Rachel A. Baker (Biography Overview)

[Sarawr!?]

Report compiled by R. Porter, CNS

Rachel Alexis Baker

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The Basics

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Gender: Female.
Age: 34 (830 AS).
Birthday: 08 September 796 A.S.
Birthplace: Planet Los Angeles, Lower San Diego City; Republic of Liberty.
Place Of Residence: Various.

Known Affiliations:
-The Liberty Navy (First Fleet)
-The Liberty Marine Corps (Fleet Marine Force, Reserves)
-The Bounty Hunters Guild
-The Liberty Navy (Reserves)

Known Craft:

- Independence Class (modified Defiant) Liberty Gunboat "LNS Bunker Hill" (Active, Reserve Fleet)
- Bottlenose Bounty Hunters Guild Gunship "The Long Walk" (Status Unknown)
- Defiant Class Liberty Gunboat "LNS Warmaiden" (Destroyed)
- Defiant Class Liberty Gunboat "LNS Lady Liberty" (Destroyed)

Appearance

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Height: 174cm (5'7")
Hair: Black/Dark Brown
Eyes: Blue

Distinguishing Features/Items:

Libertonian Medal of Honor - Awarded to Rachel by President Powell for her actions during an incident that came to be known as The Hudson Incident, in which the forces of the Liberty Navy and the Rheinwehr worked together in order to repel a massive Nomad incursion into the border region between both Houses. Rachel doesn't often wear the medal, but it's usually displayed visibly in the living quarters of whatever ship or station she's assigned to.

Cybernetic implants - During the destruction of the First Fleet's former Flagship, the carrier LNS Anchorage, Rachel was severely wounded, resulting in her becoming a paraplegic for nearly two years after the incident, at which point, just prior to her first official discharge from the Navy, she was given surgical implants to replace several sections of her spinal cord and ribcage, with the aim of restoring function. Though not visible at first glance, there are multiple lateral scars along Rachel's sides and back due to the operation.

Red "Blood" Diamond Necklace - Despite Rachel's often stoic demeanor and spartan appearance during her time serving in the ranks of the Liberty Navy, she always had a quiet affinity for luxurious things; So after she was given an ornate necklace by a lover, she would frequently wear it beneath her uniform. These days, it sits in a display case above the bed of her penthouse apartment on Planet Manhattan.

Pineal Amulet - As a young Lieutenant, Rachel had a very odd encounter with a member of the Temporary Autonomous Zoners, memories of which would stay with her for many years. During this encounter she was given a Pineal Amulet as a gift. She never wears it, but she's always held onto it, seeing it as a reminder of easier times.

Worn red sash - Given to Rachel for good luck by her then girlfriend, Siara Solatra, prior to being deployed to Leeds as part of Operation Royal Flush. Rachel kept it with her through that deployment, often wearing it around the neck of her armor in a rare display of sentimentality. Due to the environment on Leeds, and her involvement in heavy fighting, the sash ended up with several burn holes and visible fraying, though it remained mostly intact. Rachel had promised to return it to Siara, a promise that had been as much about the sash as it was about herself, but an opportunity never came, as the two women lost contact in the months and years following Rachel's survival of the events on Leeds.


Personality

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Somewhat short tempered and slow to trust, Rachel has almost always kept colleagues at a distance, generally preferring to avoid making personal connections and focus on her duties instead. Privately though, Rachel has always wanted to be seen as friendly and approachable, but these are words that few have ever known her well enough to use.

Rachel's distance, and intense focus on her duties early in her career contributed greatly to her reputation as being somewhat of an "Ice Queen" among fellow Naval Officers and subordinates, although this was actually far from the truth.

Rachel is also known to have a strong sense of right and wrong, and has often been described as stubborn or harsh as a result, even if she's only doing what she thinks is "the right thing to do". Finally, Rachel's strong sense of compassion is something that's always quietly wrestled with her stoic adherence to the norms and expectations of military life.

History

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Summary
Rachel was born into a relatively normal middle class family living on Planet Los Angeles, and while her mother died when she was very young, her father provided a safe and stable childhood for her, through his career as a high ranking officer in the local Liberty Police, Incorporated precinct. This upbringing did ingrain a strong sense of patriotism and civil service into young Rachel, one that her father had hoped would mean she followed in his footsteps to become a Police Officer, though this wasn't to be the case.

In 813 AS, at age seventeen, Rachel enlisted into the Liberty Marine Corps, where she would spend the next four years developing into a professional soldier, serving in a Marine Corps Security & Boarding Detachment under Marine Commander Aleksandr Melnikov -- a man who would become like a mentor and second father figure for young Rachel, and who eventually pushed her into applying for Officer Candidate School, a decision that would set her down the path of commissioning into the Navy, and eventually, over the years, surpassing her mentor in rank, as she rapidly climbed to the highest levels of Naval Command.

818-819
By 818 AS, Rachel had distinguished herself as a combat pilot and leader, serving during crucial missions of the Rheinland War, and operations against the Liberty Rogues. Due to these circumstances, Rachel saw several rapid advances in rank, which privately, she had many doubts about, and never felt that she was worthy of, although she performed her duties as expected.

In 819, Rachel's first command, the LNS Lady Liberty, was destroyed by scuttling on her orders during operations deep in the Alaska Restricted System, following an event that was later labeled simply as an attempted defection by the ship's Executive Officer, a close friend of Rachel's by the name of Eugen Barinov, who was later said to be sympathetic to Rheinland and their war against The Republic of Liberty, although he couldn't be questioned for confirmation, as he was reportedly killed by then Captain Rachel Baker, during a gun fight near the CIC, prior to the ship's destruction. This event marked the beginning of Rachel becoming distant and withdrawn from her fellow officers and subordinates, wanting to protect herself from the possibility of such vulnerabilities in the future.

819-821
By 819, following the destruction of the LNS Lady Liberty, and several other classified high profile missions carried out alongside Fleet Admiral David Hale, Rachel had finally reached the apex of her meteoric rise through the ranks of the Liberty Navy, being promoted first to Vice Admiral, and then stepping into the shoes of Acting Fleet Admiral, when David Hale retired from the Navy later on in that same year.

In 821, Rachel's meteoric rise finally came to it's catastrophic end, when the Flagship of the Primary Fleet, the LNS Anchorage, under Fleet Admiral Rachel Baker's command, was destroyed by Gallic commandos and a small flotilla that ambushed the ship in the Magellan system. The ship was lost with almost all-hands aboard, fewer than 100 sailors and marines out of it's 1000+ crew complement managed to survive. Among the casualties were Rachel's mentor, Commander Aleksandr Melnikov of the Liberty Marine Corps, who was executed when Rachel and a detachment of Marines tried to oust a group of Gallic commandos from a hangar bay. Rachel herself would end up a casualty by the end of the attack, left crippled from the waist down, adrift in an escape pod for several days awaiting a Search & Rescue party.

After being rescued and returned to Libertonian space, enduring several major surgeries assisted by medical teams from Orbital Spa & Cruise, who implanted her with medical-grade cybernetic bone and nerve structures, Rachel was able to regain functionality of her lower body, but still unable to pass medical fitness evaluations administered by the Navy. Because of this, Rachel was summarily given an involuntary medical discharge by a Naval Medical Board, returning her to the life of a civilian.

821-822
In late 821, Rachel received reactivation orders from Fleet Admiral Davies, assigning her to the Liberty Marine Corps as the CO of the 33rd Orbital Insertion Regiment with the rank of Colonel. Rachel, who had become increasingly aimless and fatalistic during this period, having endured hundreds of hours of physical rehabilitation, and what she would describe as "the purposelessness of civilian life", dutifully accepted these orders, and reported to Planet Hampton. There she began training alongside her new company of Marines, preparing them for their role in what would become known as Operation Royal Flush, Liberty's attempt to wrest control of Planet Leeds from it's Gallic occupiers.

During this time, Rachel met a Freelancer by the name of Siara Solatra, who she began a romantic relationship with, a first for Rachel, who had only had few and mostly male romantic partners up to this point. This relationship returned Rachel some sense of normalcy, and began to pull her out of the bitter headspace she'd been allowing herself to live in, and even explore parts of her personality she'd left closed off for a long time, and even thought she'd lost by giving her life wholly to service in the past.

It was during this time period that Siara gave the bright red sash to Rachel, for luck and with a promise to return it when she came back from Leeds, something Rachel had confessed to Siara that she wasn't sure would happen. The sash would be a constant reminder to Rachel that someone loved her, and expected her to return home alive, whether she wanted to or not. Though Rachel would go on to survive the events of Royal Flush, a reunion between her and Siara wouldn't happen.

822-827
In 822, Rachel deployed to the surface of Planet Leeds, her Marines among the first waves of Libertonian troops that actually managed to reach the surface, once the combined fleet had broken Gallia's orbital defenses. Rachel's unit, a company of around two hundred Marines, saw days of heavy fighting in the ruined urban centers of Leeds, as they sought to rout Gallic forces and link up with Bretonian insurgents in order to establish footholds in areas deemed critical by High Command. The fighting began almost immediately for Rachel and the Marines of the 33rd once they landed, and lasted for several days until they did eventually link up with Bretonian insurgents and even establish a somewhat secure landing zone for further troops and supplies. While they did accomplish their initial objectives, the heavy fighting severely degraded the combat effectiveness of the unit, depleting critical stocks of supplies and munitions, leaving them unable to further advance without reinforcements, which never did come. Eventually, like many other Libertonian units on the surface, the 33rd Marines were encircled and bombarded from orbit, turning their withdrawal attempt into a rout-- in the chaos, Rachel's command vehicle and its convoy were struck by friendly fire, ejecting her and killing or wounding many other Marines. Rachel was left incapacitated, and was extracted from the debris by a Marine Corporal named Kara Wade, who together with other survivors, went on to organize the wounded and withdraw to the last known secure Landing Zone in their area, where they were able to be evacuated successfully.

In 823, after physically recovering from the events of Operation Royal Flush and once again being discharged to civilian life, Rachel, embittered by the continued failures of the Liberty Navy, left the Republic altogether, choosing instead, the life of a mercenary working outside what she saw as the limitations of military regulation and Libertonian laws, though in her view, still fully intending to serve the greater good of the Republic. Little is known about Rachel's life during this period, but it's believed that she commanded a Bottlenose Gunship by the name of "The Long Walk".

In approximately 826, Rachel would return to Libertonian Space, resuming residence in her longstanding tower penthouse apartment on Planet Manhattan and resuming the collection of her disabled veteran benefits, while attending regular physical and psychiatric rehabilitation sessions, regaining her physical strength, relearning how to function in society, and how to relate to and trust in other people once again, something that she'd struggled with long before the events of Royal Flush.

In 827, after feeling as though she had herself "squared away" once again, and with a greatly improved headspace, Rachel began the process of re-entering the Libertonian Armed Forces as a Naval Reservist, and while she initially faced resistance and beaurecratic stonewalling, she was finally able to acquire the appropriate medical waivers and have them approved, enabling her to re-enter the service as a commissioned Captain, overseeing the repair and retrofit of the LNS Bunker Hill, a ship she had coincidentally once had the privilege of commanding, during her time as an officer in the Primary Fleet.

830
Up to this point, Rachel Baker had been serving in the Liberty Navy Reserve forces since 827. In late 830, she was once again transferred into the First Fleet, at the request of reappointed Fleet Admiral Alan Jones. At this point, she was then promoted back to Admiral herself, and given directorship of the First Fleet's External Security & Research Division, a secretive unit whose formation she had once overseen during her own time as Fleet Admiral. Not much is known past this point, as Admiral Baker's service records have once again become classified material.

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[LN] Recruitment | Rachel Baker Bio