TRAITS

   Branded (Major Complication) - Carla has a really, really bad reputation. If it is sick, twisted, incompetent or just plain stupid; there are stories out there that she’s been done it. People who have never seen a Firefly class ship can still yabber on bout Carla Hope’s black-hearted adventures. Whenever these stories come up, she gets a mighty vicious case o’ lock-jaw. Those that know her, know that the tales are a bunch of hot air. She ain’t tellin’ who put those stories out in the first place though, and personally, I ain’t gonna ask. After all, one or two of ‘em might be true.
   Born Behind The Wheel (Major Asset) - Even if Carla had never gone through flight school and joined the Alliance Fleet, stakes are high that she would have found the sky somehow. It’s in her heart, if not in her very blood. She’s never happier than when sailing on through the Black, or tearing up atmo and doing some of the craziness doggun stunts I ever did see. Just remember to strap yourself in first though.
   Dull Sense - Touch (Minor Complication) - Her skin from the face down is a mite insensitive. Her skin from the waist down is completely numb. She says that it ain’t important. One day it might be, but she don’t want to talk about it.
   Highly Educated (Minor Asset) - She can use these really long words and sometimes comes up with the gorram-darnedest things to say. Comes from being raised on Londinium I guess, with all those fancy schools and all.
   Hooked - Medication (Minor Complication) -  There’s boxes an’ boxes of coloured pills in her room, and none o’ ‘em are recreational as far as I know. It’s likely that she stockpiled the lot as and when she decided to ship out from the Core. If she goes too long without, well - things could get rough.
   Intimidatin’ Manner (Minor Asset) - One look at those blue eyes and that blank face and most men go flat out runnin’. Then you’ve got those horrible, horrible stories that get thrown around about her. She may be strapped into a hunk o’ metal but she’s still strappin’ iron and inventive on persuasion. Ain’t no surprise then really that she can put a bit of the tremble on a fella, if she’s of a mind.
   Paralysed (Major Complication) - On a year ago now, so she says, she had an accident in the war, out in the Black. Some Browncoats shot her down, as you would in war, and she hit dirt. Her folks did everythin’ they could, but sometimes things get broke and don’t get fixed. She’s got a cunning pair of wheels, another on our mule an’ the wings and grav-drive o’ Shard. But she ain’t gonna be walkin’ on her own two legs again in this lifetime. Most o’ the time, I figure she’s got used to it.
   Prejudice - Military/Ex-Military (Minor Complication) - If there’s somethin’ Carla don’t like, its the Feds. And the Alliance Military. And the Browncoats. In fact, nearly every damn person, but those three she has a real gripe against. It’s got so bad that she ain’t even allowed to answer the hail when the Alliance come calling, she’d be so damn “eloquent” at them. She don’t like Browncoats too, neither, which ain’t that odd considerin’ they was the ones which put her in her wheels. Lotta lives were ruined in that war.
   Steady Calm (Major Asset) - The woman is made of steel. I swear she could take on a whole lot of F’n Zse and still fly on through without so much as a twitch on those pretty lips. It’d be inspirin’ if it weren’t so gorram scary.
   Straight Shooter (Minor Complication) - Carla don’t lie. Not cos she don’t want to, now and again, but because she tends to think about being deceptive after she’s already hesitated long enough to tell even the most clueless piece of crap that she ain’t tellin’ the truth. We’ve pretty much given up on her talkin’ in jobs. Not what she gets paid for, sheh sheh. ‘Course, not tellin’ lies ain’t the same as tellin’ the truth.
   Tough As Nails (Major Asset) - She can take a bit more of a poundin’ than you’d think for her skinny frame. She’s got a mighty high tolerance for punishment, and I don’t think it’s cos she’s been sat in a pilot’s chair all her life, know what I mean? After all that fancy exercises and so on from her waistcoated doctors in the Core, and all the meds she swallows like candy, it takes a lot to put her down an’ out.

ROLEPLAYING NOTES

   “Most interestin’ thing bout Carla Hope is that she ain’t got much interestin’ stories to tell you. In fact, if you give her the chance, she’ll just fly the ship, sit in her room, eat, sleep and not say a gorram thing to nobody. She’s got an awful past, if you believe that kind of talk, which I don’t. Girl seems quiet, nice enough in her bitchy, ice-cold way. She’s pretty damn fast and she can pepper you with bullets from those fancy toys o’ hers before you can blink twice.
   “Reason I employ her though, is that she can fly. She could twist this ship through a needle and leave space on either side for a couple of camels. It’s worth the rest of it, which is quite a bit of a rest of it. She can be counted on though.
   “Some things I do know about her. She was born in Londinium, smack damn centre of the Core and the Alliance, daughter of a politician in the Parliament. Things may be slick and pretty in the Core but to those moneyed individuals who wield power, good names and reputations are the meat and bread. She went into the Alliance military, part of the draft, and became a pilot. And a damn good one at that, until an Independent cruiser shot her out of the sky. She hit dirt on a moon called Harvest. She survived, mostly. The med team came quickly and got her out of the ship, but she was damaged worse than that. If it had been the Rim, some kind soul woulda put a sixshooter to her head and put her out of her misery. Alliance shot her full of drugs and gave her years of training. Physio they call it. Eventually, she got back her life, though not her legs - long after the war was “won”. Years of pain. Sad to say, it’s left its mark.
   “Fact is, when she’d done right by the doctors on Ariel and her own folks, she went back to the idea of being a pilot. ‘Course, that wasn’t what fancy girls from the Core are ‘posed to do once put out o’ action. She’d been honourably discharged from the Alliance military and her next idea was to get out into the Black and do it as a civilian if not a cadet. Somethin’ happened and instead of goin’ out with references an’ the backing of her daddy, she up and left town, comin’ to the Border. But that’s how it was. Now she’s all the way down to the bottom, sailing the Black with me and my crew. Even I had to be persuaded a mite ‘fore pickin’ her up. How many crippled gals can fly a ship anyways? An’ somewhere between this time and then she’s managed to get a reputation that makes creeps like Niska seem practically fuzzy. I ain’t buying it, though. She ain’t no Reaver, after all. Hell, she ain’t no Niska either.
   “Jus’ hope we don’t meet up with whoever’s been dropping these rumours, cos they’re pretty damn good at what they do, and I don’t think their intentions are particularly honourable. Unfortunately, yeh lu jwo duo luh jwohn whei jian guay.

Dohn ma?”