Pacifica Q. Alexander

[Pacifica Alexander]

Pacifica Quinn Alexander

NAME Pacifica Quinn Alexander ALIAS Quinn AGE 28 DATE OF BIRTH 05/02/2553 GENDER Female

PLAY BY Michelle Trachtenberg SEXUAL ORIENTATION Heterosexual AFFILIATION Commonwealth of Nations OCCUPATION Navigation/Operations PLACE OF BIRTH Churchill, New Melbourne

HEIGHT 5'7" WEIGHT 120 Lbs. HAIR Pacifica has long brown wavy hair usually left down, usually not tied back. EYE COLOR Blue

PHYSICAL BUILD Athletic, thin, toned DISTINGUISHING MARKS Pacifica's right leg has scars running from her hip all the way to her foot. Her left leg has a pitted scar where her bone had ripped through the skin. There are three small scars next to her right eye where a piece of shrapnel destroyed her optical nerve as well as several other small scars up and down her right side and back. GENERAL APPEARANCE Pacifica's leg was so badly damaged in the war that she walks with a noticeable limp which is why she walks slowly in an effort to hide it as best she can. Her whole right side is weaker than it used to be and if you pay close attention when she has a task that requires manual dexterity she will favor using her left side for it even though she is naturally right handed CLOTHING STYLE Pacifica has a colorful wardrobe that expresses her personality. The one thing you will notice about it is that she nearly always wears long pants and a long sleeve shirt or jacket to cover her arms and legs. The only time she is seen usually wearing shorts and short sleeved shirts is when she is working out in an effort to rebuild her strength, though there is little to no hope of regaining anywhere near all of it. On a bad day she can sometimes be seen using a cane on the ship but never off of it. She tries her best to fight through any pain to avoid ever using it.

LIKES Animals Cold weather Reading DISLIKES Hot weather Swimming Silence QUIRKS/HABITS Pacifica is usually chewing on a straw or tooth pick when she is concentrating on what she is working on. She is always drinking coffee from the moment she wakes to the time she falls asleep with a cup beside her. FEARS Losing her sight completely, after having experienced the loss of her sight in her right eye she is afraid of losing vision in the other. Open space, not being out in the woods, oh no she loved that in fact. It is being out in space in a suit, the thought alone is enough to freeze her up.

STRENGTHS Passionate, Pacifica is passionate about everything she does, she puts all of herself into each task. Pain tolerance, Pacifica has spent many years now dealing with the pain of her injuries. Because of that her sense of pain has dulled. Good under pressure, Pacifica almost never feels the pressure of stress and stays calm through and through. WEAKNESSES Blind in one eye, that explains itself. Physically impaired, her whole right side is weak from her injuries Stubborn, Pacifica is stubborn to a fault, almost never willing to let someone help her overcome a challenge she is faced with. TALENTS/ABILITIES Precision calculator, Pacifica is like a human calculator, able to calculate most anything in her head as fast as someone can type it in an old fashion calculator. Great shot, she doesn't do as much shooting as she used to but she is still an amazing shot considering the lack of depth perception. SECRETS Though Captain Bainbridge has been told and maybe some of the other long term crew have caught on, she hides her lost vision very well. ASPIRATIONS At this point in Pacifica's life she simply wants to remain a useful part of the crew.

OVERALL PERSONALITY

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Pacifica is in many ways your topical young woman, she loves pretty and shiny things: jewelry, nice cloths, sappy love (especially sappy love stories). She worries too much about her appearance, and is never quite confident in the way she looks. She can't help but listen when someone is gossiping. She loves animals, especially her dwarf hamster Tartarus. She has this belief that some day true love will find her and she will fall so hard and so fast that she won't see it coming till it has already happened. She thinks the 'Verse has something special in store for her.

She is also far different than what one might think. She has a never surrender attitude and is strong willed. She is work driven. More than anything in her life she puts a focus on work. She is too stubborn and likes to be challenged. She cares greatly for the people she works with and will do everything to help them.

FATHER Bartholomew  MOTHER Lacy SIBLINGS Attica OTHER NOTABLE RELATIVES None

SIGNIFICANT OTHER No person of note CHILDREN Not at this time OTHER SIGNIFICANT PERSONS None PETS Tartarus

BACKSTORY

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March 17th 2629; Verbena

Pacifica stepped out of the black car and straightened her jacket before she looked up at the oncoming crowd. Cameras flashed as the group of reporters crowded in around her all talking at once. The two large federal agents kept the crowd back from her. Pacifica put on that signature smile that the media had so many times before captured in pictures, but truth be told her mind was elsewhere. She had just returned from Jiangyin in the hopes of securing their pledge of support for the Commonwealth in their ongoing struggle with the Red Pact. 

"Ambassador Alexander, has Jiangyin given any indication that they will provide assistance to the Commonwealth?" A young male reporter asked loudly of the ambassador as she walked with a slight limp from the door of the car toward the over-sized granite front stairs of the famed Villa Marija Hvar Hotel there in Amesbury, Verbena. It had been the site of many high level government meetings and the common lodging location for foreign dignitaries since the formation of the Commonwealth of Nations. For Pacifica it was the first time she would stay at the hotel after taking the ambassador position eighteen months ago. 


"Jiangyin and the Commonwealth are still in talks about what role they will play in the conflict. Trust that we are working around the clock to ensure that the Red Pact threat is dealt with." Pacifica replied to the question as she continued to walk up the stairs. The Red Pact had been up in arms against the Commonwealth's efforts over the last two years to get Greenleaf to join the Commonwealth. Just two weeks ago they invade Greenleaf only days after it had signed the unification accord with them.  

"Ambassador, you are heading to Harvest in three days. What do you expect to accomplish while you are there?" Another reporter asked as she walked alongside Pacifica up the stairs, holding a microphone close to her face. Pacifica kept walking at a slow steady pace never turning to look at the reporter. Her leg was hurting as she went along and had she not been in public she would have used the cane she used at home. 


"It's a jumping point. If everything goes well we can secure a ceasefire and bring all parties to the table to talk through the issues. We want a peaceful solution." She had been in combat herself when she was younger; it was an ugly sight. She was determined to keep the youth of the Commonwealth off the battlefield if she could. As she closed on the door one of the federal agents went forward and opened it for her. Just before she was able to enter the door the woman asked her another question. "One more question, Ambassador. The Reds already have ten thousand troops on the ground and five thousand more are en route. Why are you here on Verbena taking time off when you should be solving this?" Pacifica turned to face the woman as she hesitated on moving through the door. She could feel her blood boil at the question but before she could answer one of the agents placed his hand on her back and escorted her through the door. He had worked with her many times and knew she wasn't going to answer the question. "Ma'am, we need to get you inside. I'm sorry. Ambassador Alexander doesn't have time for any more questions." The agent replied as he led her in and stopped there to keep the reporters from following with the assistance of the hotel security. 


Pacifica continued up into the building to the elevator where a woman about her age was waiting for her. "Dr. Willows, it's good to see you again." Pacifica said as the two of them stepped into the elevator that Esmay was holding for her. Pacifica reached over and hit the button to take them to the seventeenth floor. "You as well, Pacifica. How are you feeling?" Esmay replied back to her as the elevator shot up floor after floor. It seemed like only a few seconds before they were arriving at their location, Pacifica not saying a word until the door opened. 


"I've been better. I feel weak all the time." She said as they walked down the hall and into the room. Aside from a few halfhearted smiles the exchange between the two was none existent. The two walked into the room and Pacifica laid down on the bed as Esmay hooked up a few machines that Pacifica really had no clue what they did for her. Esmay had tried to explain the treatment to her several times in the past but to no avail. She had told her it would slow the process of the blood cancer and give her more time, but wouldn't cure it. Pacifica would have refused the treatment if she didn't feel she an obligation to make sure the Commonwealth had a fighting chance. The intense pain was constant now and made most physical activity unbearable. "Alright, Pacifica, I am going to step out. I'll send him in to talk to you. I should be back in about an hour." Esmay said as soon as she was done getting everything hooked up then she stepped out of the top floor luxury hotel room. 

Pacifica let out a sigh and waited for the man to step in after Esmay left. By the time he finally walked in Pacifica had nearly fallen asleep. Her eyes shot open when she heard the sound of the door opening again. "Come. Sit down. Let's get started." She said impatiently said to the man. She had hand picked him to help write her memoirs. Her hands were too unsteady coupled with her not being a writer made it a necessity for her to hire him. 

"Start whenever you are ready, Ma'am" He said as he pulled out his tablet to record the conversation for later use when writing. He sat in the chair next to her and started recording. Pacifica cleared her throat and sat up in the bed looking to the man studying him a moment before she began.

"Let's just start from the beginning then, what my mother had always told me about the beginning at least. She would always say that she and my father had gone out to see a movie that day. Dad would always say it was one of those horrible love stories that the guys always get pulled in to watch even when they don't want to." Pacifica smiled a little as she thought about the story. 

"When they left it was foggy out and dad was barely able to drive back to the house. Then before they got home mom was going into labor and they had to head for the hospital. It wasn't a long drive, maybe twenty minutes, but when you are in labor twenty minutes seems like a long time." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small slip of photos and began to flip through them as she spoke. "Well five hours after they made it there, a healthy little baby girl was born, and that I guess is where my story really starts." The man pulled out a pen and paper as well. He was ready to take notes on it all, maybe write down questions he wanted to ask when the time came. 

Pacifica only paused a moment for him to finish writing things down then carried on right where she left off. "I can't say there is too much I remember from when I was a young child at this point. A lot of it just runs together into a jumbled mess. Dad always told me I was a perfect little angel." Pacifica let out a light laugh that turned into a cough then cleared her throat before she went on. "I never did believe that story though, but I won't fight it."


She reached into her pocket pulling a few pictures out and shuffled through them finding the one of her when she was only three years old. She leaned up a little further and handed it to the man so he could see it as well. As he looked it over she scanned the other pictures and smiled a little at all the memories that went with them. "I do remember when I was about nine, I was told to watch Attica. She was only two at the time and she just kept crying. I had tried everything to get her to stop. Dad was at work and mom was making dinner. Dad was a member of the Parliament in the House of Commons for New Melbourne at the time you know so he was quite busy at the time." She stopped talking and rummaged through the pictures again this time pulling one out of her with a cast on and handed it over.

She didn't hesitate this time and just kept talking as the man looked at the picture and wrote a few more things down. "I was so distraught about Attica crying. At the time we were up on the balcony so I hopped up on the rail. Well to my surprise Attica just stopped crying and stared at me. It was as if she was in awe at the fact that I was on the rail. I guess mom had always told us to stay back from the rail. Me being the intelligent big sister decided I should climb up on the rail and dance around on I. Back then I used to have pretty good balance unlike these days." Pacifica sat up on the edge of the bed adjusting all the tubes and wires from the machine to be more comfortable. She thought about the idea of someone her age doing the same thing now. 

She spoke loudly as she started the next part. "Then, crack. The old rail gave out under the stress of my weight and broke, and it hit me, the reason mom had kept me and Attica back from the rail was that it was rotting away. The next thing I remembered was waking up at the hospital that both me and Attica were born at. I had broken my left leg and six ribs. That whole experience is what made me so cautious with my kids, I never did forget it." Her attention was broken by the sounds of sirens down at the street screaming by the hotel. "The years passed by and me and Attica grew closer and closer." Pacifica continued as the sound became muddled by the other noises of the city. "Attica became more and more adventurous and I grew more to be like a parent for my younger sister, always keeping an eye on her and trying to keep her out of harm's way.  It was a hard job and many times she talked me into things. I look back and wonder how she was ever able to."


She pulled her next picture and handed it over as well. The picture was of her and Attica just after Pacifica's 18th birthday. The two of them were hanging up in a tree getting ready to jump into the river. "That was back in May of 2573 just after the Red Pact War started. I was only three weeks from graduation and I had decided I was going to join the New Melbourne Army. The war hadn't reached home at that point and there was a big push to get new recruits to bolster the army as a deterrent. My parents both backed my choice. The next month I shipped off to basic training, June 7th to be exact."

Pacifica opened the small briefcase she had brought and pulled out a piece of paper, a certificate of completion for basic training and set it down on the round glass table. "Things changed real quickly on July 24th when the Red Pact ships arrived over New Melbourne and began to land troops on the ground. I completed basic 10 days later and started my advanced individual training. I had gone in to be a group forces tactical support specialist and for the next three weeks after that I continued to think that was exactly what I was going to do. The problem was the war wasn't going well so for those of us done with basic but not done with AIT, we were shipped over to join the infantry on the front lines." 

"We were sent to just outside Queensland, not a one of us who had been transferred was really ready for it but we had to make do. With near 5000 Reds there against our 2500 untrained alongside maybe 1500 trained infantry we started the fight outgunned and outclassed. Those first three weeks were brutal. We lost nearly a mile every day till we were backed into Queensland and out the other side by three miles. It was around that time a large group of mechanized infantry from Verbena arrived to back us up. It was then that the battle we were fighting began to turn in our favor along with the whole battlefront on New Melbourne. Most other places had been making gains by this point but the war was far from over. It was at this point I got my first of four achievement medals in the war. I had been sent out with a recon team when our sergeant was killed in action. Somehow I ended up being the one in charge. I guess the others were more shaken by the loss than I was. " Pacifica stood up at this point bracing herself against the wall for support. She never was one that could sit around doing nothing but talking. She had always needed to be moving or doing something with her hands to keep herself sane.

"Well, as you know, the war went on for several more years and it was in February of 2576 not quite three years after the war started that things would change for me once more. Three achievement medals and a bronze star later we had been sent into Jubilee to take the fight to the Reds on their planets. New Melbourne had been won back and I was now a corporal. We had fought our way into having a beachhead on Jubilee in a three day battle and our mission was to push out past to New Paris and surround it. It's here that things turned for the worst for me and my entire platoon."  She pulled out a complete photo album from the briefcase that included pictures of the people in the platoon, a group photo and many of them just sitting around doing whatever they did in their downtime.

The man chimed in at this point. "This is the point you were attached to the 17th Infantry Battalion, the 'Pit Vipers'"? He asked of her before she continued. She nodded to him as she looked over the machine with no real hopes of understanding all the little readouts.

"Yes. I never did like the name. In fact I hated it, but they never let me change it. It was six miles outside of New Paris that our convoy was ambushed. They hit hard completely destroying the lead and tale vehicles at the same time. I was in the third vehicle of twelve. The soldiers in the second one began to pull forward to pass the destroyed lead vehicle but were pressed by a pair of machine gun nests ripping into them, disabling the vehicle, and blocking the remainder of the path. That is when all hell broke loose and they began to rain mortars down on the halted convoy. My vehicle and several others were hit or close to. The mortar that came down on ours landed only three feet from the vehicle over turning it, killing both the driver and the front passenger. For the two of us in the back we were both knocked out. It was nearly a minute before I woke up. I couldn't see out of my right eye but I had no clue how bad the damage was. I pulled the other man out of the vehicle as mortars continued to rain down around us."

"I dragged him back to the vehicle behind us and the team there loaded him in. I could see a team ahead trying to regain control of the situation and advance on the nests so I ran forward to join them. It seemed like the fight went on forever till we finally were able to take one of the nests out. I ran forward under fire toward the open machine gun. Before I reached the nest I took two rounds to my right leg and fell into the sandbag bunker and turned the machine gun on the other nest. Just as the others were advancing to the other gun, another mortar landed on the edge of the bunker sending sand bags, chunks of earth, the machingun, and me sailing through the air. I could remember looking down and seeing dirt and blood all up and down my right side before I passed out."


Pacifica looked down at her arm and the scars that were on it. Many of them showed more now that she was older than they did when she was still young. "I barely survived, and a lot of good men died that day. I can remember flashing in and out of consciousness over the next couple of hours. I remember my lieutenant kneeling over me calling for medical on the radio, then being loaded into a shuttle back to the starship."

"How bad were your injuries?" The man asked her as she let loose from the wall and walked over to the large floor to ceiling windows. He stood as well grabbing hold of the machine and rolling it and its stand over close to the window as well. "Forty-three pieces of shrapnel were removed from my body all the way from my head down to my feet. The optical nerve on my right side was completely ripped apart all the way from the right optical disc to the lateral geniculate nucleus. It was beyond repair for what any medical facility in the Commonwealth was capable of. The injuries didn't stop there. My right leg had been torn nearly off. The right illiac crest of my pelvis had been completely shattered and was rebuilt in six hours of surgery. My right femur was completely broken in two places, and my right fibula and left tibia were almost unrecognizable as well. My ribs were so badly broken that my rib cage had titanium wiring put in to keep it from collapsing. I still have a lot of that wire in there today. I had two of my thoracic vertebrae fused together."

What she didn't mention was the pain that accompanied that all throughout her life from that day forward. She had been lucky to survive that and she knew it. "They wanted to discharge me from the service. I can't blame them for that. I would have suggested discharge if I were in their shoes. I wasn't ready to be done though. I had signed up for four years and I was determined to finish it out, see the war through. Had my father not been who he was I am sure it would have ended there, but it didn't. Instead I was given the remainder of my training in the field I had originally signed up for while I continued to go in for physical therapy and surgery after surgery."

"What exactly did your father do to help you stay in?"


At this point the man had walked over and was standing beside Pacifica looking out the window with her. He had become entranced with the story she was telling. "As a member of the New Melbourne Parliament he and a few friends overrode the discharge giving me a second chance. The next eleven months I learned the job of a tactical support specialist. It was January of 2577 that I finally finished my training and was sent to Harvest for the final push that would end the war. My term of service was over a month before the war ended but in a twist of fate I was caught by stop loss for the last month of the war after their efforts to discharge me just over a year prior."


"Like any war it came to an end and I made no attempt to stay in. Instead I returned home as the second most decorated solider from New Melbourne in the war, and the most decorated woman in New Melbourne's history. 4 AAM's, 2 Arcom's, a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, and for my actions in that battle a Medal of Honor, one of only eight from New Melbourne in the conflict. It was easy upon my return home to get hired on the civilian side. It wasn't as glorious as being a soldier, but it still allowed me to use my skills. I spent the next 22 months doing that job, until July of 2579. I couldn't take just sitting in one place anymore. I needed to be out seeing the 'Verse. Besides Attica was turning 18 and she was leaving home as well, she had some job lined up on Persephone, but we will get to that later."

Pacifica was already starting to feel weak from standing. Her condition was deteriorating more rapidly lately. Esmay had told her six months ago that with treatment she was looking at about 18 months, but at this point Pacifica would be surprised to see another six. "It was then that I met Captain Bainbridge. I am not sure why he hired me on. Maybe it was because I was persistent and kept on him for the position for over a month or perhaps it was my service record. You know he fought in that same war after all. The Peerless was my home for quite some time and I have more stories than I can count there. The one that stands out the most though..." 

She stopped mid sentence when there was a knock at the door. She had invited the still living crew of the Peerless to join her. It had played the largest role in her life in getting her to where she is today, and she wanted them to participate in her memoirs. "If you will excuse us for a little while. I would like some time alone with my old friends." The man simply nodded and walked over and opened the door, the crew waiting just out side

ROLEPLAY SAMPLE

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Unique RP-history above qualifies for this requirement

Player name/alias: Pacifica
Roleplay Experience: BSH, the Verse
How You Found DoS: Kalli and Esmay
Other Characters on the Site: None
Preferred Method of Contact: PM
Anything else: None

Password: Dohadqgh

Under Chapter 37 of the Code of Federal Regulations Section 202.1 Subsection c (37 C.F.R. 202.1(c)) "blank forms ... which are designed for recording information and do not in themselves convey information" are not subject to copyright.

[Wisper]

Approved! Welcome to the 'verse!

[Sidney Bainbridge]

Jun 10, 2016 13:33:43 GMT -7 Pacifica Alexander said:

Pacifica Quinn Alexander

NAME Pacifica Quinn Alexander ALIAS Quinn AGE 28 DATE OF BIRTH 05/02/2553 GENDER Female

PLAY BY Michelle Trachtenberg SEXUAL ORIENTATION Heterosexual AFFILIATION Commonwealth of Nations OCCUPATION Navigation/Operations PLACE OF BIRTH Churchill, New Melbourne

HEIGHT 5'7" WEIGHT 120 Lbs. HAIR Pacifica has long brown wavy hair usually left down, usually not tied back. EYE COLOR Blue

PHYSICAL BUILD Athletic, thin, toned DISTINGUISHING MARKS Pacifica's right leg has scars running from her hip all the way to her foot. Her left leg has a pitted scar where her bone had ripped through the skin. There are three small scars next to her right eye where a piece of shrapnel destroyed her optical nerve as well as several other small scars up and down her right side and back. GENERAL APPEARANCE Pacifica's leg was so badly damaged in the war that she walks with a noticeable limp which is why she walks slowly in an effort to hide it as best she can. Her whole right side is weaker than it used to be and if you pay close attention when she has a task that requires manual dexterity she will favor using her left side for it even though she is naturally right handed CLOTHING STYLE Pacifica has a colorful wardrobe that expresses her personality. The one thing you will notice about it is that she nearly always wears long pants and a long sleeve shirt or jacket to cover her arms and legs. The only time she is seen usually wearing shorts and short sleeved shirts is when she is working out in an effort to rebuild her strength, though there is little to no hope of regaining anywhere near all of it. On a bad day she can sometimes be seen using a cane on the ship but never off of it. She tries her best to fight through any pain to avoid ever using it.

LIKES Animals Cold weather Reading DISLIKES Hot weather Swimming Silence QUIRKS/HABITS Pacifica is usually chewing on a straw or tooth pick when she is concentrating on what she is working on. She is always drinking coffee from the moment she wakes to the time she falls asleep with a cup beside her. FEARS Losing her sight completely, after having experienced the loss of her sight in her right eye she is afraid of losing vision in the other. Open space, not being out in the woods, oh no she loved that in fact. It is being out in space in a suit, the thought alone is enough to freeze her up.

STRENGTHS Passionate, Pacifica is passionate about everything she does, she puts all of herself into each task. Pain tolerance, Pacifica has spent many years now dealing with the pain of her injuries. Because of that her sense of pain has dulled. Good under pressure, Pacifica almost never feels the pressure of stress and stays calm through and through. WEAKNESSES Blind in one eye, that explains itself. Physically impaired, her whole right side is weak from her injuries Stubborn, Pacifica is stubborn to a fault, almost never willing to let someone help her overcome a challenge she is faced with. TALENTS/ABILITIES Precision calculator, Pacifica is like a human calculator, able to calculate most anything in her head as fast as someone can type it in an old fashion calculator. Great shot, she doesn't do as much shooting as she used to but she is still an amazing shot considering the lack of depth perception. SECRETS Though Captain Bainbridge has been told and maybe some of the other long term crew have caught on, she hides her lost vision very well. ASPIRATIONS At this point in Pacifica's life she simply wants to remain a useful part of the crew.

OVERALL PERSONALITY

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Pacifica is in many ways your topical young woman, she loves pretty and shiny things: jewelry, nice cloths, sappy love (especially sappy love stories). She worries too much about her appearance, and is never quite confident in the way she looks. She can't help but listen when someone is gossiping. She loves animals, especially her dwarf hamster Tartarus. She has this belief that some day true love will find her and she will fall so hard and so fast that she won't see it coming till it has already happened. She thinks the 'Verse has something special in store for her.

She is also far different than what one might think. She has a never surrender attitude and is strong willed. She is work driven. More than anything in her life she puts a focus on work. She is too stubborn and likes to be challenged. She cares greatly for the people she works with and will do everything to help them.

FATHER Bartholomew  MOTHER Lacy SIBLINGS Attica OTHER NOTABLE RELATIVES None

SIGNIFICANT OTHER No person of note CHILDREN Not at this time OTHER SIGNIFICANT PERSONS None PETS Tartarus

BACKSTORY

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March 17th 2629; Verbena

Pacifica stepped out of the black car and straightened her jacket before she looked up at the oncoming crowd. Cameras flashed as the group of reporters crowded in around her all talking at once. The two large federal agents kept the crowd back from her. Pacifica put on that signature smile that the media had so many times before captured in pictures, but truth be told her mind was elsewhere. She had just returned from Jiangyin in the hopes of securing their pledge of support for the Commonwealth in their ongoing struggle with the Red Pact. 

"Ambassador Alexander, has Jiangyin given any indication that they will provide assistance to the Commonwealth?" A young male reporter asked loudly of the ambassador as she walked with a slight limp from the door of the car toward the over-sized granite front stairs of the famed Villa Marija Hvar Hotel there in Amesbury, Verbena. It had been the site of many high level government meetings and the common lodging location for foreign dignitaries since the formation of the Commonwealth of Nations. For Pacifica it was the first time she would stay at the hotel after taking the ambassador position eighteen months ago. 


"Jiangyin and the Commonwealth are still in talks about what role they will play in the conflict. Trust that we are working around the clock to ensure that the Red Pact threat is dealt with." Pacifica replied to the question as she continued to walk up the stairs. The Red Pact had been up in arms against the Commonwealth's efforts over the last two years to get Greenleaf to join the Commonwealth. Just two weeks ago they invade Greenleaf only days after it had signed the unification accord with them.  

"Ambassador, you are heading to Harvest in three days. What do you expect to accomplish while you are there?" Another reporter asked as she walked alongside Pacifica up the stairs, holding a microphone close to her face. Pacifica kept walking at a slow steady pace never turning to look at the reporter. Her leg was hurting as she went along and had she not been in public she would have used the cane she used at home. 


"It's a jumping point. If everything goes well we can secure a ceasefire and bring all parties to the table to talk through the issues. We want a peaceful solution." She had been in combat herself when she was younger; it was an ugly sight. She was determined to keep the youth of the Commonwealth off the battlefield if she could. As she closed on the door one of the federal agents went forward and opened it for her. Just before she was able to enter the door the woman asked her another question. "One more question, Ambassador. The Reds already have ten thousand troops on the ground and five thousand more are en route. Why are you here on Verbena taking time off when you should be solving this?" Pacifica turned to face the woman as she hesitated on moving through the door. She could feel her blood boil at the question but before she could answer one of the agents placed his hand on her back and escorted her through the door. He had worked with her many times and knew she wasn't going to answer the question. "Ma'am, we need to get you inside. I'm sorry. Ambassador Alexander doesn't have time for any more questions." The agent replied as he led her in and stopped there to keep the reporters from following with the assistance of the hotel security. 


Pacifica continued up into the building to the elevator where a woman about her age was waiting for her. "Dr. Willows, it's good to see you again." Pacifica said as the two of them stepped into the elevator that Esmay was holding for her. Pacifica reached over and hit the button to take them to the seventeenth floor. "You as well, Pacifica. How are you feeling?" Esmay replied back to her as the elevator shot up floor after floor. It seemed like only a few seconds before they were arriving at their location, Pacifica not saying a word until the door opened. 


"I've been better. I feel weak all the time." She said as they walked down the hall and into the room. Aside from a few halfhearted smiles the exchange between the two was none existent. The two walked into the room and Pacifica laid down on the bed as Esmay hooked up a few machines that Pacifica really had no clue what they did for her. Esmay had tried to explain the treatment to her several times in the past but to no avail. She had told her it would slow the process of the blood cancer and give her more time, but wouldn't cure it. Pacifica would have refused the treatment if she didn't feel she an obligation to make sure the Commonwealth had a fighting chance. The intense pain was constant now and made most physical activity unbearable. "Alright, Pacifica, I am going to step out. I'll send him in to talk to you. I should be back in about an hour." Esmay said as soon as she was done getting everything hooked up then she stepped out of the top floor luxury hotel room. 

Pacifica let out a sigh and waited for the man to step in after Esmay left. By the time he finally walked in Pacifica had nearly fallen asleep. Her eyes shot open when she heard the sound of the door opening again. "Come. Sit down. Let's get started." She said impatiently said to the man. She had hand picked him to help write her memoirs. Her hands were too unsteady coupled with her not being a writer made it a necessity for her to hire him. 

"Start whenever you are ready, Ma'am" He said as he pulled out his tablet to record the conversation for later use when writing. He sat in the chair next to her and started recording. Pacifica cleared her throat and sat up in the bed looking to the man studying him a moment before she began.

"Let's just start from the beginning then, what my mother had always told me about the beginning at least. She would always say that she and my father had gone out to see a movie that day. Dad would always say it was one of those horrible love stories that the guys always get pulled in to watch even when they don't want to." Pacifica smiled a little as she thought about the story. 

"When they left it was foggy out and dad was barely able to drive back to the house. Then before they got home mom was going into labor and they had to head for the hospital. It wasn't a long drive, maybe twenty minutes, but when you are in labor twenty minutes seems like a long time." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small slip of photos and began to flip through them as she spoke. "Well five hours after they made it there, a healthy little baby girl was born, and that I guess is where my story really starts." The man pulled out a pen and paper as well. He was ready to take notes on it all, maybe write down questions he wanted to ask when the time came. 

Pacifica only paused a moment for him to finish writing things down then carried on right where she left off. "I can't say there is too much I remember from when I was a young child at this point. A lot of it just runs together into a jumbled mess. Dad always told me I was a perfect little angel." Pacifica let out a light laugh that turned into a cough then cleared her throat before she went on. "I never did believe that story though, but I won't fight it."


She reached into her pocket pulling a few pictures out and shuffled through them finding the one of her when she was only three years old. She leaned up a little further and handed it to the man so he could see it as well. As he looked it over she scanned the other pictures and smiled a little at all the memories that went with them. "I do remember when I was about nine, I was told to watch Attica. She was only two at the time and she just kept crying. I had tried everything to get her to stop. Dad was at work and mom was making dinner. Dad was a member of the Parliament in the House of Commons for New Melbourne at the time you know so he was quite busy at the time." She stopped talking and rummaged through the pictures again this time pulling one out of her with a cast on and handed it over.

She didn't hesitate this time and just kept talking as the man looked at the picture and wrote a few more things down. "I was so distraught about Attica crying. At the time we were up on the balcony so I hopped up on the rail. Well to my surprise Attica just stopped crying and stared at me. It was as if she was in awe at the fact that I was on the rail. I guess mom had always told us to stay back from the rail. Me being the intelligent big sister decided I should climb up on the rail and dance around on I. Back then I used to have pretty good balance unlike these days." Pacifica sat up on the edge of the bed adjusting all the tubes and wires from the machine to be more comfortable. She thought about the idea of someone her age doing the same thing now. 

She spoke loudly as she started the next part. "Then, crack. The old rail gave out under the stress of my weight and broke, and it hit me, the reason mom had kept me and Attica back from the rail was that it was rotting away. The next thing I remembered was waking up at the hospital that both me and Attica were born at. I had broken my left leg and six ribs. That whole experience is what made me so cautious with my kids, I never did forget it." Her attention was broken by the sounds of sirens down at the street screaming by the hotel. "The years passed by and me and Attica grew closer and closer." Pacifica continued as the sound became muddled by the other noises of the city. "Attica became more and more adventurous and I grew more to be like a parent for my younger sister, always keeping an eye on her and trying to keep her out of harm's way.  It was a hard job and many times she talked me into things. I look back and wonder how she was ever able to."


She pulled her next picture and handed it over as well. The picture was of her and Attica just after Pacifica's 18th birthday. The two of them were hanging up in a tree getting ready to jump into the river. "That was back in May of 2573 just after the Red Pact War started. I was only three weeks from graduation and I had decided I was going to join the New Melbourne Army. The war hadn't reached home at that point and there was a big push to get new recruits to bolster the army as a deterrent. My parents both backed my choice. The next month I shipped off to basic training, June 7th to be exact."

Pacifica opened the small briefcase she had brought and pulled out a piece of paper, a certificate of completion for basic training and set it down on the round glass table. "Things changed real quickly on July 24th when the Red Pact ships arrived over New Melbourne and began to land troops on the ground. I completed basic 10 days later and started my advanced individual training. I had gone in to be a group forces tactical support specialist and for the next three weeks after that I continued to think that was exactly what I was going to do. The problem was the war wasn't going well so for those of us done with basic but not done with AIT, we were shipped over to join the infantry on the front lines." 

"We were sent to just outside Queensland, not a one of us who had been transferred was really ready for it but we had to make do. With near 5000 Reds there against our 2500 untrained alongside maybe 1500 trained infantry we started the fight outgunned and outclassed. Those first three weeks were brutal. We lost nearly a mile every day till we were backed into Queensland and out the other side by three miles. It was around that time a large group of mechanized infantry from Verbena arrived to back us up. It was then that the battle we were fighting began to turn in our favor along with the whole battlefront on New Melbourne. Most other places had been making gains by this point but the war was far from over. It was at this point I got my first of four achievement medals in the war. I had been sent out with a recon team when our sergeant was killed in action. Somehow I ended up being the one in charge. I guess the others were more shaken by the loss than I was. " Pacifica stood up at this point bracing herself against the wall for support. She never was one that could sit around doing nothing but talking. She had always needed to be moving or doing something with her hands to keep herself sane.

"Well, as you know, the war went on for several more years and it was in February of 2576 not quite three years after the war started that things would change for me once more. Three achievement medals and a bronze star later we had been sent into Jubilee to take the fight to the Reds on their planets. New Melbourne had been won back and I was now a corporal. We had fought our way into having a beachhead on Jubilee in a three day battle and our mission was to push out past to New Paris and surround it. It's here that things turned for the worst for me and my entire platoon."  She pulled out a complete photo album from the briefcase that included pictures of the people in the platoon, a group photo and many of them just sitting around doing whatever they did in their downtime.

The man chimed in at this point. "This is the point you were attached to the 17th Infantry Battalion, the 'Pit Vipers'"? He asked of her before she continued. She nodded to him as she looked over the machine with no real hopes of understanding all the little readouts.

"Yes. I never did like the name. In fact I hated it, but they never let me change it. It was six miles outside of New Paris that our convoy was ambushed. They hit hard completely destroying the lead and tale vehicles at the same time. I was in the third vehicle of twelve. The soldiers in the second one began to pull forward to pass the destroyed lead vehicle but were pressed by a pair of machine gun nests ripping into them, disabling the vehicle, and blocking the remainder of the path. That is when all hell broke loose and they began to rain mortars down on the halted convoy. My vehicle and several others were hit or close to. The mortar that came down on ours landed only three feet from the vehicle over turning it, killing both the driver and the front passenger. For the two of us in the back we were both knocked out. It was nearly a minute before I woke up. I couldn't see out of my right eye but I had no clue how bad the damage was. I pulled the other man out of the vehicle as mortars continued to rain down around us."

"I dragged him back to the vehicle behind us and the team there loaded him in. I could see a team ahead trying to regain control of the situation and advance on the nests so I ran forward to join them. It seemed like the fight went on forever till we finally were able to take one of the nests out. I ran forward under fire toward the open machine gun. Before I reached the nest I took two rounds to my right leg and fell into the sandbag bunker and turned the machine gun on the other nest. Just as the others were advancing to the other gun, another mortar landed on the edge of the bunker sending sand bags, chunks of earth, the machingun, and me sailing through the air. I could remember looking down and seeing dirt and blood all up and down my right side before I passed out."


Pacifica looked down at her arm and the scars that were on it. Many of them showed more now that she was older than they did when she was still young. "I barely survived, and a lot of good men died that day. I can remember flashing in and out of consciousness over the next couple of hours. I remember my lieutenant kneeling over me calling for medical on the radio, then being loaded into a shuttle back to the starship."

"How bad were your injuries?" The man asked her as she let loose from the wall and walked over to the large floor to ceiling windows. He stood as well grabbing hold of the machine and rolling it and its stand over close to the window as well. "Forty-three pieces of shrapnel were removed from my body all the way from my head down to my feet. The optical nerve on my right side was completely ripped apart all the way from the right optical disc to the lateral geniculate nucleus. It was beyond repair for what any medical facility in the Commonwealth was capable of. The injuries didn't stop there. My right leg had been torn nearly off. The right illiac crest of my pelvis had been completely shattered and was rebuilt in six hours of surgery. My right femur was completely broken in two places, and my right fibula and left tibia were almost unrecognizable as well. My ribs were so badly broken that my rib cage had titanium wiring put in to keep it from collapsing. I still have a lot of that wire in there today. I had two of my thoracic vertebrae fused together."

What she didn't mention was the pain that accompanied that all throughout her life from that day forward. She had been lucky to survive that and she knew it. "They wanted to discharge me from the service. I can't blame them for that. I would have suggested discharge if I were in their shoes. I wasn't ready to be done though. I had signed up for four years and I was determined to finish it out, see the war through. Had my father not been who he was I am sure it would have ended there, but it didn't. Instead I was given the remainder of my training in the field I had originally signed up for while I continued to go in for physical therapy and surgery after surgery."

"What exactly did your father do to help you stay in?"


At this point the man had walked over and was standing beside Pacifica looking out the window with her. He had become entranced with the story she was telling. "As a member of the New Melbourne Parliament he and a few friends overrode the discharge giving me a second chance. The next eleven months I learned the job of a tactical support specialist. It was January of 2577 that I finally finished my training and was sent to Harvest for the final push that would end the war. My term of service was over a month before the war ended but in a twist of fate I was caught by stop loss for the last month of the war after their efforts to discharge me just over a year prior."


"Like any war it came to an end and I made no attempt to stay in. Instead I returned home as the second most decorated solider from New Melbourne in the war, and the most decorated woman in New Melbourne's history. 4 AAM's, 2 Arcom's, a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, and for my actions in that battle a Medal of Honor, one of only eight from New Melbourne in the conflict. It was easy upon my return home to get hired on the civilian side. It wasn't as glorious as being a soldier, but it still allowed me to use my skills. I spent the next 22 months doing that job, until July of 2579. I couldn't take just sitting in one place anymore. I needed to be out seeing the 'Verse. Besides Attica was turning 18 and she was leaving home as well, she had some job lined up on Persephone, but we will get to that later."

Pacifica was already starting to feel weak from standing. Her condition was deteriorating more rapidly lately. Esmay had told her six months ago that with treatment she was looking at about 18 months, but at this point Pacifica would be surprised to see another six. "It was then that I met Captain Bainbridge. I am not sure why he hired me on. Maybe it was because I was persistent and kept on him for the position for over a month or perhaps it was my service record. You know he fought in that same war after all. The Peerless was my home for quite some time and I have more stories than I can count there. The one that stands out the most though..." 

She stopped mid sentence when there was a knock at the door. She had invited the still living crew of the Peerless to join her. It had played the largest role in her life in getting her to where she is today, and she wanted them to participate in her memoirs. "If you will excuse us for a little while. I would like some time alone with my old friends." The man simply nodded and walked over and opened the door, the crew waiting just out side

ROLEPLAY SAMPLE

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Unique RP-history above qualifies for this requirement

Player name/alias: Pacifica
Roleplay Experience: BSH, the Verse
How You Found DoS: Kalli and Esmay
Other Characters on the Site: None
Preferred Method of Contact: PM
Anything else: None

Password: Dohadqgh

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