St Helen Carter



History
St Helen comes from a family of traditions - her father is a fighter pilot, and his father was before him in the Vietnam War. Before him, there was a Carter in the Korean War, and another in World War Two. On her mothers' side, there have been Naval Aviators for the same amount of time, as well as a long-standing tradition of southern belles.

As such, it was only natural for St. Helen to follow the tradition and enlist in the USAF. She joined up at the tender age of 18, and excelled in her training, where she also made good friends with Natalie Goldstein - a friendship that would later do her well.

Her fathers' reputation also helped her during training, though she didn't take advantage of it, and she was quickly mainlined into a frontline squadron flying F-15E Strike Eagles - later to become her plane of choice.

Fortunately or unfortunately for St. Helen, the Third World War ended shortly after, and barring a few border skirmishes with the Mexican Air Force and the occasional Mercenary unit, she had little experience of combat, but proved herself an adept pilot, and showed considerable potential for command, as noted by her superiors - despite an unconventional streak, and a fiery temper and a sense of reckless adventure and a tendency to charge headlong into whatever task she was set.

This was shown greatly when her father disappeared while on a mission over Mexican airspace, covering the withdrawal of a US Army unit that had been sent in to rescue a captured senator. St. Helens' priority immediately became to find her father - something her superiors were not helpful with. The mare found herself firewalled and dead-ended with every avenue she approached, and any plan she considered.

Frustrated and disappointed, she began to resent the USAF for their pussyfooting around the issue, and approached a friend of her fathers' Dylan Thomas the head of Thunderbolt Black, with her problem. His response was to offer her a job in his mercenary company. Tired of the boredom and frustration of the USAF, she accepted - as long as Dylan promised that her mother would also be looked after.

He accepted - and St Helen made the switch.

Recent Activity
St Helens' first role after arriving was to assume command of the 101st TFS 'Black Knights' in the face of an unexpected raid on Thunder Island. She took to the skies in an F/A-22 Raptor, which she had been assigned previously for test-flight duties. The mare matched herself to the task, and organised the loosely affiliated pilots into a squadron, which she then lead on two successful and very influential missions, while building her squadron into a tightly knit group of men and women under her command, as well as making a strong name for the Black Knights.

However, her luck was changed when first of all her co-pilot, Cody Fairbanks, turned out to be a mole planted by MultiCorp, and then shortly after, her father made a dramatic return to her life as a pilot in the employ of MultiCorp. The revelation of this shook the mare, and eventually the pair duelled in the skies over St. Petersburg against the backdrop of an amphibious assault, ending with both Carters being shot down - and St Helen was captured by MultiCorp, her whereabouts currently unknown - although it seems the Black Knights may have a lead on her location.

Personality
As mentioned, St Helen is headstrong, and stubborn, as well as being brave to the point of recklessness. While these are admirable traits, they have also got her in trouble on more than one occasion. She is clever and wily in aerial combat, but lacks long-range planning or strategic skill, and is very much more 'of the moment', suiting her role as a tactical commander.

She cares deeply about the people under command, and will never ask anyone to do anything she would not, and sees her role as a commander as that of guardian and chief point of responsibility for her peoples' actions, and is willing to take the fall for them - and mete out punishment herself later, in creative fashion.

While she is a caring and thoughtful individual, she's not hesitant to use threats or violence to get information she needs from an enemy or hostile - especially when they've proven themselves to be dangerous or untrustworthy. Although, this again can leave her very open to manipulation or danger, as she rushes into trouble, and she had slowly begun to adjust to a different way of doing things - mostly after observing her second in command and voice of reason, Snowbunny.

Skills
St. Helen has something of a knack for flying, as well as being, pure and simply, lucky, gutsy and aggressive. While she does know the technical skills, she is very much 'by the seat of her pants' an instinctive combatant and pilot. She is trained only on fighter-type aircraft, though has some experience with prop-planes due to flying with her dad at a younger age.

Despite her rough-and-ready approach to command, she is a graduate of the USAF Academy as part of her pilots' training, and as such has the necessary and relevant degrees in subjects such as social sciences, politics, and history, as well as the required military training.

When she joined Thunderbolt Black, St. Helen took advantage of the additional training on offer, and made sure to sharpen up her 'out of cockpit' skills in shooting and ground-combat techniques, in order to expand her repertoire and open up new options - but she is by no means any kind of expert in ground warfare and tactics, and knows only enough to see her by.

In addition to her professional skills, she is also (at the insistence of her mother that she do something feminine) a great singer, with an emphasis on Lounge or Cabaret style singing performances, with a couple of gigs under her belt. She's also an amateur surfer, with her own board, a hobby she took up with Natalie during her academy days and revived on Thunder Island.

Aircraft
St Helen has piloted an F/A-22 Raptor in the past, but this was soon replaced with a custom painted F-15E Strike Eagle, very similar to the one she piloted during her time in the USAF.

St Helen loves the Strike Eagle, due to it's impressive power, load carrying ability and versatility of payload, and the fact that the F-15E version is able to deal with both air-to-air and air-to-ground threats.

Combat Gear
St Helen is trained in the use of small arms and some basic hand-to-hand techniques, and her signature weapons are a Beretta Cougar in .45, and an FN-P90 Sub-machinegun. She also carries a Gerber ASEK II Survival knife, which is standard issue to Thunderbolt Black personnel.

Family
St Helen's mother, Angela Carter, lives on Thunder Island currently, in the dependent housing bungalow/villas area in the Northern part of the island. She is always welcome to have visitors, and often looks after Raya for Natalie.

St Helen's father, Fairland Carter, is also known to be alive, and is currently in the employ of MultiCorp, at an apparently high position in the organisation. Recent events, however, have revealed that he may be working against them from the inside.

Significant Other
St. Helen was in a romantic relationship with Wardy before she went MIA. Typically, things were just turning serious before she was shot down and captured.

Close Friends
Natalie is a close friend to St. Helen, due to their shared experiences during training in the USAF Academy. Both are close, and St. Helen is Raya's godmother.

Trivia

 * St. Helen's surname is taken from Samantha Carter, from the TV Show Stargate SG-1
 * Her TAC name - Razorblade - is representative of her 'close to the edge' style of flying.
 * She isn't dead
 * St. Helen smokes Marlboro Red Cigarettes, and drinks Jack Daniels' bourbon
 * She loves her black cowboy hat - it was a gift from her instructor at the USAF Academy.