PFC Vasquez

PFC Jenette Vasquez is a heavy-weapons smartgunner from the year 2176. They arrived in-game on 13 Oct 2011

age: 26ish

origins: Aliens, 1986 (canon)

app link: here

hmd: here

played by: Kyra

contact: zenbladeKyra on AIM

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Contents
[hide]*1 Setting
 * 2 Personality
 * 3 Abilities & Weaknesses
 * 4 Character Relationships
 * 5 Free Space
 * 6 See Also
 * 7 Comments
 * }

SettingEdit
The year is 2179. Man has more or less conquered space. More, in that there are widespread colonies in space, involving space travel and terraforming. Less, in that those colonies are neither safe nor secure. Space colonies are expensive, however, so the majority of colonies are private/corporate owned, such as Hadley’s Hope, owned by megacorporation Weyland-Yutani.

The United States Colonial Marines have been formed to protect these colonies. Oftentimes they run into alien species ("we endanger species" on the first dropshuttle, "bughunt", etc) that they are called upon to deal with, but nothing as dangerous as what they will find on Hadley's Hope: the xenomorphs with their own ruthless colonization aims.

Weyland-Yutani wants to acquire a xenomorph for their biological weapons division. They figure that if they could study one of these, they could design a weapon that would guarantee human supremacy throughout space. This puts the United States Colonial Marines in an odd situation: they are a government military but are put into service to protect the interests of capitalist corporations. The conflict between their goals is apparent in the Hadley’s Hope mission. Once it’s established there’s no one to rescue, the military solution is to, as Ripley suggests, ‘nuke it from orbit’, but Burke countermands that, until Ripley reminds him that the mission is under military jurisdiction--putting Hicks in charge, at least nominally, though Burke continues to press his--and the Company's--interests through Lieutenant Gorman, pushing the conflicting loyalties of profit versus humanity.

FTL spaceflight is possible, humans engaging in cryosleep to survive. The marines are used to ‘bughunts’, but have never encountered anything as dangerous as the xenomorphs they will find on Hadley’s Hope. Long term space flight and service cause temporal longevity problems (this is typical in FTL sci fi stuff), where those who venture into space come back to find that many many years have passed back home while they were on a mission, and things are radically different. Ripley feels this dislocation on her awakening after her experiences on the science vessel Nostromo--she returns to Earth only to discover that her daughter has died, at the age of 66.

In this world, Vasquez is just a typical grunt, a PFC in the USCM, and the heavy gunner, on the unit assigned to the Conestoga Class transport USS Sulaco in the 2nd Battalion, 9th Regiment. She has a younger sister, Carmen, also a USCM.

PersonalityEdit
Two words to describe her are ‘tough’ and ‘loyal’.

Vasquez is small, but strong, no-nonsense and almost entirely without fear. She’s always in the thick of the action, whether it’s taking point going into dangerous territory or guarding the rear under pursuit. She never questions orders (though she doesn’t always obey them), and keeps her cool under fire, even when facing down a xenomorph armed only with a small sidearm. As a weapons-specialist, she’s had specialized training on the M56 smartgun, as well as a variety of smaller weapons and improvised munitions (she suggests using the nerve gas to blow up the nest).

Canon apocrypha has it that unlike most of the others, she and Drake were recruited from a juvenile prison, so while everyone else serves a set term contract, she is a lifer. In a sense, then, the USCM are her life and her platoon is her family. She is the only one in the team who is visibly upset by the losses the unit suffers on LV-426—Hicks has to physically restrain her from diving out of the APC to rescue Drake, and later, when Hudson announces that Dietrich and Apone still have vital signs, wants to mount a rescue mission, because Marines don’t leave their own behind.

Vasquez does have some issues with authority, if she feels the orders needlessly endanger her team. When Lt Gorman orders them to hand over their ammunition, in the middle of the alien nest, though she doesn’t complain (unlike others), and hands over the M56’s power cell, she immediately produces and inserts a spare, handing another to her buddy Drake. Later, she has to be ordered by Hicks to stand down from wanting to assault Gorman based on these orders. She’s also the first to fire (other than the flamethrower that kills the hatching chestburster), despite orders—not out of fear for herself but to protect her team.

Her clothing tells us about her personality as well. The slogan ‘el riesgo siempre vive’ (there’s always risk) is on her M56 chestplate—to her, life is full of risks and danger, there’s no such thing as ‘safety’. Her shirt has ‘loco’ written on it, and her gun has ‘Adios’ painted in white on the side. Vasquez speaks Spanish, or at least Spanglish, in canon.

Abilities & WeaknessesEdit
She is a heavy weapons specialist. She likes to shoot things. That's....about it as far as abilities.

Character RelationshipsEdit
Obvioulsy blank for now.

See AlsoEdit
The novel 'canon' is the base for some of her voice/personality as well. Here's a link to the relevant excerpts.