Col. Michelle Inoue

Appearance:

Col. Michelle Inoue is an Amero-Nipponese woman from the Seattle-Tacoma geofront. She is above average height, and genetically modified hyper-red hair and gold eyes.

Backstory:

Michelle Inoue was born and raised in the shadows of the Seattle-Tacoma arcoplex, where she avoided the life of a chinpira smuggler by entering military service. She lacked the money or family connections to enter the Pacific Rim mecha corps or the blackwater navy. She was enlisted into the infantry corps where she declined for service as a power armor trooper. She was considered too tall, and couldn't easily pilot any of the standard issue suits. She demonstrated superior firearms ability, and enrolled in the PRC sniper school, where she earned top marks.

Inoue would have remained an unremarkable infantry sniper, likely deployed to the border with the Federation's Rocky Mountain Republic, where she would support infantry units scouring the border for Amerikka Command terrorists and criminal mercenary units. She demonstrated exceptional ability with her rifle after a month long tour across the Rockies, and it was discovered that Inoue was a latent parapsychic. She is not flashy with her powers, and barely registers as an active user.

The San Quinton Campaign was a six month long sweep across the Pac Rim and Federation border, a wild and lawless area favored by political dissenters, militias, and terrorist training camps. These factions tend to be well supplied by Amerikka Command, and can field an impressive amount of equipment. During the campaign, Inoue's brigade was pinned down by a group of Command mecha and avatar power armors. She assisted in the capture of a Command mecha, a battered wreck of a Panther light mech. With a piloting school wash out in the cockpit, Inoue ran scouting and gave the improvised mech jock his shooting and targeting instructions, allowing him to wipe out the other mecha. The rest of the brigade gave the two cover to work, protecting them from the remaining Command MOBATs and Viper infantry.

After the battle, the brigade was pulled out by the PCS Henry Haight, a light mech transport, both the would be mech jock and Inoue were given field commendations and promotions. The Panther pilot, Sgt. Simon Legrande, was given a second shot at the mecha corps where he secured a position as a main battlemech pilot. Inoue was promoted to the newly formed Remora corps.

Remora

The Remora is a fish that swims in the wake of a shark, often attaching itself to the larger predator, where the two share a symbiotic relationship. The Remora program paired a small group of elite soldiers, special ops and commandos, to a mech unit. The two would work in tandem, with the mecha bringing the heavy firepower, while the soldiers cleared the way, did pathfinding work, and otherwise did fine things that the bigger machines could not. Inoue's battle alongside a Panther was a perfect example of what Remora was intended to achieve.

Inoue was reluctant to join the Remora Corps but wasn't given much of a choice. She had aspirations of one day returning to her home under Seattle-Tacoma, and maybe looking into that having a family business that seemed to popular among civilians. She was certainly better off, but she felt a sense of duty and obligation to stay in the service. Had there not been a series of terrorist attacks and threats along the Cascadian border, she might have accepted discharge from the military rather than continue on.

Equipment

Lettner L-82 Magnetokinetic Long Rifle (MLR)

The Lettner L-82 MLR is a heavy and powerful magnetic rifle. It has excellent range and devastating firepower. It is an anti-material rifle, and not intended for the sniping of humans. It is intended for shooting power armors, or through light armor and cover to take out concealed targets. It primarily fires a high velocity explosive round for punching through armor. It can fire an incendiary round, a starlight illumination round, or a long rod heavy armor buster, designed to hit much larger targets.

Sniper Babe - Inoue can use the rifle to inflict critical hits on mecha, functionally putting a small hypervelocity round through weak points in armor plating. This functions as a called shot, and if the attack fails, the round does no damage. If the attack succeeds, the target has to roll a critical hit. This can be an inconvenience, such as damaging joints or structural components, it can be battle changing, damaging weapons, the engine, or cooling systems. It can also be critical, destroying a mecha by killing the pilot, detonating an ammo storage bin, or inflicting a shut down critical on an engine. This works against power armor and vehicles. The drawback is that the rifle is heavy, has a low rate of fire, and Inoue doesn't have augmented strength or speed using it.

Mark 7 Encounter Suit

The Mark 7 suit is a standard issue spec ops piece of gear. Inoue's suit is black with red highlights, and has a skull logo emblazoned on the right shoulder. Her suit is otherwise unremarkable.

The Mark VII encounter suit has been Inoue's gear of choice since training camp. She dislikes the newer models, and would prefer a Mk. V but hasn't been able to requisition one.

Riding Along

Once established in the Remora Corps, Col. Inoue has a decorated combat history, including a daring attack against a pirate cruiser over the disputed Nuevo Mexico/El Norte territory. During this mission, she ended up trading out a hoverbike or landstrider in favor of riding on the shoulder of a mercenary Hatchetman mech. Through the course of the mission, she was almost killed a number of times, her Hatchetman mount was destroyed, and she was seriously wounded. She also brought down directly three pirate mecha, while directing her mecha team to the destruction of almost a dozen more.

The PRC brass are considering a promotion to the Public Relations department, or to the Elite Corps where she would become a public celebrity for the military, along with her own fan club, and other related events. She has thus far expressed complete disinterest in this option.

Plot Hooks

Boots on the Ground - as a display in combined arms, Inoue can be a lead in for the Remoras, recruiting a group of PCs into becoming elite ground pounders, doing heavy commando work ahead of mecha teams, even riding into combat on one (possibly the most dangerous place to be). Counter-point, the mech happy PCs might have their new commander not be a superior mech jock, but a spec ops like Inoue who runs around like a common infantry soldier. Cue disobeying orders, failed traps, and walking into ambushes.

The Unhappy Relationship - Inoue has a short history of socializing with mech jocks, but now leans away from it. She has seen too many men and women convinced of their invulnerability in the giant machines leave the military as cripples, or as containers of human remains. Mortality among the Remoras is similar, but most Remoras are killed either by chance accident, or doing things they know they likely won't survive, in contrast to terminal bravado or stupidity.

Author's NoteLess Fanservice - recently started watching Gurren Lagann, and Inoue is based off of Yoko Littner, a level headed young woman who shoots mecha with a big rifle, running around on the ground, while the big machines fight. I liked her character, but not so much her pure fanservice costume. Someone running around in any sort of combat situation isn't going to be wearing a bikini top, Daisy Duke shorts, and a neck scarf. This interpretation of her has the big gun, but less shiny jiggly breasts. In the Cosmic Era, she came out of Geofront, joined the military, and is fighting against the enemies of said nation. She isn't intended to be eye candy, the Hot Babe in the Unit, Date Fodder, or the subject of Rule 34. She is a serious woman fighting a war she feels she has to because it threatens her home, but remains distant from others because she's seen others die.