Description
Kendra Shaw, present dayFull Name: Kendra Takayama Nee; Shaw
Titles: Empress Dowager
Birthdate: Iunius, 22nd, 1st Yahren, 8th age.
Race: Human (Aschen)
Rank: Empress
Class: Royalty
Age: 30 (Appears 30)
Height: 5' 6"
Weight: 125lbs
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Brown
Number of Siblings: 0
Patron God: Zeus ("Father of Gods and men"l.)
Place of Birth: Illumini, Gemenon, Langara
Skills and TalentsAcademic Knowledge (Classical Studies, Tactics, Mathematics)
Viper Training, Piloting
Read/Write
Speaks and writes two languages fluently (Common, Gemonese)
Marksmanship
Strategy and Tactics
Political Science
Equipment
Type-25 Directed Energy Pistol: The Plasma Pistol is a standard Aschen Directed Energy Weapon that uses superheated ionized gas called plasma rather than traditional ballistic ammunition. The weapon has a power output of 100-150 KV @ 2~3 dA, but when overcharged, the power output is 1.5 MV @ 2~3 dA.
Communication Device: A small subspace communication device that can fit in the palm of one's hand allows Shaw to communicate not only with other forces on the ground, but any ships currently in orbit at the time. Utilizing a subspace transmission, it is capable of super-luminal communication.
Portable Computron
Pen (Tech Con Precision Ball V2)
Wallet that contains one Credit card (Union Gemonese Credit), a Bank Card (Illumini Federal Bank and Loan), Driver License (Gemenon Prefectural), Military ID, (AHSC), and roughly three-hundred and fifty nine Aschen Cubits in denominations of 1, 5, 10, and 20.
History
Kendra Shaw is an officer from the Ministry of Defense who is assigned to the Solemn Penance as then Admiral Helena Cain's aide when the Reverence puts in for an overhaul at the Scorpion Fleet Shipyards. She sees the assignment as a stepping stone to her real goal, which is Fleet Command.
Shaw's mother, former Siress Marta Shaw, recently died of cancer prior to the lieutenant's posting to Pegasus. It is insinuated by Cain upon her first meeting with Shaw that she receives this posting due to her mother's influence. Shaw also claims to be a "lapsed Classics major" upon recognizing that Gina Inviere's last name is old Gemenese for "resurrection".
Never having served on a Reverence before, she quickly draws Admiral Cain's attention, initially drawing her ire for reporting in late because she couldn't find her way to the CIC, as well as the deduction that Shaw was using the assignment as a step on the career ladder. During the Terran Conflict, she becomes one of Cain's most trusted officers — Cain sees in her a potential to become molded into a "razor". Cain's confidence in her abilities gets her promoted to captain.
After her promotion to Captain she still serves under Cain through the Terran Conflict, demonstrating her tactical prowess, she was assigned command of the Tripartite Base after the finalization of peace negotiations. Promoted to Commander, she served aboard the Solemn Penance.
Recently, in light of the Terrorist attacks, she was promoted to Fleet Admiral, and assigned command of the Classis I Sector Langara (2 Reverence II Fleets, and 1 CNV Strike Fleet), where she carried out Operation Ordo Infernus, resulting in the complete destruction of a great portion of Terra's surface through slow and thorough glassing.
Broken by the gravity of her deeds, she turned to drugs in the hopes she could cope with the nightmares of the atrocities she committed under the command of the Aschen Empire, inevitably she was captured by Terran Authorities, but managed to flee to the Taiyou Empire. There she earned the affection of then Emperor Nobuo Takayama, whom she married and bore two children, Aeka, and Shimizu.
So begins...
Kendra Shaw whimpered some more, then she looked up, to where the light had played perfectly on the whites of the woman's eyes. "Who I am doesn't matter, I'll be executed before the week is over." She said, looking back down to her torso, what was a lavish yukata, was a shredded piece of cloth, barely covering the woman's chest, the tattered cloth hanging loosely around her form.
"I am Shol'va." The woman said quietly.
Kendra Shaw whimpered some more. "That name means nothing to me now. I am Shol'va." She said, looking to the ground. "I have dishonored everything I have stood for over the course of my life, they came like lightning and then they were gone, they took me from him, they took me from my refuge and brought me here, to judge me, to execute me, to make me face the highest crime one can face, treason." She said, crossing her legs.
"I am Shol'va."
Kendra Shaw nodded. "I went to Niihama because I didn't want to die, and I don't want to die, do you know how the Aschen execute people? It's public, for the Shol'va, it will be a public execution, I will be strung by my entrails, and then my corpse will be paraded through the city, it will be a humiliating, public execution."
Kendra Shaw laughed. "Hah, when you are Shol'va and you die you are condemned to the void, having betrayed that which you were sworn to defend, how can you approach this so nonchalantly? We're talking about a humiliating public execution, you're not afraid of that!? For all we know we could be handed over to the inquisition for execution! That surely will doom your immortal soul." She said, whimpering some more. "I loved him and they took him from me, I just want to go back home to Niihama."
Kendra Shaw huffed. "We're not all like you, I don't want to die a publicly humiliating death at the hands of a faceless executioner." She said, before a loud noise echoed through the cell chamber, and a small chute opened up on the other side of the room, two trays with what looked like a cube of green tofu was seen sliding down and clanking against the end of the chute.
"Looks like our food is here." She said, peering up. "Reconstituted Protein, as always, what I would give for something with flavor." Kendra fussed, after two bottles of water slid down the chute.
Kendra Shaw shrugged. "No, it's worse here, they pray on your morals, that green stuff was once human flesh, deceased criminals, livestock, plant matter, everything is sent to the protein bank, deconstructed and reconstructed into the stuff you see there, it's nutritional, but devoid of everything, flavor.. it's not palatable, and some would rather starve." Shaw explained.
"The fact it's human flesh disturbs me."
Kendra Shaw heaved a sigh. "What if you watched someone kill their fellow man, and then cook and consume their flesh, does that not bother or disturb you in the least?" She asked, tilting her head before sliding over to the chute where the food sat, her stomach growling.
Kendra Shaw shook her head. "But we're not being forced to eat this for survival, they feed us this crap for their own pleasure." She said, scowling and poking at the jiggling mass of matter with a fork. "I guess, I've eaten this shit before." She then slowly took a bite of the tofu like substance.
"Jasenovac, did they deprive you of sunlight there? Notice this prison is almost entirely underground."
Kendra Shaw let her fingers move around the brand that the Prison officials had crudely forced upon her, the fingers traced on the pattern of the mark of shame before they turned back to Drulovic. "I guess, I just don't want to be here, and I definitely don't want to die."
Kendra Shaw laughed. "Your family? You realize they will probably be hunted down and killed? Thankfully my family has all deceased, there's no one for the Empire to hunt down and execute, my husband, the Emperor, has enough security where I'm not terribly worried about him."
Kendra Shaw chuckled. "Since when do the Government have to have a reason? They could kill your family simply because it gives them pleasure, how can you handle all this? You approach this so nonchalantly! I don't get it."
Kendra Shaw nodded, before she stood up to her feet, and she approached the door of the cell, sloshing through the water and the darkness. "I had a child with the Emperor, I wanted to start over, raise a family and leave my old life behind, leave everything, the fear, the pain, the politics." She said, before she turned around to face Drulovic.
"I just wanted peace."
Kendra Shaw shrugged and wrapped her fingers around the bars of the door, letting the fabric of the kimono fall loosely before she turned back around, on her exposed chest, a very stark contrast of seared flesh revealed a mark emblazoned upon her left breast, two serpents on what seemed to be a dagger pointing downwards. The mark was recent, fastened in the same crude manner that Drulovic's barcode was placed.
"We won't know peace, only suffering."
Kendra Shaw grabbed her MX Type 2 Kinetic carbine as she walked through the glassy black interior of the Reverence S, which was in high orbit over Niihama. She had committed to going, despite repeated opposition from her husband. Once she settled in, she placed the rifle on a magnetic clasp. She had been traveling with a small contingent of Taiyou soldiers, a handful of Imperial Warriors, and had chosen to go with whatever resources she could carry with. "Alright, go over the pre-flight checklist." She said, flipping several switches, pulling up the AI's hologram, which idly flickered as the ship hummed to life. "FTL.. Everything's a check.. IFF Transponders, Sudden Transport, weapons inventory." She said, before she moved from the CIC to a nearby hall.
"Station One, prepare to sever catwalk and docking clamps in twenty minutes." She called out, before she went back over the checklist.
"This is probably a one way trip..." Shaw muttered.
The Taiyou Warrior stared at the Terran Marine, but said nothing. The truth was the Taiyou didn't speak english, and so he just stared at the man, before he checked his Kinetic Carbine, the elegant and white Taiyou weapon clicked and whined, as he checked it again, all while two power armored women that wore armor that resembled gundams were seen, though they were clearly human sized. Taiyou rocket angels.
Up Front Shaw eased the ship into FTL, emerging on the other end and approaching the Aschen station. "This is the Concealed Justice, requesting docking privalages, verification codes are being transmitted by AI As we speak." She said, grabbing the weapon and adjusting her combat armor.
"Let's make this nice and easy." She said, approaching the heavily armed station, unaware that all around them, throughout the system, ships were engaging each-other in small skirmishes, pelting each-other with harassing fire.
Meanwhile, Austin would be allowed towards the station by the Imperial cruiser, at first it seemed the Verification codes didn't match, and the Cruiser was denied approach, but something out of nowhere prompted the station to allow the cruiser to approach.
The Taiyou men looked to eachother, then they looked to the Terrans, and then they conversed briefly in Taiyou, before they gestured over to their Terran counterparts. That was of course before a handful of Taiyou soldiers, not Imperial warriors passed by. Unlike their Imperial Warrior counterparts, these Soldiers wore green fatigues, with a black ceramic looking vest. Unlike the advanced MX Type 2 Kinetic carbines the Imperial Warriors wore, these soldiers were armed with Seburo MN-23 Assault rifles. This was the very basic Taiyou soldier, and the Terrans would likely see that they happened to be better equipped than their Taiyou counterparts.
The Reverence S approached the station, and Shaw worked the schematics. "Alright, the prisoner deck should be three decks above the main hangar, we need to rescue Aschen officials, some captured Terran officials, and anyone else we can save." She then racked her Carbine and moved into the Troop hatch. "Alright, Terrans, Taiyou." She said, clearing her throat.
"We're going to take this nice and slow, Taiyou teams need to advance ahead of the Terrans, secure us a path, and the Terrans will cover the rear." She said, nodding. "Terrans, you follow my lead, stay behind the Conscripts, men and women that will die for the glory of the Empire." She said, gesturing to the men in green.
"You think Terrans do all the dying? We use conscripts as meat shields, and to keep the Aschen busy." She then turned to the Taiyou.
"Wareware wa, kono sutekina, osoi, taiyō chīmu wa sakini teran no nobasu tame ni hitsuyōna toru tsumorida, watashitachi ni pasu o kakuho shi, teran wa haimen o kabā shimasu." She said, the Taiyou looking up and acknowledging.
"We'll be docking soon, Weapons at the ready."
There was a silence, roughly twenty Taiyou conscripts stood there at the docking port. In silence, all of them withdrew white and red headbands, with black Taiyou calligraphy on them. Solemnly, they wrapped the headbands around their heads, and said their last prayers in Taiyou, before the Sergeant stood at the head of the group.
"Kyō, wareware wa ten'nō no eikō to noboru taiyō no eikō no tame ni shinu!" He called out, and all of the Soldiers in unison shouted. "Kanpai! Kanpai! Kanpai!" Shaw remained silent, as the Imperial warriors all got into position, wrapping similar headbands around their helmets.
The Sergeant then rallied his men some more. "Tenno!" He called out, and the Soldiers replied. "Banzai!"
"Tenno!"
"Banzai!"
"Tenno!"
"Banzai!"
Assault rifles, and Katanas were subsequently drawn, while a handful attached suicide vests to their flak vests.
"Tennoheika Banzai!" The Soldiers called out, and as soon as the door opened up, all of them charged out, a wave of people, all in a suicide charge towards the Aschen guards, mobbing them, detonating their vests, stabbing them with Katanas and unloading their weapons, while Shaw and the Imperial Warriors followed suit, potshots of Taiyou weapons echoing in the hall, along with Disruptor fire, and screams of the word 'Banzai!'
Kendra Shaw ran through the halls, two Imperial warriors behind her, unloading on Aschen soldiers with her MX Carbine, blue streaks of light pummeling the man, several flickering on a white shield, before the shield broke and the rounds killed the Soldier, while green disruptor bolts pummeled the Taiyou, which threw themselves in front of Shaw, and the Terrans. The halls were soon blaring with alarms, Aschen soldiers moving to answer the incursion, while Taiyou sudden transports, using a beacon broadcast by the Reverence, began jumping in and docking to flood the station with Taiyou Conscripts and Imperial Warriors.
"Death to our enemies!" A Warrior shouted, rounding a corner and unloading on an Aschen, though it took nearly entire magazines of Taiyou weapons to take down an Aschen soldier, the sheer confusion and overwhelming number tilted the odds slightly in Taiyou favor, for now.
And yet Shaw ran, as fast as she could through the halls of the station, which shook and the lights flickered, and Shaw quickly stumbled into a large room filled with towers upon towers of people suspended in glowing red pods.
"Oh.. my gods..." She said, looking up, the imposing structures with thousands of prisoners looming over her as she approached. The rattle of gunfire continuing before Shaw came upon Galdamez's pod.
"Galdamez..." She said, before she grabbed her MX Type 2 and began to beat on the glass, cracking it, and beating it again to increase the cracking, and eventually breaking. Shaw then quickly moved to tear the wiring and tubes out from the man, and once the main spinal tap was torn out, reality would hit the Terran like a ton of bricks, and the first thing he would see was a dirtied, bloodied Kendra Shaw.
Kendra Shaw loomed over Galdamez for a moment, cracking the glass and pulling him up. "We're in an Aschen prison orbiting the Gas Giant of Ragnaar, what of the others?" She said, checking the other pods, trying to rack a jammed Taiyou assault rifle, before she approached Drulovic's pod.
"My Gods... I thought she was dead." Shaw said, before she began to beat on the glass, but unlike the other cells, this one answered Shaw's rifle with a dull thunk, small cracks forming but the glass holding strong seemed to taunt the woman. It had been years since she had Aschen medicines, she was not strong enough to break the glass.
Alastair ThorneWatched the security monitor, and he silently watched Shaw beating on the glass, and as he watched this, he silently turned to Ramos. "It seems we have ourselves another prisoner, go, deal with her. And make sure she's alive." He said with a grin.
