Difference between revisions of "Ford Sierra"

From FenWiki
Jump to: navigation, search
(Might as well make it official......)
Line 58: Line 58:
 
}}
 
}}
  
−
Starting off in Chicago, living near her Aunt's gun shop for most of her life, Ford Sierra went by the name Misty Carlson. And for a time, this was good. She picked up her skills as a mechanic working on the shop owner’s old Shelby Mustang, and for a time dreamed of owning one like it. Until she found out how much they normally sold for. Her first car was an imported Ford Sierra Cosworth, in a very fetching blue. It was her Aunt Irene who taught her how to drive it 'properly', how to shoot straight in a fight and who gave her her signature Beretta pistol for her 18th Birthday.
+
Ford Sierra
  
−
The then-Misty acquired her first block of handwavium soon afterwards while rooting around in a junkyard for spare parts. Ford assumed it was nothing more than an unusual alloy, until she machined some engine parts from it and received an interesting performance boost. She was even more surprised when she discovered it regenerated the next morning. Ford began to slip parts machined from the block into some particularly intransigent cars to get them working again. This led to a particularly insistent customer demanding more of the miracle metal, a gunfight, a burned down building, and police cars in the rear view mirror as she drove away from the the scene.
+
You know, she's been up here longer than me and that's saying something. A First-Fen from [[Marsbase Sara]] who set up there before it was even called that. She's a mechanic, a bounty hunter and a gunsmith - oftentimes, all three. Any resemblance to Rally Vincent is a coincidence. <ref> Seriously, they even 'look' alike, have similar background, a similar schtick... and pointing that out annoys her so much it's almost become a game</ref>
  
−
With an illegal handgun under her jacket, a boot full of handwaved parts, Ford floored it. She launched to orbit off the 95th Street Bridge following a car-chase that would later be narrated by Sheriff John Bunnel.The only thing Misty Carlson was ever wanted for was for running from a routine traffic stop for a faulty tail-light, reckless driving that followed, then violations of several FAA regulations and fleeing across state lines. All charges expired in 2013.<ref>As opposed to spending several years in prison for the handwavium in the boot, with possession of an unlicensed handgun on the passenger seat as an aggravating factor.</ref>
+
==Origin==
  
−
The Cosworth itself was one of hundreds of space-cars, but it was still hers and it served her like a loyal puppy. A hitchhikers fan, she adopted the name Ford Sierra from it, in part to save her family from the authorities back home, and in part because it sounded pretty cool. For most of her first years in Fenspace, she used it to travel between callouts, establishing herself as a ship to ship mechanic who always knew where her towel was.
+
Ford's real name is Misty Carlson - it's not that hard to hide when you escaped from the Chicago Police Department by jumping a car off the 59th street bridge and just going up-up-up <ref>Also, curiously, the exact same bridge from the Blues Brothers</ref>. Since taking an alias was ''de-rigeur'' at the time, she chose the first one in line-of-sight; Ford Sierra. It's also the original reason she started running from the cops - apparently, the NHTSA wanted to confiscate that car and crush it rather than any wavecrime. <ref>Although the way she tells it involves a burning building for some reason and a Harry Dresden expy - so maybe she's embarrassed at how simple it was</ref>. Of course, in her car was an unlicensed handgun, a dozen kilograms of metallic handwavium, a few liquids and probably some drugs after the Cops were finished planting them. A freight train of felonies that meant the potential of a long stretch in prison....
−
{{TOC left}}
+
−
Ford was injured in an accident in 2008, losing an arm, a leg and most of her hearing. She got them back a few months later courtesy of some stellar work by [[A.C. Peters]].
+
  
−
Repairing her car, she got back to work herself, earning a good reputation as a person who could jury-rig fix just about everything, and made a good living for herself operating her own towing company, using her waved car and a bit of strengthened chain. It was crude, but effective, and the Cosworth was more than up to the job.
+
What we know about her from before that, was that she was 17, and dropped out of highschool to take up a trade as an auto-mechanic. <ref>And that her mom was pissed enough at her to have a massive blowup on MySpace (Remember that?) over it</ref>. She found her first chunk of solid wave in a junkyard looking for car parts, and, not knowing what it was, promptly machined a single cylinder engine from it like it was billet metal. Story has it she did the same thing to her own car - replacing the core engine parts with machined handwavium solids - but with the wreck long gone, nobody'll know for sure.  
  
−
When the [[Boskone War]] began, she found herself being hired to salvage wrecked or abandoned spacecraft and recover lost cargo. She ran a gauntlet out in the main belt, and had gotten pretty good at it too. A few close calls scared her, but they were rare enough. And she always got away. That changed when a Boskone ramship ambushed her as she moved in to claim an abandoned bus. The Boskonians rammed her car, destroying most of the front end and crumpling the cockpit, before leaving her for dead. Having seen the internal atmosphere vent, they assumed she’d died with it.
+
Two months later  she's running for orbit in a hurry with half the CPD chasing after her.  
  
−
A jury-rigged pressure helmet and her cybernetics kept her alive long enough to be rescued by a passing courier going by the name [[Jet Jaguar]]. Jet kept Ford alive using her own life support system.
+
So, Ford is most definitely, not traditional Fen. She's not into the fandom thing - she's a pure [[Gearheads|Gearhead]] from the start and stayed up for the Freedom more than anything else. Ford settled on Marsbase Sara before it was called Marsbase Sara, calling an old tanker-truck home. Needing money and food, and realising that more than a few people were having engine trouble since handwaving was an even less exact science than it is now, she set up her own mechanic's shop on what would become Sara, along with a recovery and vehicle tow service.
  
−
She finished the war putting her mechanical skills to good use on Mars, before acquiring The [[Dragon Wagon]] to continue her work. Post-war, she continued her mechanics business, with herself and Jet spending most of their free time together over the next couple of years. Ford often works with Jet on Troubleshooting missions, though isn't technically an OGJ troubleshooter herself.
+
She did good enough that she rapidly became known for being a lifesaver. Literally, and figuratively. She might've become one of the early BNF's if an old, overloaded hydraulic lift hadn't collapsed while she was working under it - costing her an arm and a leg and her hearing in the process. It put her out of action, until she could arrange cybernetic replacements from a [[A.C. Peters|then new face in orbit]], and recover from the resulting surgeries. <ref>The same ones she still has to this day, as a matter of fact. A point some cybers comment on. Reminding herself of the price of her mistakes?</ref>
  
−
Sierra and Jet's relationship is a... weird one to say the least and can seem very standoffish to those who don’t know the couple better. They compliment each other well however. Sierra is Jet’s anchor in humanity and reality, while Jet brings Sierra to the stars. Ford is one of few people Jet trusts to do her maintenance,  probably one of two who know the truth about what’s under the armour and who’ve seen a picture of who Jet used to be. The couple have developed their own way of being intimate with each other, despite each other’s bodies getting in the way. Perhaps other people have forgotten just how beautiful a simple kiss can be. And there're ways around if they’re feeling...adventurous.
+
By the time she got back to work, the 'verse had begun to move on with Marsbase Sara was being founded and most of the momentum she'd built up being lost. By then, Ford was just Ordinary Fen... most people don't even know how long she's been around.  
  
−
They often work together was partners on troubleshooting missions, Ford often able to go unnoticed where Jet would draw unwanted attentions. Ford technically isn't on the OGJ payroll, holding a Marsbase Sara-issued bounty hunter's license instead. She's in it as much for the fun and satisfaction, as she is for the money.
+
==History in Fenspace==
  
−
Beyond 2020, Ford becomes one of the founding members of the [[Knight Sabers]] and runs her own workshop on [[77 Frigga]] building custom [[Motoroid | motorslaves]] for those willing the pay the price, aswell as providing custom fabrications services and emergency spacecraft recovery and repair. She offers custom gunsmithing under the ''Ford's Heavyarms'' brand, and built the first caster guns and the driver coil compensator.
+
Long.
  
−
Ford also handles her share of the local maintenance, while continuing to track down occasional bounties she hears about.
+
Ford was at Islandcon and Kandorcon - and still has original T-shirts from both to boot<ref>A dead handy thing when you need some clout, or to be the voice of 'experience'</ref>. Her car still bore the scorchmarks on the paint from [[Kohran Li]]'s little [[Kaboomite|explosive indiscretion]] in the car-park as late as 2011, and lead to her long standing distrust of [[Stellvia Corporation|Stellviacorp]]. When  war was beginning, Ford sensed the opportunity and got out into the [[Main Belt | Belt]], getting herself a good money-spinning line on salvaging wrecks, or recovering those with engine trouble. <ref>Strange that someone like her stayed out of the combat side of things - maybe the rumours of her inner-ear troubles are true?</ref> There were a few close calls, but that old Cosworth of hers was one of the fastest things in Fenspace at the time so nothing could catch her.
  
−
Her current goal in life is to grow her ''Ford's Heavyarms'' business beyond a small hobby and develop a reputation for quality gunsmithing work by slipping some of her work into the collections of several BNF's. Daryl isn't the only one who dislikes the solitude of Frigga, and Ford hasn't made a secret of the fact that she misses the bustle of Marsbase Sara. Ford has already decided to side with Daryl, should a decision on approaching the Crystal Millenium ever come up for vote, especially after the failure of the Frigga Defence Force concept. Ford has also been working on organising ''Motorcon'' with a number of other likeminded gearheads, opening Frigga's kilometres of old tunneling up to the owners of old preserved automobiles for a weekend so they can be given a good long run.
+
By all accounts it was pretty successful up until a wreck she attempted to salvage objected to it violently - and waited until she was chained to it before voicing that objection. They left her for dead when they saw the car's atmosphere vent. Ford however, was most definitely not...
  
 +
Yet anyway. <ref>She survived far longer in vacuum than an unmodded human has a right to</ref>
  
 +
She had an hour or two to make her peace with God while watching her oxygen gauge slowly run down. I mean man, that's a special kind of hell - being out alone with a blasted comm system and her oxygen gauge ticking down an exact time to death. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. But since a million to one chances come up nine times in ten when you deal with Fen, a courier on a pigeon run between Great Justice HQ and the outer belt just happened across the drifting wreck.
  
−
==Ford’s Heavyarms==
+
That was how Ford Sierra met [[Jet Jaguar]].
  
−
{|{{sidebar}}
+
By mutual account, it wasn't love at first sight. They shared a drink when they reached safety, before going their separate ways. Ford managed to track down a pickup truck to replace her lost love <ref>From an owner who was, admittedly, a total hick. It came with truck nuts and belched black smoke</ref> The original [[Dragon Wagon]] was, by her own admission, a poor replacement, but it could still pull like a train and was hellishly tough compared to her old sports car.
−
|{{tableheader}}|Sidebar: Driver Coil Compensation
+
−
|-
+
−
|
+
−
While far from a centre of technological excellence, like any settlement, there are a few technologies that Frigga has developed along unique lines for local use.  
+
  
−
The driver coil compensator operates on the same basic principal as the main gravity propellers fitted to a Peacemaker bomber, via the Havoc and Hokum choppers built for Survival Shot. When the Hokum was being tested it was found that, with contra-rotating rotors a form of enforced position-hold could be achieved. The effective inertia of the spacecraft was increased. Ford Sierra, trying to figure out how to manage the ferocious recoil of the Vulcan round, wondered if she could adapt the same principals to a firearm.
+
And that's the way she continued. She ran into Jet again once or twice - including one meeting when they were both in for cybernetics maintenance.
  
−
A pair of counter rotating, miniaturised gravity coils are mounted on the barrel. They are energised by the weapon's battery mounted in the grip at the same time as the primer is triggered. Hot gasses are vented through the coils, momentarily spinning them up, generating a drive field around the weapon that peaks in intensity just as the recoil begins to take effect after the projectile leaves the barrel. This has the effect of momentarily increasing the effective inertia of the gun, blunting the perceived recoil The field collapses moments later as the coil current below the activation threshold of the drive field. This also has the effect of holding the weapon on target as it fires.  
+
Until they get to '''SerenityCon''' and finally figure that they both might want to try a relationship. And then the [s]Fire Nation[/s] Boskone decided to have their say. Ford was on the ground. Her and her tough truck were caught on the surface. Ford was one of those who loaded their craft up with evacuees and ran the Boskone gauntlet to [[Gnarlycurl]]. She did it three times, the old Dragon Wagon taking a beating but keeping on going.
  
−
The coils are far from perfect, but are still able to reduce the recoil from a 20mm Vulcan round fired through a caster gun replica from arm-shattering to 'less vicious than a Pfeifer Zeliska'.
+
There she met up with a beaten and battered Jet Jaguar and the remains of the Engel Gruppe.
−
|}
+
−
Ford Sierra maintains her own workshop in the accommodation block, originally to maintain most of the systems on the asteroid and the Knight Saber’s gear. Most of the tooling is manually operated, or second-hand un-waved CAD/CAM gear. It has the ability to machine Battlesteel and similar waved materials. Mackie Jaguar can usually be found down here working on whatever forever unfinished project currently amuses him, or serving as Ford's apprentice.
+
  
−
Ford has also begun operating ''Ford's Heavyarms'' custom gunsmithing service out of her workshop, after word got out about her original caster gun replicas. The signature product is still the 20mm pistol, though other versions are offered with smaller rounds. They also offer a substantially modified Anzio rifle, equipped with a customised semi-automatic action and a driver coil compensator. It was first seen in the hands of a rather fetching Yoko Littner cosplayer where it fired with blue sparks, rather than a trailing beam of light which gave away the shooters position.
+
That photograph became part of the opening credit roll for the Worlds at War.
  
−
Given that each weapon must be custom crafted by hand, the price is rather high. Still, even the compensator equipped weapons have low amounts of handwavium in them compared to the mass, and aside from the tendency to get a bit 'disco-gun', they're relatively quirk free. There're no complex drive-field controls, the drive field merely forms and collapses according to the speed/voltage of the coils, and while the field coils and gas vents themselves require careful lubrication and cleaning to keep combustion debris from jamming them, the weapon will still fire without them.  
+
Working together, they both gather a bunch of others making rescue runs in their fencraft into a convoy, with the Engels guarding the whole thing. They made another five runs before the attack was over evacuating dozens without losing anyone. Ford gets a civil certificate from the Convention authority for it.
−
+
−
A replica M12 Warthog powered by a Ford big-block V8 is normally used by Ford to carry tools and equipment through Frigga's tunnels. A second one powered by the engine pack from a Havoc chopper was mooted, but quietly shelved because it was too expensive to build.
+
  
−
==Description==
+
After that, they were something of an item. An odd one, with many questions about how exactly they do things<ref>Seriously, one has to wonder just how that works...</ref>, but still an item. Ford returns to making rescue, recovery and salvage runs in the Main Belt, building up a fair chunk of cash through Open Form salvage and the like. The war ends and all of Marsbase Sara throws a massive party featuring fireworks and BBQ and video of Ford falling down drunk for what looks to be the first time in her life...
  
−
Ford is of average height and build, with a dusky complexion to her skin. Her eyes are a pale brown and her hair is cut short to keep it from getting caught in vehicle parts.  
+
Three days later, she's picking up another junker in the belt and fixing Heavy Gears while hung over.  
  
−
Normally, she wears cheap denim clothes and an old Cubs t-shirt which she can afford to get coated in oil. That's not to say she doesn't have more stylish clothes for when it'd be appropriate, she prefers not to get these dirty. On a job, she'll wear an armoured leather jacket, with a bulletproof Kevlar lining. She brought it up with her from Chicago.
+
Ford's one of the first to register with the as a [[Bounty Hunters|Bounty Hunter]] in 2014 and she starts pulling in even more cash from some fairly hefty scores - normally beyond an otherwise 'amateur' bounty hunter. She makes an attempt at bringing in [[Naoko Sato]] on [[2462_Nehalennia|Nehallenia]] - coincidentally timed with a [[Panzer Kunst Gruppe|Panzer Kuns]]t raid led by her partner kicking over the Zwilnik nest, suggesting more than a little mutual assistance going on between the pair.
  
−
Ford owns a specially customised Beretta 92, equipped with a longer counterweighted barrel, a heavier slide and custom made walnut grips. Engraved on the slide is ''RV-Special 92: For Misty ''.
+
in May 2015, Ford builds and tunes the engine for the [[Highway Star]] in three months, getting over 1000kW from a pure-hardtech turbocharged 2600cc Wankel engine running on traditional dead-dinosaur petrol and lots of tetra-ethyl lead. <ref> Explains some of the madness between the pair really...</ref>. It pushes a massive slab of a motorcycle through 600kph to claim a genuine Guinness-accredited world record, and just keeps going.... It's a dinosaur in the modern-era sure, but it's a total velociraptor. Nine years, and thousands of kilometres after being built, it's still fast and tough enough to be ridden to the rescue at [[It's_not_the_speed...|Motorcon]] by [[Kohran Li]].  
  
−
Her right arm, right leg and both her ears have been replaced with good quality cybernetics, constructed and upgraded by [[AC Peters]]. Sometimes between 2008 and 2022, Ford picked up a silent biomod. Whether from her own cybernetics, handwavium oil handprints on a sandwich or another mystery source isn't known. And likely never can be.
+
The same basic design, with the assistance of some [[Eddie|AI programming]] and a good handwaving, also holds the Whole Fenspace Speed Record.  
  
−
==Mundane attributes==
+
Ford gets into debt for the first time in her life when she buys [[77 Frigga]] with her partner. They both spend the next three years alternating between working as contractors for the [[Roughriders]] during the week, and weekends rebuilding the remains of Frigga's systems. Ford's a master mechanic on [[36 Atalante|Atalante]] and [[37 Fides|Fides]], also making contributions to the [[Outlaw Class]] development project, and the road-going mechanicals of the first [[Motoroid]].
  
−
* ''Lady McGuyver'': Sierra can usually jury-rig anything, either a new tool or a quick repair, so long as it hasn’t been too badly damaged or at least seems reasonably plausible to do. Provided she has access to duct tape.
+
After three years she earns her honourable discharge cert and starts working as the armourer for Survival Shot. She's got money enough that she also starts building a small collection on unwaved gas-powered cars, running them in Frigga's open tunnels, before making a downpayment on the Outlaw Class 'Dragon Wagon II'.
  
−
* ''I can see the Fords'': Ford fangirl. Can pull most Ford engines apart in her sleep, and can do a pretty good job on just about any other vehicle, waved or not waved. She hates GM’s with a passion, and generally won’t work on one unless it’s an emergency, or she’s being paid well.
+
It gets paid off within weeks when Ford makes the biggest score of her life - bringing in a Bounty on a Triax Executive placed by [[Noah Scott]]. <ref>Making it especially sweet, was making him slightly less stinking rich</ref>, gaining herself some notoriety along the way for how she kept a Fett from snatching the mark, and a lifetime ban from Albemuth for clogging their environmental systems with diesel soot.  
  
−
* ''Cost me an Arm and a Leg'': Sierra’s right arm, leg and both her ears have been replaced with cybernetic parts. They’re not much stronger than the originals... otherwise they’d tear out of her body... but they are more resilient to damage than a normal human’s arm. Her hearing is also somewhat sharper than normal. Her arm has a small compartment containing a Leatherman tool.  
+
Ford starts her own gunsmithing business - Ford's HeavyArms <ref>Totally not Rally... definitely</ref>, originally building one-off custom weapons. Including what can only be described as an anti-tank pistol based around the Vulcan round. She also builds an semi-automatic rifle version that finds a home amongst [[FESWAT]] and F-SoG teams looking for the ability to make some seriously big dents. The six original 'Caster' gun replicas are collector pieces because of their sheer insanity. Two of 'em are one Frigga, one's on Atalante, one's on [[Stellvia]], one's on the Forge and the final one's in the hands of a wealthy collector.
  
−
* ''Wheel Warrior'': Decent Driver.
+
Not long after he bought it, Ford paid cash for a '67 GT-500 <ref>Just like Rally Vincent's</ref>, which sort of hints at either the value of the weapon, or how obsessed this particular individual was at putting one over on his neighbour.
  
−
* ''Family business'': Holds a Marsbase Sara-issued bounty-hunter's license.
+
She's no Whistler for sure, but still manages to make a unique collector's-piece Cosmo Gun-series that uses a fusion torch igniter to propel a bullet, rather than gunpowder. By the tail end of '23 she's decided to make it her permanent job and business, building her own AR-clones out of carbon-fibre and offering custom work to Fenspace at large. Her work's known for being good quality and reliable - if not as close to the cutting edge as Whistler.
  
−
* ''Fly me to the Moon'': Sierra and Jet are long term partners... and has variably described Jet as her ‘Girlfriend’ or ‘Partner’ depending on who she’s talking to and what their sensibilities are.
+
Motorcon 2023, arranged by Ford and some of her associates from Marsbase Sara, is held in Frigga's spacious tunnels. A bunch of carfans bring their unwaved relics out to the main belt and start taxing life-support systems at high speeds, while trading parts. Y'know, usual carfen stuff....  Inspite of the near death of her partner and a dozen other people, the event more than covered its operating costs and was widely considered a success. <ref>Even if the wifi was utter shit...</ref>. It came back in 2024 to the rejoice of many and proves that it doesn't matter how many people your convention nearly kills, so long as those people have a good time in the process.
  
−
==Handwavium attributes==
+
Frigga joins to Crystal Millenium as a protectorate and Ford carries on as she always has with her business, registering as a lawful small-arms manufacturer. She bid for a few contracts with the militia, but they preferred to suckle from their usual teat.
  
−
* ''Gunsmith Cat'': Ford’s an excellent shooter, with a feel for firearms that goes beyond the normal. Capable of shooting trigger-fingers, thumbs and hands with surprising accuracy. <ref>Provided the weapon belongs to her, and she has fired at least one magazine of ammunition through it at her shooting range to train her talent on its characteristics. </ref>
+
Ford's next close brush with death happens in January 2024, when Dragon Wagon II rams a UFO while on re-entry approach to Earth. A puckered-sphincter trajectory adjustment mid-rentry allows the battered cruiser to bounce back into open space, rather than break up in the atmosphere from the damage - But DWII is written off in the process. The insurance money is used to pay for an old [[Lun (Spacecraft)|Russian Ekranoplan[[. <ref>Curiously, it was nowhere near enough to cover the estimated costs involved in buying, shipping and refitting it....</ref>
  
−
* ''I.D. Please...'': Looks to be no older than early twenty-something, despite being in her thirties by 2022.  
+
Ford goes home in September 2024, to meet up with a gunstore owner with a view to getting her product onto a wider and more firearm-fanatical market. <ref>After juping through all the Bureau of Drugs, Alcohol Firearms and Tobacco hoops in the process</ref>. Of course, the IRS has been onto her mom, never realising the Ford hasn't been actually living at home for nearly 17 years seeing as she never officially and legally left the country <ref>and had been voting 'in person' for the incumbent mayor in every election,like every other Chicago Fen</ref>, they've sent a bill for a couple of hundred grand's worth of back taxes and fines and are threatening to place a lien on the home.  
  
−
==Quirks==
+
This pisses Ford off something fierce, but it seems like her mom just went to court to appeal and got it overturned a few months later in a total mundane anti-climax<ref>So, obviously not a fan of The Blues Brothers</ref>.
  
−
* ''Spindizzy:''  Ford gets dizzy and disorientated very quickly. <ref>A result of an inner-ear infection as a child.</ref>
+
Ford stays on Frigga, skipping the 'holiday' trip to Arcadia to finish fulfilling her gun orders.
  
−
* ''Under my pillow:'' Starting in 2023, Ford requires a loaded handgun under her pillow to sleep properly. <ref>Something she utterly hates and considers extremely dangerous - but can't seem to do without anymore.</ref>
+
Not long after this, is the first recorded appearance of [[Elpeo Ple]], and [[Minnie-May Hopkins]]. Minnie-May goes on to become Ford's assistant and apprentice <ref>Finally Bowing to the inevitable, it seems</ref>, while Elpeo is both a crack mech-pilot and an odd research subject for [[Vesta Institute of Robotics|VIR]] on AI perception.
  
−
* ''You seem to have mistaken me for someone else.'': Is well away of who Rally Vincent is. <ref> And quietly suspects both herself and Rally Vincent may have been inspired by the same person</ref>
+
And that brings us to today.  
  
−
==Stories==
+
==Rumours Surrounding Ford==
  
−
Ford Sierra has appeared in the following stories.
+
The one that never seems to go away is that Ford's somebody's attempt at a Rally Vincent bioroid. On the face of it, it makes a lot of sense - even if you ignore the fact that she's got a verifiable mundane background. For one thing, she survived a hell of a lot longer in vacuum than any human being has a right to, even modded. In seventeen years, she hasn't aged one iota - not a single grey hair or crows-foot to be seen <reF>If only I could be so lucky</ref> She's also a far better shot with a pistol than any human being has a right to be.... really, we're talking Blow the Hammer off a pistol at a hundred yards, or use a lead slug to remove someone's trigger finger. Once is a coincidence - but consistently enough to make it a schtick?
 +
 
 +
Perhaps somebody's actually a bioroid clone or something? A neuro-transfer experiment? She couldn't have really survived having three tons of car plus lift drop on top of her, could she? Certainly, in a form that could be put back together even as well as she had been. Maybe some of the bioroid's original programming is leaking through? Or has everyone's insistence that she's Rally Vincent, or a Vincent wannabee, combined with handwavium's memetic nature started to do disturbing things to her?
 +
 
 +
Also, Is Ford actually a troubleshooter herself?
 +
 
 +
Probably not.
 +
 
 +
==Signature Gear==
 +
 
 +
Four wheels from Ford Automobiles, A custom Beretta M92, Leather fighting gear, shooter's goggles, wrist-com, autonavigator
 +
 
 +
==Known Transports==
 +
 
 +
*Yellow Stingray Hardsuit (2015, Rarely)
 +
*Ford Sierra Cosworth, "Somebody" (2007-2012)<ref>When you're in trouble and you need 'somebody' to help, call me</ref>
 +
*Ford F-250 Superduty, "[[Dragon Wagon]]" (2012-current). <ref> Refuses to ever, ever die</ref>
 +
*[[Outlaw Class]], "Dragon Wagon II" (2020-2024)
 +
*Ekranoplan, [[Lun (Spacecraft)|K.M. Lun]] (2024-current)
 +
 
 +
==Personality==
 +
 
 +
More mature than she looks, for a start. She's in her mid-thirties and acts it.
 +
 
 +
First and foremost, she utterly Hates owing somebody anything - like they own a piece of her or something. It really bugs her hard and makes it hard for her to accept charity. On the plus side, if you ever find her owing you a favour you know she'll pay it back. <ref>Which might just explain why she stays with Jet, if you're feeling cynical</ref>
 +
 
 +
Second, she has a big thing about living her own life, her own way. An irony considering how many people mistake her as a coslifer for Rally Vincent - but you bet she was living that way long before she ever knew what Gunsmith Cats was. If anything, the fact that she stuck with it inspite of the assumptions of idiots speaks volumes. It might even be the reason why she stayed Up.
 +
 
 +
Third. She loves machinery. Guns. Cars. <ref>Which might also explain her relationship with Jet. Mecha fetish?</ref> Gunsmoke. Tyresmoke. A true hotrodder and gunbunny - I'll bet that BESM sourcebook was written specifically for her.
 +
 
 +
Fourth. She guards her reputation carefully, sticking to her word and making a point of not fucking people over - both bounties and customers, always following through on her jobs and getting the things she says she'll do done. At the same time, she knows the game and she'll play it to the best of her ability. Ford doesn't necessary play exactly to the rules, but she doesn't really fuck people over unless they're trying to do the same to her. 
 +
 
 +
She has her own sense of justice that doesn't always directly line up with what the law says. Above all else, given conflict between what the law says is right, and what her conscience says - Ford'll follow her conscience. Sometimes, that means giving bounties a break and letting them go. <ref>Or not being too dismayed with Anika Daini after she used the Dragon Wagon II's guns to fire on her would-be rescuer after the week-old Wagon was stolen by a pair of Bounty Heads, to keep it from being claimed as salvage</ref>
 +
 
 +
 
 +
==Faction Affiliations==
 +
 
 +
*[[Gearheads]]
 +
*[[Roughriders]]. (2016-2019 Inclusive)
 +
*[[Crystal Millennium]] (2024 - Present)
 +
 
 +
==Known associates==
 +
 
 +
*'''Partner''': [[Jet Jaguar]]
 +
*'''Children''': Possibly [[Elpeo Ple]] and [[Minnie-May Hopkins]]
 +
*'''Business partners''': [[Daryl Haur]], [[Kotono Ito]], [[Anika Daini]], [[Minnie-May Hopkins]]
 +
*'''Friends''': [[Benjamin Rhodes]].[[Bronwyn Ffoulkes]]. [[Roberta| Rosarita Cisneros]]. [[Jeph Antilles]]. James Bostwick. [[Cathy]].   
 +
*'''Business Contacts''': Stellviacorp, Black Aeronaut Technologies, [[Jupiter Mining Corporation]]. [[Padraig O'Niell]]<ref>Hates his Guts. Loves his money - especially when he pays through the nose for something Noah Scott has</ref>.
 +
*'''Possible''': [[Noah Scott]]<ref>An odd one, considering Ford isn't exactly a fan of Stellviacorp. Then again, they're both Gunfen too</ref>. [[Sylia Stingray]]
 +
*'''Mundane''': Ford's Mom is still alive, and is at war with the IRS. Her Aunt 'Irene' is a Chicago Gun-store owner.
 +
*'''First Fen''': Ford is one of the First Fen, and responsible for rescuing/salvaging up more than a few who tried going beltward in the early days.
 +
 
 +
==Motivations==
 +
 
 +
Possible Motivations:
 +
*+ Personal Freedom.
 +
*+ Friends, ‘family’. Ford sticks by the people she cares about.
 +
*+ Driving
 +
*- Self-righteous busybodies
 +
*- The Loan-College-Mortgage-GoodJob-Home-Retirment lifestyle
 +
*- People who think 'something' makes them better than her.
 +
 
 +
==Reputations==
 +
 
 +
Ford's got her strongest positives amongst the [[Gearheads]] and on [[Marsbase Sara]]. She's fixed nearly everyone's car, mecha, motorcycle or spacecraft at one stage or another. Building the engine to a genuine Land Speed Record holder, running Motorcon and having her own small collection of unwaved classic cars has earned her a lot of respect amongst the faction. She's known amongst the [[Roughriders]] - especially on Atalante - for her skills as a mechanic and maintenance specialist. <ref>And apparently, being able to repair a quad helix</ref>
 +
 
 +
[[First Fen]] who've been rescued by her might still owe her a favour, and if she needs a little authority of ages behind her viewpoints she might decide to wear one of her old con t-shirts. A few minds exist who remember her
 +
 
 +
Ford's skill as a gunsmith is becoming known amongst those interested such things - though she's still a noob to the market. She's known as a seller of fairly-priced and reliable hardware, if not necessarily the most technologically innovative. She's supplied arms to F-SoG, FESWAT and Atalante's forces. <ref>And her AR-parts are getting good reviews amongst the notoriously finnicky gun-nuts of America</ref>
 +
 
 +
She has an odd position amongst the cybers - being one of the early recipients of medical work - but doesn't consider herself one, or subscribe to the same technofetishism. She's been called a museum piece to her face because of it.
 +
 
 +
Being a weapon manufacturer has made her unpopular with the Love faction of the Crystal Millennium.
 +
 
 +
The Underworld are ambivalent towards her.... while she's a [[Bounty Hunters|Bounty Hunter]] who's brought a few in, at the same time she's earned enough respect as a person who can defend herself, and will stick to their word if they make a deal for information. She's left alone not because of her partner - but because she can handle herself. A few may owe her a favour.... but she makes a point of never owing anyone.
 +
 
 +
==Core Competencies==
 +
 
 +
*'''Excels at''': Shooting. Driving. Mechanical engineering. Mechanics
 +
*'''Good at''': Gunsmithing. Cooking. Business sense. Organisation. 
 +
*'''Acceptable at''': Leadership. Hand-to-Hand. Power armour. Event management. Marketing. Tactics.
 +
*'''Poor at''': Acrobatics. Fashion sense.
 +
 
 +
*'''Oddities''': Self-taught.... Ford Dropped out of High School aged 17.
 +
 
 +
 
 +
==Future Outlook==
 +
 
 +
 
 +
Ford's HeavyArms looks set to become fairly successful if she just pushes a little harder. A few more months hard work is all it'll take to get it over the hill. She's already exporting quality AR-clone parts to the United States domestic market and the first reviews are positive enough that she's started receiving requests from one or two ground-bound gunstores for supplies. The fact that they're easily made Jersey-Legal with an off-the-shelf smartgun system Ford can supply is a bonus.
 +
 
 +
If she keeps playing her cards right and has a little luck, she'll be on easy-street soon.
 +
 
 +
While she's somewhat tied to her partner's fate - she'll do better without Jet than Jet'll do without her. If Jet's luck runs out and Ford's left behind, she'll get over it, move on and probably be the first to call her an idiot for doing whatever killed her. It may get to a point that Jet frustrates her to the point that she decides to end things between them - but they're both well aware of that and communicate enough to keep things from getting to that point. So far, Ford's a moderating influence on the cyber....
 +
 
 +
She is unlikely to ever give up bounty hunting and allow one of her closest friends to be brainwashed into an abusive relationship with a sadist lesbian with power issues. <ref>BURST NEVER EXISTED!!</ref>
 +
 
 +
==Secrets==
 +
 
 +
*An inner-ear infection as a child means she's far more susceptible to disorientation and dizziness than most people.
 +
*Plug 'n' Play hardware, Turtle Wax or CosmoPolish and a Rotary polisher. Or a puppet body. Or both at the same time.
 +
*Ford hasn't based her life on Rally Vincent, so much as Rally Vincent and Ford Sierra were inspired by the same person - a Gunsmith Bounty Hunter who happened to react to the Chicago ban on handguns by hooking up with a tour operator to run shooting tours for Japanese tourists - one of whom happened to be a certain Sonoda.... the same person taught Ford to live her own life how she felt like it, regardless of what her mother thought of as 'success' or people thought were appropriate for a woman.
 +
*The real reason Ford hasn't heavily upgraded her cybernetics - beyond repairs - is because she doesn't really want to undergo heavy surgery again to replace it with something better. Maintenance she tolerates. But she'd be ashamed to admit that to anyone.
 +
*Her biomod came from a contaminated sandwich in 2009. Not even Ford knows that - only the person who contaminated the sandwich and didn't tell her.  
  
−
* [[The Rocketship from Mars]]
 
−
* [[Shadowrunning]]
 
−
* [[Cats Cradle]]
 
  
 
==Notes==
 
==Notes==

Revision as of 09:51, 15 September 2014

Ford Sierra
BornMisty Carlson
September 10, 1989(1989-09-10)
ResidenceMarsbase Sara
NationalityUnited States
EthnicityHuman
CitizenshipGearheads
OccupationMechanic.

Bounty Hunter

Gunsmith
Years active2008-
EmployerSelf Employed
Home townChicago, Illinois.
Height1.7 m
Weightclassified.
PartnerJet Jaguar
ParentsJanet and Paul Carlson
RelativesMackie Jaguar: Nephew [1]


Ford Sierra

You know, she's been up here longer than me and that's saying something. A First-Fen from Marsbase Sara who set up there before it was even called that. She's a mechanic, a bounty hunter and a gunsmith - oftentimes, all three. Any resemblance to Rally Vincent is a coincidence. [2]

Origin

Ford's real name is Misty Carlson - it's not that hard to hide when you escaped from the Chicago Police Department by jumping a car off the 59th street bridge and just going up-up-up [3]. Since taking an alias was de-rigeur at the time, she chose the first one in line-of-sight; Ford Sierra. It's also the original reason she started running from the cops - apparently, the NHTSA wanted to confiscate that car and crush it rather than any wavecrime. [4]. Of course, in her car was an unlicensed handgun, a dozen kilograms of metallic handwavium, a few liquids and probably some drugs after the Cops were finished planting them. A freight train of felonies that meant the potential of a long stretch in prison....

What we know about her from before that, was that she was 17, and dropped out of highschool to take up a trade as an auto-mechanic. [5]. She found her first chunk of solid wave in a junkyard looking for car parts, and, not knowing what it was, promptly machined a single cylinder engine from it like it was billet metal. Story has it she did the same thing to her own car - replacing the core engine parts with machined handwavium solids - but with the wreck long gone, nobody'll know for sure.

Two months later she's running for orbit in a hurry with half the CPD chasing after her.

So, Ford is most definitely, not traditional Fen. She's not into the fandom thing - she's a pure Gearhead from the start and stayed up for the Freedom more than anything else. Ford settled on Marsbase Sara before it was called Marsbase Sara, calling an old tanker-truck home. Needing money and food, and realising that more than a few people were having engine trouble since handwaving was an even less exact science than it is now, she set up her own mechanic's shop on what would become Sara, along with a recovery and vehicle tow service.

She did good enough that she rapidly became known for being a lifesaver. Literally, and figuratively. She might've become one of the early BNF's if an old, overloaded hydraulic lift hadn't collapsed while she was working under it - costing her an arm and a leg and her hearing in the process. It put her out of action, until she could arrange cybernetic replacements from a then new face in orbit, and recover from the resulting surgeries. [6]

By the time she got back to work, the 'verse had begun to move on with Marsbase Sara was being founded and most of the momentum she'd built up being lost. By then, Ford was just Ordinary Fen... most people don't even know how long she's been around.

History in Fenspace

Long.

Ford was at Islandcon and Kandorcon - and still has original T-shirts from both to boot[7]. Her car still bore the scorchmarks on the paint from Kohran Li's little explosive indiscretion in the car-park as late as 2011, and lead to her long standing distrust of Stellviacorp. When war was beginning, Ford sensed the opportunity and got out into the Belt, getting herself a good money-spinning line on salvaging wrecks, or recovering those with engine trouble. [8] There were a few close calls, but that old Cosworth of hers was one of the fastest things in Fenspace at the time so nothing could catch her.

By all accounts it was pretty successful up until a wreck she attempted to salvage objected to it violently - and waited until she was chained to it before voicing that objection. They left her for dead when they saw the car's atmosphere vent. Ford however, was most definitely not...

Yet anyway. [9]

She had an hour or two to make her peace with God while watching her oxygen gauge slowly run down. I mean man, that's a special kind of hell - being out alone with a blasted comm system and her oxygen gauge ticking down an exact time to death. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. But since a million to one chances come up nine times in ten when you deal with Fen, a courier on a pigeon run between Great Justice HQ and the outer belt just happened across the drifting wreck.

That was how Ford Sierra met Jet Jaguar.

By mutual account, it wasn't love at first sight. They shared a drink when they reached safety, before going their separate ways. Ford managed to track down a pickup truck to replace her lost love [10] The original Dragon Wagon was, by her own admission, a poor replacement, but it could still pull like a train and was hellishly tough compared to her old sports car.

And that's the way she continued. She ran into Jet again once or twice - including one meeting when they were both in for cybernetics maintenance.

Until they get to SerenityCon and finally figure that they both might want to try a relationship. And then the [s]Fire Nation[/s] Boskone decided to have their say. Ford was on the ground. Her and her tough truck were caught on the surface. Ford was one of those who loaded their craft up with evacuees and ran the Boskone gauntlet to Gnarlycurl. She did it three times, the old Dragon Wagon taking a beating but keeping on going.

There she met up with a beaten and battered Jet Jaguar and the remains of the Engel Gruppe.

That photograph became part of the opening credit roll for the Worlds at War.

Working together, they both gather a bunch of others making rescue runs in their fencraft into a convoy, with the Engels guarding the whole thing. They made another five runs before the attack was over evacuating dozens without losing anyone. Ford gets a civil certificate from the Convention authority for it.

After that, they were something of an item. An odd one, with many questions about how exactly they do things[11], but still an item. Ford returns to making rescue, recovery and salvage runs in the Main Belt, building up a fair chunk of cash through Open Form salvage and the like. The war ends and all of Marsbase Sara throws a massive party featuring fireworks and BBQ and video of Ford falling down drunk for what looks to be the first time in her life...

Three days later, she's picking up another junker in the belt and fixing Heavy Gears while hung over.

Ford's one of the first to register with the as a Bounty Hunter in 2014 and she starts pulling in even more cash from some fairly hefty scores - normally beyond an otherwise 'amateur' bounty hunter. She makes an attempt at bringing in Naoko Sato on Nehallenia - coincidentally timed with a Panzer Kunst raid led by her partner kicking over the Zwilnik nest, suggesting more than a little mutual assistance going on between the pair.

in May 2015, Ford builds and tunes the engine for the Highway Star in three months, getting over 1000kW from a pure-hardtech turbocharged 2600cc Wankel engine running on traditional dead-dinosaur petrol and lots of tetra-ethyl lead. [12]. It pushes a massive slab of a motorcycle through 600kph to claim a genuine Guinness-accredited world record, and just keeps going.... It's a dinosaur in the modern-era sure, but it's a total velociraptor. Nine years, and thousands of kilometres after being built, it's still fast and tough enough to be ridden to the rescue at Motorcon by Kohran Li.

The same basic design, with the assistance of some AI programming and a good handwaving, also holds the Whole Fenspace Speed Record.

Ford gets into debt for the first time in her life when she buys 77 Frigga with her partner. They both spend the next three years alternating between working as contractors for the Roughriders during the week, and weekends rebuilding the remains of Frigga's systems. Ford's a master mechanic on Atalante and Fides, also making contributions to the Outlaw Class development project, and the road-going mechanicals of the first Motoroid.

After three years she earns her honourable discharge cert and starts working as the armourer for Survival Shot. She's got money enough that she also starts building a small collection on unwaved gas-powered cars, running them in Frigga's open tunnels, before making a downpayment on the Outlaw Class 'Dragon Wagon II'.

It gets paid off within weeks when Ford makes the biggest score of her life - bringing in a Bounty on a Triax Executive placed by Noah Scott. [13], gaining herself some notoriety along the way for how she kept a Fett from snatching the mark, and a lifetime ban from Albemuth for clogging their environmental systems with diesel soot.

Ford starts her own gunsmithing business - Ford's HeavyArms [14], originally building one-off custom weapons. Including what can only be described as an anti-tank pistol based around the Vulcan round. She also builds an semi-automatic rifle version that finds a home amongst FESWAT and F-SoG teams looking for the ability to make some seriously big dents. The six original 'Caster' gun replicas are collector pieces because of their sheer insanity. Two of 'em are one Frigga, one's on Atalante, one's on Stellvia, one's on the Forge and the final one's in the hands of a wealthy collector.

Not long after he bought it, Ford paid cash for a '67 GT-500 [15], which sort of hints at either the value of the weapon, or how obsessed this particular individual was at putting one over on his neighbour.

She's no Whistler for sure, but still manages to make a unique collector's-piece Cosmo Gun-series that uses a fusion torch igniter to propel a bullet, rather than gunpowder. By the tail end of '23 she's decided to make it her permanent job and business, building her own AR-clones out of carbon-fibre and offering custom work to Fenspace at large. Her work's known for being good quality and reliable - if not as close to the cutting edge as Whistler.

Motorcon 2023, arranged by Ford and some of her associates from Marsbase Sara, is held in Frigga's spacious tunnels. A bunch of carfans bring their unwaved relics out to the main belt and start taxing life-support systems at high speeds, while trading parts. Y'know, usual carfen stuff.... Inspite of the near death of her partner and a dozen other people, the event more than covered its operating costs and was widely considered a success. [16]. It came back in 2024 to the rejoice of many and proves that it doesn't matter how many people your convention nearly kills, so long as those people have a good time in the process.

Frigga joins to Crystal Millenium as a protectorate and Ford carries on as she always has with her business, registering as a lawful small-arms manufacturer. She bid for a few contracts with the militia, but they preferred to suckle from their usual teat.

Ford's next close brush with death happens in January 2024, when Dragon Wagon II rams a UFO while on re-entry approach to Earth. A puckered-sphincter trajectory adjustment mid-rentry allows the battered cruiser to bounce back into open space, rather than break up in the atmosphere from the damage - But DWII is written off in the process. The insurance money is used to pay for an old [[Lun (Spacecraft)|Russian Ekranoplan[[. [17]

Ford goes home in September 2024, to meet up with a gunstore owner with a view to getting her product onto a wider and more firearm-fanatical market. [18]. Of course, the IRS has been onto her mom, never realising the Ford hasn't been actually living at home for nearly 17 years seeing as she never officially and legally left the country [19], they've sent a bill for a couple of hundred grand's worth of back taxes and fines and are threatening to place a lien on the home.

This pisses Ford off something fierce, but it seems like her mom just went to court to appeal and got it overturned a few months later in a total mundane anti-climax[20].

Ford stays on Frigga, skipping the 'holiday' trip to Arcadia to finish fulfilling her gun orders.

Not long after this, is the first recorded appearance of Elpeo Ple, and Minnie-May Hopkins. Minnie-May goes on to become Ford's assistant and apprentice [21], while Elpeo is both a crack mech-pilot and an odd research subject for VIR on AI perception.

And that brings us to today.

Rumours Surrounding Ford

The one that never seems to go away is that Ford's somebody's attempt at a Rally Vincent bioroid. On the face of it, it makes a lot of sense - even if you ignore the fact that she's got a verifiable mundane background. For one thing, she survived a hell of a lot longer in vacuum than any human being has a right to, even modded. In seventeen years, she hasn't aged one iota - not a single grey hair or crows-foot to be seen [22] She's also a far better shot with a pistol than any human being has a right to be.... really, we're talking Blow the Hammer off a pistol at a hundred yards, or use a lead slug to remove someone's trigger finger. Once is a coincidence - but consistently enough to make it a schtick?

Perhaps somebody's actually a bioroid clone or something? A neuro-transfer experiment? She couldn't have really survived having three tons of car plus lift drop on top of her, could she? Certainly, in a form that could be put back together even as well as she had been. Maybe some of the bioroid's original programming is leaking through? Or has everyone's insistence that she's Rally Vincent, or a Vincent wannabee, combined with handwavium's memetic nature started to do disturbing things to her?

Also, Is Ford actually a troubleshooter herself?

Probably not.

Signature Gear

Four wheels from Ford Automobiles, A custom Beretta M92, Leather fighting gear, shooter's goggles, wrist-com, autonavigator

Known Transports

  • Yellow Stingray Hardsuit (2015, Rarely)
  • Ford Sierra Cosworth, "Somebody" (2007-2012)[23]
  • Ford F-250 Superduty, "Dragon Wagon" (2012-current). [24]
  • Outlaw Class, "Dragon Wagon II" (2020-2024)
  • Ekranoplan, K.M. Lun (2024-current)

Personality

More mature than she looks, for a start. She's in her mid-thirties and acts it.

First and foremost, she utterly Hates owing somebody anything - like they own a piece of her or something. It really bugs her hard and makes it hard for her to accept charity. On the plus side, if you ever find her owing you a favour you know she'll pay it back. [25]

Second, she has a big thing about living her own life, her own way. An irony considering how many people mistake her as a coslifer for Rally Vincent - but you bet she was living that way long before she ever knew what Gunsmith Cats was. If anything, the fact that she stuck with it inspite of the assumptions of idiots speaks volumes. It might even be the reason why she stayed Up.

Third. She loves machinery. Guns. Cars. [26] Gunsmoke. Tyresmoke. A true hotrodder and gunbunny - I'll bet that BESM sourcebook was written specifically for her.

Fourth. She guards her reputation carefully, sticking to her word and making a point of not fucking people over - both bounties and customers, always following through on her jobs and getting the things she says she'll do done. At the same time, she knows the game and she'll play it to the best of her ability. Ford doesn't necessary play exactly to the rules, but she doesn't really fuck people over unless they're trying to do the same to her.

She has her own sense of justice that doesn't always directly line up with what the law says. Above all else, given conflict between what the law says is right, and what her conscience says - Ford'll follow her conscience. Sometimes, that means giving bounties a break and letting them go. [27]


Faction Affiliations

Known associates

Motivations

Possible Motivations:

  • + Personal Freedom.
  • + Friends, ‘family’. Ford sticks by the people she cares about.
  • + Driving
  • - Self-righteous busybodies
  • - The Loan-College-Mortgage-GoodJob-Home-Retirment lifestyle
  • - People who think 'something' makes them better than her.

Reputations

Ford's got her strongest positives amongst the Gearheads and on Marsbase Sara. She's fixed nearly everyone's car, mecha, motorcycle or spacecraft at one stage or another. Building the engine to a genuine Land Speed Record holder, running Motorcon and having her own small collection of unwaved classic cars has earned her a lot of respect amongst the faction. She's known amongst the Roughriders - especially on Atalante - for her skills as a mechanic and maintenance specialist. [30]

First Fen who've been rescued by her might still owe her a favour, and if she needs a little authority of ages behind her viewpoints she might decide to wear one of her old con t-shirts. A few minds exist who remember her

Ford's skill as a gunsmith is becoming known amongst those interested such things - though she's still a noob to the market. She's known as a seller of fairly-priced and reliable hardware, if not necessarily the most technologically innovative. She's supplied arms to F-SoG, FESWAT and Atalante's forces. [31]

She has an odd position amongst the cybers - being one of the early recipients of medical work - but doesn't consider herself one, or subscribe to the same technofetishism. She's been called a museum piece to her face because of it.

Being a weapon manufacturer has made her unpopular with the Love faction of the Crystal Millennium.

The Underworld are ambivalent towards her.... while she's a Bounty Hunter who's brought a few in, at the same time she's earned enough respect as a person who can defend herself, and will stick to their word if they make a deal for information. She's left alone not because of her partner - but because she can handle herself. A few may owe her a favour.... but she makes a point of never owing anyone.

Core Competencies

  • Excels at: Shooting. Driving. Mechanical engineering. Mechanics
  • Good at: Gunsmithing. Cooking. Business sense. Organisation.
  • Acceptable at: Leadership. Hand-to-Hand. Power armour. Event management. Marketing. Tactics.
  • Poor at: Acrobatics. Fashion sense.
  • Oddities: Self-taught.... Ford Dropped out of High School aged 17.


Future Outlook

Ford's HeavyArms looks set to become fairly successful if she just pushes a little harder. A few more months hard work is all it'll take to get it over the hill. She's already exporting quality AR-clone parts to the United States domestic market and the first reviews are positive enough that she's started receiving requests from one or two ground-bound gunstores for supplies. The fact that they're easily made Jersey-Legal with an off-the-shelf smartgun system Ford can supply is a bonus.

If she keeps playing her cards right and has a little luck, she'll be on easy-street soon.

While she's somewhat tied to her partner's fate - she'll do better without Jet than Jet'll do without her. If Jet's luck runs out and Ford's left behind, she'll get over it, move on and probably be the first to call her an idiot for doing whatever killed her. It may get to a point that Jet frustrates her to the point that she decides to end things between them - but they're both well aware of that and communicate enough to keep things from getting to that point. So far, Ford's a moderating influence on the cyber....

She is unlikely to ever give up bounty hunting and allow one of her closest friends to be brainwashed into an abusive relationship with a sadist lesbian with power issues. [32]

Secrets

  • An inner-ear infection as a child means she's far more susceptible to disorientation and dizziness than most people.
  • Plug 'n' Play hardware, Turtle Wax or CosmoPolish and a Rotary polisher. Or a puppet body. Or both at the same time.
  • Ford hasn't based her life on Rally Vincent, so much as Rally Vincent and Ford Sierra were inspired by the same person - a Gunsmith Bounty Hunter who happened to react to the Chicago ban on handguns by hooking up with a tour operator to run shooting tours for Japanese tourists - one of whom happened to be a certain Sonoda.... the same person taught Ford to live her own life how she felt like it, regardless of what her mother thought of as 'success' or people thought were appropriate for a woman.
  • The real reason Ford hasn't heavily upgraded her cybernetics - beyond repairs - is because she doesn't really want to undergo heavy surgery again to replace it with something better. Maintenance she tolerates. But she'd be ashamed to admit that to anyone.
  • Her biomod came from a contaminated sandwich in 2009. Not even Ford knows that - only the person who contaminated the sandwich and didn't tell her.


Notes

  1. ↑ Sort of
  2. ↑ Seriously, they even 'look' alike, have similar background, a similar schtick... and pointing that out annoys her so much it's almost become a game
  3. ↑ Also, curiously, the exact same bridge from the Blues Brothers
  4. ↑ Although the way she tells it involves a burning building for some reason and a Harry Dresden expy - so maybe she's embarrassed at how simple it was
  5. ↑ And that her mom was pissed enough at her to have a massive blowup on MySpace (Remember that?) over it
  6. ↑ The same ones she still has to this day, as a matter of fact. A point some cybers comment on. Reminding herself of the price of her mistakes?
  7. ↑ A dead handy thing when you need some clout, or to be the voice of 'experience'
  8. ↑ Strange that someone like her stayed out of the combat side of things - maybe the rumours of her inner-ear troubles are true?
  9. ↑ She survived far longer in vacuum than an unmodded human has a right to
  10. ↑ From an owner who was, admittedly, a total hick. It came with truck nuts and belched black smoke
  11. ↑ Seriously, one has to wonder just how that works...
  12. ↑ Explains some of the madness between the pair really...
  13. ↑ Making it especially sweet, was making him slightly less stinking rich
  14. ↑ Totally not Rally... definitely
  15. ↑ Just like Rally Vincent's
  16. ↑ Even if the wifi was utter shit...
  17. ↑ Curiously, it was nowhere near enough to cover the estimated costs involved in buying, shipping and refitting it....
  18. ↑ After juping through all the Bureau of Drugs, Alcohol Firearms and Tobacco hoops in the process
  19. ↑ and had been voting 'in person' for the incumbent mayor in every election,like every other Chicago Fen
  20. ↑ So, obviously not a fan of The Blues Brothers
  21. ↑ Finally Bowing to the inevitable, it seems
  22. ↑ If only I could be so lucky
  23. ↑ When you're in trouble and you need 'somebody' to help, call me
  24. ↑ Refuses to ever, ever die
  25. ↑ Which might just explain why she stays with Jet, if you're feeling cynical
  26. ↑ Which might also explain her relationship with Jet. Mecha fetish?
  27. ↑ Or not being too dismayed with Anika Daini after she used the Dragon Wagon II's guns to fire on her would-be rescuer after the week-old Wagon was stolen by a pair of Bounty Heads, to keep it from being claimed as salvage
  28. ↑ Hates his Guts. Loves his money - especially when he pays through the nose for something Noah Scott has
  29. ↑ An odd one, considering Ford isn't exactly a fan of Stellviacorp. Then again, they're both Gunfen too
  30. ↑ And apparently, being able to repair a quad helix
  31. ↑ And her AR-parts are getting good reviews amongst the notoriously finnicky gun-nuts of America
  32. ↑ BURST NEVER EXISTED!!


v • d • e
Gearheads
People
Gearhead 2.gif
Ships
Installations
Gazetteer
Retrieved from "http://fenspace.net/index.php5?title=Ford_Sierra&oldid=15334"