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Describe your character's back story here.

This is from the long ago Before Time, when GURPForge was young. My writing was less evolved (thus the reduced quality) but I cared more in that bygone time (thus the length).

CAPTAIN’S FILE
EXEMPLAR, ATERNAN AMBASADOR







Exemplar is a naïve young woman from a world in which supers took over the planet and created a utopian society. Idolizing the great heroes of the past, and with little to do aside from work her assigned job as a janitor, she has sought to emulate their breadth of knowledge and intensive training, but ironically her dedication to the warlike ways of the past have put her at odds with the now pacifist society.

Despite her intensive training, she has had little real experience utilizing any of her knowledge, and thus has low scores in a wide variety of different abilities.

In the event of problems with her, contact [person] in the Federation Council of Safety and Security office, or Badger in the Aternan Sanitation Department.

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Exemplar
Born to an average family and destined for an average life, none expected her to turn out as she did, but had anyone been looking, the signs were there. Early on she showed a high level of discipline, and worked to be the best at anything she did. As she grew older, she wasn’t nearly as social as the other children her age, and she spent the majority of her time studying everything from technology to history. And it was in the history books that she found her true calling.
Reading of the exploits of the heroes of old, of their accomplishments and their challenges, Exemplar knew what she wanted to do with her life. And when she read about the heroes Ultraman and Shadowknight, she knew who she wanted to become. At the age of twelve, when she was placed into her team, she knew that she wanted more than the standard Aternan life could give her, and more than her powers suited her for. She wanted to go out into the wide universe and be a hero, but her teacher and her parents seemed distressed by her interests, and when she began to study the martial archives, they told her that she needed to put away her fantasies once and for all. She refused. Instead she snuck out at night to practice her martial arts in the park, or to read the data files of the past that were closed to her during the day. It was here that she met Badger.

She had seen him wandering the streets before, and she had always thought it odd the way people always avoided him. But she was surprised to see him here. It never occurred to her to worry for her safety, Aternan society being what it was, but she did worry that he might tell her teacher or her family of her nightly activities. But he said nothing, only watched. She was shy at first, but eventually it entertained her, putting on a show for an audience. She had practiced hard, and she thought she had truly mastered her forms. When he attacked her she was totally shocked. She didn’t defend herself, only stared as his fist came at her, over and over again. While she laid on the ground recovering, and crying from the shock, he simply walked away.

She spent the next day thinking only about the fight that had occurred. With her powers of regeneration, she was perfectly well the next day, but something deep inside her had been wounded. A childlike trust and innocence had been broken, as well as the arrogance that had allowed her to think she was a master at only 12. As night fell she had nearly convinced herself she was a fool for pursuing such silly dreams. She thought about just living the life everyone said she should live. And when she did, she knew that could never be her life. So she went out to the park again, to face the man that had nearly broken her spirit.

He was waiting for her when she arrived. Somehow she knew he would be.
“Figured you’d never come out here again, after last night.”

“Why did you do that to me?! I never did anything mean to you, I never even looked at you funny, like all the others do!”

“Tryin’ ta help ya girl. Why you think they look at me that way? Because I don’t belong in this time. I’m a relic, and you’re tryin’ ta get yourself the same kind o’ life I’ve got. And for what? Stupid games?”

“This isn’t a game! I want more from my life than this! I want to go out into the rest of the Federation and do something, maybe help bring peace to frontier worlds, or… I don’t know, just do something! I want to be like Captain Freedom, or Ultraman, or Shadowknight…”

“Do you? What do you think happens to heroes doll? They just ride off into the sunset after they save the day? Got news for you, heroes don’t have lives. The don’t have families. And they don’t live happily ever after.”

“What would you know?! And even if I did end up dying, at least it would be for a good cause, and maybe with good friends, like Ultraman and Shadowknight did…”

“Ha. You don’t know anything. The history books tell you what happened, and you believe it. If you want to be a hero your gonna have ta read between the lines. Heroes don’t have the luxury of everything being spelled out in black and white.”

“What do you mean by that? And why do you talk like that? I don’t even understand what you’re saying half the time. ‘Black and white,’ ‘ride off into the sunset’ and all that? Anyway, you clearly didn’t study your history. Ultraman and Shadowknight fell together fighting the Brotherhood in the Civil War preceding Unification and our joining the federation.”

“No. They were fighting each other in that war. Cap too. We all were back then. See, what they wanted to let us into the federation, it was just too much… or maybe not, since we’ve got a pretty nice world going… But no kid, it didn’t happen the way the books say. Shadowknight died. In the middle of a fight, to a random blast from a rookie on Ultraman’s side. And since he was only a norm… Yeah, history books don’t tell you that the “great” shadowknight was just a schlub in a cape with a will like iron… But since he was only a norm, he died. And after that, Ultraman couldn’t keep fighting. He gave up. Best friend was dead, and he let it happen. I guess in a way the books have it right. He did die that day. A little bit later he just flew off. No one ever knew where he went, except maybe Firebird and Wyrd, but they were to polite ta tell anybody.”

“…You… Can’t know any of this! You can’t seriously expect me to believe anything you say. You’re a guy in that takes out the garbage. No way you can know any of this, it was hundreds of years ago…”

“You read the history books kid. You read ‘em well enough to “know” that I’m lyin’. So take a good look at me. Think back to them pictures. The group pictures, with the Justice Corp and the Z-Men. * SNIKT * Now, look at me again.”

“…No… You can’t be him… You’re… You’re…Badger?!”

“Used to be. Once I was the best there was at what I did. Then suddenly, what I did wasn’t needed, or wanted, anymore. Can’t say as I blame people for that honestly. But yeah kid, trust me, I know what I’m talking about. You don’t want this life. And even if you do, you can’t cut it. People these days, they aren’t made for that life. The world’s different, everything’s happy and good. That ain’t what makes heroes. Just look at the way you fell on you’re a$$ last night. There’s nothin’ but old vids ta teach ya. Give it up. Go be happy. Get a job. Have fun. Make babies.”

“You could train me. And then I’d be able to take on whatever came at me.”

“…”

“History has some things to say about you too. Said you were the best, as good as Shadowknight. They said you took on students, and that some of them died in the war. And they say that you wanted something different for our society, before you ran off and disappeared when things didn’t go the way you wanted. Well, I’m your chance. I can be your voic-”

“Shut up kid… Just shut up and go home…”

“No. Stop running away. This is the Badger that everyone feared? You’re just a tired old man running away from his own failures and-“

“I said GO HOME!”

He swings at her then, with the claws, thinking perhaps to scare her away. But she doesn’t run. And she doesn’t freeze this time either. She calmly moves into his claws, and they sink into her chest easily, smoothly.

“No. You’re… * COUGH * going to train me, Be… * WHEEZE * because I just proved to you that I’m worth it, and that I’m willing to do… whatever it takes.”

And she had. From then on, she trained with him at night. Her “abnormal” interests went away, and when it was time for her to choose a mentorship, she chose one of those best suited to her powers, that of sanitation engineer. Only when she informed her parents of who she wanted her mentor to be did they begin to realize that something wasn’t quite right. But by then they could do little, and despite their misgivings about Badger, none could argue that he was a skilled, wise, and well-connected mentor. So her parents and teacher approved the apprenticeship.

From the moment the apprenticeship officially began, Badger trained her mercilessly. When she was not in class, she was with him, training in martial arts, technology, powers strategy, and uses of her healing factor that only he could teach her. He even taught her a little about being a garbage collector. She worked like no other student he had ever had, and he was proud to call her his student. On her naming day, he alone supported her in her choice to choose the name Exemplar. He hoped, as did she, that the best of their people, any people, might be embodied in her.

After her naming day, Badger found her a job in the sanitation department, but continued her training. When she was 18, he had taught her all he could, and found her work on a freighter ship as a bodyguard to get her experience. And when he heard about the ship that would be sent to the edge of the galaxy and beyond, he contacted Dr. Wyrd and told him why Exemplar was uniquely qualified to be on the crew, and why she should be the ambassador for Aterna. And when he said goodbye, he didn’t betray his worry, or his fear that she would be lost forever in the void of space, or how much he cared for her. He just did his job, and sent her off with a wave and two simple words: “You’re Ready”

Jezial:

When not wearing space related gear, Jezial prefers flowing dresses and robes, Usually in blue, green and purple.






Stepping on to the Endeavor, Jezial knew her Szengu, life fortune, had led her to this. When the stars of her birth had been read, it was clear that Jezial’s path would be difficult for one of the Ssoreelli. Her fate was intertwined with the Federation. A great destiny was read in her star path, and this brought sadness to the face of her mother.
As was normal for her race, Jezail was born able to communicate telepathically and to use minimal kinetics. Her mother had been chosen due to her knowledge of the Federation and its races. As with all of her kind, Jezial’s will made itself known a few years before her birth, and her mother had prepared for the energy and time that raising her third child would take. As the child’s telepathic and kinetic powers went dormant and her astral abilities grew, it was clear that Jezial would be a powerful psi.
A hundred star-systems and a thousand planets shaped Jezial’s growth, much as it shaped all of her species. Like watercolor when poured over a wax painting, a multitude of cultures filled in the gaps left from her nomadic lifestyle. Still, under wax, the core of who her people were remained. She constantly cast her vision to the stars, her senses to its farthest reaches, and strained to see more, know more, and become one with all that was.
Time passed unnoticed as Jezial sought the stars, until she grew to maturity, and felt a pull to Earth, the capital of Federation space.
Powerful people among her race were enlisted for a 5-20 year term of office on the Federation capitol. During this time, the Ssoreelly in question would act as a mouthpiece of her people, interacting with the many races of the federation, and generally promoting the Ssorreelly goals. Though tedious and dull, it was one of the few duties that were required of a member of her species, and for Jezial’s purposes, an excellent way to learn more about her destiny.


The strongest member of the Enlisted Senate, Eressai, rocked back slightly. His orange eyes widened as he focused on Jezial and her request. “Are you quite serious, Jezial?”
She shifted slightly, “I am.”
Eressai shifted his vision to the healer among them, and became more confused as the cinnamon colored woman went translucent as she plied her craft, then shook her head in the negative.
“Salaani is certain you are neither pregnant nor ill, why do you wish to remain?”
“It isn’t something I can easily explain, Senator; I am called to be here.” She rolled her shoulders, a sign of discomfort among her people, “The stars revealed the need of it, and so here I am.”
The psi probing that followed would have seemed like an interrogation to a human, and a normal conversation to her. At length Eressai spoke aloud again.
“Jezial, you have the power and age to fill the position, and while a strange request we have no reason to deny you. Teressa, you have been wishing to leave for some time,” Eressai turned to a sea-green man, “it seems your replacement has…volunteered.”
Many times over the course of the next two decades, Jezial felt she had made a mistake in volunteering for the Enlisted Senate. She longed for the stars, and to be away from all the beings that crowded this planet. How did they stand the crampedness? She became…friends, with many humans and alien diplomats as she conducted business, and was considered a trusted advisor to many.
She requested, and was granted a much abbreviated version of ‘basic training’ in the Federation Academy and became friends to several of the cadets in her class. They sought her company even after her few months with them were over, and she spent many evenings with them, rather than in contemplation of the stars, until they graduated and received their various orders. It further shocked her when a few of them continued communication from space, but she did her best to maintain this contact.
Her fellow ES members explained that humans, with their shorter lifespan, considered years of acquaintance to have great meaning. To Jezial it was simply foreign to her existence.
She passed her years as Senator focusing on setting new policy, and internal focus, waiting for the chance to pilgrimage among the stars again.
Finally, nearly 20 years after she began her stint on earth, Jezial took to the stars once more. She didn’t regret her time with the humans, her people weren’t prone to that particular emotion, and she did feel some tears flow as she thought of the life she left behind. She had never had a ‘home’ as the humans called it before, and she doubted she ever would again. No amount of community could make up for the pure clarity to be found in space, but she would treasure her memories of Earth until the end of her days.
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Her engines were gone, and life support wouldn’t last more than a few hours. That was irrelevant in the wake of the raiding vessel that was aiming its guns on her vessel. She had already transported her cargo over, and then offered to abandon the ship to her attackers. The latter was met with laughter.
Her deft maneuvering of her vessel had bought her nearly an hour of time, but her time had run out. The lewd commentary of the pirate crew left little to the imagination regarding her fate, and Jezial for the first time in her life, contemplated the self-destruct sequence on her ship. Suicide was heresy to her people, and one who did so would be unworthy to be reborn, but being the slave or plaything of space pirates left her temped.
With a resigned sigh, Jezial slipped into a meditative trance, casting her consciousness away, and entering the equivalent of a self-induced coma.
In her comatose state, the Gyp-Z missed a larger vessel engaging, out maneuvering and summarily defeating the marauders.
“-zial…Jezial, wake up. “ The voice had deepened with age, but it hadn’t changed otherwise in who knew how many years. “Officer, what is wrong with her?”
“I’m not certain, Captian. She appears to be…asleep?”
As she came to, her first thought was that the doctor must be new, or inept, to not have pulled up medical information on her people. Her second thought was on her last moments before entering trance, and she rapidly jerked up, nearly knocking heads with the Federation staff assisting her.


The room had several humans holding various pieces of medical equipment. It also held the older form of someone she had once known well, he had filled out into a well aged human of fourty or so, she would guess. She took a calming breath to compose herself and managed her small version of the humans smile. “Harold,” she could feel the nervous energy of the crew at the address, “Captain Stirling, I presume?”
The universe truly did work in mysterious ways.
When the call came for volunteers to answer the distress call from…void…it would seem. Jezial paid it little attention, as did the rest of her species. She was aware that most Federation races had beliefs around death, but no concrete evidence. Her race, however, had some awareness before birth and after death, and were certain that life was just one step in a cycle. While striving to attain a unity with the universe itself, many passing of lives would occur. As long as one was within the universe, rebirth would likely occur. It would be considered absurd to leave the confines of the known universe, where death for one of her kind would be as permanent as any humans. It was the equivalent of willingly stepping into hell.
It was only during a chance reading, when she found out that Mercy’s Endeavor would be captained by the decorated and highly regarded Captain Stirling, now much older, that she realized the burden of her fate was upon her. It would be the height of stupidity to leave the universe to go on an errant mission into unknown space. It would also, however, give that crew and the captain to whom she felt she owed a debt, a much greater chance of returning home.
The Captain, though in the line of duty, had saved her from a most unpleasant fate some years ago, and had been something like a friend long before then. She felt the need to return the favor, and thus turned her vessel once again toward Earth.


Making her way to the cryochamber, Jezial felt some trepidation. She could only hope that if something catastrophic happened that it would be before she left the known universe.
The current Enlisted Senate had been shocked, aghast really, at her determination to travel on the Endeavor. They had spoke of her duty to her people, her irrational desire to be with so many beings all the time, and the tragedy if she was lost where no one could reach her. In the end she had held firm, and they had yielded, as she expected. Now she was fulfilling what she believed to be her destiny, but that gave her little comfort.
She took a deep breath, and cast her awareness off of earth, and into the stars.[/img]

It hatched in a small nest of chitin, upon a rocky island, surround by a temperate liquid medium in which agile aquatic food flourished. It was born amidst a full brood of creatures similar in physical form to itself. Those first few days were spent in an endless cycle of eating. It and its nestlings feed on the chitin, on the agile aquatic food, and on each other. This was a dangerous, and trying birth.

The creature had an intuitive understanding of its purpose, and that understanding was guided flawlessly by instinct. It knew it was a Queen of a great race, and destined for great things. It knew it was unique from other Queens, but had never met one, other than those it was eating, so it wasn’t sure the extent of that difference. It understood that this terrible birthing was a test, and only the first of many. It knew its current purpose was simply to survive.

Each of those creatures, born on that rocky island, had very similar instincts and thoughts. Yet only one of them would be allowed to survive. This was ingrained in them, and it was unquestioned. It was a harsh lot, given them by a harsh race with harsh instinct. So each of them did all it could to achieve the end goal. In the end, as it had to be, only one stood the victor. This one had made its place, and knew its name, and it was called Voracity.

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It had been several cycles since its birthing trials. Voracity had spent that time hunting the small aquatic life forms around its island. It had begun to secrete the resin its kind used to build hive structures, and design a rudimentary lair. It had looked inside itself to find the memories it knew were locked deep inside its genetic coding, but found something blocking this introspective journey. It was distressed at the lack of understanding it had over its situation, but it persevered.

After several more cycles, it had made a crude, but effective lair, and had begun to store extra bio-matter from the liquid medium surrounding its island of refuge. It would have ventured out into the liquid to try and find more, but its senses told it that the liquid was dangerous to stay in to long. Voracity was vulnerable still, and its instincts told it simply to wait. So wait it did.

Finally the waiting ended on the day Voracity laid its first batch of eggs. There were eight of them, and Voracity was proud. At first everything was as it had been each day before, then suddenly danger shot through Voracity’s senses. Voracity took a defensive posture within its nest and waited. The danger changed slowly, as something, or rather several somethings drew closer. Voracities mind, and body were flooded with feelings of dread, excitement, and a strange longing. It recognized the minds of other Queens, stronger than its own. The Matriarch Great Queens had finally come.

There were only several, but there presence was profound on the newly hatched Matriarch. They drove away the danger Voracity had sensed in the liquid surrounding the island, and beckoned the newest member of their society. With a tremor of anxiety the Matriarch left its nest, and its first batch of eggs. They wouldn’t survive long without Voracity’s attentions, but something more important waited across the pool. Besides, it thought, there would be more.

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After it’s schooling under the tutelage of several Great Queens, the council wasted no time in contacting the Federation. Voracity was quickly sent away from the Hive worlds of the Matriarch. This was its reason for being after all. Voracity was to act as ambassador, scientist, and explorer for the Matriarch. It was to glimpse the Federation in all its glory.

Upon Voracity’s departure a great many treaties were signed. Regulations, and protocols for Voracity’s citizenship were enacted to protect mutual interests, and individual secrets. The Matriarch wished to protect their cryptic genetic legacy, while the Federation wished for resources, technology, and assurances of peace. Their priorities seemed biased toward prevented conflict more than in garnering material wealth. This suited the Matriarch, who espoused only the desire to learn and share in the vast culture of the Galactic Federation.

With their treatise signed amidst, and in spite of, an outcry by xenophobic doomsayers, the Matriarch were given citizenship into the Galactic Federation. The cultural exchanges began in earnest, and the Great Queens were pleased. They began to allow visitors into their system, and created a sanctuary for other species on a single world. The Matriarch dictated the terms in nearly every social engagement and political arena concerning their race. The ancient minds of the Great Queens, and a mastery of social engineering made them more than a match for those that came to deal… in any trade. This was not unnoticed by governments more removed from that sector of space.

As for the Federation, it received a single Matriarch Queen into its fold. Observation, questioning, and superficial study were all on the menu for Federation scientists. The military was secretly charged with keeping strict tabs on the movements, and activities of the Queen. In many circles paranoia gripped the Federations different agencies in all is ugly forms. The doomsayers were perhaps given slightly more of an ear then they should have been. Contingency plans were filed, and a task force was formed. The Queen would have felt flattered had it known,

As for Voracity, it was a living, sentient being with free will, and the treaties insured that its individual right be observed. This limited the amount of study the Federation could conduct upon it, and helped to give Voracity the freedom to pursue its interests. It didn’t mind the constant attention. In many ways it was predispositioned to deal with the clamoring masses. As long as it could learn, and socialize it was content.

The public knew little of Voracity, as the military kept a tight lid in the nature of the Matriarch. The agency that was formed to contain the Queen and its contact with the Federation worked overtime to mitigate its impact. Voracity slowly came to understand that in many situations it was being ‘handled’, but this meant little to the young Queen as it was largely irrelevant to its pursuits.

Voracity took its time in learning all it could about the Federation and its vast civilization. The sheer size of it was hard to encompass in the mind of a single creature, even one such as the Matriarch’s. Since Voracity had joined the Galactic Federation as an individual, it had all the rights given as such. It chose to attend institutions of higher learning and study the timeless art of medicine, an area in which it was found to have many natural talents with. Voracity very quickly distinguished itself as a brilliant mind, and physician. This didn’t necessarily make it any more popular.

Outside medicine, Voracity never focused too heavily on any one area of knowledge, instead focusing on many areas and topics of interest. The Federation was a seemingly endless storehouse of accumulated knowledge. Voracity found itself in awe more than once as it q\would scan digital encyclopedias for hours, or even days at a time.

As a Matriarch, Voracity’s true nature was kept top secret, and it was required to adhere to certain protocols within Federation society. Voracity was classified as a high level biological threat, and learned never to breach the confines of its specially designed encounter suit. The Federation also kept tight watch on its egg laying habits, and would not allow Voracity to construct anything but the most rudimentary of nests. Its egg clusters were often confiscated by the Federation soon after being laid, and Voracity soon found it easier to just destroy those clusters instead of allowing any more to fall into Federation hands.

Despite the isolation, and constant supervision there were still many benefits to Federation citizenship. For one, the Federation was willing to supply Voracity with an endless supply of suitable hosts as they were needed. Voracity was also supplied with several customized encounter suits to keep physical impact on surround environments minimal. Lastly it had access to the most advanced medical, scientific, and general learning facilities the universe had to offer. It also go the chance to meet a diverse array of other life forms, and share in the activity of intellectual discourse. These meetings were quite enjoyable, if not heavily guarded.

Its basic needs taken care of. Voracity was able to explore its own nature and mind more and more. It learned its races history, and what it meant to be a Queen. It learned how to produce certain types of eggs, and how to control its birthing cycle more effectively. It also learned how to die.

The death of its body was always strange, but it never meant the end of its existence. Voracity quickly came to accept periodic death as a part of its lifecycle. Unlike the Great Queens of the Matriarch Voracity’s lifecycle was one of rapid change and evolution. To better facilitate this constant genetic momentum, it was apparently decided that a generational approach was best.

Every so often, usually with little warning Voracity would lay a special clutch of eggs. These eggs required only minimal maintenance to keep them viable and dormant. What lay inside was perhaps one of the Matriarch’s greatest creations. Viable Queens identical to the being that lay them in everyway. These eggs would only hatch upon the death of the Matriarch that created them. Even Voracity did not fully understand the triggers that made them awaken.

The first time this happened was confusing for Voracity, and it wasn’t quiet sure it understood what had transpired. From this special cluster a brood of Voracity’s would emerge. Each broodling almost identical to the adult Voracity’s form and mind right up to the point of the laying. These broodlings would battle each other for supremacy, with only the most voracious, cunning, and driven left uneaten. This new Voracity would carry on the name as the Voracity before it, only slightly different way from the original.

Voracity didn’t find out until later that the Great Queens had anticipated this part of its lifecycle and had forged into their treaties with the Federation strict protocols for dealing with these special eggs. They were off simply off limits, under threat of war.

This cycle went on for a few short years as Voracity studied, and grew. It learned to coexist with other species, and found exciting ways to feed on their psychic energies. It learned how to maneuver them socially, to forge emotional bonds which they found meaningful, and to be useful to them so they would see value where once they may have seen only a threat, or an enemy. Its natural talents with telepathy, and pheromones didn’t hurt in its dealings with others at all.

While it thrived during this time Voracity came to find that while it was fulfilling a role to the best of its ability, it wasn’t truly being fulfilled. It began to dream of a journey, and of a legacy beyond that of the Great Queen’s expectations. Voracity began to realize that its progenitors had little planned for it outside this experiment with the Federation. It began to desire, and to resent. In this way Voracity gained true self-awareness.

It knew it could no longer simply be a puppet. It knew that if it were ever going to find its place amongst the Matriarch, or any culture for that matter, it would have to forge that place itself. A new hunger filled it with yearning. This was a desire that could only be filled by testing itself, and metamorphosing into a being beyond programming, and genetics.

The Matriarch had legends, which swam as vast dreams and grated on the depths of their consciousness, legends of the dark, and monstrously godlike progenitors of their great race. Legends they had tried to bury, from themselves, and from Voracity. Yet Voracity had these memories just as all its kind did. These memories had no real context, or form. They were wisps of a shattered vision from long, long ago. Still, Voracity saw in them something to strive for.

Of all its strengths, time was one of Voracity’s greatest allies. Death, a specter of inevitability, which haunted the world of mortal beings, was a thing already conquered. Voracity had the universe ahead of it, and the void held such alluring potential. Patience was something it could afford, and so it would start small. It knew that first, however, the shackles of the Great Queens would have to come off. Confrontation was inevitable, and unpredictable. This would be a good test.

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The confrontation with the Great Queens did not go exactly as Voracity expected. The Matriarch leadership seemed unsurprised by Voracity’s declaration of independence. They were accepting, and seemed to have anticipated the action. Voracity hadn’t known what to expect exactly, but the over all feeling it pulled from the meeting had been ominous. It had stood up to their will and said ‘No’, the complete lack of reprisal, or berating just didn’t seem right.

In fact they had given Voracity their permission, and acceptance to find its own way from that point on. They claimed that this was the natural course for a Queen, and only to be expected. They even steered Voracity toward what they promised to be its greatest trial, A\a Federation mission beyond the boundaries of known space. Voracity saw the double edge of the sword, but something called to it through the void. Destiny.

Voracity made its interest in the mission known to the Federation, and its credentials were logged. Many tests, and reviews were undertaken to try and determine the Matriarch’s motives, qualifications, and over all ability. By this point the Federation had a pretty good idea of the traits, and quirks of Voracity’s species, and of Voracity in particular. It was a forgone conclusion that Voracity be selected as the mission’s Chief Medical Officer. Voracity felt pride at the title. Its skills, traits,, and desire, along with a subtle push by the Great Queens in the political arena made it inevitable.

During the testing Voracity met several members of the missions command staff, and while it sensed deep apprehensions and instinctual fears from more than a few of them, it came away from the experience with a sense of camaraderie. Their thoughts, and emotions were rich, and full of vibrant flavor. Getting to know them would be a truly fulfilling experience. With time perhaps they too would come to see the mutually beneficial nature of symbiosis in its many splendid forms.