Raphael "Rafe" Salvador
Player: Les Anderson
Background:
Shining his new medal, Rafe, better known as Strafe, walks down the hallway in his civies. Graduation was great! The robotech academy was something else, alot of hard training in the holographic simulators and the even more frightening reality of what the enemy fighters look and maneuver like. He only hopes that he can work well with his new squad when they return, The Crimson Death. He walks along towards his first mission, assigned to him just this morning in the debriefing chambers by Sgt. Uniden.To watch over and entertain a veteran pilot who had been badly crippled a little while back. More than likely, it's just a ploy to sink in the harsh reality of war.
The reality is all too real to him. His father was shot down in the Global Civil War and his older brother was killed back on Macross Island. This had left his mother jobless and an only mother supporting him and trying to get him through school. Then came the first transformation of the SDF-1, his mother was one of the unlucky ones sucked out of the ship into space. He still remembers to this day trying to hold onto the guard rail near thier subsidized housing with his other hand trying to hold his mother's hand. The fear in her eyes. He doesn't even know if it was getting sucked out into space that got her or if the ship had closed its bulkheads on her, crushing her. He does remember that if the piece of the next building hadn't struck his arm holding her, she would still be alive. From then, he vowed to make things right again, so that no other teenage boy had to bear the responsibility of watching his own mother slide through his fingers and die a gruesome death.
Rafe shakes the thoughts from his head as Sgt. Uniden stops in front of him and turns. The man is built like a boxer with a square, strong jaw and piercing, yet challenging eyes. They had entered into the Macross Clinic and are standing outside of the room leading to Abigail Josephson, the poor woman who had suffered explosive decompression. A grim reminder of what his mother would be like had she survived. "Alright Private, Abby is in that room. She can only communicate via morse code but Im sure that you can handle that. The rest of the team is on an important mission with Lt Hicks and will be back by the end of the day. This landing on Mars could put less strain on the citizens if things go right."
It's only been an hour since the SDF-1 had landed and the destroid and reconnaisance teams had left to go gather supplies from the abandoned Mars Base Sara. The Crimson Death must be on patrol. Seems he doesn't get to see the action yet, not until he has been broken in. Not that he hasn't gained some valuable experience in the simulators, however, the recent boxing competitions had left Rafe rather proud of his placing 3rd in the competitions. He'd always loved studying the martial arts, which has helped him become more responsive to hostile situations and environments. Boxing and swordplay are more like sports but he'd noticed that the instructors in the academy seemed pleased with his rapid progress. Uniden continues, "Your mission is to simply not let her feel like she is a total invalid, understood? Yes, Private, you are a babysitter until we figure out what is going on with the Crimson Death squad. They, along with you, maybe placed into a special forces wing. Which means a bit more pay and time off, but the missions are always dangerous compared to random patrols." He opens the door to reveal an rather overbearing, obese, yet ill-tempered nurse and a doctor who is looking over a rather attractive female with bandages over both of her eyes and IVs running into her arm. She seems to be mumbling something, however, she seems mostly coherant as the door opens. "Dr. Stanford, this is PFC Rapheal Salvador. They call him Strafe or Rafe, whichever suits better. He is assigned to oversee that Abby gets some outside time from the hospital. He and his direct superiors are the only ones authorized to take her out of here."
"Thank you Sgt. Uniden." The doctor peers sidelong from above his eyeglasses, which sit low on his nose, at Strafe and nods, "Welcome and thank you for your generosity, private."
The Sarge nods to Strafe and gives an almost sinister grin as he closes the door as he leaves, leaving Strafe standing in his own discomfort at the situation in front of him.
The nurse begins moving towards him, shaking a fat stub of a finger at him, "And no funny business, you understand?" she says as she doesn't even wait for an answer. She leaves. Strafe can't even be sure if it is waddling, she definitely doesnt walk. It was more like rolling from side to side.
The doctor takes Abigail's hand and begins tapping her palm, obviously morse code. Strafe watches carefully, decyphering the code. "Abby, you have a visitor here. His name is Private Salvador. He will be taking you outside of the clinic so that you can enjoy some fresh air. How does that sound?"