Name: Scott Valentine
Callsign/Nickname: Heartbreak
Age: 43
Gender: Male
Appearance: 
The only difference to the picture is that Scott has heterochromia, with his left eye being blue, and the right one brown. His hair is also a much more 'sandy blond' colour, with grey creeping in, especially at his temples. His '5'o'clock shadow' stubble is apparently indestructible to any razor known to man. Should he ever grow his beard out, it ends up with a good amount of grey in it too.
He is approximately 5'7" in height.
Nationality: Joint US/UK nationality
Personality:Scott is almost the typical fighter pilot. Laid-back in demeanour, confident, and witty. He has a playful character and charm to him that is either endearing or frustrating, depending on who you are. This is countered by a professional seriousness and lethality when he is in the cockpit, and a respectable amount of raw, natural skill and expertise.
His somewhat rebellious and maverick nature has lead to chafing against military authority and limitations in the past, and as such the somewhat more relaxed life of a PMC gives him the same experiences, and makes use of his skills.
He plays as hard as he works, and this shell of easy confidence and casually treating even the most deadly and desperate situations with an air of dismissive humour masks a much deeper fear of his own mortality and of losing those around him, and the need to form bonds to ground himself to something. It is rare he lets the mask slip and the more vulnerable, real side of himself out, often seeking to drown his worries or at least relieve them with the highs of drink and sex, sometimes presenting him as at best a playboy or worst a callous and shallow man, when the opposite is true.
He has a particular relationship in his past that turned sour, and still harbours unrequited and unfulfilled love for his ex, Valerie Glass, who has become a commander in the N/UN forces. They have a cordial, if distant professional and working relationship and both still like one another, even if they are no longer intimately involved.
History:Scott was a fighter pilot before and during the Heavenfall, flying for the US Marine Corps. Becoming a Marine was what he always wanted, ever since he was a kid. Being a pilot, even more so. He managed to - despite chafing at authority, and being somewhat of a problematic cadet, prone to emotional outbursts and thinking with his fists or heart - make the grade and became a pilot.
Scott's skill as a pilot was absolutely more in the realms of air-to-ground and air-to-surface warfare than air-to-air combat. While he was no slouch of a pilot in any regard, he showed a particular aptitude for anything involving attacking ground targets, especially close air support. As such, he was a natural selection for the AV-8B Harrier II.
He enjoyed flying the Harrier; the unique challenges it presented gave him something to wrestle with, and the inherent trickyness of mastering its' STOVL flight profile and specific abilities was not for the faint hearted - Scott lost a couple of classmates during his specific type training, and more in operational service - but he perservered and became a confident pilot of the aircraft.
He gained a reputation as a very skillful pilot in the Harrier, holding top marks in several competitions for bombing and air-to-surface gunnery, and having something of a minor legend attached to his name for outflying and getting a simulated air-to-air kill on a USAF F-22 in an exercise in an Harrier, utilising the aircrafts' capabilities to their utmost.
He met Valerie during this time, and they had a very on-again, off-again relationship. It was a lot of fun for them both, and they cared deeply for one another, but often clashed on a lot of things, mainly due to Val's frustration with Scott's hot-headed, impulsive nature and he with her more strait-laced, reserved one.
Despite caring for one another, their careers constantly had them being apart, and combined with their butting up in personalities, they decided to split and remain friends, before getting so frustrated and angry with one another that that wasn't a possibility.
Scott was involved in some small-scale actions prior to Heavenfall, the Marines involved in several high-risk, but brief incidents involving US forces supporting allied nations, and Scott was involved in a few of them, providing close air support and shows of force in several situations, though never engaging in air-to-air combat.
However, this all changed during the Heavenfall, and in it's aftermath. Stationed in the Persian Gulf at the time, on the USS
Wasp as part of a task group, the Marine Expeditionary Unit Scott's squadron were part of were tasked with providing cover for aid workers and relief efforts.
Local groups had resorted to violence in the chaos, with armed coups and overthrows happening left and right, Local powers saw a perfect opportunity to lash out against the 'infidels from the west', and he engaged in several aerial battles, quickly becoming an Ace, despite the odds.
However, it didn't end well, as the
Wasp was hit by multiple anti-ship missiles.
The ship was evacuated, and the Marines and sailors forced to strike out on their own after retreating to shore. They dragged from place to place, seeking safety and security and trying to find anywhere they could contact the US mainland.
Surrounded and dogged by enemy forces the whole way, the MEU was whittled down, running out of supplies and the people worn down.
Scott's plane was shot down during this bloody march. His wingman and close friend, Jack 'Horn' Horner, was brutally killed by being beheaded in front of him after they were captured by enemy forces, only after being tortured.
He managed to escape as rival factions in the region clashed. He survived on his own for days, before linking up with the remains of the convoy - and finding out that their former CO had sold them out to locals, trading almost all of their equipment, as well as a significant number of their personnel with them for various 'luxuries' to set himself up in a position of prestige and power.
Scott, one of the highest ranking personnel remaining, lead a coup against him, and they forced him to march into the desert with no supplies, before they set out to make their way toward Turkey and from there, friendly nations in Europe.
Eventually, during this slog, he met Katherine Kane - Kat - who joined their band of survivors and refugees, and quickly became a close, trusted friend and they built a strong, loyal relationship with one another.
Scott finally made it back to something resembling civilization, where he found he had been listed as dead, like so many of his comrades.
His return was less-than triumphant. The evidence against his former CO was dismissed, and Scott was discharged from service as part of a cover-up for the corruption his CO indulged in, and the failures of the US Government to recover the USMC and the personnel they were there to protect.
Civilian life didn't suit suit Scott. There was a restlessness within him, and he had a lot of bitterness, resentment and anger about what had happened to him. He drifted from place to place, doing odd jobs that he often lost due to outbursts of anger and chafing at the monotony of it, as well as frequent problems with drinking to excess.
He was eventually turned around as Kat came back into his life, hearing about his situation from Valerie. She refused to let him ruin his own life.
Kat convinced him to enlist with Shattered Steel, where his skills and experience were welcome.
He was reunited with the Harrier during his initial service with Shattered Steel, and then later also qualified on the much faster and more multi-role ASF-14 Super Tomcat 2010, which was then assigned as his current aircraft, due to a series of upgrades being implemented across the Harrier fleet to a new standard to modernise them, him having trained on this model and being type-certified.
Kat was a natural fit as his WSO, having enlisted before him and qualified, and her preferred aircraft, the Jaguar, being sparse in the ranks of Shattered Steel.
The two proved as inseparable and reliable in the employ of Shattered Steel as they had when making their return to civilization, and their friendship went through a new period of strength and depth.
His experience and skill resulted in him being given a commanding position and rank in Shattered Steel, and he was recently assigned the command position of the Cobalt Haze squadron.
Personal Gear:- Colt M1911 MEU/SOC .45 Calibre handgun with mounted tactical light.
- MP5 9mm sub-machinegun with sliding stock, integrated flashlight foregrip, red-dot sight, double-clamped magazines and detachable suppressor.
- Combat/Survival knife - Scott carries the Gerber LMFII ASEK survival knife he had when he originally ejected from his jet after being shot down. It got him through everything after that, and it's kind of a lucky talisman for him by now, as much as a tool and weapon.
- backup folding knife
- Flight helmet; has a broken heart painted on the visor cover
Personal Aircraft:McDonnell Douglas
AV-8B Harrier II Plus.
Scott's Harrier is painted in the standard USMC two-tone low visibility grey, with a black vertical tail. The upper wing and upper horizontal tail have a feathered bird pattern painted on them. An ace of hearts has been painted under the canopy on both sides, with the heart broken in two.
Scott's AV-8B Harrier II Plus has all the expected capabilities of the type in its' latest incarnation, as well as a small number of upgrades specific to his model.
- The radar has been replaced with an AN/APG-80 AESA radar
- Electronics and avionics have been refitted with modern, solid-state systems, including GPS and modern datalink systems
- The cockpit has been fully refitted with modern instrumentation in the form of a full glass, LCD touchscreen display and instruments.
- A helmet-mounted display for the pilot has been integrated
- The flight controls have been refitted to a HOTAS (Hands On Throttle And Stick) setup
- Refitted with RAF-style wing. This adds a fourth hardpoint to each wing, for a total of eight wing hardpoints.
- Integration with a wider range of modern ordnance, such as SDB's, Harpoons, SLAM-ER, JASSM, HARM, and more.
PrinceAlexus,
Sir Lurksalot,
Blair,
Pinky321,
FourtyTwo,
adncod,
Arminwraith,
Vampiretwilight,
O O,
LadyAuramoon
Member