Zariah Preaves

=Description= "Coming out of a coma is kind of like viewing the world for the first time. Everything smells sweeter...now put me back in the damn cockpit."

- Zariah

Zariah Preaves has had a short life, it may be true. She may not be as old as many of her peers, but she's been through perhaps more than most can claim by her age. Everything from overcoming the Imperial bias against women to escaping an exploding Star Destroyer can be found in Zariah's files, and she isn't shy about bragging until reminded of her lengthy stay in a coma.

=Appearance= Zariah doesn't usually restrict herself to any particular style of clothing, usually wearing whatever fits the moment. If she's on duty, she's in her standard uniform...if not, whatever strikes her fancy. Her brown hair falls to about shoulder length, while her brown eyes, while plain, have a way of becoming rather piercing. In profile, she has cheekbones that could be called just shy of sharp, yet in contrast, her nose is rather soft.

She has never been called striking or stunning, but she has been known to turn a head or two when she's of a mind to do so. Not one to indulge in vanity however, Zariah has usually put her appearance in the background, content to court her true love, the stars.

=Skills=

Zariah has recently become aware of an affinity to the Force, a talent that has begun to be fine-tuned into something more than simple awareness, yet still lacking a true control.

Pets
Zariah has been accompanied by a companion for several years now, but with the emergence of her newly discovered connection to the Force, the Vornskr Wraith, once a faithful guardian of Zariah, has been forced to struggle with his innate desire to kill anything connected to the Force and his desire to protect his mistress.

=History=

Early Life
From the beginning, she was fascinated by the stars and spaceflight, and took an early interest in spacial combat. It only seemed natural to join the Academy, despite the bias against females in the navy. She showed enough of a natural aptitude and desire to learn more that even her instructors could not deny that this young lady was too valuable to send away, and it was thus that she found herself positioned under Vincent Draxcis and his fledgling command, patrolling the Outer Rims.

Vincent recognized her abilities, and didn't care enough about her gender to restrict the potential he saw in her. Taking her under his wing, he allowed her to grow, and as his protege she became open to a whole new world of understanding in space combat and personnel management.

During her training, the two became more than a tutor and his trainee. Their relationship blossomed into something resembling a father and his daughter, and it wasn't long before Vincent promoted Zariah to command of his fleet. She had an easy connection with most of the crew, whichever ship they served on, and treated every person under her command with respect and dignity. They loved her for it, and she loved them.

However, the Empire found them, even in the Outer Rims and made it's presence felt. Vincent and Zariah heard rumors of the horrors and torments being subjects to both allies and enemies of the Imperial machine, and formulated a plot to discover who among the fleet felt the same.

Eventually, they defected with well over half the crew and fled to the safety of the newly formed Red Star Alliance, where they joined their fleet with that of the other members of the RSA. Vincent headed up the newly enlarged fleet as Admiral, with Zariah just a step below him.

The Red Star Alliance
The Red Star Alliance became quick enemies of the Empire, though they developed several allies as a result. Zariah's desire to fight was quickly satiated, as there seemed to be no end to the skirmished the Empire brought against them. Each battle brought losses to both sides. The first ship she took her as own flagship came from the Empire after one such battle and heavy casualties, but she finally got command of her own Mark II Imperial Star Destroyer.

It's lifespan was not long however, as during an epic battle against the Empire whereupon an operation to retrieve the RSA's founder was underway, her flagship was irrevocably damaged. She almost went down with her ship, but at a last moment urging from her mentor, she decided to flee to bring more hell to the Empire.

Fleeing from the cockpit where she had decided to abandon her last stand, the ship was collapsing all around her, and she made it to the deck where her fighter was housed with more than a few scratches as a result of the devastation being wrought around her. Piloting from the hangar even as the ship's reactor finally blew proved too much, and the blast from the explosion reached her ship and rocked it out of control with such force that she was unable to maintain control or conciousness.

Luckily, an allied ship nearby was able to reach her with a tractor beam and reel her into safety, but she spent many weeks recuperating from her injuries.

During this period the Empire and the RSA still fought with each other, though this time the battles were headed by a rogue Imperial agent by the name of Sylkud Brainard. Vincent made a present to Zariah by taking another Mark II Star Destroyer from the Imperials, but no sooner had Zariah regained full use of her abilties and taken her ship out of it's moorings than fate struck her again.

The Force
Zariah had been struggling with minor headaches for several weeks, and she had chalked those up to injuries sustained during her flight from her exploding destroyer. The intensity of the headaches turned into migraines, and it wasn't long before Wraith began acting strangely around her as well. Once her silent companion, the Vornskr begin to exhibit signs of aggression around Zariah. With no real understanding of why, he actually attacked her on one occasion, and had to be restrained and removed from her presence.

Vincent would have put the creature down but for Zariah's insistence that he not be harmed. Grudgingly Vincent let the creature live, but kept it far removed from Zariah. It was not rare to see Wraith, even from several floors below in his new housing, pacing back and forth and staring at the ceiling in Zariah's direction, flicking his tail back and forth.

The headaches would not last long however, as an entirely new awareness soon exploded inside Zariah. This awareness did not last long however, for almost as soon as it emerged, Zariah was overwhelmed by it and faded into a coma, where she spent several months.

Doctors were unable to explain what had happened to Zariah. She appeared to be breathing fine, no physical problems they could find. Hope came from a former member of the RSA in Devon Vos, who analyzed Zariah as having fallen into a Force-induced coma as a result of sensory overload. He volunteered to take Zariah back to his praxeum and awaken her into her new abilities and teach her some restraint and control over her talents.

For several months after reawakening under Devon's care she stayed with him, learning what he had to offer. When word spread of the Xen'Chi threat, Zariah felt a strange tugging in her soul, as if she needed desperately to return to the life she had left and the man she considered a father. Giving her thanks to Devon for all he had done for her and the fledgling control he had taught her, she left to return to the only life she had ever truly felt comfortable in.

=Active Threads=