Machination: The life and deeds of John Willow

[grief]

Birth and early years
---------------------

On 802 AS, on Planet Cambridge, a healthy male baby was born, weighing 3,5 kg and crying louder than a Rheinland engine. He was John Willow, son Of Thomas and Emma Willow. Two days after his birth, his parents took him and moved to Cardiff Mining Facility, were Thomas was working the Beryllium fields and Emma was working in the bar. As years passed, John had grown into a healthy teenager, although overweight.

On his 16th birthday, his father gave him his birthday present: a Falcon civilian heavy heavy fighter, complete with maximum shielding and Class 6 weaponry. John was flying it every day, learning trick maneuvers and exercising combat with battle drones. He became an good pilot with fast reflexes, and he often ended up flying around destroyer patrol of the Armed Forces, frequently harassing the ship doing fast maneuvers inside their formations. Once he was arrested and spent 2 days in prison after he pulled a U-turn with engine kill near the bridge of a Bretonia destroyer when the exhaust emissions shattered the bridge's glass. Despite his imprisonment, the destroyer's captain vouched for him, and he was released without spoiling his criminal record.

After he turned 18, he entered the Armed Forces Academy on New London, were he was hoping to ultimately become a capital ship captain. But fate had other plans for him. During a training exercise, his Hussar's reactor started overloading, until it reached critical status. A this was not enough, the ejection system did not activate, and John was in grave danger. Despite the pressure he was under, John concentrated and opened the exhaust ports fully, to prevent a heat build-up in the combustion chamber. His ship started flying in high speeds out of control, his inertial stabilizers unable to control the ship's trajectory. After 5 minutes of flight in a speed of 600M/s, he came upon Battleship Suffolk. Two heavy lifters were there waiting, trying a desperate plan to stop his fighter by grabbing it with their magnets. But the ship drifted past them, and after is hit a small stray asteroid, it's trajectory changed towards the Suffolk. The Suffolk closed all hatches and sealed all windows, when John's fighter collided with it's hull on a 45 degree angle. The Hussar's hull split in half, the cockpit looking relatively intact. The engine with the reactor still attached, disappeared towards the asteroid field.

John was pulled out of the shattered cockpit in one piece, but he had lost conciousness and a part of his skull was crushed in. He was taken on Cambridge Research station, where he was diagnosed with major brain tissue damage, a broken spine and broken left leg. His chances of survival were good, but his speaking, memory and decision making would be crippled, and he could not control his body accurate. That was when Dr. Sellers stepped in, and proposed to test a new optronic cyberisation surgery. While it was extensively tested on animals, human tests 5 years ago failed, and the volunteers fell into a deep coma, their brain cells rejecting the artificial implants. But this time, Sellers was confident that the new polymers he would use were compatible. So, a lentghy operation began.

Machination
-----------

John's surgery took 27 hours, were Dr. Sellers was constantly monitoring th procedure. 35% of John's brain tissue was replaced with optronic chips and nerval interfacing implants. Past memories failed to be restored, but skills and perks remained intact. His personality changed drastically, partly due to the accident and partly due to the way the optronics interfaced with his brain. He became arrogant, cold-blooded and cruel, although he could hide his artificially generated emotions very well. The time he was in hospital after the operation, he studied the global web and also read electronic versions of ancient books back from Earth. He read many books about war politics, strategic maneuvers employed back then and because of his optronic memory he could recall them instantly. He kept reading and surfing the web, and he learned many things not known to the general public. Some details about the Nomad war intrigued him, and the rumors of a Coalition army in Sirius only left him puzzled. In the meantime, the Bretonia-Kusari war had started, and he received news that his parents were killed while flying to Harris, after the transport they boarded was destroyed in the Harris minefield. He did not mourn for them, although his already crippled face never smiled again. In the end he was released from Cambridge research station, quit his military training and flew to Cardiff, were he boarded his Falcon and left towards the unknown.

IMG, Colonial Remnant and present days
--------------------------------------

After many weeks of travel in the border worlds, he ended up in Tau 23. While he was flying in the asteroid field, he received a mayday from an IMG mining ship that was 20K away. He immediately changed course to look what was going on, and after 2 minutes of flight he reached the ship, that was under attack by 3 Outcast Stilettos. John thought of the bounties, and possibly the reward from the IMG, and jumped in the fight. His optronic brain had elevated his reflexes and awareness to inhuman levels, and he quickly disposed of the fighters with fast maneuvers and godlike efficiency. He boarded the mining ship, were the captain thanked him, and after repairing the engine he boarded his Falcon and escorted the miner to Java, were he was greeted as a hero. The IMG made John a job proposal as a fighter escort. He took it.

In the meantime, news started spreading in the borderworlds about the new IMG warrior that fought like an Outcast ace, and certain parties in need of experienced personnel started taking interest in John. He recieved many offers, among them an offer from the Bounty Hunter Guild, that would put him in the bridge of a Bounty Hunter gunboat, plus ten million credits per month, but he turned them all down. He did not want to join anything else at the moment, as he was still advancing his knowledge and searching information about the Nomads and the Coalition. That was when he received an offer from IMG's security wing, the Colonial Renmant, that was in need for civilian, yet battle-worth personnel. Although he did not really like those guys, the promise of Class III access to the Colonial Database and a Capital class ship (a retrofitted civilian Luxury Liner) made him take the job.

He did his duties under Colonial colors,and did them efficient. His superiors were pleased with him, while he digged deep into the Colonial Database, learning about anything he could find, from histories about the 12 colonies of Kobol to information about the Cylons and events the Colonials witnessed on Sirius. He applied all of his knowledge about ancient space-battle strategies, and they worked quite well, despite the huge advances in technology. His ship recieved some upgrades in the meantime, but like all good things, his service ended and he joined the IMG again. This time, due to his proficiency with Colonial equipment he was given a Gunstar-class gunboat and was assigned to the newly created intelligence sector. He travelled through half of Sirius, doing undercover research on the tasks he was assigned (mostly Outcast and BMM activities) and was also sent as support to long-range transporting convoys.

5 months ago, following the destruction of the Kusari Naval fleet in the Harris minefield, a Samura representative approached John Willow, with an offer. He was to be given a Destroyer-class Kusari capital ship, in exchange for undercover support in the Taus, as well as intel gathering. John accepted the offer without hesitation. After a two month trip to Honsu, and 2 weeks of ship customization, he received the ship, along with a crew of rookie yet upstanding navy recruits. the ship performed like a dream, a lot more powerful and robust than the old Gunstar, yet agile and fast, suited to navigating asteroid fields.

Today John Willow challenges his fate, trying to find more about his mechanized self, as well as interacting with various cultures around Sirius, in his pursuit for knowledge and power.

---

"Skill is nothing without knowledge." John Willow
"Name it, and I will haul it for you, along with the corpses of any pirates unlucky enough to stop me" Markos Pavlou on =CR=Goth

Account ID lost in fire, rebuilding all characters