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This article, Sylvia Farkas, written by Sev40, was voted as the Best UNSC Personnel of 2017 in the Tenth Annual Halo Fanon Wikia Awards. |
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This fanfiction article, Sylvia Farkas, was written by Sev40, Helljumper Flynn and Marv242. Please do not edit this fiction without the writers' permission. |
| Sylvia Farkas | |
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| Biographical Information | |
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ALIAS |
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DATE OF BIRTH |
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HOMEWORLD |
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| Physical Information | |
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GENDER |
Female |
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HEIGHT |
1.60 metres (5ft 3in) |
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WEIGHT |
58.9kg (130 lb) |
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HAIR COLOR |
Black with grey streaks |
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EYE COLOR |
Green |
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CYBERNETICS |
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SPECIALTY |
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RANK |
Naval Lieutenant (O-3) |
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SERVICE NUMBER |
18283-71341-SF |
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BRANCH |
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AFFILIATION |
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- "'Cause fuck regs, I'm special forces."
- ―Farkas' defense when questioned about her discipline issues.
Sylvia Farkas (service number: 18390-81743-SF), nicknamed Poet by her peers, is a skilled pilot who served in the UNSC Navy throughout the late insurrection and the entire Human-Covenant War. Born too late to distinguish herself during Operation: TREBUCHET, she has instead participated in nearly every major battle of the subsequent Human-Covenant War. While she originally showed promise with atmospheric VTOLs such as AV-14 Hornets, Farkas would find her talents best used as an interceptor and dropship pilot, even as her record became littered with complaints about her lack of discipline and chattiness.
Graduating from the Corbulo Academy of Military Science, Farkas would only see action on three colonies before the Human-Covenant War broke out. Fighting on Harvest, the Hungarian woman would fly in many of the conflict's toughest battles, cementing her crew's reputation for reliability under fire. As one of the UNSC's ace pelican pilots, she was responsible for redeploying and retrieving Marines stuck in Covenant-controlled airspace, proving herself capable enough to participate in a number of ONI-sanctioned missions. Unfortunately, her luck would catch up to her during the final battle of the war at the Ark, when she was finally shot down by the Covenant. Losing her right arm, sight and much of her skin in the crash, Farkas would've remained a crippled ex-serviceman had she not accepted ONI's offer to bring her back into service on their own terms. She flew under them for a number of missions, until a mission to a Wealthian-contested colony resulted in her capture and supposed death.
Career Service Vitae[]
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Biography[]
Early Life[]
Born on Reach in early 2503, Sylvia Farkas was raised by her father Arisztid Farkas, a handyman who worked as a stay-at-home dad and occasionally a self-employed electrician. A middle-class family living within a self-sufficient property, the Farkas family had maintained the Viery Territory farm for generations, tracing their lineage down from the original colonists of the world. Her mother was Marica Graner, a respected officer in the UNSC Navy. As a woman dedicated to her work, Marica was a very rare sight in Sylvia's childhood. However, unlike most other military parents, Marica maintained a strict mindset in the hopes of instilling discipline within her daughter. Because of these two factors, Sylvia avoided spending time with her mother. Eventually, Marica would become so distant that Sylvia would eventually treat her no differently to any other stranger she met.
Despite having a healthy relationship with the neighbours' children, often ignoring the commands of her father to play in the local wilderness, Sylvia was never content to fulfil her destiny as a farmer. While she was just as tomboyish as her sisters, enjoying to hunt Moa with her father, she stood out from them as being a dreamer. She was always the girl who looked up to the stars, thinking about the entire worlds that might be visible in Reach's night skies or the strange animals she could hunt there. Perhaps because of her desire to leave, Sylvia had an early interest in aircraft. This lead to her pestering her father to establish what would be called the "Farkasok Elrejtve (Wolf's Hide)", a large virtual-reality game-room housed in a disused shed on her property where she honed her skills in the air. Although terrible at first, constant trial and error over her childhood allowed her to becoming familiar enough to beat even more skilled adults in competitive matches. Seeing her innate talents and desire to learn, after her thirteenth birthday her father arranged her to meet one of his friends, an old civilian pilot by the name of Indra Abbey. Although initially fearing for his life after the young girl almost crashed his manual hobby plane, her desire to improve almost saw Abbey trust Sylvia enough to fly solo, though small issues meant she was never able to achieve this from him.
In school, Farkas' unusual obsession did not make her a loner among the other kids. Rather, she managed to gather a large circle of people she knew as friends, staying clear of the posh crowd thanks to their tomboy qualities. Often rough-housing or play-fighting with the others, she never did any major rebellions here. Instead, she stuck for the most part to the rules. However, there was plenty she was teased about by her friends, with her hobbies for art and memorising Shakespearean plays being the easiest to taunt her over. These were always seen as little running gags, rarely ever getting mad at the others for this.
However, in 2517 just weeks after her fourteenth birthday, Farkas received word that she would be enrolled into the Corbulo Academy of Military Science (CAMS) on Circinius IV. Informed too late to make any serious attempts to run away from her home, Farkas found it difficult to adapt to the regimented, highly controlled environment there. Although she found motivation to excel in academics, with her test scores mirroring the very best in her class, she did not extend this to anywhere else. She performed poorly in field exercises, suffering some of the lowest survival, close-combat and shooting scores of any cadet within the past three years. Her lack of respect towards instructors and inability to heed discipline protocols saw her unit being frequently charged with additional punishments and responsibilities to fulfil. All this saw Farkas being despised by most of her unit, and her small stature and inability to know when to stop escalating the situation saw her becoming a literal punching bag for them.
As she was now isolated as a target, Farkas' self-esteem struggled which only fuelled her futile attempts to fight back by slandering the teachers, spreading lies about her peers and attempt to cheat in field exercises. The frequent failures of her endeavours would see Farkas attempting to leave multiple times, each time caught, with multiple instances of self-harming being recorded. Fortunately, she would get one last opportunity to finally impress at least some of her peers. Joining the Air Force elective to be assigned to pilot training, Farkas would quickly show off her skills to the others, instantly becoming the uncontested as the best pilot in her class. Although everyone at first resisted, her talent and ability to coordinate would allow her to build enough of a bridge to earn the trust of her assigned crew. However, the first who would actually make an effort to befriend her during this time was Samantha Blake, a fellow pilot. As the second-best in her class, Blake was the only person who had any hope of overtaking Farkas at the top of the leaderboard. This rivalry saw Blake and Farkas respect each others capabilities, which eventually formed a relationship based on Blake feeling sympathy for her. Supporting her when she was pitted against the instructors and her, she would bring Farkas back out from her developing depression and pull her into her own circle of friends. The two would eventually become partners in crime, and over the years their friendship would turn into a romantic relationship. This would ultimately inspire Farkas to drop her efforts at getting expelled, eventually making it through with an Officer's commission. While her mother urged her to join the Navy as a shipboard officer, she struck a deal to ensure she can see service as a pilot before switching branches out of the field. This would be a ruse, as Farkas had no intention to follow through on the deal, which did not bother her in the least when Marica died before she was due to change branches.
Insurrection[]
Battle of Ffyniannus[]
- "We aren't on some quiet Inner Colony - we're on a world in foxtrottin' open rebellion! I want to go home to my kids, but with you routinely ignoring whatever the hotel I say, I don't think I'll be around much longer. So I'll say this once, just once: next time you disobey me, I'm shipping you off to some rock you'll never be able to escape. Or... I might let ONI have their way with you if it's severe enough. Are we clear?"
- ―Commander Lynwood's threat to Farkas, immediately following her arrival back to Alpha Base.
Enlisting into the UNSC's Naval Aviation branch immediately after graduating from CAMS, Farkas and her peers would be assigned into the 172nd Naval Escort Squadron, an AV-14 Hornet unit that's stationed on the Charon-class frigate UNSC Gibraltar. Falling under the authority of the lethargic Commander Marwin Lynwood, the squadron was known for operating safely on friendly colonies; this allowed her mother to conveniently stonewall her career. As a result of this meddling, for the first two years Farkas would be reluctantly posted to escort supply convoys heading to escort logistical convoys taking supplies to Inner Colony. She would request transfer numerous times, all being denied, and the lack of action would see her frequently argue with Lynwood over their lack of action.
Finally, in 2523 the Gibraltar was called upon to assist in the pacification of Ffyniannus. A strong opponent who formed a union with the other Gaelic colonies, Ffyniannus fought the UNSC to in a dangerous conventional war for the better part of seven years. With its orbital fleet shattered after years of attrition and its complement of anti-ship defences being depleted from bombing runs, the UNSC believed that now is the time to begin the ground invasion. Having identified an ideal staging site in the form of an Insurrectionist air field flanked by a mountain range, Sylvia's squadron coordinated with a flight of GA-TL1 Longswords to pacify the installation. This worked perfectly; the Longsword strategic-bombing quickly destroyed the rebel interceptors being prepared for launch, with the hornets carefully clearing out the hostile vehicles and infantry in conjunction with ODSTs. Having secured the only military base in its region, Lynwood ordered Sylvia's flight to patrol the nearby region for hidden anti-aircraft guns. Once secured, the Gibraltar ferried down its entire complement of troops, prefabricated turrets and structures down using its dropships. Later reinforced with a self-sufficient Firebase, this outpost, codenamed Alpha Base, would become central to the UNSC's initial attempts at subjugating the rogue colony.
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| Only seen after the UNSC began their push on Ffyniannus, the AHV-159 Cougar was a devastating addition to the Falkirian arsenal. |
To Farkas' delight they were given more active assignments. As one of the few air units permanently stationed in the region, Farkas would remain on-station to intercept isolated tank columns and protect logistical craft heading to the frontlines. However, only a fortnight into her deployment, she and Blake would be called to support a platoon of marines engaging a Falkirian guerrilla force. Taking slight damage while being unable to effectively fight the soldiers, her foes would suddenly turn tail and head towards an open road on the mountain range. While the rest of her flight pulled back, Farkas defied orders and pressed on to intercept them, with Blake backing reluctantly backing her up. It was then that an unidentified dual-rotor gunship suddenly ambushed them. Gripped with panic, she tried to pull back, exposing her rotors to the gunship's machine guns and sending her crashing to the ground. She would be knocked out on impact, being saved and treated by the very marine platoon she was sent to help. Forced to spend time in recovery, she would be visited in the field hospital by Lynwood, who gave her a stern lecture about disobeying orders. However, she was horrified to learn that all but two other pilots were killed by the gunship's weapons.
She would return to active duty weeks later, given a new Hornet to assist in the renewed offensive. Cautious after her last crash, she would be part of an force heading to the city of Rei Fervenzas, who were responsible for clearing the roads to ensure the next battalions can arrive safely. To Lynwood's surprise, she continued to grow more aggressive, seeking revenge against the unidentified aircraft that almost killed her and entire squadron. It was this aggression that she started to distinguish herself, being responsible for a number of lightning raids on Falkirian outposts and refuelling bases deep within enemy territory. Blake would watch her every move, using her recently-discovered knack for stealth detection to launch surprise raids on rebel VTOLs that responded to their call for help. It wasn't until they were setting up the last refuelling site before Fervenzas that she received reports of the mysterious gunship sighted approaching an UNSC artillery unit. She would get there in time to see the craft flee, though would be denied the order to pursuit, resulting in the gunship blowing up the very refuelling site she was just at. Because of this, tensions between Farkas and Lynwood would remain high until their final mission together in the following fortnight.
- "Romeo oh nomeo, you got poison on your face!"
- ―Farkas, during the incident which gave birth to her nickname.
Despite their attempt to delay the UNSC, the order was given to Farkas' squadron to support the 231st Armoured Battalion and 26th Infantry Regiment in their objective to take the city. Protected by massive walls with anti-armour and anti-air turrets lining the top, the city were an immediate problem to the UNSC armies. While the time waiting for the frigates was taken up with preparations for a siege, there was still time for banter and shenanigans; it was during this period that Blake would give Farkas her lifelong nickname of 'Poet', when in a drunken haze she badly misquoted and misrepresented a number of Shakespearian plays to hilarious results.[1] Finally, when the frigates finally descended down on the city, her squadron were sent in alongside the Vanguard. Ordered specifically to stay behind the forward platoons, she would only loosely follow them, with her vengefulness seeing her diverge slightly to destroy incoming tanks and bomb what she thought were ideal ambush positions. This was tolerable, until finally she spotted the gunship which was responsible for so many embarrassments to both her squadron and the UNSC. She broke off from her squadron, charging forward to fight the gunship herself. In spite of its superiority she performed well, using the buildings to evade its heavy missiles and supporting fire with the gunship skilfully evading her own rockets in turn. Chasing it into the heart of the city, she managed to force it down and annihilated its crash site to ensure there were no survivors. Turning back towards her squadron, and receiving an angry transmission from Lynwood, she would suddenly be ambushed by a Falkirian missile squad. They forced her down, although she was able to bail from it onto a nearby tower. Running from any rebel squads she saw, at the end of the day she was able to link back up with UNSC forces. Unfortunately, once returning to Lynwood, she learnt she was immediately grounded until she could be either court-marshalled or reassigned out of her unit.
Insurrection on Passage[]
After being taken off Ffyniannus, Farkas would spend a few months to rendezvous with her new unit on board the UNSC Endeavour, a relatively-young Halberd-class destroyer optimised as a carrier and transport. The 39th Spaceplane Squadron, dubbed Raptor Squadron, was composed of veteran pilots flying the versatile GA-TL1 Longsword. While they did not know the reason for her reassignment, they belittled her for her status as 'the rookie' and as a woman, not believing she's ready for initiation. As a result, Farkas found it hard to break into their social circle and had to wait for an opportunity to prove herself.
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| Farkas and another spaceplane in Delta Flight engaging an incompetent Insurrectionist fighter. |
That opportunity came in February 2524. Flying in the Longsword designated Raptor-Nine in Delta Flight, the squadron had been deployed to Passage to deprive the colony of off-world support. Every now and then, an armed freighter would try and make a burn for orbit; if possible, Lieutenant Commander Valter Knutson would order her flight to hold back to allow Farkas to test her abilities. While she did not fail anything she was sent against, she neither did anything impressive to gain their respect. However, when a lone Insurrectionist fighter was attacked and engaged, Farkas was suddenly informed of an SOS signal from a Marine company below. This was complication by the detection of an Insurrectionist corvette on approach, attempting to break the blockade to support the cells on the ground. While the rest of her squadron pulled back, Farkas made headway for the hostile vessel instead. To ensure she could evade its fire, she fired a number of missiles from out-of-range to give it more targets to shoot at; this, in combination with evasive action, had given her and her wingmen the chance to close in. Her harassment would see the corvette take heavy fire even as it entered atmosphere, destroying it and the cargo pods it dropped while tracking its escape pods. This display of courage and skill against a far superior enemy craft had earned her the respect of her wingmen and crew, further depriving the local Insurrectionists of valuable material. This was awarded by her 'initiation', where a number of the other pilots raced against her through a series of daring course before taking her to a tattoo parlour to get the unit's preferred tattoo - that of a pinup girl riding a missile. Due to the heavy intoxication from the drinking, Farkas cannot remember to this day what was actually done in the Initiation.
Farkas would stay on in the squadron, assisting in suppressing the rebel elements. Her aggressive tendencies of flying in front of her wingmen saw her being rewarded when she was reassigned into the Raptor's attack flight. Although left fulfilling air-strikes and other bombing duties, the Raptor's reputation for preferring overkill tactics were instrumental to the UNSC's efforts at containing the rebellion. As a result, by the time they left they considered the planet completely pacified; a true rarity in the Insurrection.
Green Hills Revolt and Glassing[]
After participating in a number of deep-space missions to deny warships to the Insurrection, Raptor squadron would be deployed to the inhospitable colony of Green Hills thanks to concerns that rising tensions and lack of many UNSC assets would inspire the colonists to rebel against the UNSC. At the same time, the UNSC saw fit to purge their ranks of disloyal assets, with Farkas coming under scrutiny several times. This saw her being removed the right to leave the base, and even routine patrols required supervision from a qualified ONI handler.
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| Raptor Squadron dropping their payload above a major rebel stronghold. |
Fortunately, this procedure had to be halted when the colony came under a massive coordinated uprising. Fed-up with BXR's treatment of the planet's population, the colonists stockpiled outdated weapons and armour that were siphoned from mercenary shipments. With most of the fighting occurring in the cities, Farkas and the rest of Raptor Squadron were called upon to support units operating outside the terraformed zones. Outfitted for carpet bombing, the Raptors mercilessly levelled farms, government buildings and entire villages, with the rebels capable of only scratching the high-speed Longswords. As the ground troops rallied, the Raptors would be ordered to purge the capital city, deploying massive chemical weapons which burned and choked everyone not wearing HAZOP equipment. Such an indiscriminate response to the rebellion made Farkas question the UNSC for the first time and made an effort to determine just how many targets were confirmed to contain hostiles; no easy feat considering her loyalty was already in question. Eventually, she did uncover hard evidence that at least four villages attacked were wrongly-identified, totalling to over 15,000 civilian casualties. This would be the first time she seriously contemplated defecting, yet she felt it was her duty to destroy the evidence and pretend it never happened.
However, in 2526 the fleet stationed around Green Hills intercepted a sizable freighter fleet inbound from Harvest. They were immediately quarantined upon arrival, with a communications blackout being immediately instigated by ONI - rightfully drawing suspicion from Farkas' unit. Three days later, four elaborately-built ships, each the size of a battlecruiser, arrived and immediately started firing. Farkas and the rest of her squadron were shaken from their sleep to attempt to mount a desperate defence. Unfortunately, swarms of unidentified attack craft assaulted the airbase, destroying Raptor-Nine and taking the majority of the base with it. She would have perished had Zulu-681 never arrived. The pelican overloaded itself to almost three times its capacity, only making it to the Endeavour by being the last aircraft picked off by the invaders. Farkas' last memory of the battle, one that would haunt her for the rest of her days, was when one of the massive warships descended down and turned the city of Labog on fire.
The entire campaign lasted less than an hour, with only 12,000 of the planet's population escaping out of three million. Along with Farkas, only some five hundred other servicemen were able to be extracted on the Endeavour, as it was the sole ship to survive the engagement. Raptor Squadron was reduced to half-strength, although their losses only spawned a deep-seated hatred in their survivors towards the Covenant. They were almost delighted to learn that they would be immediately be deployed against the invaders at Harvest, as their attached destroyer was one of the last ships conscripted into Preston Cole's Battle Group X-Ray.
Human-Covenant War[]
Fall of Alluvion[]
Post-Covenant War[]
Jaeter Incident[]
Physical Attributes[]
Appearance[]
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| Poet's regular jumpsuit, excluding the helmet issued for the Sabre Program. |
Clocking in at a rather short five foot three, Farkas can be described as stocky and looking surprisingly young despite her age. She appears healthy for her size, with a lean muscle build with little fat across her body besides her rump that pales in comparison to other military personnel. Her European ancestry is readily noticeable through her fair skin, with only her hands and to a point her face showing any signs of tanning. She is light on wrinkles and other kinds of complexion, with only a few age lines visible across her face. Other defining traits that are natural are her green eyes and her nearly black hair, which was kept in a pony-tail. Overall, she appears average if shorter than most people, with only a few stray grey streaks revealing her true age. She does have a number of tattoos, the most prominent one being an image of a pale-skinned raptor holding the number nine on her forearm, identical to the war paint that was on the nose of her beloved pelican.
After her crash, the 'improvements' made to Farkas' body as part of her deal with ONI made her somewhat body-conscious, unable to correct them as her body rejected flash-cloned replacements. While most of her skin was done extremely-well making scars from the surgery and crash near-unnoticable on everywhere except on parts of her torso, back and abdomen; they even successfully replicated her tattoos. Her synthetic eyes and arm, however, are a different story. Many describe Farkas as looking wrong or unnatural around the eyes; this is because the cameras cannot be adjusted to convey any emotion like the ones they replaced. As well, at certain angles the light refracts through the lens, making her eyes striking when further away, yet weird within a metre or two of her. Her cybernetic right arm looks fine for the most part. However, a few strange shallow depressions exist, such as the ring around her elbow and the joints of the cybernetics. While the hand felt as it should, grasping her right forearm with force would reveal it's not natural. This is why she did not like wearing sleeveless dresses or shirts, as they revealed the depressions and a few scars on her torso.
In terms of uniform, Farkas prefers to wear practical clothing that'll keep her comfortable while not sacrificing pocket space, with a dark-green jumpsuit. While most pilots have moved on to wearing a fully-sealed spacesuit with a bulky helmet, Farkas rejects that if she can, although her clothes meet the most basic vacuum- and fire-proof requirements needed for military deployment. Instead, she normally an opened atmospheric helmet, leaving her mouth and jaw open, with an adjustable microphone extending down the left side. The RayBan glasses are tinted against the glare of the nearby star, and while they support smart-linking and a heads-up display, she normally leaves it off unless she absolutely needs it. She also occasionally wears a light-green bomber jacket when it gets cooler. A survival vest which is compatible with all emergency parafoil and parachute models is also a favourite, with pockets for ammunition and other necessary equipment lining the front. Like most pilots, she removes most armoured components for the sake of comfort, going so far as removing even her shoulder-guards. A neck-gaiter is also part of her usual loadout to protect her face in case of fire, with the same reasoning going for her gloves. The only other thing that she normally wears is a canteen on her belt and her pistol, with the appropriate holsters on either side, and a simple first-aid kit in case of injuries.
Off-duty, she wears one of two sets. Never one for fashion, she was content to simply wear her flight suit and black leather boots, sometimes not even bothering to keep herself groomed. If she is expecting to head out, then her clothing is much more variable, normally being her fur-collared flight jacket with a leather exterior, loose jeans and the same boots mentioned before. The shirt in either variants is not set, although she usually defaults to one with a solid colour and her assigned ship's logo printed on it, with a dark belt featuring a belt buckle styled in the shape of the UNSC's insignia, a golden eagle.
Personality[]
- "Nah mate, don't think of Poet as your typical military woman - think hot-headed teenager on a constant adrenaline high. Just a little bloody ball of energy and positivity, she is."
- ―Edmond Dahm, describing Farkas in 2558.
Throughout most of her career, Farkas has become known for her long list of discipline issues which would have had her discharged had she not been so good at flying. Indeed, the first thing anyone would recognise is her chattiness, as she found it easy to communicate with others or making snarky comments on any situation around her. While this was not an issue, it did manifest in her habit of letting out loud remarks on her situation, even taking it a step further by mocking her opponents on an encrypted communications channel. She played fast-and-loose with protocol and sometimes the chain of command, largely conforming to orders but occasionally refusing them when they conflicted with her personal beliefs. For example, she had a reputation of mouthing off superiors and refusing to run until she had gotten confirmation that the Marines were either on-board or cut down dead in their tracks. On other occasions she would fly into highly-contested territory or continue to press her attack on a hunch - one that would often turn out to be right on Farkas' part. Her slight addiction to alcohol and her status as a smoker is another reason many look down on her at first. Often seen having a schooner of Dreher Classic beer or vodka, she has developed a fair amount of tolerance to the substance. The worst case of this is her increasing consumption of a moonshine called Jetfuel, which she sculls down when she begins to fall into depression or grief - an unfortunately common case as she lost more friends to Covenant attacks. This has become so bad that many of her fellow pilots have turned it into a running joke, stating that if a new recruit couldn't survive their initiation with Jetfuel, they didn't deserve a place as her wingman.
Despite those issues, she was no rebellious prick, in fact she's often said to be the opposite. She's casual and friendly, never being one to make fun of her peers out of spite. She is eager and confident with all things flying, yet while she'll often remark how often or how good she is at flying, she'll never brag about her greater accomplishments. She was fun-loving and always ready to crack a joke, never regretting any stunts that she did in her off-hours. She does have a set moral compass and is rarely intimidated to submit to peer pressure. As a result, she can be considered trusted not to make the wrong decision by her subordinates. A key example is her continued refusal to accept any higher ranks, which she fears would take her out of active combat roles. She is also incredibly proud of making her own way in life, ignoring any help her ranking mother offered. Finally, she feels hugely responsible for her subordinates, going to courageous lengths to ensure their survival. For this reason, she will never show obvious signs of panic, remaining cool and collected even under fire.
However, when the War ended she found it increasingly difficult to manage her guilt for her fallen wingmen. This would result in post-traumatic stress disorder arising in her later career, only adding to her dependency on alcohol. She would constantly blame herself for their deaths, even when its obvious that there was nothing she could've done to save them. This is one of the only reasons that she began taking increasing time away the front lines, such as when she was brought on to assist in the development of the D79H-TC(S) Stealth Pelicans and S80-TC Raven. Another change was her fading idealism; when she first enlisted, she wanted to bring peace to all mankind, though as the Human-Covenant War raged on and her constant head-butting with her superiors, she found herself abandoning this in favour of getting on with her life. In preparation for the day when she retires, she has a bottle of Viery Vodka, which was retrieved from a bottle store during the Fall of Reach.
Another drug she was also addicted to was a potent stimulant known simply as Stim. Taken in small capsules, the drug is engineered to allow a person to keep awake for at least eight hours, with full responsiveness for at least six. As the horrors of the war meant that military personnel like Farkas often had to work well past the time they'd be asleep, there was no doubt she became addicted to it. It was through this addiction that she became known for her characteristic energy and gung-ho attitude, as well as emphasising her willingness to talk before thinking. In fact, many people she works with cannot remember any time she sat completely still, with a twitch always present in her stature. Her dependency meant that she was never able to completely recover from it, though support by her colleges on Jaeter meant that she was able to manage it enough that it would never again dominate her life.
Farkas speaks in a faint Hungarian speech pattern common to the inhabitants of Reach, which was somewhat difficult to pick up if one was not actively listening to the cues. This accent was contrasted by her insistence on quips, although she does speak in a very informal tone. Puzzling, her phrasing was awkward, continuing to add on to sentences even when it's not necessary, leading to her cutting parts of words and speaking very quickly. This was due to her stimulants and lack of sleep.
Skills[]
As is obvious with any pilot, Farkas is incredibly skilled in the skies. Displaying a natural talent for flying, she has proven to be capable of performing any manoeuvre possible, even pulling off extremely-risky stunts that were sure to end in death for any other. She has a higher reaction time compared to any other unaugmented human, which allowed her to evade missiles and stray shots; in fact, the first time she was shot down since her first campaign was during the Battle of Installation 00. Before that, she only suffered minor damage that did not affect the integrity of her dropship. While specialising with dropships, she wasn't that much worse with any other craft. Her ability to be quick to learn the quirks of different aircraft meant that she could use everything from UH-144 Falcons right up to Sloop-class prowlers with a minimal amount of training. So skilled was she that she was considered as a candidate for Project JAVELIN, and was successfully brought on to fly the elite YSS-1000 Sabres in the final years of the war.
While no stranger with a gun, she was a significant disadvantage compared to soldiers and marines which had been training with them for virtually their entire career. The only class of firearms she excels at are handguns. Although she struggles with managing their recoil thanks to a lack of practice, she is a skilled shot capable of hitting a bullseye beyond 150 metres before having to switch to her smart-linked scope. This accuracy is why she rarely wields rifles, as she is deadlier with only her sidearms.
Farkas' distinct personality and lack of discipline does have its merits. If she changes her usual shirt and belt-buckle, Farkas finds it easy to blend into crowds with none of the awkwardness typically displayed by military personnel. It's made harder to pick her out because of her ability to easily strike up a conversation with most civilians, with her looks convincing others that she is far younger than she actually is. As a result, she could be inserted into crowds to spy on people and events, although she can often be seen being distracted by the attractions around her. During her time in ONI, this was only improved, receiving training on how to best stalk people without being detected. If discovered, however, her lack of competent firearm skills means that she's more likely to be overwhelmed and captured. To stop her from revealing information through torture, she has been trained extensively in counter-torture techniques. However, the most reliable method is to either have her tailed by an armed operative, watching her around every corner, or to have a squad of Marines stationed nearby in case things go wrong.
After the war, Farkas discovered she had an affinity with managing the development of new aircraft. Having been a casual artist in her youth and knowing what to expect when it came to her products, Farkas was an invaluable employee to Jaeter Defense Munitions. While not educated enough to detail the inner-workings of the aircraft, she had studied up on aerospace theories and used her piloting experience to be able to recognise where to apply relevant techniques to achieve the desired results. She always strives to release the highest-quality product, even if that runs contrary to its economical viability. This stance on quality, along with her willingness to double up as a test pilot for her creations, has earned her the respect and in some cases ire of her team. While finding little enjoyment in this, she does not try to make enemies and attempts to work with solutions brought up.
Equipment[]
Firearms[]
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Her weapon-of-choice, Weapon System Technologies' Service-K handgun would first be issued to her during her first deployment. Similarly to the more widespread M6-series magnums, the Service-K is a heavy pistol chambered with the 12.7×40mm round, designed to inflict a considerable amount of damage on a wide range of targets. As its smaller, lighter and comes with an impressive set of recoil-dampening features, they see little use outside of Naval Aviation combat pilots. While fully capable of firing the M6's M225 SAP-HE rounds, Farkas prefers to load it with a M224 round that trades stopping power for recoil redunction. | |
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Issued to her on a case-by-case basis, often to those conforming to covert requirements dictated by ONI, the M6C/SOCOM magnum is larger than the Service-K handgun she normally uses, but makes up for this with its ability to fire the M228 SAP-HE rounds at greatly-reduced noise level. Although harder to for Farkas to fire repeatedly thanks to its reduced recoil-management, it gives her greater stopping-power at a lower noise level than what could be done on a Service-K. As a result, she begrudgingly uses it on missions where it is a requirement. | |
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Among her least-used weapons, using less than a dozen clips throughout the entire period she used it, the MA5B is a rugged assault rifle that is the most powerful weapon she can have in her loadout. Highly inaccurate despite offering a high rate-of-fire, Farkas loathed to use it, immediately replacing it with future iterations when available. | |
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Replacing her MA5B in the aftermath of the Human-Covenant War as part of a modernisation program of the UNSC's arsenal, the MA5D has become a key part of her armoury after being pulled into ONI. As she was now deployed far more frequently on the ground, she came to appreciate the firepower only a full-sized rifle can provide. She has outfitted her rifle with stabiliser jets or a silencer to assist her in covert operations. | |
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Vehicles[]
Unlike most pilots, Farkas has been called upon to fulfil a number of pilot positions across a wide variety of other craft. While most of these share standardised controls, their unique quirks in flight and requirement to use different tactics to make the most out of them ensure that she is one of the elite few certified to handle every aircraft in service.
| Name | Time used | Description | Status |
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The first aircraft Farkas flew in the military, Golf-Two were a pair of baseline AV-14 hornets which she flew on Ffyniannus. Part of the 172nd Naval Escort Squadron, neither vessel would provide the young woman with any chance to distinguish herself, with both being shot down in a relatively short time frame. The first would be destroyed during one of her first proper missions, while the second one was shot down in the UNSC's first attack on the city of Rei Fervenzas. | ||
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Assigned after she crashed her previous vehicle, Raptor-Nine was a GA-TL1 Longsword assigned to Raptor Squadron, an attack unit which operated in the Outer Colonies. Although suffering slight damage early in its career, the interceptor would become Farkas' first place she distinguished herself, coordinating with her wingmen to assist in a number of key UNSC victories. Although being forced down on numerous occasions, Raptor-Nine was only finally destroyed on Green Hills in the final months of 2525, when she was hit by an Insurrectionist missile. | ||
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An older-style D77-TC pelican hastily retrofitted with upgrades to keep it on par with newer revisions, Romeo-912 is Farkas' beloved pelican she flew for most of her career. Distinguished by the numerous images painted on its hull, Romeo-912 would also be known by the callsign "Raptor-Nine" because its most prominent warpaint was that of a stylised raptor holding the number nine. Earning a reputation for reliability under fire, the pelican would later be modified with stealth technologies by ONI in an attempt to keep morale high on local battlefields. After evading most of the war largely unscathed, Romeo-912's long service would come to an end during the battle on the Ark, where she was damaged by Covenant fire while providing air support to UNSC troops. | ||
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A prototype of the D79H-TC(S) Pelican she designed herself, the Destructive Destiny is an advanced gunship that was first deployed on Jaeter in early 2556. Built first as an incredibly adaptable tool, the Destiny is unusual in that it combines stealth technologies with an assortment of heavy weapons on a heavier hull. Unfortunately, the Destiny never found a role it excelled in, being outgunned by the more powerful G79H-TC, easier to track than a D77-TCS pelican, and being far too expensive and harder to manufacturer than either of them. In addition, as a prototype the Destiny suffered from constant issues, with its engine bafflers nor frequency for maintenance never being fully solved. Yet in spite of all this, Farkas did find great use out of it for the short time she had it, being one of the few pilots capable of using it effectively. | ||
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Affectionately dubbed by Farkas as the Mark Two, the S80-TC Raven known as the Black Betty is designed directly to address the problems plaguing the Destiny. Built from the ground-up as a stealth ship, the Betty is developed to allow operators and their equipment and vehicles to be dropped off without being detected. Despite being nearly half the size of its predecessor and proportionally lighter, it's oversized engines are derived from the D79-TC Pelican with reliable baffles and emission-capture systems. It's still well-armed, with a 40mm nose-mounted autocannon, one 12.7mm ramp guns and four built in-rockets installed in engine housing. While it can only carry eight passengers, the Betty can also carry a vehicle as large as an M808 Scorpion tank in a retractable box. It's only weakness is its lighter armour and the lack of a roll-cage, although each seat is designed to eject to safety. Farkas made extensive use of the Betty, although she never gave it the honour of warpaint like its predecessor. |
Relationships[]
Samantha Blake[]
- "Blake was my first - damn, that woman always made me squirm just by looking at me the right way."
- ―Farkas reflecting back on Blake.
Edmond Dahm[]
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Although first hearing of the former police officer when she first arrived on Jaeter to assist the colony's dwindling militia, Farkas would only be formally introduced when she took him on as a pilot-in-training. Sharing an outwardly easy-going attitude and unique charisma, they quickly hit off a lasting friendship that was built on their seamless chemistry. They took part in friendly competitions against each other, ranging from in-field chases on the ground or in the air to off-duty drinking games testing their alcoholic tolerance - only Dahm had the edge on the ground. Their inability to take most situations seriously resulted in great back-and-forth jokes frequently emerging wherever they conversed, and playfully mocked around with each other. Even their mutual weakness of excessive drug abuse only further brought them closer; her untamed level of energy and unpredictability clashed with his more controlled tendencies. Their cultured upbringing is the icing of the cake, with the two taking an interest in the other's patriotism. Only Dahm's xenophobic slurs when he was drunk and his solid stance on honesty caused some discomfort to Farkas, though fortunately he carefully controlled these urges whenever in her presence.
Eventually, their friendship did take a romantic turn. While innocent flirts had always been present before as the two encouraged that, it was only now that they began to actually care about each other's well-being. This came as a shock to Farkas, who prior to their meeting had never had an affair with a man before and simply assumed it was because she was a lesbian. Dahm helped her fight her dependency on Stims, and while he was unsuccessful in keeping her off it, he was able to inspire her to manage the addiction with more restraint. They completely trusted in each other's capability to make it through each mission and supported each other, although as seen when Farkas was kidnapped by a cartel on Wealth, if one went missing the other would travel across entire worlds to find them.
Artemidya Kalashnik[]
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Gallery[]
List of Appearances[]
- RP:Jaeter's Protectors (First appearance)
- RP:Light of the Abyss
- Survival of the Fittest (Non-canon)
Notes[]
<references>
- ↑ This is in contrast to how most others believe it's because of her infrequent quoting of Shakespeare when in the field.