Hanna

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The storm was a terrible one. Sensors flickered from useless to merely almost useless on a second-by-second basis, showing the occasional flickering, tentative confirmation of a ship, or was it two, out in the furious gale behind them.

The ship itself, the Locust's Bite raced along as best it was able after the vicious ambush of not an hour before. Black, oil-laden smoke trailed in a thick, contorted streamer behind them, twisted this way and that by the hurricane-force winds buffeting the slender Aldebaran-class Destroyer. The stench of burned wiring and ozone lay thick on the smoke-clouded bridge, the dim, red glow of the emergency lanterns barely illuminating the room at all.

Normally, the horseshoe-shaped room would have been brightly lit by the windows that covered it's outer circumference. But the half-inch thick shutters drawn during battle remained locked down, the electronics to raise them fried in the recent attack.

"Where did those thrice-damned Hunters come from? Why didn't we pick them up, Almaer curse it!"

"The Dalnan's must have gotten hold of the plans for the Bite's class of destroyer, Cap, figured our blind spot. I swear they came straight out of it. If we hadn't hit that updraft...."

The bridge was tense. Luce, with her customary twitchyness, was glancing back at Captain Hanna Balmrose every alternate second, between checking her flight sensors and controls. The hull of the swift, sleek ship groaned in protest, a faint howl of a hull-breach audible even in the sealed bridge.

"Flare. Damage control teams to any hull breaches, I'm betting one amidship and another far stern. Those are priority. Well, that and our Pharaun damned Turbine 2 being out. I want After on that, right damn now. We're going to need full power if we're going to limp away from this one.."

For the next hour, the atmosphere inside the ship was tense. Repairs went on as fast as the teams could manage, interior pieces of hull plating removed and welded over the gaping holes in the superstructure. With a groan and a loud sputter, Turbine 2 came back to grudging, badly tuned life. The storm continued unabated, lending the Bite much needed time to repair herself, while dodging the Hunters still following.

A storm that furious couldn't hold out forever, though. Soon enough, the lightning flares began to die down, meaning the sensors began to return to working order.

It didn't take more than another minute for the slender destroyer to heel around in a sharp 180, arrowing back at her pursuers, afterburners flaring brightly and sending the Bite slicing through the clouds at an astounding rate. Surprise was their only chance against three deadly Hunters. Even as they were picked up on the clearing sensor arrays of the smaller, stealthy vessels, the Bite was already on them, fore guns firing massive armor-piercing shells full on into the lead ship, disintegrating it. Like a spear through the formation she shot, cannons amidships blazing at the two flanking Hunters, destroying one outright and sending the last on a long, lazy spin groundward, their engines dead.

"Bring us on a course for the Spire. Comm ahead and tell them we need a dry dock berth."

Name: Hanna Balmrose
Rank: Captain in the Skynavy of Alsace, Commanding Officer of the Locust's Bite.
Sex: Male
Age: 34
Height: 5'10
Weight: 185 lbs.
Hair Color: Brownish-blond
Eye Color: Brown

Appearance:

Hanna is a tall, slimly built example of a man. Dirty blond hair, typically cut short and rough, is swept back, mainly by dint of Hanna's constant push of his hand through his hair. A strong jaw, usually covered in a day's worth of stubble, and a pair of gleaming brown eyes make up an attractive face, framed by stylishly trimmed sideburns.

Typically, Hanna's clad in the uniform of a Captain, which consists of a pair of fitted leather trousers, hips hung with crossing belts, one for a gun and the other for a blade. A white tunic, typically unbuttoned halfway down his chest for comfort's sake. There is a jacket, dark blue, that goes with the rest of the outfit, though it's rare that the Captain actually deigns to wear it. In the holster of his gunbelt rests a gleaming silver revolver, large and heavy, with a polished black grip. In the opposite side, a short, slightly curved sword sits, thick bladed like a machete, useful in the tight corridors of ship-to-ship boarding actions.

About Hanna:

Hanna was born the son of a foundry worker and his wife, also named Hanna. The birth was a hard one, and no matter what the nurse tried, she couldn't save the mother. So, the boy and his father were left alone. Heart aching, his father decided to name him Hanna, in memory of his wife, a lasting tribute to her.

Once, when Hanna was young, and had been teased for having what everyone saw as the name of a girl, he asked his father, in tears, why he'd done this to him. His father proceeded to firmly explain that his name was an honor, a memory of his mother that he carried forward, to never forget. From that day forward, Hanna refused to allow anyone to mock him on the basis of his name, and proceeded to beat three kinds of hell out of the next bully who did.

When he was of age, 16 years old, Hanna began an apprenticeship at the foundry, working with his father, learning the trade. He was proud to pick up the same profession that his father skillfully did. But, it wasn't to be. Mere weeks after he began to learn his trade, the Republican Guard arrived at his home, and spoke with his father. The war, which had been raging with the Dalnan Empire for years, necessitated a draft. And Hanna, as an able-bodied boy who was of age, was to be taken, drafted into the Skynavy.

It would be years before he returned home again, changed.




Crew:

Specs: Topside AA gunner. Noted for having the best eyes on the ship, and a talent at picking out the smaller, more agile targets. Specs has been with Hanna since his very first command.

Spinner: Belly AA gunner. Twitchy and superstitious, Spinner has a well-known habit of rotating her turret back and forth repeatedly before a fight, to 'steady her aim'.

Luce: A slip of a girl, the youngest, and most recent addition to the Bite's crew. She's become something of a kid sister to most of the men and women of the crew, and has reflexes at the stick second to none.

Flare: Commsman, who had gone through training at the same time that Hanna had. They've been close friends ever since, serving on the same vessel more often than not.

Shayla 'After' Burns: Chief Mechanic of the Bite, and certified pain in Hanna's ass. She and the Captain rarely, if ever, see eye to eye, and there's rumors of a liason between the two, though neither would ever admit whether it's true or not. She knows her job, and keeps the Bite running beautifully.