Smike

Shattered Steel - An Ace Combat/Project Wingman/etc inspired aircraft-based RP

March 13th, 2014
Malta International Airport

Fuka Nakano
After that fucking shitshow, Fuka was glad to be back on solid ground. Getting back had been easy, with Lampedusa basically blown to bits the remaining idiots on the ground hadn't dared to tempt her into a strafing run. They had been well-supplied, but gear didn't equal training or skill.

That said, skill didn't count for much if your gear kept catastrophically failing on you. Half of the birds had been taken out of action without a shot fired, and then two more dropped from the sky. Two injured and one dead in one operation against scruffy pirates? Awful.

It wasn't her problem for the time being. She was alive and Rook was not, whether it was because she was the better pilot or the luckier didn't matter.

After landing and changing clothes Fuka had made her way to Msida, her worn-out boots stomping down the pristine hallways. From what she heard Kat was the most battered between her and Heartbreak, so it was Kat that got the well-wishes.

"I heard you beat a hole in the instrument panel with your head. Glad you did more damage to it than it did you."

She had never crashed before, and she was happy to leave that experience to other people.

Ximena Huang
Once upon a time, Ximena had thought herself fearless. She was smart and quick on her feet, capable of running circles around people in the field or the boardroom. Closing million dollar deals? Easy. Meeting with a double agent inside some guarded compound? Light work. Fear had been something other people felt, a victim's mindset she simply refused to entertain.

But then she got older, more experienced, had more close calls. Time had stripped back her shielding like layers of paint, giving her a glimpse at the tender flesh below. Ximena was afraid of a lot of things, actually. She feared death, of course, but getting old terrified her. The thought of being caught and tortured by enemies abroad or back home made her stomach twist itself into knots, almost as much as knowing she had made her parents' lives much harder when she fled. Thinking about Zuhal filled her with an all-consuming anxiety, a mix of nervous rage from being betrayed and the abject horror of knowing that she had abandoned the one person she had felt safe with.

These fears weren't new. They were just the most recent manifestations of things she had tried to ignore. Ximena had been afraid for the past decade, if not more. It's what made her such a good spy and a fantastic pilot. That said, she didn't actually enjoy the feeling. It drained her, made doing anything more than the motions an impossible task. Mitigation was best found in bottles and bedrooms of strangers, but those weren't always accessible. When Ximena couldn't medicate her way out of her issues, she turned to rituals, habits made meaningful by sheer repetition.

Whenever she touched down at a new base, she took a shower and read the personnel files, and when possible, she did both at once. She slid on her shower shoes and dropped her work tablet in a plastic bag that used to hold toiletries and took up position directly under the head, the splash of water against tile droning in her ear. Reading about her coworkers signaled that it was time to mask up, like a five-minutes-till-opening-call backstage. By the time she had committed faces and names to memory she was already smiling crookedly, amused at the colorful cast she was with.

----------------------------------------
Someone had beaten her to the bedroom. The Singaporan, Yuna, was already unpacked and out of her flight suit, Ximena looking her over from behind her ever-present sunglasses.

"Hey Calico." she greeted casually, fishing in her pockets for a lighter. "You trying to hit the town?"

The faster she got started drinking the better.

Hours Later

Fuka Nakano
Fuka had more experience in ground combat than most on the team, what with being a Ranger and all, but that didn't mean she liked doing it. Any situation that required a pilot pulling a longarm from the armory was a bad one. There was a reason Shattered had a separate security force, and if it was stretched so thin that the air jockeys had to play Rambo then they were already on the backfoot. Peacenik didn't enjoy being surrounded by POGs with guns, quite frankly. She didn't relish trusting her life to someone who might never have been shot at. Dogfighting and house-clearing weren't in the same ballpark; they weren't the same fucking game.

But there was nothing to be done. Someone had sabotaged their planes and they had to be cleared out. Listening to Heartbreak gave her flashbacks. Unscrupulous criminal elements with heavy weapons and too much cash, locals overwhelmed and reaching out for assistance, bribed support staff making her life harder, it was Mexico all over again.

Maybe she'd lose the other arm.

"Boss, this whole thing reeks. If they got to our ground crew they could be paying off anyone. I think we should assume our security is compromised until we can prove otherwise."

Wunderkind opened his mouth, earning him a glare. Fuka looked over the kid and saw his red face and white knuckles, not exactly the cool head one wanted walking into a firefight. Again she mentally cursed POGs and POGkind, those necessary evils that she appreciated but wanted far away when shit hit the fan.

"Put it this way:" she said cooly, hoisting her M110 over her shoulder. "Handle anyone who's a threat. You go farther than that, I'll handle you."

There was nothing more to say, nor the time to say it. Gunfire broke out and instincts kicked in just like over Lampedusa, Fuka dropping into low cover and taking aim at the building. She saw a torso draped in an ammo vest, a mouth opened to shout a warning-a burst of red dust as she put one through his forehead.

Her second target was dashing for cover, spraying wildly with her Uzi as she did so. Fuka fired twice, one shot going wide but the other striking home.

Two down.

She wasn't going to lay down suppressive fire or chop it up in close quarters with her marksman's rifle. Fuka stayed back, letting others draw heat as she picked off targets of opportunity.

Ximena Huang
Impressively, this was probably the worst introduction to a flight team Ximena ever had. Sabotuers in the mechanic bays? A crew of them? What, did Westerners not do background checks?

At least her new pals were amusing. There was the preteen with the angry eyes and the look of someone who bought guns to brandish in bars (Brightspark, a name that was either sarcastic or stuck through bribery) and his big angry babysitter (Peacenik, rather fitting for a kill-crazy Yankee), both of which seemed fun to pester in their own ways.

"Oh don't fault the boy for wanting to play with his food a little." she snickered. "A killer like him, we should be grateful he's taking it out on the enemy.

She lagged behind somewhat, in part because she was lugging an LMG and belts of ammo, but once the shooting started Jefe got right to work She slid into cover alongside Calico, bullets bouncing off the shipping containers as she took a moment to steel herself The kitty-cat had the right idea but the wrong weapon, Ximena setting up the bipod and letting the SAW rip Immediately the tempo of the fight changed, the cobbled-together small arms drowned out by the chatter of proper machine gun fire.

Good thing I didn't put the suppressor on.

She paused to let the barrel cool, shouting as she did so.

"Make it easy and surrender while you can! We got enough ammo out here to cut the walls down!"

@Finetales @Letter Bee @Rhona W

Shattered Steel - An Ace Combat/Project Wingman/etc inspired aircraft-based RP

March 13th, 2014
Over Lampedusa, the Mediterranean

There wasn't time to ogle the destruction wrought (as much as Fuka would have liked to); the Mirages were climbing fast and their friends on the ground were searching for targets.

The fox call naturally drew the eye, Fuka turning just in time to watch the missile detonate, shredding the flight lead's bird and sending it tumbling to the island below. The sky-pirate had gotten out when the getting was good, lucky him, and once they shook off the sensation of their brain rattling around skull from a rocket-propelled dismount they'd be shitting themselves with the memory of just how close they came to getting killed.

That left one, and they were a smart fucker. Fuka grumbled to herself as the Mirage tucked low to the ground, the terrain scattering her lock as it steadily slid inside her circle. It was just a physics problem: lighter plane plus good thrust equaled faster turning. It was what she would have done had their positions been reversed.

Fuka snarled wordlessly as she threw the Black Bunny into a rising loop. G-forces pressed down on her like the palm of God trying to smother her out, a synthetic finger hovering over the control panel. The HUD flashed a hateful red, RWR bleeting in panic. The plane itself knew it was being hunted and screamed in warning, and Fuka, the shepherd she was, saved it.

A two-fingered punch of the touchpad sent chaff and flares scattering across the sky, the magnesium-laced cloud of aluminum strips thrown to the wind by the passage of a missile. The Mirage had missed, and now Peacenik was coming down on top of him.

They were on a path to intercept one another, hurtling closer and closer to oblivion. Getting a lock at that range was almost instantaneous, firing instinctive. There was no fox call, no time for one even, just the whoosh of a Sidewinder being launched and a fiery wreck of a plane falling out of the sky.

Another victory for her.

"Sorry about the blind fire," she chirped, leveling out to begin banking back around towards the hill. "Was a little dicey there. Gonna kill that radar and then mop up with the rest of the ordinance."

It was an entirely exposed stationary target; hitting it was a near-automatic process. Flash it with the targeting laser, wait for the tone, give Chevy a hearty "Magnum out!" and peel away as the crater that once been a radar installation smoked like a chimney. The SAMs were near-worthless now, and Lampedusa was nothing more than a bunch of sandcastles for her to kick.

She went down the line, locking onto targets as they appeared in her sights before destroying them.

"Rifle out."

The second SLAM-ER smashed into the remaining ferry, carving a gash through the centerline. She wondered idly whether it had been purchased or if some poor businessman was going to turn on the news and see his missing boat sinking into the Mediterranean.

"Going in for that corvette."

Fuka was taking her time now, lazily lopping back over the harbor with a waggle of her wings. The people on the ground could see her and down nothing about it, and she put on a show for them. The Bunny rolled languidly, belly facing the sun momentarily as its pilot homed on the warship. She selected her shots carefully, aiming for just above the waterline. As she turned right side up Fuka let the JDAMs fall away, two thousand pounds of boom gliding towards the enemy.

"Pigs away."

They hit home, the ship suddenly engulfed in a cloud of smoke and dust. However badly the escort mission had gone, no matter how tits up the rest of Cobalt had ended up, Fuka had done her job.

"I'm spent, ready to head home?"

@Kensai

Spearhead: A modern/near future Special Forces RP (ON HIATUS)

April 27th 2025
Rebel Hideout

Vaquero didn't have all that much weight north of the border either and Arsala was damn sure that Clint Eastwood had nothing to do with it one way or the other, but what the hell. Far be it from her to keep nitpicking. She was more interested in the details of the mission than she was in linguistic niggles for the moment.

"Understood." She said to Jamison, motioning for Zaland to come towards her. "We'll see how it goes."

Khattak wasn't an idiot. She understood the reality of the operation and that there was little room for conduct reviews, but she didn't have to like it. She would do what needed to be done as quickly and cleanly as possible before washing her hands of the whole ordeal, like she had tried to do twenty years ago.

In the meantime she had to kit up. Her P90 was freed from the pile of Pelican cases and made ready, fifty rounds of armor-piercing 5.7 locked home. Spare ammo, grenades, chemlights, all the various bits and pieces she needed were packed into pouches or thrown into a bag as required. Last came the badge, the silver star dulled and scratched from years of wear. It had been stupid bringing it, a moment of weakness resulting in a desperate attempt to clutch onto a good luck charm. She should have left it at home on the nightstand, where her family could find it if she didn't come back.

But it was with her now.

-------------------------
April 27th 2025
Order Compound

If Zaland was bothered by the bumps in the road, he gave no sign of it. The dog was in work mode, scrunched under Arsala's chair with his head between her boots. He was ready for whatever came, his body thrumming with energy. Arsala was much more cool about the situation, sitting motionless until Christopher coasted to a stop.

Showtime.

She flicked her weapon from safe to full-auto and turned on her night vision, the world suddenly lit up in a hideous green. She gave a thumbs-up to their driver as she and her partner piled out, Zaland taking up position alongside her as she crouched next to the others.

"All building entrances we know of are covered by cameras, right?" She whispered to Sohee. "There's one on the side gate, then one on the front door and garage internally. Seems like they'll either see us coming or we'll already be shooting once we make it to the security room. That said, me and Zaland will follow you. Better no one wanders off alone."

Shattered Steel - An Ace Combat/Project Wingman/etc inspired aircraft-based RP

Ximena Huang

Name: Ximena Huang [REDACTED]
Callsign/Nickname: [REDACTED] nicknamed Jefe, a play on how her name is pronounced.
Age: 41, born 1974
Gender: Female
Appearance:
Ximena is 5'2" and fairly attractive, with wide, expressive eyes and delicate facial features. Something of a fashionista, she regularly wears makeup as well as dressy-casual designer clothes when on leave or otherwise permitted to wear civilian attire.

Nationality: Sinomexicana by birth, functionally stateless.

Personality: Ximena's overarching demeanor is one of excess. She appreciates indulgences of all sorts, known for her love of cigars, coffee, and cognac. Thus far she's managed to avoid any major health concerns resulting from such consumption, something she attributes to a family history of smoking and drinking. She's a flirt and philanderer, prone to casual relationships or simple flings, as well as a high-rolling gambler. Much of her paychecks go to feeding the above habits, with some carefully squirreled away. Suave and confident in all things, she is self-assured, bordering on cocky, but genuinely quite competent and very aware of it. She expects perfection from herself in her work, and she often achieves it. This in turn inflates her ego.

[REDACTED]

Despite fleeing her home country, Huang is politically and emotionally loyal to China and its interests. She grew up in the late Cold War and came to disdain both the Soviet hegemony and NATO influence, seeing Russia and America as twin imperialists attempting to make the Third World their own. If she had her way, New China and the NCAA would break apart the N/UN and the megacorporations alike. That said, she is considered to be a reliable asset. Her self-preservation outweighs her political ideals, and she know that there is no reward for her if she were to try and defect again. She is stuck with Shattered Steel.

[REDACTED]

History: Ximena Huang was born in 1971 in Mexico City, during the height of the Sino-Soviet split. Her father was Chen Huang, an economist and businessman attached to the Chinese embassy to study Mexican trade and industry as part of early economic reforms predating the wider opening up. Her mother, Renata Torres, was a local college student working in the embassy as an attache. Despite the difference in age (Renata was 25 at the time while Chen was approximately 45) the pair began a romantic relationship and quickly eloped, potentially due to Renata becoming pregnant.

The family moved back to China while Ximena was a toddler but she would end up splitting her time between there and Mexico, due to her father's work and the presence of family. She grew up intensely patriotic and very pro-Third World, seeing Chinese opposition to both the Soviets and the Americans as an attitude other nonaligned nations should copy. With the implementation of Dengist reforms came an increase in the private sector of the Chinese economy, and Chen, with his business background and overseas contacts, was well-placed to benefit. Dealing mainly in real estate and stocks, he taught his daughter that the only way to survive and thrive was to be adaptable, getting onto and bailing from trends before anyone else. Ximena took to this lesson, which likely impacted her outlook on life.

Despite her intense patriotism Huang was something of a problem child. While very intelligent she did merely okay in school and had a record of disciplinary issues, mainly disorderly conduct and underage drinking. Records suggest that she was suspected of affiliating with minor street gangs, but it appears as if she was never formally charged with such. Her father kept her out of any serious trouble, and despite her mediocre grades she got into university, where she began to shine.

Ximena studied both in-country at Peking University, with an emphasis on finance and economics, as well as overseas at the National Autonomous University of Mexico where she was educated in Latin American studies. Her master's thesis was on the interplay of Chinese and LatAm economies and was well-received enough that an excerpt was published in the Journal of Latin American Studies. After graduating she went to work for her father, serving as his representative in Mexico and the southwestern United States.

With the advent of the Heavenfall and the destruction of the old way of doing things, China expanded its espionage and counterintelligence activities greatly. The Ministry of State Security was given an increased budget and a free hand to organize itself as required, and its International Intelligence Burea, in particular, expanded and reorganized itself to face new challenges. The "Second Burea" began to recruit unorthodox agents with valuable skill sets, and Ximena was headhunted shortly after the impact. She was an analyst scrutinizing the activities of foreign companies for any impropriety, passing along her observations to investigators.

[REDACTED]

-sought out alternate opportunities to serve her country. At the time the MSS was collaborating with military intelligence to create a PMC for deniable operations, allowing force projection without risking open warfare. This PMC, Lucky Dog Defense, is ostensibly a publicly traded company taking on jobs for various parties, but it was very much an arm of the Chinese state.

Similar to Shattered Steel in scope, Lucky Dog had an eclectic mix of personnel and equipment from different countries and eras, combining its varied inventory to perform operations on land, air, and sea. Ximena pushed to become a fighter pilot, a departure from her previous role. She managed to convince her superiors to allow the transfer [REDACTED]

She transferred out of her analyst role to Lucky Dog's fighter wing, doing well in training and allowed to serve as a fighter pilot. Lucky Dog had bases around the world but much of its manpower was fleet-based, giving it a reason to invest in carrier-born craft. That explains why they had access to the Navy Advanced Tactical Fighter (better known as the F22 'Sea Raptor') but now how. The best guess is that in the aftermath of the Heavenfall, rogue naval officers sold off their stocks to the highest bidder, but it's unclear. Regardless, Huang ended up flying a purpose-built air supremacy craft and found she had both the talent and inclination for dogfighting.

[REDACTED]

She defected to Shattered Steel after three years in Lucky Dog, and after the mandatory debriefing and background checks to ensure she wasn't a double agent, allowed to keep flying the same plane she stole.

Personal Gear:

• MGA SAW K in .300 Blackout, with attached laser, flashlight and suppressor. [REDACTED]
• Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan in .454 Casull snubnosed and fed with hot loaded slugs, capable of being concealed in a specially enlarged jacket pocket. [REDACTED]
• Buck 102 Hunting Knife
• Ximena is a heavy drinker and smoker and so keeps a stash in her personal locker, both her preferred cognac and cigars, as well as cheap rotgut and cigarettes. Dice and cards are stored in the same place, if not on her person.

Personal Aircraft: Lockheed Martin F-22N "Sea Raptor"- Carrier-capable variant of the F-22 Raptor, largely the same as its progenitor save for the addition of variable-sweep wings and strengthened landing gear.



Aircraft modifications:

• Ukrainian-style sky camoflage
• Depiction of La Calavera Catrina alongside the nose.
• Depiction of a Huli jing in humanoid form on the side of her helmet.
• Modifications to the payload system allow the Raptor to equip a variety of Chinese and Soviet ordnance in addition to the standard N/UN munitions.
• Scorpion Helmet Mounted Display
• Updated avionics
• Upgraded Radar: AN/APG-81
• AN/AAQ-37 Distributed Aperture System

Miscellaneous Notes:

• [REDACTED]
• Ximena lost both her eyes [REDACTED] Huang developed an infection that complicated into full-blown orbital cellulitis. The illness was identified too late for treatment to be effective and her eyes needed to be surgically removed before the infection become necrotic. This of course rendered her blind, but recent advances in medical technology gave her back her sight.
  
  Experiments in cybernetics and lab-grown tissues had potential for eye replacement surgery, but early attempts had been failures. Having nothing to lose, Ximena said yes to the procedure and got very lucky. She was one of the first and few successes, her new eyes having better vision than her old ones.
  
  There were complications however. Her body rejected the new eyes as foreign objects which necessitated the implantation of a device that would release antibodies on a regular basis, keeping them from being attacked by her immune system. A side effect of this is that her tear ducts were damaged by inflammation and surgery, meaning she’s afflicted by haemolacria. She “weeps” watery blood, sometimes in response to stressors but often for no discernible reason. Additionally, her eyes sensitive to harsh lights. When working for the MSS she mitigated this by wearing special contacts but after joining Lucky Dog shifted to stylish but functional sunglasses.
  
  Of minor note is that the artificial irises can change color, Ximena often sets them to blue but has been known to select more fantastical options
• Her natural accent is an odd mix of Chinese and Mexican, combining the shifting vowel pitches and dropped final consonants of the former with the rolling Rs and relative nasality of the latter. That said, she learned to speak English with a much more standard American accent while working in real estate, and she has a habit of switching between them. Generally speaking people who outrank her or otherwise have authority get the American accent, peers or near equals get her natural one.

Ximena Huang-CLASSIFIED

Name: Born Ximena Huang, has used a variety of false identities over the years with the most notable being Amy Guo
Callsign/Nickname: When working as an undercover operative she was given the codename Catechist. After transferring to flight duties she was nicknamed Jefe, a play on how her name is pronounced.
Age: 41, born 1974
Gender: Female
Appearance:
Ximena is 5'2" and fairly attractive, with wide, expressive eyes and delicate facial features. Something of a fashionista, she regularly wears makeup as well as dressy-casual designer clothes when on leave or otherwise permitted to wear civilian attire.
Nationality: Sinomexicana by birth, functionally stateless.

Personality: Ximena's overarching demeanor is one of excess. She appreciates indulgences of all sorts, known for her love of cigars, coffee, and cognac. Thus far she's managed to avoid any major health concerns resulting from such consumption, something she attributes to a family history of smoking and drinking. She's a flirt and philanderer, prone to casual relationships or simple flings, as well as a high-rolling gambler. Much of her paychecks go to feeding the above habits, with some carefully squirreled away. Suave and confident in all things, she is self-assured, bordering on cocky, but genuinely quite competent and very aware of it. She expects perfection from herself in her work, and she often achieves it. This in turn inflates her ego.

This fast lifestyle was developed during her work as a spy. Besides her state salary, Huang had access to generous expense accounts and was encouraged to earn money on the side in order to ingratiate herself with local criminal elements. She became adept at living as a buttoned-up, white-collar worker during the day and a big spender by night. Years of successful espionage and counter-espionage built up a sense of skill and a need to show it off. The conflict between her need for attention and the stealth required by her work is thought to be a major factor in her switching to piloting. Being a spy was, in her own words, 'sexy' but air combat allowed her to operate more openly. It's also worth noting that she joined a PMC only after she was taken out of the field and made a desk agent.

While there is little doubt that Jefe is an ego-driven perfectionist with a number of vices, psychoanalysis suggests that this is a subconscious defense mechanism. She served as a spy for a decade in some of the most active warzones post-Heavenfall, neutralizing a number of enemy agents and at times coming close to being neutralized herself. This lifestyle made her paranoid, and her anxiety is amplified due to her current status as a wanted traitor to the NPRC and the unknown status of her longtime partner. It is believed that by playing up her "James Bond shit", as she puts it, she's able to avoid confronting the simple fact that she's afraid.

Despite fleeing her home country, Huang is politically and emotionally loyal to China and its interests. She grew up in the late Cold War and came to disdain both the Soviet hegemony and NATO influence, seeing Russia and America as twin imperialists attempting to make the Third World their own. If she had her way, New China and the NCAA would break apart the N/UN and the megacorporations alike. That said, she is considered to be a reliable asset. Her self-preservation outweighs her political ideals, and she know that there is no reward for her if she were to try and defect again. She is stuck with Shattered Steel.

Note from Doctor Dixon, Psychiatric Evaluator: I felt I should make my observations here so that whoever 'Jefe's' squadron commander ends up being can see them. While she is cleared for flight duties by the standards of Shattered Steel, the fact of the matter is that she very well might not have had we been in a peacetime army, so to speak. She's likely suffering from some form of PTSD and is certainly a high-functioning addict. This is unsurprising, as you're unlikely to spend as long as she did undercover and then jump immediately into front-line combat without suffering some complications. What makes things trickier to decipher is her relationship with her former girlfriend. During my interview with her Huang expressed grief, guilt, bitterness and resentment in equal measure, blaming herself for abandoning her partner and blaming her partner for forcing her to give up her career and country. When she discovered that Zuhal was passing along state secrets she cut all ties and left her to her fate, assuming internal security would silence the leak, but regretted the decision almost immediately. This regret is exacerbated by the fact that Zuhal was, under unclear circumstances, kidnapped by the Sam Gor when fleeing. It's believed she's being forced to work for them, and it's only a matter of time before they kill her or she's reclaimed by the NPRC. Huang has expressed that she believes Zuhal 'has it coming,' but it's doubtful she means that.

Ximena's outward persona is at least partially a front to discourage people from looking too deeply into her. You would be well-served by knowing when not to buy her bullshit. There is minimal risk of her going rogue again or lashing out somehow, but with how central her being the "best" is to her emotional defenses, she could conceivably spiral and need to be pulled off flight duty.

History: Ximena Huang was born in 1971 in Mexico City, during the height of the Sino-Soviet split. Her father was Chen Huang, an economist and businessman attached to the Chinese embassy to study Mexican trade and industry as part of early economic reforms predating the wider opening up. Her mother, Renata Torres, was a local college student working in the embassy as an attache. Despite the difference in age (Renata was 25 at the time while Chen was approximately 45) the pair began a romantic relationship and quickly eloped, potentially due to Renata becoming pregnant.

The family moved back to China while Ximena was a toddler but she would end up splitting her time between there and Mexico, due to her father's work and the presence of family. She grew up intensely patriotic and very pro-Third World, seeing Chinese opposition to both the Soviets and the Americans as an attitude other nonaligned nations should copy. With the implementation of Dengist reforms came an increase in the private sector of the Chinese economy, and Chen, with his business background and overseas contacts, was well-placed to benefit. Dealing mainly in real estate and stocks, he taught his daughter that the only way to survive and thrive was to be adaptable, getting onto and bailing from trends before anyone else. Ximena took to this lesson, which likely impacted her outlook on life.

Despite her intense patriotism Huang was something of a problem child. While very intelligent she did merely okay in school and had a record of disciplinary issues, mainly disorderly conduct and underage drinking. Records suggest that she was suspected of affiliating with minor street gangs, but it appears as if she was never formally charged with such. Her father kept her out of any serious trouble, and despite her mediocre grades she got into university, where she began to shine.

Ximena studied both in-country at Peking University, with an emphasis on finance and economics, as well as overseas at the National Autonomous University of Mexico where she was educated in Latin American studies. Her master's thesis was on the interplay of Chinese and LatAm economies and was well-received enough that an excerpt was published in the Journal of Latin American Studies. After graduating she went to work for her father, serving as his representative in Mexico and the southwestern United States.

With the advent of the Heavenfall and the destruction of the old way of doing things, China expanded its espionage and counterintelligence activities greatly. The Ministry of State Security was given an increased budget and a free hand to organize itself as required, and its International Intelligence Burea, in particular, expanded and reorganized itself to face new challenges. The "Second Burea" began to recruit unorthodox agents with valuable skill sets, and Ximena was headhunted shortly after the impact. She was an analyst scrutinizing the activities of foreign companies for any impropriety, passing along her observations to investigators.

That role was just what she did on paper. In actuality, Huang was herself a spy. Her business background and ability to ingratiate herself with criminals made her well-suited to undercover work, and she was provided a series of cover identities and employees as part of Pacific Enterprises [see attached file]. While her job title changed regularly she was responsible for ensuring transport and the protection of inventory, ostensibly for second-hand civilian equipment and heavy industry goods. In actuality, Huang was involved in the covert movement of people, money, and weapons to various forces around the globe. She spent 3 years in this role, before the MSS decided to better utilize her particular background by inserting her into Mexico.

Her new papers identified her as Amy Guo, a business executive out of work due to the rampant destruction in Los Angeles. “Guo” was originally a corporate spy but due to the economic crisis of the disaster was now a lone actor willing to sell out her old bosses.

Through a contact in the Chinese embassy in Mexico City (an old friend of her fathers, although for operational secrecy said friend was not informed of who she was) she was inserted into Fabricante Diaz, a subsidiary of NeoDyne.

FD was a largely unknown entity with a history of projects that never went anywhere, and it was long thought by Mexican authorities to have remained solvent through laundering dirty money invested by corrupt officials and simple criminals, but it did have promising experiments in the miniaturization of chemical and electrical lasers. Such technology was something China wanted to keep an eye on, and “Guo” was in a perfect position to watch it.

Her job was multifaceted. She kept the MSS informed of Diaz’s work on lasers while feeding NeoDyne supposed industry secrets, information that the megacorp would already have known or was largely inconsequential but established her bona fides. She also liaised with the cartels as well as elements of Mexico’s remnant law enforcement and government that were happy to pick up some extra pay, establishing a network of safe houses and listening posts to keep an eye on the region. Finally, if there were elements that needed to be dealt with through force it fell to her to arrange their rendition or killing.

She seems to have enjoyed this period immensely. Living double lives suited her ego and the combination of her expense account, two salaries and kickbacks from Fabricante Diaz and her new friends in the underworld allowed her to indulge in base desires. Typically lavish spending is not something a spy should do, but Huang had arranged her cover so that it would be odd if she wasn’t. NeoDyne and local officials were well aware that Amy Guo was selling secrets from her old company to the highest bidder to fund her extravagant lifestyle, but they had no idea she was on the MSS payroll.

It was during this period that she reconnected with Zuhal al-Saqqaf, a Saudi national she had shared a college dorm with. While they had been close during their shared time at Peking University and slept with each other in a couple of instances, al-Saqqaf went on to finish her studies in England while Huang went to Mexico, and they exchanged only a few messages as they started their respective careers. al-Saqqaf, having gotten a job in the Chinese energy industry with the collapse of the Middle East and not sure which of her old acquaintances had survived the Heavenfall, reached out to Huang via New China's London embassy, and they met for drinks.

Huang was unwilling to discuss the circumstances of her and al-Saqqaf becoming a semi-permanent couple, but it was likely due to their similar backgrounds and outlooks. Zuhal's father and uncle both made their fortune during the 70s and 80s off of natural gas reserves and other resources, meaning that she was thrust into high society at around the same time as Ximena. Zuhal was also known to flaunt social mores, running into trouble with the morality police several times.

An obvious tie between them was their orientation and related struggles. According to interviews with family and friends now outside the country, al-Saqqaf's attraction to women was discovered by her father shortly after she went abroad for school and she was entirely cut off, potentially on pain of death if she returned. Ximena's circumstances were not nearly that dire, but by her own admittance she was always cautious about keeping her relationships with women to herself and only came out to her family when ordered by the MSS to ensure she couldn't be blackmailed.

Besides their shared past Huang and al-Saqqaf's relationship benefited in that both of them had neither the time nor the inclination for something permanent or monogamous. Ximena was preoccupied with her spy work while Zuhal was often traveling due to her chemical engineering career, setting up ethanol and hydrogen production for New China and its allies. Additionally, Huang was a serial libertine and al-Saqqaf was still recovering from a previous relationship, leaving both parties uninterested in becoming a 'couple' by traditional standards.

That said, they met whenever they could, catching red-eye flights to make it to dinner and spending nights in each other's apartments whenever they were in the same area. Huang refused to elaborate on these meetings, but she did make it clear that neither of them knew about the others work outside of vague generalities. al-Saqqaf was aware that Huang did analysis work for the MSS and Huang knew that Zuhal was working for the National Energy Administration, but evidently neither of them pried. Analysis suggests Zuhal was “safe” in a way other people were not, allowing Huang to let her guard down and be vulnerable, or at least emotionally intimate.

Eventually Fabricante Diaz went insolvent, the chaotic state of Mexico not conducive to the production required to keep it afloat. Huang wrapped up operations and passed along contact information to those assets deemed worth keeping, ensuring that China would still have eyes and ears in Mexico. Ximena herself was transferred back to Beijing for desk duty, and her case officer operation was shelved. Fabricante Diaz had made some notable advances in miniaturizing and venting heat from laser weapons technology, but they were ultimately minor and not anything that hadn’t been theorized before. Huang’s mission was a success in that she had infiltrated NeoDyne undetected and laid the groundwork for a lucrative network in the region, but with the company she was embedded in no longer existing it was deemed prudent to extract her. Friendlies in the American justice system and Interpol arranged for a warrant to be put out on Amy Guo for corporate espionage and wire fraud, leading to her arrest and deportation. The private contractors who picked her up were not actually hired by the United States of course, and she was shuttled back to China clean.

Her good work had earned her a promotion but her inability to turn off her maverick tendencies once back in official service gained the mistrust of her superiors. It was decided to simultaneously reward and punish her by making her a Case Manager, essentially a handler for case officers who were transitory in some way as opposed to being permanently planted. It was a step up in her career but it was a step away from the action, as her superiors wanted to make use of her skills but were concerned that she would become a liability.

Moving away from the field was not what Ximena wanted, and since this was not an optional reassignment she couldn’t just turn it down in favor of staying a case officer. She instead sought out alternate opportunities to serve her country. At the time the MSS was collaborating with military intelligence to create a PMC for deniable operations, allowing force projection without risking open warfare. This PMC, Lucky Dog Defense, is ostensibly a publicly traded company taking on jobs for various parties, but it was very much an arm of the Chinese state.

Similar to Shattered Steel in scope, Lucky Dog had an eclectic mix of personnel and equipment from different countries and eras, combining its varied inventory to perform operations on land, air, and sea. Ximena pushed to become a fighter pilot, a departure from her previous role. She managed to convince her superiors to allow the transfer on the basis that her work with Fabricante Diaz, a firm that dealt with aerospace technology, and her intelligence background made her suited to semi-covert aerial operations. That and her tendency to play fast and loose in office politics made someone above her happy to make her someone else’s problem.

She transferred out of her analyst role to Lucky Dog's fighter wing, doing well in training and allowed to serve as a fighter pilot. Lucky Dog had bases around the world but much of its manpower was fleet-based, giving it a reason to invest in carrier-born craft. That explains why they had access to the Navy Advanced Tactical Fighter (better known as the F22 'Sea Raptor') but now how. The best guess is that in the aftermath of the Heavenfall, rogue naval officers sold off their stocks to the highest bidder, but it's unclear. Regardless, Huang ended up flying a purpose-built air supremacy craft and found she had both the talent and inclination for dogfighting.

It was during her tenure with Lucky Dog that Ximena would become the full-time partner of Zuhal, the pair sharing a high-end apartment in Macau when not working in the field. This life suited Huang rather nicely, as Macau's status as the "Las Vegas of the East" meant that she could indulge herself as she pleased with the money she made from each mission.

Unbeknowst to her however, Zuhal was not as comfortable. Her government paycheck allowed for comfortable living but not outlandishly so, and she had developed a taste for the finer things in life just like Huang had. al-Saqqaf had taken to extralegal activities to fund herself, while Ximena had been performing industrial espionage for China Zuhal had been doing it for herself. Using her expertise in the field of fuel production and her access to state resources, she had been involved in the smuggling of black market energy for years without Ximena knowing about it, and she only revealed this secret once authorities began to close in.

Three years into Ximena's time with Lucky Dog Zuhal took her to a secluded place and revealed her secret, and that she was sure she was being tailed. Not sure what to do she looked to Ximena for help. Ximena knew that law enforcement had her dead to rights and had refrained from arresting her to see if she would reveal her co-conspirators. Once they had her, she would face trial and, in all likelihood, execution for treason. More to the point, Ximena was also at risk. While she hadn't even known that al-Saqqaf had been making money on the side, the fact that she herself had been a spy meant that ignorance would not be accepted as an excuse. Regardless of her lack of involvement, she would be scooped up and shot alongside her partner to clean house.

Ximena kept this realization to herself and told Zuhal to sit tight for the moment, and that soon she'd have arranged safe haven for them. In actuality she moved what cash she could to offshore accounts and dropped everything, including Zuhal. The week after the conversation she reported to work as usual and requested time in-air for maneuver training. Once airborne she simply veered off, using the Raptor's high speed and stealth capabilities to flee.

She defected to Shattered Steel after three years in Lucky Dog, and after the mandatory debriefing and background checks to ensure she wasn't a double agent, allowed to keep flying the same plane she stole.

Personal Gear:

• MGA SAW K in .300 Blackout, with attached laser, flashlight and suppressor. An unorthodox weapon for a Chinese agent or indeed a pilot, Huang got acquired this in Mexico and has managed to ship or smuggle it around the world.
• Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan in .454 Casull snubnosed and fed with hot loaded slugs, capable of being concealed in a specially enlarged jacket pocket. Ximena states that she preferred to carry low-caliber pocket pistols when working for the MSS due to their utility as assassination weapons, but since defecting has switched to magnums in order to guarantee she can kill an attacker in one shot.
• Buck 102 Hunting Knife
• Ximena is a heavy drinker and smoker and so keeps a stash in her personal locker, both her preferred cognac and cigars, as well as cheap rotgut and cigarettes. Dice and cards are stored in the same place, if not on her person.

Personal Aircraft: Lockheed Martin F-22N "Sea Raptor"- Carrier-capable variant of the F-22 Raptor, largely the same as its progenitor save for the addition of variable-sweep wings and strengthened landing gear.



Aircraft modifications:

• Ukrainian-style sky camoflage
• Depiction of La Calavera Catrina alongside the nose.
• Depiction of a Huli jing in humanoid form on the side of her helmet.
• Modifications to the payload system allow the Raptor to equip a variety of Chinese and Soviet ordnance in addition to the standard N/UN munitions.
• Scorpion Helmet Mounted Display
• Updated avionics
• Upgraded Radar: AN/APG-81
• AN/AAQ-37 Distributed Aperture System

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Ximena demures from giving a concrete answer in regards to her sexuality. She identifies herself as a lālā, a slang term for a lesbian woman, as opposed to bisexual but has relationships with men before. She likely has a notable but not exclusionary preference for women, and lālā is simply the easiest for her to use. Whoever recruited her to the MSS might have stuck the label on her going through her background, as she was ordered to out herself to minimize the leverage someone could have over her.
• Ximena lost both her eyes when she was working for the MSS in India after the Heavenfall. PacEn was delivering equipment to Naxalite forces in the so-called “red corridor”, a region particularly affected by the disaster. With infrastructure basically nonexistent Huang developed an infection that complicated into full-blown orbital cellulitis. The illness was identified too late for treatment to be effective and her eyes needed to be surgically removed before the infection become necrotic. This of course rendered her blind, but recent advances in medical technology gave her back her sight.
  
  Experiments in cybernetics and lab-grown tissues had potential for eye replacement surgery, but early attempts had been failures. Having nothing to lose, Ximena said yes to the procedure and got very lucky. She was one of the first and few successes, her new eyes having better vision than her old ones.
  
  There were complications however. Her body rejected the new eyes as foreign objects which necessitated the implantation of a device that would release antibodies on a regular basis, keeping them from being attacked by her immune system. A side effect of this is that her tear ducts were damaged by inflammation and surgery, meaning she’s afflicted by haemolacria. She “weeps” watery blood, sometimes in response to stressors but often for no discernible reason. Additionally, her eyes sensitive to harsh lights. When working for the MSS she mitigated this by wearing special contacts but after joining Lucky Dog shifted to stylish but functional sunglasses.
  
  Of minor note is that the artificial irises can change color, Ximena often sets them to blue but has been known to select more fantastical options
• Her natural accent is an odd mix of Chinese and Mexican, combining the shifting vowel pitches and dropped final consonants of the former with the rolling Rs and relative nasality of the latter. That said, she learned to speak English with a much more standard American accent while working in real estate, and she has a habit of switching between them. Generally speaking people who outrank her or otherwise have authority get the American accent, peers or near equals get her natural one.

Pacific Enterprise Shipping

Often shortened to PacEn, this now defunct company was ostensibly a major air and sea freight carrier with some minor stakes in land-based shipping concerns in various countries. While it did do legitimate business, this was largely to keep itself solvent instead of generating profits. PacEn is considered to be a front corporation for elements of the Chinese Ministry of State Security, with many of its employees being assets or agents under the direct guidance of Beijing.

PacEn allowed for the transfers of personnel, money, equipment and arms to various parties around the world, anyone China wanted to support but needed to do so covertly. While it has since become defunct, the vast majority of the people involved with its espionage activities are unknown, and it’s considered highly likely that the operation has merely broken apart into smaller units to make itself less vulnerable to intrusion.

Ximena Huang states that she began her career in the MSS as part of PacEn, working to smuggle weapons and advisors to Naxalite-Maoist groups in India as well as arranging the transportation of material to various groups throughout the Pacific hemisphere. She was also deployed to the former Soviet Union for a time, working with local forces to track down WMDs and ship them back to China before they could fall into the hands of enemy agents.

The Company

The Company, sometimes referred to as Sam Gor ("The third brother", a reference to the gang's founder) began life as an alliance between Triad organizations to corner the drug market in the Asia-Pacific region, only to be interrupted by the Heavenfall. The immense destruction only temporarily halted their activities, and like many criminal organizations the Company took advantage of new state of the world to increase its own power. Using its drug profits to arm and expand, the Company defeated or simply subsumed a number of smaller gangs throughout Asia and the Americas, expanding both its territory and its ventures. In addition to narcotics, it deals in human trafficking and weapons, as well as black market energy production and simple piracy on both air and sea. It has a notable naval presence and commonly preys on shipping, stealing anything valuable before taking the crew to be held for ransom.

Zuhal al-Saqqaf, the chemical engineer and former romantic partner of ximena Huang, is currently in the Company's custody and is being forced to produce fuel for them, most of which is used by the Company's vessels while the remainder is sold off. It's thought that she had been dealing with them before her flight from New China and was simply taken prisoner when they realized that she was no longer able to find safety in the PRC.

Shattered Steel - An Ace Combat/Project Wingman/etc inspired aircraft-based RP

Ximena Huang

Name: Ximena Huang [REDACTED]
Callsign/Nickname: [REDACTED] nicknamed Jefe, a play on how her name is pronounced.
Age: 41, born 1974
Gender: Female
Appearance:
Ximena is 5'2" and fairly attractive, with wide, expressive eyes and delicate facial features. Something of a fashionista, she regularly wears makeup as well as dressy-casual designer clothes when on leave or otherwise permitted to wear civilian attire.

Nationality: Sinomexicana by birth, functionally stateless.

Personality: Ximena's overarching demeanor is one of excess. She appreciates indulgences of all sorts, known for her love of cigars, coffee, and cognac. Thus far she's managed to avoid any major health concerns resulting from such consumption, something she attributes to a family history of smoking and drinking. She's a flirt and philanderer, prone to casual relationships or simple flings, as well as a high-rolling gambler. Much of her paychecks go to feeding the above habits, with some carefully squirreled away. Suave and confident in all things, she is self-assured, bordering on cocky, but genuinely quite competent and very aware of it. She expects perfection from herself in her work, and she often achieves it. This in turn inflates her ego.

[REDACTED]

Despite fleeing her home country, Huang is politically and emotionally loyal to China and its interests. She grew up in the late Cold War and came to disdain both the Soviet hegemony and NATO influence, seeing Russia and America as twin imperialists attempting to make the Third World their own. If she had her way, New China and the NCAA would break apart the N/UN and the megacorporations alike. That said, she is considered to be a reliable asset. Her self-preservation outweighs her political ideals, and she know that there is no reward for her if she were to try and defect again. She is stuck with Shattered Steel.

[REDACTED]

History: Ximena Huang was born in 1971 in Mexico City, during the height of the Sino-Soviet split. Her father was Chen Huang, an economist and businessman attached to the Chinese embassy to study Mexican trade and industry as part of early economic reforms predating the wider opening up. Her mother, Renata Torres, was a local college student working in the embassy as an attache. Despite the difference in age (Renata was 25 at the time while Chen was approximately 45) the pair began a romantic relationship and quickly eloped, potentially due to Renata becoming pregnant.

The family moved back to China while Ximena was a toddler but she would end up splitting her time between there and Mexico, due to her father's work and the presence of family. She grew up intensely patriotic and very pro-Third World, seeing Chinese opposition to both the Soviets and the Americans as an attitude other nonaligned nations should copy. With the implementation of Dengist reforms came an increase in the private sector of the Chinese economy, and Chen, with his business background and overseas contacts, was well-placed to benefit. Dealing mainly in real estate and stocks, he taught his daughter that the only way to survive and thrive was to be adaptable, getting onto and bailing from trends before anyone else. Ximena took to this lesson, which likely impacted her outlook on life.

Despite her intense patriotism Huang was something of a problem child. While very intelligent she did merely okay in school and had a record of disciplinary issues, mainly disorderly conduct and underage drinking. Records suggest that she was suspected of affiliating with minor street gangs, but it appears as if she was never formally charged with such. Her father kept her out of any serious trouble, and despite her mediocre grades she got into university, where she began to shine.

Ximena studied both in-country at Peking University, with an emphasis on finance and economics, as well as overseas at the National Autonomous University of Mexico where she was educated in Latin American studies. Her master's thesis was on the interplay of Chinese and LatAm economies and was well-received enough that an excerpt was published in the Journal of Latin American Studies. After graduating she went to work for her father, serving as his representative in Mexico and the southwestern United States.

With the advent of the Heavenfall and the destruction of the old way of doing things, China expanded its espionage and counterintelligence activities greatly. The Ministry of State Security was given an increased budget and a free hand to organize itself as required, and its International Intelligence Burea, in particular, expanded and reorganized itself to face new challenges. The "Second Burea" began to recruit unorthodox agents with valuable skill sets, and Ximena was headhunted shortly after the impact. She was an analyst scrutinizing the activities of foreign companies for any impropriety, passing along her observations to investigators.

[REDACTED]

-sought out alternate opportunities to serve her country. At the time the MSS was collaborating with military intelligence to create a PMC for deniable operations, allowing force projection without risking open warfare. This PMC, Lucky Dog Defense, is ostensibly a publicly traded company taking on jobs for various parties, but it was very much an arm of the Chinese state.

Similar to Shattered Steel in scope, Lucky Dog had an eclectic mix of personnel and equipment from different countries and eras, combining its varied inventory to perform operations on land, air, and sea. Ximena pushed to become a fighter pilot, a departure from her previous role. She managed to convince her superiors to allow the transfer [REDACTED]

She transferred out of her analyst role to Lucky Dog's fighter wing, doing well in training and allowed to serve as a fighter pilot. Lucky Dog had bases around the world but much of its manpower was fleet-based, giving it a reason to invest in carrier-born craft. That explains why they had access to the Navy Advanced Tactical Fighter (better known as the F22 'Sea Raptor') but now how. The best guess is that in the aftermath of the Heavenfall, rogue naval officers sold off their stocks to the highest bidder, but it's unclear. Regardless, Huang ended up flying a purpose-built air supremacy craft and found she had both the talent and inclination for dogfighting.

[REDACTED]

She defected to Shattered Steel after three years in Lucky Dog, and after the mandatory debriefing and background checks to ensure she wasn't a double agent, allowed to keep flying the same plane she stole.

Personal Gear:

• MGA SAW K in .300 Blackout, with attached laser, flashlight and suppressor. [REDACTED]
• Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan in .454 Casull snubnosed and fed with hot loaded slugs, capable of being concealed in a specially enlarged jacket pocket. [REDACTED]
• Buck 102 Hunting Knife
• Ximena is a heavy drinker and smoker and so keeps a stash in her personal locker, both her preferred cognac and cigars, as well as cheap rotgut and cigarettes. Dice and cards are stored in the same place, if not on her person.

Personal Aircraft: Lockheed Martin F-22N "Sea Raptor"- Carrier-capable variant of the F-22 Raptor, largely the same as its progenitor save for the addition of variable-sweep wings and strengthened landing gear.



Aircraft modifications:

• Ukrainian-style sky camoflage
• Depiction of La Calavera Catrina alongside the nose.
• Depiction of a Huli jing in humanoid form on the side of her helmet.
• Modifications to the payload system allow the Raptor to equip a variety of Chinese and Soviet ordnance in addition to the standard N/UN munitions.
• Scorpion Helmet Mounted Display
• Updated avionics
• Upgraded Radar: AN/APG-81
• AN/AAQ-37 Distributed Aperture System

Miscellaneous Notes:

• [Redacted]
• Her natural accent is an odd mix of Chinese and Mexican, combining the shifting vowel pitches and dropped final consonants of the former with the rolling Rs and relative nasality of the latter. That said, she learned to speak English with a much more standard American accent while working in real estate, and she has a habit of switching between them. Generally speaking people who outrank her or otherwise have authority get the American accent, peers or near equals get her natural one.

Ximena Huang-CLASSIFIED

Name: Born Ximena Huang, has used a variety of false identities over the years with the most notable being Amy Guo
Callsign/Nickname: When working as an undercover operative she was given the codename Catechist. After transferring to flight duties she was nicknamed Jefe, a play on how her name is pronounced.
Age: 41, born 1974
Gender: Female
Appearance:
Ximena is 5'2" and fairly attractive, with wide, expressive eyes and delicate facial features. Something of a fashionista, she regularly wears makeup as well as dressy-casual designer clothes when on leave or otherwise permitted to wear civilian attire.
Nationality: Sinomexicana by birth, functionally stateless.

Personality: Ximena's overarching demeanor is one of excess. She appreciates indulgences of all sorts, known for her love of cigars, coffee, and cognac. Thus far she's managed to avoid any major health concerns resulting from such consumption, something she attributes to a family history of smoking and drinking. She's a flirt and philanderer, prone to casual relationships or simple flings, as well as a high-rolling gambler. Much of her paychecks go to feeding the above habits, with some carefully squirreled away. Suave and confident in all things, she is self-assured, bordering on cocky, but genuinely quite competent and very aware of it. She expects perfection from herself in her work, and she often achieves it. This in turn inflates her ego.

This fast lifestyle was developed during her work as a spy. Besides her state salary, Huang had access to generous expense accounts and was encouraged to earn money on the side in order to ingratiate herself with local criminal elements. She became adept at living as a buttoned-up, white-collar worker during the day and a big spender by night. Years of successful espionage and counter-espionage built up a sense of skill and a need to show it off. The conflict between her need for attention and the stealth required by her work is thought to be a major factor in her switching to piloting. Being a spy was, in her own words, 'sexy' but air combat allowed her to operate more openly. It's also worth noting that she joined a PMC only after she was taken out of the field and made a desk agent.

While there is little doubt that Jefe is an ego-driven perfectionist with a number of vices, psychoanalysis suggests that this is a subconscious defense mechanism. She served as a spy for a decade in some of the most active warzones post-Heavenfall, neutralizing a number of enemy agents and at times coming close to being neutralized herself. This lifestyle made her paranoid, and her anxiety is amplified due to her current status as a wanted traitor to the NPRC and the unknown status of her longtime partner. It is believed that by playing up her "James Bond shit", as she puts it, she's able to avoid confronting the simple fact that she's afraid.

Despite fleeing her home country, Huang is politically and emotionally loyal to China and its interests. She grew up in the late Cold War and came to disdain both the Soviet hegemony and NATO influence, seeing Russia and America as twin imperialists attempting to make the Third World their own. If she had her way, New China and the NCAA would break apart the N/UN and the megacorporations alike. That said, she is considered to be a reliable asset. Her self-preservation outweighs her political ideals, and she know that there is no reward for her if she were to try and defect again. She is stuck with Shattered Steel.

Note from Doctor Dixon, Psychiatric Evaluator: I felt I should make my observations here so that whoever 'Jefe's' squadron commander ends up being can see them. While she is cleared for flight duties by the standards of Shattered Steel, the fact of the matter is that she very well might not have had we been in a peacetime army, so to speak. She's likely suffering from some form of PTSD and is certainly a high-functioning addict. This is unsurprising, as you're unlikely to spend as long as she did undercover and then jump immediately into front-line combat without suffering some complications. What makes things trickier to decipher is her relationship with her former girlfriend. During my interview with her Huang expressed grief, guilt, bitterness and resentment in equal measure, blaming herself for abandoning her partner and blaming her partner for forcing her to give up her career and country. When she discovered that Zuhal was passing along state secrets she cut all ties and left her to her fate, assuming internal security would silence the leak, but regretted the decision almost immediately. This regret is exacerbated by the fact that Zuhal was, under unclear circumstances, kidnapped by the Sam Gor when fleeing. It's believed she's being forced to work for them, and it's only a matter of time before they kill her or she's reclaimed by the NPRC. Huang has expressed that she believes Zuhal 'has it coming,' but it's doubtful she means that.

Ximena's outward persona is at least partially a front to discourage people from looking too deeply into her. You would be well-served by knowing when not to buy her bullshit. There is minimal risk of her going rogue again or lashing out somehow, but with how central her being the "best" is to her emotional defenses, she could conceivably spiral and need to be pulled off flight duty.

History: Ximena Huang was born in 1971 in Mexico City, during the height of the Sino-Soviet split. Her father was Chen Huang, an economist and businessman attached to the Chinese embassy to study Mexican trade and industry as part of early economic reforms predating the wider opening up. Her mother, Renata Torres, was a local college student working in the embassy as an attache. Despite the difference in age (Renata was 25 at the time while Chen was approximately 45) the pair began a romantic relationship and quickly eloped, potentially due to Renata becoming pregnant.

The family moved back to China while Ximena was a toddler but she would end up splitting her time between there and Mexico, due to her father's work and the presence of family. She grew up intensely patriotic and very pro-Third World, seeing Chinese opposition to both the Soviets and the Americans as an attitude other nonaligned nations should copy. With the implementation of Dengist reforms came an increase in the private sector of the Chinese economy, and Chen, with his business background and overseas contacts, was well-placed to benefit. Dealing mainly in real estate and stocks, he taught his daughter that the only way to survive and thrive was to be adaptable, getting onto and bailing from trends before anyone else. Ximena took to this lesson, which likely impacted her outlook on life.

Despite her intense patriotism Huang was something of a problem child. While very intelligent she did merely okay in school and had a record of disciplinary issues, mainly disorderly conduct and underage drinking. Records suggest that she was suspected of affiliating with minor street gangs, but it appears as if she was never formally charged with such. Her father kept her out of any serious trouble, and despite her mediocre grades she got into university, where she began to shine.

Ximena studied both in-country at Peking University, with an emphasis on finance and economics, as well as overseas at the National Autonomous University of Mexico where she was educated in Latin American studies. Her master's thesis was on the interplay of Chinese and LatAm economies and was well-received enough that an excerpt was published in the Journal of Latin American Studies. After graduating she went to work for her father, serving as his representative in Mexico and the southwestern United States.

With the advent of the Heavenfall and the destruction of the old way of doing things, China expanded its espionage and counterintelligence activities greatly. The Ministry of State Security was given an increased budget and a free hand to organize itself as required, and its International Intelligence Burea, in particular, expanded and reorganized itself to face new challenges. The "Second Burea" began to recruit unorthodox agents with valuable skill sets, and Ximena was headhunted shortly after the impact. She was an analyst scrutinizing the activities of foreign companies for any impropriety, passing along her observations to investigators.

That role was just what she did on paper. In actuality, Huang was herself a spy. Her business background and ability to ingratiate herself with criminals made her well-suited to undercover work, and she was provided a series of cover identities and employees as part of Pacific Enterprises [see attached file]. While her job title changed regularly she was responsible for ensuring transport and the protection of inventory, ostensibly for second-hand civilian equipment and heavy industry goods. In actuality, Huang was involved in the covert movement of people, money, and weapons to various forces around the globe. She spent 3 years in this role, before the MSS decided to better utilize her particular background by inserting her into Mexico.

Her new papers identified her as Amy Guo, a business executive out of work due to the rampant destruction in Los Angeles. “Guo” was originally a corporate spy but due to the economic crisis of the disaster was now a lone actor willing to sell out her old bosses.

Through a contact in the Chinese embassy in Mexico City (an old friend of her fathers, although for operational secrecy said friend was not informed of who she was) she was inserted into Fabricante Diaz, a subsidiary of NeoDyne.

FD was a largely unknown entity with a history of projects that never went anywhere, and it was long thought by Mexican authorities to have remained solvent through laundering dirty money invested by corrupt officials and simple criminals, but it did have promising experiments in the miniaturization of chemical and electrical lasers. Such technology was something China wanted to keep an eye on, and “Guo” was in a perfect position to watch it.

Her job was multifaceted. She kept the MSS informed of Diaz’s work on lasers while feeding NeoDyne supposed industry secrets, information that the megacorp would already have known or was largely inconsequential but established her bona fides. She also liaised with the cartels as well as elements of Mexico’s remnant law enforcement and government that were happy to pick up some extra pay, establishing a network of safe houses and listening posts to keep an eye on the region. Finally, if there were elements that needed to be dealt with through force it fell to her to arrange their rendition or killing.

She seems to have enjoyed this period immensely. Living double lives suited her ego and the combination of her expense account, two salaries and kickbacks from Fabricante Diaz and her new friends in the underworld allowed her to indulge in base desires. Typically lavish spending is not something a spy should do, but Huang had arranged her cover so that it would be odd if she wasn’t. NeoDyne and local officials were well aware that Amy Guo was selling secrets from her old company to the highest bidder to fund her extravagant lifestyle, but they had no idea she was on the MSS payroll.

It was during this period that she reconnected with Zuhal al-Saqqaf, a Saudi national she had shared a college dorm with. While they had been close during their shared time at Peking University and slept with each other in a couple of instances, al-Saqqaf went on to finish her studies in England while Huang went to Mexico, and they exchanged only a few messages as they started their respective careers. al-Saqqaf, having gotten a job in the Chinese energy industry with the collapse of the Middle East and not sure which of her old acquaintances had survived the Heavenfall, reached out to Huang via New China's London embassy, and they met for drinks.

Huang was unwilling to discuss the circumstances of her and al-Saqqaf becoming a semi-permanent couple, but it was likely due to their similar backgrounds and outlooks. Zuhal's father and uncle both made their fortune during the 70s and 80s off of natural gas reserves and other resources, meaning that she was thrust into high society at around the same time as Ximena. Zuhal was also known to flaunt social mores, running into trouble with the morality police several times.

An obvious tie between them was their orientation and related struggles. According to interviews with family and friends now outside the country, al-Saqqaf's attraction to women was discovered by her father shortly after she went abroad for school and she was entirely cut off, potentially on pain of death if she returned. Ximena's circumstances were not nearly that dire, but by her own admittance she was always cautious about keeping her relationships with women to herself and only came out to her family when ordered by the MSS to ensure she couldn't be blackmailed.

Besides their shared past Huang and al-Saqqaf's relationship benefited in that both of them had neither the time nor the inclination for something permanent or monogamous. Ximena was preoccupied with her spy work while Zuhal was often traveling due to her chemical engineering career, setting up ethanol and hydrogen production for New China and its allies. Additionally, Huang was a serial libertine and al-Saqqaf was still recovering from a previous relationship, leaving both parties uninterested in becoming a 'couple' by traditional standards.

That said, they met whenever they could, catching red-eye flights to make it to dinner and spending nights in each other's apartments whenever they were in the same area. Huang refused to elaborate on these meetings, but she did make it clear that neither of them knew about the others work outside of vague generalities. al-Saqqaf was aware that Huang did analysis work for the MSS and Huang knew that Zuhal was working for the National Energy Administration, but evidently neither of them pried. Analysis suggests Zuhal was “safe” in a way other people were not, allowing Huang to let her guard down and be vulnerable, or at least emotionally intimate.

Eventually Fabricante Diaz went insolvent, the chaotic state of Mexico not conducive to the production required to keep it afloat. Huang wrapped up operations and passed along contact information to those assets deemed worth keeping, ensuring that China would still have eyes and ears in Mexico. Ximena herself was transferred back to Beijing for desk duty, and her case officer operation was shelved. Fabricante Diaz had made some notable advances in miniaturizing and venting heat from laser weapons technology, but they were ultimately minor and not anything that hadn’t been theorized before. Huang’s mission was a success in that she had infiltrated NeoDyne undetected and laid the groundwork for a lucrative network in the region, but with the company she was embedded in no longer existing it was deemed prudent to extract her. Friendlies in the American justice system and Interpol arranged for a warrant to be put out on Amy Guo for corporate espionage and wire fraud, leading to her arrest and deportation. The private contractors who picked her up were not actually hired by the United States of course, and she was shuttled back to China clean.

Her good work had earned her a promotion but her inability to turn off her maverick tendencies once back in official service gained the mistrust of her superiors. It was decided to simultaneously reward and punish her by making her a Case Manager, essentially a handler for case officers who were transitory in some way as opposed to being permanently planted. It was a step up in her career but it was a step away from the action, as her superiors wanted to make use of her skills but were concerned that she would become a liability.

Moving away from the field was not what Ximena wanted, and since this was not an optional reassignment she couldn’t just turn it down in favor of staying a case officer. She instead sought out alternate opportunities to serve her country. At the time the MSS was collaborating with military intelligence to create a PMC for deniable operations, allowing force projection without risking open warfare. This PMC, Lucky Dog Defense, is ostensibly a publicly traded company taking on jobs for various parties, but it was very much an arm of the Chinese state.

Similar to Shattered Steel in scope, Lucky Dog had an eclectic mix of personnel and equipment from different countries and eras, combining its varied inventory to perform operations on land, air, and sea. Ximena pushed to become a fighter pilot, a departure from her previous role. She managed to convince her superiors to allow the transfer on the basis that her work with Fabricante Diaz, a firm that dealt with aerospace technology, and her intelligence background made her suited to semi-covert aerial operations. That and her tendency to play fast and loose in office politics made someone above her happy to make her someone else’s problem.

She transferred out of her analyst role to Lucky Dog's fighter wing, doing well in training and allowed to serve as a fighter pilot. Lucky Dog had bases around the world but much of its manpower was fleet-based, giving it a reason to invest in carrier-born craft. That explains why they had access to the Navy Advanced Tactical Fighter (better known as the F22 'Sea Raptor') but now how. The best guess is that in the aftermath of the Heavenfall, rogue naval officers sold off their stocks to the highest bidder, but it's unclear. Regardless, Huang ended up flying a purpose-built air supremacy craft and found she had both the talent and inclination for dogfighting.

It was during her tenure with Lucky Dog that Ximena would become the full-time partner of Zuhal, the pair sharing a high-end apartment in Macau when not working in the field. This life suited Huang rather nicely, as Macau's status as the "Las Vegas of the East" meant that she could indulge herself as she pleased with the money she made from each mission.

Unbeknowst to her however, Zuhal was not as comfortable. Her government paycheck allowed for comfortable living but not outlandishly so, and she had developed a taste for the finer things in life just like Huang had. al-Saqqaf had taken to extralegal activities to fund herself, while Ximena had been performing industrial espionage for China Zuhal had been doing it for herself. Using her expertise in the field of fuel production and her access to state resources, she had been involved in the smuggling of black market energy for years without Ximena knowing about it, and she only revealed this secret once authorities began to close in.

Three years into Ximena's time with Lucky Dog Zuhal took her to a secluded place and revealed her secret, and that she was sure she was being tailed. Not sure what to do she looked to Ximena for help. Ximena knew that law enforcement had her dead to rights and had refrained from arresting her to see if she would reveal her co-conspirators. Once they had her, she would face trial and, in all likelihood, execution for treason. More to the point, Ximena was also at risk. While she hadn't even known that al-Saqqaf had been making money on the side, the fact that she herself had been a spy meant that ignorance would not be accepted as an excuse. Regardless of her lack of involvement, she would be scooped up and shot alongside her partner to clean house.

Ximena kept this realization to herself and told Zuhal to sit tight for the moment, and that soon she'd have arranged safe haven for them. In actuality she moved what cash she could to offshore accounts and dropped everything, including Zuhal. The week after the conversation she reported to work as usual and requested time in-air for maneuver training. Once airborne she simply veered off, using the Raptor's high speed and stealth capabilities to flee.

She defected to Shattered Steel after three years in Lucky Dog, and after the mandatory debriefing and background checks to ensure she wasn't a double agent, allowed to keep flying the same plane she stole.

Personal Gear:

• MGA SAW K in .300 Blackout, with attached laser, flashlight and suppressor. An unorthodox weapon for a Chinese agent or indeed a pilot, Huang got acquired this in Mexico and has managed to ship or smuggle it around the world.
• Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan in .454 Casull snubnosed and fed with hot loaded slugs, capable of being concealed in a specially enlarged jacket pocket. Ximena states that she preferred to carry low-caliber pocket pistols when working for the MSS due to their utility as assassination weapons, but since defecting has switched to magnums in order to guarantee she can kill an attacker in one shot.
• Buck 102 Hunting Knife
• Ximena is a heavy drinker and smoker and so keeps a stash in her personal locker, both her preferred cognac and cigars, as well as cheap rotgut and cigarettes. Dice and cards are stored in the same place, if not on her person.

Personal Aircraft: Lockheed Martin F-22N "Sea Raptor"- Carrier-capable variant of the F-22 Raptor, largely the same as its progenitor save for the addition of variable-sweep wings and strengthened landing gear.



Aircraft modifications:

• Ukrainian-style sky camoflage
• Depiction of La Calavera Catrina alongside the nose.
• Depiction of a Huli jing in humanoid form on the side of her helmet.
• Modifications to the payload system allow the Raptor to equip a variety of Chinese and Soviet ordnance in addition to the standard N/UN munitions.
• Scorpion Helmet Mounted Display
• Updated avionics
• Upgraded Radar: AN/APG-81
• AN/AAQ-37 Distributed Aperture System

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Ximena demures from giving a concrete answer in regards to her sexuality. She identifies herself as a lālā, a slang term for a lesbian woman, as opposed to bisexual but has relationships with men before. She likely has a notable but not exclusionary preference for women, and lālā is simply the easiest for her to use. Whoever recruited her to the MSS might have stuck the label on her going through her background, as she was ordered to out herself to minimize the leverage someone could have over her.
• Her natural accent is an odd mix of Chinese and Mexican, combining the shifting vowel pitches and dropped final consonants of the former with the rolling Rs and relative nasality of the latter. That said, she learned to speak English with a much more standard American accent while working in real estate, and she has a habit of switching between them. Generally speaking people who outrank her or otherwise have authority get the American accent, peers or near equals get her natural one.

Pacific Enterprise Shipping

Often shortened to PacEn, this now defunct company was ostensibly a major air and sea freight carrier with some minor stakes in land-based shipping concerns in various countries. While it did do legitimate business, this was largely to keep itself solvent instead of generating profits. PacEn is considered to be a front corporation for elements of the Chinese Ministry of State Security, with many of its employees being assets or agents under the direct guidance of Beijing.

PacEn allowed for the transfers of personnel, money, equipment and arms to various parties around the world, anyone China wanted to support but needed to do so covertly. While it has since become defunct, the vast majority of the people involved with its espionage activities are unknown, and it’s considered highly likely that the operation has merely broken apart into smaller units to make itself less vulnerable to intrusion.

Ximena Huang states that she began her career in the MSS as part of PacEn, working to smuggle weapons and advisors to Naxalite-Maoist groups in India as well as arranging the transportation of material to various groups throughout the Pacific hemisphere. She was also deployed to the former Soviet Union for a time, working with local forces to track down WMDs and ship them back to China before they could fall into the hands of enemy agents.

The Company

The Company, sometimes referred to as Sam Gor ("The third brother", a reference to the gang's founder) began life as an alliance between Triad organizations to corner the drug market in the Asia-Pacific region, only to be interrupted by the Heavenfall. The immense destruction only temporarily halted their activities, and like many criminal organizations the Company took advantage of new state of the world to increase its own power. Using its drug profits to arm and expand, the Company defeated or simply subsumed a number of smaller gangs throughout Asia and the Americas, expanding both its territory and its ventures. In addition to narcotics, it deals in human trafficking and weapons, as well as black market energy production and simple piracy on both air and sea. It has a notable naval presence and commonly preys on shipping, stealing anything valuable before taking the crew to be held for ransom.

Zuhal al-Saqqaf, the chemical engineer and former romantic partner of ximena Huang, is currently in the Company's custody and is being forced to produce fuel for them, most of which is used by the Company's vessels while the remainder is sold off. It's thought that she had been dealing with them before her flight from New China and was simply taken prisoner when they realized that she was no longer able to find safety in the PRC.

Smike's Sheets

Ximena Huang

Name: Ximena Huang [REDACTED]
Callsign/Nickname: [REDACTED] nicknamed Jefe, a play on how her name is pronounced.
Age: 41, born 1974
Gender: Female
Appearance:
Ximena is 5'2" and fairly attractive, with wide, expressive eyes and delicate facial features. Something of a fashionista, she regularly wears makeup as well as dressy-casual designer clothes when on leave or otherwise permitted to wear civilian attire.

Nationality: Sinomexicana by birth, functionally stateless.

Personality: Ximena's overarching demeanor is one of excess. She appreciates indulgences of all sorts, known for her love of cigars, coffee, and cognac. Thus far she's managed to avoid any major health concerns resulting from such consumption, something she attributes to a family history of smoking and drinking. She's a flirt and philanderer, prone to casual relationships or simple flings, as well as a high-rolling gambler. Much of her paychecks go to feeding the above habits, with some carefully squirreled away. Suave and confident in all things, she is self-assured, bordering on cocky, but genuinely quite competent and very aware of it. She expects perfection from herself in her work, and she often achieves it. This in turn inflates her ego.

[REDACTED]

Despite fleeing her home country, Huang is politically and emotionally loyal to China and its interests. She grew up in the late Cold War and came to disdain both the Soviet hegemony and NATO influence, seeing Russia and America as twin imperialists attempting to make the Third World their own. If she had her way, New China and the NCAA would break apart the N/UN and the megacorporations alike. That said, she is considered to be a reliable asset. Her self-preservation outweighs her political ideals, and she know that there is no reward for her if she were to try and defect again. She is stuck with Shattered Steel.

[REDACTED]

History: Ximena Huang was born in 1971 in Mexico City, during the height of the Sino-Soviet split. Her father was Chen Huang, an economist and businessman attached to the Chinese embassy to study Mexican trade and industry as part of early economic reforms predating the wider opening up. Her mother, Renata Torres, was a local college student working in the embassy as an attache. Despite the difference in age (Renata was 25 at the time while Chen was approximately 45) the pair began a romantic relationship and quickly eloped, potentially due to Renata becoming pregnant.

The family moved back to China while Ximena was a toddler but she would end up splitting her time between there and Mexico, due to her father's work and the presence of family. She grew up intensely patriotic and very pro-Third World, seeing Chinese opposition to both the Soviets and the Americans as an attitude other nonaligned nations should copy. With the implementation of Dengist reforms came an increase in the private sector of the Chinese economy, and Chen, with his business background and overseas contacts, was well-placed to benefit. Dealing mainly in real estate and stocks, he taught his daughter that the only way to survive and thrive was to be adaptable, getting onto and bailing from trends before anyone else. Ximena took to this lesson, which likely impacted her outlook on life.

Despite her intense patriotism Huang was something of a problem child. While very intelligent she did merely okay in school and had a record of disciplinary issues, mainly disorderly conduct and underage drinking. Records suggest that she was suspected of affiliating with minor street gangs, but it appears as if she was never formally charged with such. Her father kept her out of any serious trouble, and despite her mediocre grades she got into university, where she began to shine.

Ximena studied both in-country at Peking University, with an emphasis on finance and economics, as well as overseas at the National Autonomous University of Mexico where she was educated in Latin American studies. Her master's thesis was on the interplay of Chinese and LatAm economies and was well-received enough that an excerpt was published in the Journal of Latin American Studies. After graduating she went to work for her father, serving as his representative in Mexico and the southwestern United States.

With the advent of the Heavenfall and the destruction of the old way of doing things, China expanded its espionage and counterintelligence activities greatly. The Ministry of State Security was given an increased budget and a free hand to organize itself as required, and its International Intelligence Burea, in particular, expanded and reorganized itself to face new challenges. The "Second Burea" began to recruit unorthodox agents with valuable skill sets, and Ximena was headhunted shortly after the impact. She was an analyst scrutinizing the activities of foreign companies for any impropriety, passing along her observations to investigators.

[REDACTED]

-sought out alternate opportunities to serve her country. At the time the MSS was collaborating with military intelligence to create a PMC for deniable operations, allowing force projection without risking open warfare. This PMC, Lucky Dog Defense, is ostensibly a publicly traded company taking on jobs for various parties, but it was very much an arm of the Chinese state.

Similar to Shattered Steel in scope, Lucky Dog had an eclectic mix of personnel and equipment from different countries and eras, combining its varied inventory to perform operations on land, air, and sea. Ximena pushed to become a fighter pilot, a departure from her previous role. She managed to convince her superiors to allow the transfer [REDACTED]

She transferred out of her analyst role to Lucky Dog's fighter wing, doing well in training and allowed to serve as a fighter pilot. Lucky Dog had bases around the world but much of its manpower was fleet-based, giving it a reason to invest in carrier-born craft. That explains why they had access to the Navy Advanced Tactical Fighter (better known as the F22 'Sea Raptor') but now how. The best guess is that in the aftermath of the Heavenfall, rogue naval officers sold off their stocks to the highest bidder, but it's unclear. Regardless, Huang ended up flying a purpose-built air supremacy craft and found she had both the talent and inclination for dogfighting.

[REDACTED]

She defected to Shattered Steel after three years in Lucky Dog, and after the mandatory debriefing and background checks to ensure she wasn't a double agent, allowed to keep flying the same plane she stole.

Personal Gear:

• MGA SAW K in .300 Blackout, with attached laser, flashlight and suppressor. [REDACTED]
• Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan in .454 Casull snubnosed and fed with hot loaded slugs, capable of being concealed in a specially enlarged jacket pocket. [REDACTED]
• Buck 102 Hunting Knife
• Ximena is a heavy drinker and smoker and so keeps a stash in her personal locker, both her preferred cognac and cigars, as well as cheap rotgut and cigarettes. Dice and cards are stored in the same place, if not on her person.

Personal Aircraft: Lockheed Martin F-22N "Sea Raptor"- Carrier-capable variant of the F-22 Raptor, largely the same as its progenitor save for the addition of variable-sweep wings and strengthened landing gear.



Aircraft modifications:

• Ukrainian-style sky camoflage
• Depiction of La Calavera Catrina alongside the nose.
• Depiction of a Huli jing in humanoid form on the side of her helmet.
• Modifications to the payload system allow the Raptor to equip a variety of Chinese and Soviet ordnance in addition to the standard N/UN munitions.
• Scorpion Helmet Mounted Display
• Updated avionics
• Upgraded Radar: AN/APG-81
• AN/AAQ-37 Distributed Aperture System

Miscellaneous Notes:

• [Redacted]
• Her natural accent is an odd mix of Chinese and Mexican, combining the shifting vowel pitches and dropped final consonants of the former with the rolling Rs and relative nasality of the latter. That said, she learned to speak English with a much more standard American accent while working in real estate, and she has a habit of switching between them. Generally speaking people who outrank her or otherwise have authority get the American accent, peers or near equals get her natural one.

Ximena Huang-CLASSIFIED

Name: Born Ximena Huang, has used a variety of false identities over the years with the most notable being Amy Guo
Callsign/Nickname: When working as an undercover operative she was given the codename Catechist. After transferring to flight duties she was nicknamed Jefe, a play on how her name is pronounced.
Age: 41, born 1974
Gender: Female
Appearance:
Ximena is 5'2" and fairly attractive, with wide, expressive eyes and delicate facial features. Something of a fashionista, she regularly wears makeup as well as dressy-casual designer clothes when on leave or otherwise permitted to wear civilian attire.
Nationality: Sinomexicana by birth, functionally stateless.

Personality: Ximena's overarching demeanor is one of excess. She appreciates indulgences of all sorts, known for her love of cigars, coffee, and cognac. Thus far she's managed to avoid any major health concerns resulting from such consumption, something she attributes to a family history of smoking and drinking. She's a flirt and philanderer, prone to casual relationships or simple flings, as well as a high-rolling gambler. Much of her paychecks go to feeding the above habits, with some carefully squirreled away. Suave and confident in all things, she is self-assured, bordering on cocky, but genuinely quite competent and very aware of it. She expects perfection from herself in her work, and she often achieves it. This in turn inflates her ego.

This fast lifestyle was developed during her work as a spy. Besides her state salary, Huang had access to generous expense accounts and was encouraged to earn money on the side in order to ingratiate herself with local criminal elements. She became adept at living as a buttoned-up, white-collar worker during the day and a big spender by night. Years of successful espionage and counter-espionage built up a sense of skill and a need to show it off. The conflict between her need for attention and the stealth required by her work is thought to be a major factor in her switching to piloting. Being a spy was, in her own words, 'sexy' but air combat allowed her to operate more openly. It's also worth noting that she joined a PMC only after she was taken out of the field and made a desk agent.

While there is little doubt that Jefe is an ego-driven perfectionist with a number of vices, psychoanalysis suggests that this is a subconscious defense mechanism. She served as a spy for a decade in some of the most active warzones post-Heavenfall, neutralizing a number of enemy agents and at times coming close to being neutralized herself. This lifestyle made her paranoid, and her anxiety is amplified due to her current status as a wanted traitor to the NPRC and the unknown status of her longtime partner. It is believed that by playing up her "James Bond shit", as she puts it, she's able to avoid confronting the simple fact that she's afraid.

Despite fleeing her home country, Huang is politically and emotionally loyal to China and its interests. She grew up in the late Cold War and came to disdain both the Soviet hegemony and NATO influence, seeing Russia and America as twin imperialists attempting to make the Third World their own. If she had her way, New China and the NCAA would break apart the N/UN and the megacorporations alike. That said, she is considered to be a reliable asset. Her self-preservation outweighs her political ideals, and she know that there is no reward for her if she were to try and defect again. She is stuck with Shattered Steel.

Note from Doctor Dixon, Psychiatric Evaluator: I felt I should make my observations here so that whoever 'Jefe's' squadron commander ends up being can see them. While she is cleared for flight duties by the standards of Shattered Steel, the fact of the matter is that she very well might not have had we been in a peacetime army, so to speak. She's likely suffering from some form of PTSD and is certainly a high-functioning addict. This is unsurprising, as you're unlikely to spend as long as she did undercover and then jump immediately into front-line combat without suffering some complications. What makes things trickier to decipher is her relationship with her former girlfriend. During my interview with her Huang expressed grief, guilt, bitterness and resentment in equal measure, blaming herself for abandoning her partner and blaming her partner for forcing her to give up her career and country. When she discovered that Zuhal was passing along state secrets she cut all ties and left her to her fate, assuming internal security would silence the leak, but regretted the decision almost immediately. This regret is exacerbated by the fact that Zuhal was, under unclear circumstances, kidnapped by the Sam Gor when fleeing. It's believed she's being forced to work for them, and it's only a matter of time before they kill her or she's reclaimed by the NPRC. Huang has expressed that she believes Zuhal 'has it coming,' but it's doubtful she means that.

Ximena's outward persona is at least partially a front to discourage people from looking too deeply into her. You would be well-served by knowing when not to buy her bullshit. There is minimal risk of her going rogue again or lashing out somehow, but with how central her being the "best" is to her emotional defenses, she could conceivably spiral and need to be pulled off flight duty.

History: Ximena Huang was born in 1971 in Mexico City, during the height of the Sino-Soviet split. Her father was Chen Huang, an economist and businessman attached to the Chinese embassy to study Mexican trade and industry as part of early economic reforms predating the wider opening up. Her mother, Renata Torres, was a local college student working in the embassy as an attache. Despite the difference in age (Renata was 25 at the time while Chen was approximately 45) the pair began a romantic relationship and quickly eloped, potentially due to Renata becoming pregnant.

The family moved back to China while Ximena was a toddler but she would end up splitting her time between there and Mexico, due to her father's work and the presence of family. She grew up intensely patriotic and very pro-Third World, seeing Chinese opposition to both the Soviets and the Americans as an attitude other nonaligned nations should copy. With the implementation of Dengist reforms came an increase in the private sector of the Chinese economy, and Chen, with his business background and overseas contacts, was well-placed to benefit. Dealing mainly in real estate and stocks, he taught his daughter that the only way to survive and thrive was to be adaptable, getting onto and bailing from trends before anyone else. Ximena took to this lesson, which likely impacted her outlook on life.

Despite her intense patriotism Huang was something of a problem child. While very intelligent she did merely okay in school and had a record of disciplinary issues, mainly disorderly conduct and underage drinking. Records suggest that she was suspected of affiliating with minor street gangs, but it appears as if she was never formally charged with such. Her father kept her out of any serious trouble, and despite her mediocre grades she got into university, where she began to shine.

Ximena studied both in-country at Peking University, with an emphasis on finance and economics, as well as overseas at the National Autonomous University of Mexico where she was educated in Latin American studies. Her master's thesis was on the interplay of Chinese and LatAm economies and was well-received enough that an excerpt was published in the Journal of Latin American Studies. After graduating she went to work for her father, serving as his representative in Mexico and the southwestern United States.

With the advent of the Heavenfall and the destruction of the old way of doing things, China expanded its espionage and counterintelligence activities greatly. The Ministry of State Security was given an increased budget and a free hand to organize itself as required, and its International Intelligence Burea, in particular, expanded and reorganized itself to face new challenges. The "Second Burea" began to recruit unorthodox agents with valuable skill sets, and Ximena was headhunted shortly after the impact. She was an analyst scrutinizing the activities of foreign companies for any impropriety, passing along her observations to investigators.

That role was just what she did on paper. In actuality, Huang was herself a spy. Her business background and ability to ingratiate herself with criminals made her well-suited to undercover work, and she was provided a series of cover identities and employees as part of Pacific Enterprises [see attached file]. While her job title changed regularly she was responsible for ensuring transport and the protection of inventory, ostensibly for second-hand civilian equipment and heavy industry goods. In actuality, Huang was involved in the covert movement of people, money, and weapons to various forces around the globe. She spent 3 years in this role, before the MSS decided to better utilize her particular background by inserting her into Mexico.

Her new papers identified her as Amy Guo, a business executive out of work due to the rampant destruction in Los Angeles. “Guo” was originally a corporate spy but due to the economic crisis of the disaster was now a lone actor willing to sell out her old bosses.

Through a contact in the Chinese embassy in Mexico City (an old friend of her fathers, although for operational secrecy said friend was not informed of who she was) she was inserted into Fabricante Diaz, a subsidiary of NeoDyne.

FD was a largely unknown entity with a history of projects that never went anywhere, and it was long thought by Mexican authorities to have remained solvent through laundering dirty money invested by corrupt officials and simple criminals, but it did have promising experiments in the miniaturization of chemical and electrical lasers. Such technology was something China wanted to keep an eye on, and “Guo” was in a perfect position to watch it.

Her job was multifaceted. She kept the MSS informed of Diaz’s work on lasers while feeding NeoDyne supposed industry secrets, information that the megacorp would already have known or was largely inconsequential but established her bona fides. She also liaised with the cartels as well as elements of Mexico’s remnant law enforcement and government that were happy to pick up some extra pay, establishing a network of safe houses and listening posts to keep an eye on the region. Finally, if there were elements that needed to be dealt with through force it fell to her to arrange their rendition or killing.

She seems to have enjoyed this period immensely. Living double lives suited her ego and the combination of her expense account, two salaries and kickbacks from Fabricante Diaz and her new friends in the underworld allowed her to indulge in base desires. Typically lavish spending is not something a spy should do, but Huang had arranged her cover so that it would be odd if she wasn’t. NeoDyne and local officials were well aware that Amy Guo was selling secrets from her old company to the highest bidder to fund her extravagant lifestyle, but they had no idea she was on the MSS payroll.

It was during this period that she reconnected with Zuhal al-Saqqaf, a Saudi national she had shared a college dorm with. While they had been close during their shared time at Peking University and slept with each other in a couple of instances, al-Saqqaf went on to finish her studies in England while Huang went to Mexico, and they exchanged only a few messages as they started their respective careers. al-Saqqaf, having gotten a job in the Chinese energy industry with the collapse of the Middle East and not sure which of her old acquaintances had survived the Heavenfall, reached out to Huang via New China's London embassy, and they met for drinks.

Huang was unwilling to discuss the circumstances of her and al-Saqqaf becoming a semi-permanent couple, but it was likely due to their similar backgrounds and outlooks. Zuhal's father and uncle both made their fortune during the 70s and 80s off of natural gas reserves and other resources, meaning that she was thrust into high society at around the same time as Ximena. Zuhal was also known to flaunt social mores, running into trouble with the morality police several times.

An obvious tie between them was their orientation and related struggles. According to interviews with family and friends now outside the country, al-Saqqaf's attraction to women was discovered by her father shortly after she went abroad for school and she was entirely cut off, potentially on pain of death if she returned. Ximena's circumstances were not nearly that dire, but by her own admittance she was always cautious about keeping her relationships with women to herself and only came out to her family when ordered by the MSS to ensure she couldn't be blackmailed.

Besides their shared past Huang and al-Saqqaf's relationship benefited in that both of them had neither the time nor the inclination for something permanent or monogamous. Ximena was preoccupied with her spy work while Zuhal was often traveling due to her chemical engineering career, setting up ethanol and hydrogen production for New China and its allies. Additionally, Huang was a serial libertine and al-Saqqaf was still recovering from a previous relationship, leaving both parties uninterested in becoming a 'couple' by traditional standards.

That said, they met whenever they could, catching red-eye flights to make it to dinner and spending nights in each other's apartments whenever they were in the same area. Huang refused to elaborate on these meetings, but she did make it clear that neither of them knew about the others work outside of vague generalities. al-Saqqaf was aware that Huang did analysis work for the MSS and Huang knew that Zuhal was working for the National Energy Administration, but evidently neither of them pried. Analysis suggests Zuhal was “safe” in a way other people were not, allowing Huang to let her guard down and be vulnerable, or at least emotionally intimate.

Eventually Fabricante Diaz went insolvent, the chaotic state of Mexico not conducive to the production required to keep it afloat. Huang wrapped up operations and passed along contact information to those assets deemed worth keeping, ensuring that China would still have eyes and ears in Mexico. Ximena herself was transferred back to Beijing for desk duty, and her case officer operation was shelved. Fabricante Diaz had made some notable advances in miniaturizing and venting heat from laser weapons technology, but they were ultimately minor and not anything that hadn’t been theorized before. Huang’s mission was a success in that she had infiltrated NeoDyne undetected and laid the groundwork for a lucrative network in the region, but with the company she was embedded in no longer existing it was deemed prudent to extract her. Friendlies in the American justice system and Interpol arranged for a warrant to be put out on Amy Guo for corporate espionage and wire fraud, leading to her arrest and deportation. The private contractors who picked her up were not actually hired by the United States of course, and she was shuttled back to China clean.

Her good work had earned her a promotion but her inability to turn off her maverick tendencies once back in official service gained the mistrust of her superiors. It was decided to simultaneously reward and punish her by making her a Case Manager, essentially a handler for case officers who were transitory in some way as opposed to being permanently planted. It was a step up in her career but it was a step away from the action, as her superiors wanted to make use of her skills but were concerned that she would become a liability.

Moving away from the field was not what Ximena wanted, and since this was not an optional reassignment she couldn’t just turn it down in favor of staying a case officer. She instead sought out alternate opportunities to serve her country. At the time the MSS was collaborating with military intelligence to create a PMC for deniable operations, allowing force projection without risking open warfare. This PMC, Lucky Dog Defense, is ostensibly a publicly traded company taking on jobs for various parties, but it was very much an arm of the Chinese state.

Similar to Shattered Steel in scope, Lucky Dog had an eclectic mix of personnel and equipment from different countries and eras, combining its varied inventory to perform operations on land, air, and sea. Ximena pushed to become a fighter pilot, a departure from her previous role. She managed to convince her superiors to allow the transfer on the basis that her work with Fabricante Diaz, a firm that dealt with aerospace technology, and her intelligence background made her suited to semi-covert aerial operations. That and her tendency to play fast and loose in office politics made someone above her happy to make her someone else’s problem.

She transferred out of her analyst role to Lucky Dog's fighter wing, doing well in training and allowed to serve as a fighter pilot. Lucky Dog had bases around the world but much of its manpower was fleet-based, giving it a reason to invest in carrier-born craft. That explains why they had access to the Navy Advanced Tactical Fighter (better known as the F22 'Sea Raptor') but now how. The best guess is that in the aftermath of the Heavenfall, rogue naval officers sold off their stocks to the highest bidder, but it's unclear. Regardless, Huang ended up flying a purpose-built air supremacy craft and found she had both the talent and inclination for dogfighting.

It was during her tenure with Lucky Dog that Ximena would become the full-time partner of Zuhal, the pair sharing a high-end apartment in Macau when not working in the field. This life suited Huang rather nicely, as Macau's status as the "Las Vegas of the East" meant that she could indulge herself as she pleased with the money she made from each mission.

Unbeknowst to her however, Zuhal was not as comfortable. Her government paycheck allowed for comfortable living but not outlandishly so, and she had developed a taste for the finer things in life just like Huang had. al-Saqqaf had taken to extralegal activities to fund herself, while Ximena had been performing industrial espionage for China Zuhal had been doing it for herself. Using her expertise in the field of fuel production and her access to state resources, she had been involved in the smuggling of black market energy for years without Ximena knowing about it, and she only revealed this secret once authorities began to close in.

Three years into Ximena's time with Lucky Dog Zuhal took her to a secluded place and revealed her secret, and that she was sure she was being tailed. Not sure what to do she looked to Ximena for help. Ximena knew that law enforcement had her dead to rights and had refrained from arresting her to see if she would reveal her co-conspirators. Once they had her, she would face trial and, in all likelihood, execution for treason. More to the point, Ximena was also at risk. While she hadn't even known that al-Saqqaf had been making money on the side, the fact that she herself had been a spy meant that ignorance would not be accepted as an excuse. Regardless of her lack of involvement, she would be scooped up and shot alongside her partner to clean house.

Ximena kept this realization to herself and told Zuhal to sit tight for the moment, and that soon she'd have arranged safe haven for them. In actuality she moved what cash she could to offshore accounts and dropped everything, including Zuhal. The week after the conversation she reported to work as usual and requested time in-air for maneuver training. Once airborne she simply veered off, using the Raptor's high speed and stealth capabilities to flee.

She defected to Shattered Steel after three years in Lucky Dog, and after the mandatory debriefing and background checks to ensure she wasn't a double agent, allowed to keep flying the same plane she stole.

Personal Gear:

• MGA SAW K in .300 Blackout, with attached laser, flashlight and suppressor. An unorthodox weapon for a Chinese agent or indeed a pilot, Huang got acquired this in Mexico and has managed to ship or smuggle it around the world.
• Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan in .454 Casull snubnosed and fed with hot loaded slugs, capable of being concealed in a specially enlarged jacket pocket. Ximena states that she preferred to carry low-caliber pocket pistols when working for the MSS due to their utility as assassination weapons, but since defecting has switched to magnums in order to guarantee she can kill an attacker in one shot.
• Buck 102 Hunting Knife
• Ximena is a heavy drinker and smoker and so keeps a stash in her personal locker, both her preferred cognac and cigars, as well as cheap rotgut and cigarettes. Dice and cards are stored in the same place, if not on her person.

Personal Aircraft: Lockheed Martin F-22N "Sea Raptor"- Carrier-capable variant of the F-22 Raptor, largely the same as its progenitor save for the addition of variable-sweep wings and strengthened landing gear.



Aircraft modifications:

• Ukrainian-style sky camoflage
• Depiction of La Calavera Catrina alongside the nose.
• Depiction of a Huli jing in humanoid form on the side of her helmet.
• Modifications to the payload system allow the Raptor to equip a variety of Chinese and Soviet ordnance in addition to the standard N/UN munitions.
• Scorpion Helmet Mounted Display
• Updated avionics
• Upgraded Radar: AN/APG-81
• AN/AAQ-37 Distributed Aperture System

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Ximena demures from giving a concrete answer in regards to her sexuality. She identifies herself as a lālā, a slang term for a lesbian woman, as opposed to bisexual but has relationships with men before. She likely has a notable but not exclusionary preference for women, and lālā is simply the easiest for her to use. Whoever recruited her to the MSS might have stuck the label on her going through her background, as she was ordered to out herself to minimize the leverage someone could have over her.
• Her natural accent is an odd mix of Chinese and Mexican, combining the shifting vowel pitches and dropped final consonants of the former with the rolling Rs and relative nasality of the latter. That said, she learned to speak English with a much more standard American accent while working in real estate, and she has a habit of switching between them. Generally speaking people who outrank her or otherwise have authority get the American accent, peers or near equals get her natural one.

Pacific Enterprise Shipping

Often shortened to PacEn, this now defunct company was ostensibly a major air and sea freight carrier with some minor stakes in land-based shipping concerns in various countries. While it did do legitimate business, this was largely to keep itself solvent instead of generating profits. PacEn is considered to be a front corporation for elements of the Chinese Ministry of State Security, with many of its employees being assets or agents under the direct guidance of Beijing.

PacEn allowed for the transfers of personnel, money, equipment and arms to various parties around the world, anyone China wanted to support but needed to do so covertly. While it has since become defunct, the vast majority of the people involved with its espionage activities are unknown, and it’s considered highly likely that the operation has merely broken apart into smaller units to make itself less vulnerable to intrusion.

Ximena Huang states that she began her career in the MSS as part of PacEn, working to smuggle weapons and advisors to Naxalite-Maoist groups in India as well as arranging the transportation of material to various groups throughout the Pacific hemisphere. She was also deployed to the former Soviet Union for a time, working with local forces to track down WMDs and ship them back to China before they could fall into the hands of enemy agents.

The Company

The Company, sometimes referred to as Sam Gor ("The third brother", a reference to the gang's founder) began life as an alliance between Triad organizations to corner the drug market in the Asia-Pacific region, only to be interrupted by the Heavenfall. The immense destruction only temporarily halted their activities, and like many criminal organizations the Company took advantage of new state of the world to increase its own power. Using its drug profits to arm and expand, the Company defeated or simply subsumed a number of smaller gangs throughout Asia and the Americas, expanding both its territory and its ventures. In addition to narcotics, it deals in human trafficking and weapons, as well as black market energy production and simple piracy on both air and sea. It has a notable naval presence and commonly preys on shipping, stealing anything valuable before taking the crew to be held for ransom.

Zuhal al-Saqqaf, the chemical engineer and former romantic partner of ximena Huang, is currently in the Company's custody and is being forced to produce fuel for them, most of which is used by the Company's vessels while the remainder is sold off. It's thought that she had been dealing with them before her flight from New China and was simply taken prisoner when they realized that she was no longer able to find safety in the PRC.

Shattered Steel - An Ace Combat/Project Wingman/etc inspired aircraft-based RP

March 13th, 2014
Over Lampedusa, the Mediterranean

Was the enemy ingenious, or was Cobalt just not worth what Malta had paid them? Fuka couldn't say; this was only her first operation after all. That said, she wasn't overly thrilled with how her new career was shaping up. There was no quality control for mercenaries, no Better Business Bureau reports detailing their rankings. You had to judge them based on reputation and price, find the midpoint between quality and affordability. Hopefully these early issues were flukes and not signs that Shattered leaned too close to the latter.

"Good copy, adjusting angle."

The Black Bunny nosed up, rising steadily as Linosa began to shrink against the sea. Lampedusa was little more than a hop away, not even 30 nautical miles judging by how rapidly it grew in her field of view. Fuka leveled out and switched back to the targeting pod, scanning for threats on the ground.

And there were plenty of those.

"Woah, it's busy down there. I'm picking up active radar sweeps, looks like they've got SAMs scattered around. Mark one Herc and two Curls stationary on the tarmac, there's activity in the harbor as well. A couple of ferries with all sorts of military shit, one proper warship and a bunch of little boats too."

She spoke as much for her own benefit as Chevy's, verbally marking off the targets as she captured them on video. The enemy had much more gear than she had expected, and she probably hadn't even seen all of it!

"Scanning again, be advised that there's a radar setup on the hill and a few stationary AAs, got two Fitters and two Mirages parked as well. I've got a clear line at the ro-ro in the harbor, gonna strangle their landing force in its crib."

She had been told not to go looking for trouble, but what was this if not a target of opportunity? That ferry was loaded down with vehicles, ammo, and who knew what else, and more importantly it was the only thing capable of carrying a sizable force. Without it OPFOR would have to rely on a few big, slow transport craft.

The Litening's laser brushed across Lampedusa's surface, stopping on the keel of the ferry. It was close range for a SLAM-ER, close enough that she couldn't miss. The ferry was blown up across her screen, dead center of the crosshairs and locked-on.

"Rifle out."

A tap of a button and the missile was away, a barely visible blur that ended in a gout of fire and smoke. She could almost hear the thud of the warhead, the echo of steel on steel that would go forgotten in the roar of sheer concussion. Waves of sound and pressure rippled across the surface, tearing apart metal and flesh with equal ease. Peacenik was only human; she couldn't process information fast enough to see the process. But she could picture it clear as day, picture it and be grateful that she wasn't on the receiving end.

"Target hit."

Peeling away Fuka could see her handiwork, a gaping hole torn across the stern just starting just above the waterline. It was taking on water fast, a problem compounded by whatever damage had been done to the internals. Fuka didn't allow herself the chance to gloat, already scanning the island for threats. The radar was still searching but had yet to lock, the Black Bunny's low cross-section and iron ball paint buying her time.

Not enough however, as there was finally activity on the ground.

"Bandits are taking off! Moving to engage, trying to catch 'em on the ascent."

@Kensai

Shattered Steel - An Ace Combat/Project Wingman/etc inspired aircraft-based RP

March 13th, 2014
Over Linosa, the Mediterranean

The shout came in over the general comms, Fuka instinctively turning her head at the mention of bandits. But the fight was elsewhere, a different flight's problem for the time being. Her trip was still uneventful; unfortunately, there was nothing to do except continue towards the islands and hope that someone down there was dumb enough to tangle with her.

"Good luck everyone."

The well-wishes went unheard, Peacenik's mic not even turned on as she banked towards Linosa. The last thing the others needed was her jabbering in their ears while they were jumping into a dogfight, and it didn't matter if they could hear her anyway. Luck was a nonentity, an ephemeral force that could not be qualified nor counted upon. If it existed it did so impartially, not leaning one way or the other. Fuka's acknowledgment of the stuff was perfunctory, a mere hedging of bets on the off chance she was wrong.

She had her own job to focus on.

"This is Cobalt 8, I've lost al-"
"What the hell was-"
"-Engine is on fire, we're losing pressure!"

This time Fuka didn't bother looking. Indeed, had someone peered into the cockpit the only sign she had heard the distressed squawks was the way her fingers drummed against the console, tapping out a tuneless beat as she refactored the mission in her head. Her first flight with the new team had been plagued by mechanical defects, minor issues piling up until the operation's integrity threatened to crack under the weight. Now they were in too deep to pull away, committed to the charge even as proverbial horses were shot out from under them. Rook, blown to bits it sounded like, a fine mist drifting down onto the convoy below. He was gone too soon for Fuka to feel one way or the other about him. Heartbreak and Kat were alive for the moment but struggling, dead weight plummeting into the Atlantic. They were undoubtedly scrabbbling like rats on a sinking ship, desperately trying to recover before they smashed against the uncaring waves below. They were out of the fight for the moment which left...Valkyrie and Myk.

The mad bomber and the baby face versus an unknown number of enemies-alright. It wasn't Fuka's concern for the moment. She had her own mission to fulfill, and she was too far away to try and play hero anyway. Linosa was visible in the distance, growing larger and larger by the second. Peacenik stabbed at the Hornet's display with a single finger, activating the targeting pod's camera before flicking on her comms.

"Chevy, I'm scanning the ground and I see helicopters parked here and there, attack and transport. Stationary gun emplacements as well; don't see any radar but that doesn't mean it's not there."

The footage suggested a high level of sophistication, or at least higher than she had expected. Helicopters weren't cheap, vintage or otherwise. Having a couple squadrons on hand meant that this group had money, foreign suppliers, or both. And they were definitely professionals. Shattered Steel was supposedly a solid outfit; that's why Fuka had joined them. A group capable of downing one of them and crippling the other wasn't anything to scoff at.

Fuka felt a smile creep across her face, the thought of a fight intriguing her. If there was anyone below who felt the need to scramble up and show her a good time she'd welcome them with open arms.

"I've got this place videotaped for analysis later. Lampedusa is bigger. My guess is there's going to be more activity there."

@Kensai

Spearhead: A modern/near future Special Forces RP (ON HIATUS)

April 27th 2025
Rebel Hideout

She had raided better-defended places in her police career, but not many. Ten guys with just small arms, fantastic-ten G3s or FALs all locked and loaded and ready to go, with a chance for an appearance by a technical. It was like being back in Afghanistan, doing the sort of stuff she had promised herself that she would never do again. SWAT raids got nasty but gangbangers and sicarios were typically more interested in getting out alive than fighting to the death. People fighting for a higher power or ideal were more motivated, more willing to go out shooting. Was anyone in the Order devoted enough to strap on a bomb vest and dead man's detonator? There was certainly a chance.

Improvising an exit strategy didn't suit Arsala much either. She didn't mind hoofing it (indeed, much of her work in the Recon team back home involved hiking across stretches of border country) but if they got there and found no vehicle ready and waiting to be commandeered, what then? They just hightailed it back to base with the VIP in tow, exchanging shots all the while with gunmen that could very well be giving chase? It sounded like a screw-up in the making, but it was likely the best option they had. If curfew was strict, which it almost undoubtedly was, a running engine would attract curious eyes and, with them, the enemy.

...it really was like being back in Afghanistan. Wandering around some rural backwood with a crew of farang in plate carriers and combat boots, hoping that the locals were more scared than they were willing to make a quick buck by calling in a tip. Hopefully, this operation went better than Enduring Freedom did.

BLUFOR was about what she expected: local yokels with a lot of heart and little training in a shack off the side road, good enough for skirmishing with the Order's fanatics but dead men walking the moment mercenaries or armored vehicles came into play. Arsala greeted them with a nod, resisting the urge to micromanage how they handled her packaged gear. It was too early to start barking commands, until Spearhead demonstrated its value she was nothing more than a guest to be watched suspiciously. So she just fell in line for dinner, Zaland circling her legs excitedly.

She had been taught not to treat her K9 as a pet, and she never did. Zaland wasn't a pet; he was her partner. He slept inside just like a human officer would, watched over the house when Arsala wasn't home, and ate at the same time and in the same place she did, whether at the dinner table or in the field. Arsala's filled bowl went ignored as she sorted out Zaland's meal, a bag of protein-dense feed produced and poured into a bowl for him alongside her belongings. Only once Zaland started scarfing his meal down did she begin to pick at her own, sitting cross-legged across from Megan.

"How're we handling surrenders?" she asked, adding to the barrage of questions. "Are we turning anyone who gives up over to the resistance, or are they being shipped Stateside?"

God she hoped it was the latter. Terrorists didn't always enjoy being the guests of Uncle Sam's penal system, and Arsala couldn't give less of a shit about their comfort, but there were limits. She was a cop after all, and a good one to boot. Turning over a suspect to be dealt with by vengeance-seeking insurgents without some sort of assurance violated her professional and personal code of ethics.

"Either way, it sounds like I'll be going inside instead of staring at you all through a scope a mile away. Better to have the extra hands on the interior, methinks."

The Chilean had a tendency to fill conversations, Arsala noted, watching him bounce from person to person with questions and comments. It was a stark contrast from her own tendencies; she didn't care much for small talk with strangers, but she wouldn't just ice him out.

"You'd be a huaso, no? I've only heard vaquero from Mexicans and Spaniards, didn't think it was used in South America."

She spotted his eyeing of Zaland, her partner in turn watching the Chileno curiously.

"Zaland. He's friendly, but I wouldn't touch him right after he ate. Give him a minute to digest."

With her own meal finished she had begun to make modifications, the Nighthawk holstered at her side pulled free and a strip of rawhide taken from her pocket. She wound the strip tight around the grip safety, permanently engaging it by way of a knot. She liked a high grip on her pistols, high enough that sometimes the safety wouldn't engage. It had happened to her a couple of times at the range, and she made damn sure it wouldn't happen in a firefight.

"I'm surprised to see someone from outside NATO and the major allies, admittedly. But I suppose it's not any stranger than hiring a cop."

Shattered Steel - An Ace Combat/Project Wingman/etc inspired aircraft-based RP

March 13th, 2014
Luqa, Malta, the Mediterranean

Freyja was an odd choice for Shattered Steel, and almost certainly a bad seed. Fuka had reviewed Cobalt's personnel records on her way to join them in the Bahamas and while she hadn't had time to hear the scuttlebutt floating around, she wasn't surprised that people didn't like the killer-for-hire. An ex-Air Force jock from a now-particularly insane part of the world who cut her teeth taking jobs for the highest bidder and dropped bombs on people who almost certainly didn't deserve it. If you considered yourself a "moral" mercenary, Valkyrie was a shame to your profession and someone you'd be honor-bound to dislike.

Fuka was nowhere near sentimental enough to get worked up over her comrade's past. The big bad bomber bitch, bane of the N/UN supply train and killer of sailors-so what? You joined a PMC to get shot at by other PMCs, not to enjoy a long, happy life. It took a certain kind of jackass to get mad when a volunteer soldier died in combat. Everyone made choices in life, and sometimes those choices got you sent straight to the bottom of the ocean.

Really, the blame fell on whoever was running cover that day. They had failed to send Valk directly to hell where she probably belonged, the weight of the drowned crew was on their shoulders. It wasn't Fuka's problem. She only needed to know that Freyja was good enough to do her job.

That remained to be seen, but if nothing else she asked good questions. It was nice to know that they wouldn't have to worry about the ships going up in smoke at the first sign of damage.
------
March 13th, 2014
Over the Mediterranean

The Super Hornet buzzed along in formation, a black dot contrasted against the clear blue of the sky. The Black Bunny's paint job gave up visual stealth in exchange for style, a swap Fuka was perfectly willing to make. By the time someone was close enough to spot her, she would already have popped up on sensors and at that point, it would come down to skill, luck, and lock-on speed.

For now things were quiet, the ships chugging along far below. There wasn't anything for her to do except wait for targets to present themselves.

"Cobalt Five, buzzing in. Waiting for vector to target."