CarraMarina 'Karma' Ontozz's page

Recruitment
The first thing that hit him upon entering was the live music. For a bar on some dead end backwater planet, it was like nothing he'd ever heard. The drums, the keyboard, and the bass were alright. Nothing too special. But the lead guitarist was something else. She was shredding away at the electric guitar, and singing with fury and passion. Monto wasn't normally one for rock, but he was starting to see the appeal. He ordered a drink and settled in to enjoy the show.
The show finished to thunderous applause. Shoving his way through the cheering crowds, Monto approached the front where the band was packing up and enjoying the cheers. "Excuse me? Karma?" he called. The lead player perked up immediately, and glared at him. She jumped off the stage, and shoved him backwards, snapping "The hell do you want? I thought I made it clear that I'm not working for any of you bastards ever again". She was slight, short, and had waist long neon green hair tied in a ponytail. Her pink eyes looked strangely intense for a human, and they were currently burning right at him. Using her codename was a risk, but at least it made his intentions clear. He laughs. "Let me buy you a drink. The group I represent have an offer for you." she grunts, grabs her guitar, and heads for a lonely booth at the back. The crowd gives her a wide birth.
"So what is it anyway? Fleet disruption on the Vesk? Ain't we allies now? You should know I don't fly combat anymore." She squints right at him and grunts with disdain. "You corp or gov?" He did know that. It was clearly stated on her file, and the reason everyone thought he was crazy for trying to hire her. Still, at least she was actually responding. They had been talking for hours and she changed the subject to something random or inane every time he got close to his offer. He had been about to excuse himself to leave, and suddenly this direct question came out. She must've sensed it. Finally, a chance to explain."Bit of both. Not against the Vesk. With. It's a joint venture. And there should be no combat this time." He paused, and decided to be honest. "Well, we hope."
CarraMarina laughs humourlessly. "Do you know, General Reckford has said the exact same thing before suicide runs? No, really. Ever hear of the battle of Onoloma?" Monto shook his head. "I have not. How bad was it?" She grins wickedly, and drowns her first drink of the evening all at once. She'd been nursing it for hours. "There was no battle of Onoloma. It was a massacre. My cruiser was the only to survive." She slams the glass onto the dirty table. "Tell that bastard I'll see him in hell before I go back." She rolled to her feet gracefully, grabbing her guitar case. This was not how he wanted it to go. Sighing, Monto pitches his last shot. "We'll declassify everything if you go." She turns to him, and cocks her head sideways, her disdain plastered on her face. "So?" "That includes your testimony." She pauses, her face expressionless. If looks could kill, Monto would be dead.
She was tempted. Time for his secret weapon. "Ko is going too."
Her eyes flickered. A small smile flickers onto her face, and her voice sounds lighter. "Well, why didn't you lead with that? Where to, boss?"

Backstory
CarraMarina was recruited into military service at the tender young age of 15 with the Knights of Golarion. As a human from a delightfully forgettable middle class family, she had no special treatment beyond her willingness to study and natural talent. She excelled at combat school, and became a military pilot. She spent years skirmishing the Vesk, where she established herself as an incredible flier. She would survive massacres on her squadron, had no qualms about flying suicide missions, and decimated enemy fleets solo. Her nickname became Karma, because to her fellow pilots she seemed to be the great equalizer, always capable of surviving. She was promoted up the ranks, until she was flying exclusively black ops missions, running drop offs for armies, suicide runs on flagships, and escorting military secrets and research. She spent a decade as perhaps the most classified pilot in the Pact Worlds, shuffled from dark military section to another as necessary. Contributing to Karma's particular infamy was that she was frequently assigned or even volunteered for runs that were designated as suicidal. Her non flying skills were also sharp, as she was occasionally downed on hostile terrain. Every time she would without fail perform a guerrilla op on the enemy for weeks at a time until she could get a ship, and then return to base and volunteer again.
She had a persistent discipline problem, frequently protesting actions she considered unethical. She would try to prevent anyone else from going on suicide runs, believing in her own skills but fearing for others. Multiple times, she was almost fired and only kept on for her talents. It is unclear from the record if she was often thrown onto impossible missions because she volunteered or because her commanders hated her.
In the early years of her employment, she learned how to play the guitar and sing, forming a rock band with several of the pilots in her division. Her habit of blasting music during combat baffles many, as if makes communication much harder. When asked, she only remarks that “It drowns out the screams”.
She participated heavily in the Swarm War, within a confidential squadron of high powered unique individuals known as the "Unlucky Few". The 8 of them flew almost exclusively suicide missions, and were known for driving mission directors insane with their independence. This is where she met Ko, a drow warrior who Karma became great friends with. In one of the final battles of the war, their luck ran out and a majority of the squad died. Only Ko, Karma, and Aauurklo, a Kalo mechanic, survived. Having had enough, the three tried to quit.
This is when they discovered that General Rackford, their supervisor during the Swarm War, had faked their deaths publicly to help keep their existence a secret. They were forbidden from ever going near anyone who knew them before the swarm war at gunpoint. Ko and Aauurklo stayed, and disappeared into the workings of the machine. Karma heard a rumour that they were under deep cover, and never saw them again. Angry, she took a ship and left. In response, Rackford registered her in the system as legally dead, and essentially deleted her official existence.
Several of the departments she had worked for were tried after the Swarm war for old cases of corruption and war crimes. Advanced military projects and weapons testing had gone far beyond it's bounds, being tested on innocent bystanders and ruining several planets. Karma had born witness (and protest at the time) to several of these, and even helped move around some of the projects and scientists. She tried to speak out, condemning the companies and military branches, but was silenced by General Rackford when he sealed her testimony on the grounds that she doesn't legally exist. With all the eyewitnesses silenced in similar manners, many of the true crimes remained hidden and were never brought to public view.
Furious with this, Karma retreated to backwater planets where she rocks out in sketchy bars and generally ignores the universe. This is where she was when Monto Caliban dug up her file when looking for a pilot, and where he eventually found her. Recruited through the promise of prosecution for these sketchy companies and departments and a promise to be reunited with Ko, she finds herself preparing for a mission to strange new worlds.
Karma doesn’t object to the idea of trying to explore the universe, and is actually quite excited at the possibility of flying a state of the art ship for non combat reasons. She only had to be bribed so she’d agree to work with the government again, as her faith in them has been shattered.

NPCs
Monto Caliban - Shirren military agent. Monto spent years on the front lines in the Vesk wars, and promoted through the ranks. While he had heard of Karma, he had never had the pleasure of riding with her. With the war over, he found himself in a management position trying to clean up the mess. In particular, he had a talent for recruiting and managing difficult personalities. As such, he was recruited to the Explorer Project, and instructed to find crew. His major success was located a pilot in the form of Karma, a candidate many had dismissed out of the difficultly to find and recruit. Monto wants her to put her considerable talents to a good use. He championed getting Ko on board, in order to convince Karma to go. Monto is helping manage the project.

Ko 'Reroll' Ashurona - Drow infiltrator. An expert on infiltration and communication, Ko served as communications officer and face of the Unlucky Few. She and Karma were very close friends while they were together. Her crew nickname was Reroll, because she seemed to be able to talk her way out of any situation, frequently turning bad into good. She is good with language, reading people, and generally manipulating people. She also plays the keyboard.