Tara

Tara Elizabeth Valentine was born on the Earth colony New Brittany. The fourth of four children, the only girl born to her parents, and the youngest of her many cousins, she was spoiled rotten for the first four years of her life. Her father didn't like what he saw coming, and so he sent her to a private school on the other side of the planet. Faced with the unyielding discipline there, she shaped up fairly quickly (to an extent) and returned permanently to her family when she was ten. Although she was no longer a brat, that didn't stop her from getting into trouble. As far as Tara was concerned, rules were meant to be broken.

That's why her family was more than a little dubious when she applied to the AF Academy. They tried to convince her the military wasn't for her, but as usual, she didn't heed the warnings. All her life she'd wanted to fly in space, and this was her ticket to that dream. As she'd never done anything to elicit official notice, and she met the other requirements, she had no trouble getting in. That's when the beginning of the end started. As always, her marks were excellent- her attitude wasn't. By the time graduation came around, her record held any number of incidents.

The first halfblack laid on her came while she was waiting for the Taggart- the cruiser she'd been assigned to after graduation- to come into port. In the meantime, she was stuck with shuttle duty. Afterwards, she admitted she and another pilot probably shouldn't have been playing chicken. "But," she noted smugly at the hearing, "I won." The other pilot, who'd never been beaten at the game before then, crashed. It was only by sheer luck he wasn't killed. Tara actually behaved herself after that, but everybody knew it wouldn't last. Thankfully, the Taggart arrived shortly thereafter.

Ohhh boy, that's a toughie. Well, first of all, Tara's not a 'bad' person. Her ethics and morals are intact- just a little skewed at times. She's grown up quite a bit since she was drummed out of the service. For example, whereas before she wouldn't think twice about using others for her own amusement (as she did with her roomates) she'd never do something like that today. (There is an exception to this- Riley Addison. See below.) She's quite comfortable among the denizens of the underworld, and will go out of her way to help those down on their luck. She cares about folks- she's simply embarrassed about it at times. Of course, most people would never guess this from her cocky attitude. She always wears a mask of carelessness, the better to both be underestimated and impress her customers. Tara's also got a temper that's not easily leashed, and that's gotten her into trouble more than once.

Addison- now here's a subject Tara's never come to terms with. While she was aboard the Taggart, Tara was sure he was the devil incarnate. "He came down like a ton of bricks on the least little infraction," was the way she put it once. That was fairly accurate- the man had a ship to run, after all, and there were regs to consider. By any commander's standards, he went easy on her, giving her many more chances to shape up than could be expected from a Captain. But to this day, Tara refuses to believe that. She underestimated him from the start, believing him weak because no punishment he gave her could phase her for very long. When she was drummed out of the service, her resentment of him bloomed into outright anger and hatred. She even went so far as to keep track of him for a little while, hoping to exact revenge. Eventually, after she was on her feet again, she stopped hating him, and even joked that he'd done her a favor. But she never really forgave him for shattering her dreams of glory in the AF. And now that she's met up with him, old confusing feelings have flared. He's a constant reminder of what she's lost- how can she resist getting a little of her own back at him? She's not making the mistake of underestimating him again- in fact, she's rather wary. She's well aware of what he could do to her if she goes over the line, and a healthy dose of fear keeps her from doing so. Of course, that won't stop her from being a minor yet constant irritation...

Pre-Complex