Kess - Corals and black holes

General Information: Name: Kess Jaxin Age: 24 Affiliation: New Republic Defense Fleet Rank: Flight Officer (X-wing) Gender: Female (she/her) Species: Human Homeworld: Dubrillion Starfighter: T-65A3 X-wing ("Kess’s Mistake" - unofficially named by her squadmates)

Appearance: Kess Jaxin looks like someone who lives at high velocity and sleeps only when gravity forces her to. Once a sleek, polished racing pilot, she now carries that same sharp profile - just roughened by war. Her black hair is fairly short and perpetually disheveled, a “cut it short so the oxygen mask stops snagging it” kind of practical. Her grey-green eyes are sharp, bright, and restless - the kind that track every motion in the room, and every imagined Vong biot in the shadows. Her pilot flightsuit is worn, patched, oil-smudged, and suspiciously unzipped at the collar most days. Her gloves are fingerless, her boots mismatched after emergency replacement, and she keeps a strip of red race-tape wrapped around one wrist - a souvenir from her fans after the last Lando's Folly run she ever flew. She looks like a starfighter pilot in every sense: quick, dangerous, half-tired, half-grinning, and absolutely ready for another run even if it might kill her.

Clothing: Standard New Republic orange flightsuit, customized with spare parts and personal patches, Old Dubrillion Racing League jacket, stitched back together after a torpedo impact burst it open, Pilot harness rig, worn enough to suggest she barely leaves it, A visor with a crack on the left edge, which she refuses to replace (“It’s not broken unless it falls off”), A silver chain with a small metal ring - taken from her first race trophy.

Tools & Gear: X-wing Starfighter: A battered T-65A3 rebuilt halfway to death after three engagements. The fuselage bears scorch marks, patched durasteel, and one unpainted plate from a donor ship. Astromech is R9-S4 (“Saff”), sarcastic and almost as reckless as she is. Ace’s Gloves: A pair of cut-off flight gloves she wore in every Dubrillion asteroid race. She says she flies worse in regulation ones. Pilot’s Datapad: Filled with race track stunt diagrams, questionable tactical notes (“don’t get hit again”), sketches of Vong biots labeled “NOPE”, messages to fallen squadmates she never sends.

Background: Kess Jaxin was born on Dubrillion, planet that was central to Lando Calrissian's mining operation, where racing wasn’t just a sport - the asteroid belt, called "Lando's folly", was used to train and test pilot, particularly potential smugglers. The competition in this case was to stay as long as possible inside the belt while piloting a modified TIE Advanced starfighter. By sixteen, Kess was already participating in her first starship races. By nineteen, she had a small crowd of fans who called her “The Meteor.” She used to participate in races on many planets and systems, winning enough prize credits to keep her ship tuned, her ego fed, and her appetite for danger satisfied. By twenty-three, she was pacing the upper ranks of "Lando's folly". Then the Yuuzhan Vong came. Dubrillion didn’t stand a chance. Kess’s last race became her first battle. She flew civilians out under fire, lost her ship and watched her homeworld burn behind her. That was the day she stopped being a racer and started being a soldier. She enlisted in the New Republic Navy with exactly zero hesitation, got funneled into starfighter training, and emerged as one of the fastest, most aggressive pilots her instructors had ever seen. Not Rogue Squadron - she’d punch someone if they suggested she needed the fame. Instead, she joined a mid-line combat formation stationed aboard the Nebula-class Star Destroyer Furor - Vanguard Squadron Epsilon, call-sign “Epsilon-Five.” Now she flies headlong into Vong skirmishes with the same wild precision she once used to thread needles in asteroid belts... but there’s a tremor under it, a fear she refuses to name: Yuuzhan Vong biots terrify her. Organic weapons shouldn’t exist, armor shouldn’t breathe, starfighters shouldn’t pulse like hearts. So she hides the fear under sarcasm, adrenaline, and a grin that’s just a little too sharp.

Personality Traits: Core Traits: Snark-Driven: Sarcasm is her shield. Humor is her fuel. If she’s talking, she’s deflecting - or coping. Adrenaline-Seeking: Kess is happiest with her throttle wide open and alarms blaring. She needs motion like others need air. Fiercely Loyal: Once she bonds to a squadron, she’ll burn a star to protect them. Losing Dubrillion taught her the price of not being fast enough. Inner Traits: Fear-Smothering: She hides her fear of Yuuzhan Vong biotech behind jokes, bravado, and reckless dives. If she slows down, the fear catches up. Homesick: She’d rather die than admit she misses Dubrillion, the asteroid rings, or the cheers of audience when someone broke the record. Guilt-Pitted: She wonders if she could have saved more people during the evacuation. That question keeps her awake. Conditioned / Situational Traits: Trash-Talker: In combat, she quips through the comm to keep herself from panicking. The worse the situation, the sharper the jokes. Hyperfocused Under Pressure: When the world turns deadly, she becomes ice-cold and perfect - a remnant of racing discipline. Reckless-but-Gifted: She flies in ways that make instructors swear and admirals pray - and somehow they work.

Demeanor & Speech: Kess speaks fast, sharp, and irreverently; her tone always sounds like she’s two steps from either laughing or screaming. She uses humor as both weapon and anesthesia, jabbing lightly at everyone - especially those she cares about. When frightened, her jokes get meaner; when sad, they get funnier. Her voice carries the rough edge of someone who grew up shouting over engine noise.

Short Tag: A snarky, fearless-on-the-surface New Republic X-wing pilot - an ex-racer who masks her fear of Yuuzhan Vong biotech with speed, sarcasm, and stubborn loyalty.