"Are you alright, Sir?" asked Armand, he was the right side machine gunner in the speeder, he was a scared man but fully capable of preforming his duty.

Helen nodded slightly embarrassed with herself, as she removed her hands from her Head she took the time to gaze at her right hand. She moved it slightly testing the cybernetic lib, it was made with the intention to seem like a normal hand but it certainly didn't feel like one.

"Sir would you like me to pack the roof? We are nearing the base"

"Very well Marshall, what is our ETA?"

"Five standard minutes."

Helen nodded and waited as the roof receded; the speeder was built for open roof operations however the sand storms of New Sydney's deserts made a roof indispensable.

This convoy had five speeders; three such as this one which acted as the "landers" and the other two which where the heavy battle models. Helen took hold of her binoculars and gazed ahead, what had once been a Federation base of some kind had been almost utterly destroyed by what seemed to be an internal explosion.

"Yes that seems like the base Intel told us about, bring us in Marshall, Gray, signal to the rest of the convoy, tell the heavies to advance ahead and report what they see, Evon prepare your strike team.

"Sir, yes sir," was the echoed reply.

This was not a typical mission, the Insurgency did strike at many bases and Helen was used to rushing to the area but this was not exactly the case.

This time the Federation waited an entire week before ordering the guard to investigate and that simply made no sense to Helen. Rumors even went as far as to claim that it was only because an NSG information officer caught wind of it did the Federation choose to sanction a search by the guard. There had been some heavy sandstorms in the area lately but that was no reason to abandon an entire base… what were the Feds playing at?

"All clear sir, but it’s a hell of a mess."

"Roger that Armored patrol, we are coming in now" replied Helen as the Speeders gained speed and flew to the site.

"Keep your guns ready and form up on the gates," said Helen to the speeder crews as she jumped out of her speeder with the troopers and walked into the base.

The base was a mess alright; a generator overload was Helen's assessment of it since it seemed the explosion was mostly internal. There where unmistakable scorches of battle, an Insurgent raid was obviously the culprit.

"Anything to report Sergeant Evon?" inquired Helen, Amelia Evon was the only other woman on this particular mission which was a bit strange considering the sharp increase of female volunteers to the Force.

"Nothing apart from the obvious Ma'am, the lower levels of the base are still accessible but there is nothing there apart from ruins as far as I can see."

"Very well, we will go into the lower levels then"

Helen walked with Evon taking note of the damage… so much burning, Helen knew that Venom was involved in this attack and large quantities of it this wasn't a raid of brigands, this was a raid of professionals.

"Ma'am… I thought we were ordered not to enter the base under any circumstances," said one of the troopers.

Helen turned and face the trooper "The Feds took an entire week to decide they even cared about this base in the first place so to hell with them," Helen was in no mood for protocol, she wanted to know what this was all about.

"Here is the entrance sir," said Evon as they neared a hatch, some of the troopers looked worried about going against Fed orders but most seemed to agree with Helen's interpretation of the situation.

Helen, Evon, and two other troopers entered the lower levels; it seemed as if someone had come in with a flame thrower and burned the place out. Helen guessed that the Federation was testing something here which the Insurgents didn't approve of…but what that something was she had no clue. Every terminal was destroyed… as if someone had taken the time to take them out. Helen examined the damage; it was a total write off but maybe Grey could salvage something.

"Gray, can you please come here to help me with something?" Manfred Grey was an information and navigation officer, normally he would not be on this mission but he decided he needed a change of environment and applied. One positive of the current chaos was that Helen and other similar ranking officers enjoyed great freedom of action, ever since HQ had been quite literally blown up by the insurgents.

Gray arrived within moments with a look of enthusiasm Helen didn't get to see often these days… indeed the only enthusiasm she witnessed was the enthusiasm to take prisoners to a short walk in the desert and dispose of them there.
Gray attempted to salvage the data and by the expression on his face Helen knew he wasn't too sure with his results.

Helen ordered him to review his findings on the way back; the unit spent another hour investigating the base before packing up and going home. This time there weren't even any bodies to burry; all Helen could find was an Insurgent helmet on the desert covered by a few inches of sand.

The way back was made in silence, Helen could not understand why the Federation built these bases, and what was the point of all this secrecy?

"Find anything yet Grey?"

Grey hesitated "Well not really, the data is to fragmented, but I think I can with time get the locations of other bases based on the data traffic… or at least the hub which received this information. All I can say for sure is that this data was mined by the insurgents, they did do some damage to the Terminals but one or two of them remained online until two days ago."

"None were even intact when we came…" thought Helen, she stopped, was that even possible?

So the Federation had attempted to destroy the data. Helen wondered if this gave the rumors of the so called "Black Watch" some foundation. Rumors of a Federation special ops unit capable of operating without regards to law, rumors circulated that terror, murder, and the extermination of entire colonies where a daily given to this unit.

Helen knew it was all exaggerated, the real question was did this force exist at all? A force so zealous in its loyalty to the Federation that it was trusted to operate outside any supervision and capable of dealing with all elements of the Federation like the Inquisition on classical Earth?

"Keep me informed Grey," Was all Helen could say for now, this mission did not provide the answers to her suspicions, but it did provide the questions. What was the Federation doing that was so against its established code of conduct that it had to be so secretive?

Helen wondered, what did all this mean? Helen gazed at the sun, in the Sun's rays there could be found heat, light but to Helen there was a third treasure; Truth.
Helen gazed at the west, a storm was coming.
A storm was coming.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Helen Mellanby
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Federation Sol military district officials enjoyed the benefits of gigantic office buildings, the best humanity had to offer in terms of personnel and a budget one could by an entire planet with.

In the frontier Helen the local used a requisitioned school house as an HQ, a largely drafted body of demoralized, disillusioned, ill trained, poorly equipped "soldiers" and a merge budget which normally gets swallowed by Bureaucracy despite it being drawn from the fortunes of local inhabitants.

Helen's solution was to do the only thing she could do, act. In too many new Sydney garrison units sloppiness, inefficacy and petty corruption went rampant. This was a natural consequence; if the Federation didn't take the frontier seriously why should the frontier take the Federation seriously? This thought was quite contagious, Helen was not immune to it; it was this sense of neglect which was responsible for the near complete abandonment of Federation drill and protocol and Helen was no different in that regard.

Helen kept her troops busy in every possible way from chasing "ghost" in the desert sands as the saying went when the risk was affordable to fixing up the road. Helen made clear what she wanted and when she wanted it but the how was as influenced by her direct subordinates as it was by her will.

If an officer made a minor error he could be reprimanded, if an officer was responsible for a failure he could be court-martialed but if an officer was irresponsible, sloppy or self motivated with the lives of his soldiers and the mission he would be executed. Among the now battle hardened and dwindling NSG officer core this was a rarity however among the green Federation transfer officers it happened.

Now under "siege" by the horrendous insurgent presence of this area and with no effective means of supply and reinforcement to build up a force powerful enough to conduct attacks it seemed all Helen could do was attend meetings.

Today was exceptional since Leslie Montgomery, the commander of all federation forces in the area was leading it. The commander had taken temporary control of Helen's office since it was near to the problematic zones but Helen didn't mind it too much so long as she got it back after the meeting.

"Enter" said the commander casually releasing the door's lock from the terminal, Helen and four other officers entered the room taking their designated seats around the former head master's conference table. All the officers knew the problem at least as far as their duties where concerned; the insurgent presence in the area made Federation law and Federation order a laughing stock and there was nothing the Guard could do in this populated area.

The commander had given them a day to consider their view on the way forward, the broadcasting equipment had been "wired" to his terminal but the words he would speak where not yet officially sanctioned for the time being.

"Fellow officers, we return here a day after our last meeting. The time for talking on this subject is now over; we now must make a decision"

A short silence followed until broken by Helen who had deep reservations with what the Commander was suggesting.

"Are we truly going to accept this course of action? The implications of such an action are all too clear in my eyes; we would loss the last shreds of authority we have over this region"

"As if we have any authority over this area left" interjected Arnon commander of the Western sector. "When was the last time we sent a patrol into the streets and the villages without it losing at least a few dozen to injury? The entire countryside is as thick as rats with the bastards; even desert duty is preferred to town patrols now"

"I hardly see how the favorite tasks among the troops is relevant Protested Chao" Chao was the commander of the civil police forces and like Helen had similar concerns to the local Inhabitants of the area.
"I agree that our control over the residential areas is difficult but the general populace still at least officially respects our authority"

"Its relevant because before this mess the least favored tasks in the guard were the desert patrol duties… now that's moral for you." Began Arnon clearly interested in picking a fight.

"Our latest statistical analysis in this area has concluded that one out of six civilians is aiding the Insurgents actively while one out of three is supporting them discreetly. Explained Grim who had since replaced Morris Greece after the latter had been assasinated as local sector central intelligence officer, he was always happy to add something when he could to any matter in discussion.


"I can't see how it's even a possibility; we don't have the means to enact any such policy regardless of the situation" added Helen ignoring Grim's unsettling report since it was mainly based on federal records.


"While we have no answer to the insurgents in terms of specific targets and flushing them out to the open we have sufficient destructive power to eliminate any surfaced resistance at least for the time being" said the Commander trying to redirect the officers to making a decision. "This capability is eliminated by the fact that the Insurgents hide among the populace rendering any counter insurgency effort futile"

"Aren't we simply pushing on the problem to somebody else?" asked Satoshi the Combined operations officer in charge of organizing operations with other units.

"The refuge camps are specially designed to process a great number of people, they don't catch all the Insurgents but they do temporally eliminate a process group as an effective Insurgent force" voiced Grim

"So we are just playing for time, I rather kill 50 Insurgents in a raid while the area remains populated then 200 once the area is evacuated… its sheer folly!" protested Chao.

"The point is you are not getting 200, hell you don't get 50! We are lucky to catch 10 most times" counterattacked Arnon who never quite liked Chao due to his civil service rather then military background.

"This discussion is not about enemy losses" said Helen who had by now heard enough and wanted to get this over with. "This is about our losses, we don't need 50 or 200 enemy dead, what we need is 10, 50 of our own alive."
This battle is a battle of attrition we can't afford to fight, the real battle is not yet upon us yet we are being bled white slowly but surely. This is a fight for survival and we are losing.

We can't afford to alienate the local population any further, the more ammunition with give the Insurgency against us the more it will have to fire at us. If we want to avoid a massacre we should withdraw while we have the chance and regroup in safer areas. By careful use of provocation tactics we may then show the people what the Insurgents really are instead of wasting ourselves futilely in this expensive and costly deployment."

"We also can't afford to lose any more sectors! The more we lose the greater the power of the insurgency and we have lost quite enough already. Major I understand your local sympathies and applaud them however I will not accept any more withdrawals. Not one step back! That will be our motto from this day fourth with god as my witness we will show these rebels the Iron fist of the federation!" Snapped the commander who had clearly had enough with the debate.

"Are we agreed then?" asked Chao who seemed to resign himself to the decision understanding that the commander had made up his mind already and that nothing would change it now.

The officers nodded, The Commander activated the broadcaster and began to read out a text he had written two days prior to the meeting.

"Attention, Attention please stand by for an important announcement. Concerning the acts of armed aggression against the peace keeping forces of the New Sydney garrison The Federation has no alternative but to order the evacuation of affected regions.

Civilians will be sent to the Refugee concentration and administration zone in Atmos. The only persons remaining in the area will be those wearing the uniforms of the Federation military.

Any one found in civilian clothing upon the completion of the evacuation will be shot. That is all"