"You have ten seconds to surrender the ship, otherwise this hostage situation becomes a salvage operation. I hear the black market is in need of a few good hearts these days..."
She was once a child prodigy with a Masters in Quantum Mechanics, a former member of EOTI AND the daughter of an incredibly wealthy and loving father. Yet, despite having the world at her fingers, it wasn't enough for Carmen Marcella Bautista. Life was boring, dull and pointless. That is until the day she was kidnapped for ransom--because that's the day she decided to throw everything away and carve a new path for herself in life. In a strange twist of her own design, Carmen managed to claim leadership of her would-be captors and lead them onward to infamy and glory--all at the age of fourteen. With a ship to call her own and a crew of loyal allies, the "Red Gypsy" and the Knights of San Diego traverse the galaxy in search of anything and everything they can steal for profit, their own benefit or selling to the highest bidder. Unknown to herself and those around her, however, is that Carmen is a Whispered, another poor soul with voices in her head--voices she benefits greatly from, but are bothersome and alarming nonetheless.
Background Information[]
Since the beginning, Carmen Marcella Bautista had lived a life less ordinary, an entirely privileged existence. She was the only daughter of a wealthy robotics and cybernetics CFO, whose former-model-actress-aspiring-singer-and-whatever-else-she-wanted-at-the-time wife dumped her on him after only two years of marriage and the birth of their daughter. Regardless, her father managed well enough on his own--and with more than enough money to throw around, it helped to have several on-hand butlers, maids and nannies to aid him in raising his daughter.
From an early age it appeared to everyone that Carmen was a highly-intelligent child and she would certainly go places. Many praised and doted on the girl, giving her anything and everything she could ever want or need. In their eyes, such a bright and beautiful child could do no wrong--and in her father’s eyes, she his precious, perfect and beautiful little angel. He loved her dearly.
This, however, wasn't enough for Carmen. Even as a child, her ambitions were far, far too grand.
At the age of 5, Carmen was swiftly excelling through school. She surpassed her peers by leaps and bounds. By the age of 8 she had already reached AND graduated from high school. The more she grew, Carmen's intellect drew the attention of many local universities. As result, she was drawn into a prestigious college at the age of 10, where she proceeded to graduate with her Masters Degree in studies of Quantum Mechanics only a few years after.
Unbeknownst to everyone, Carmen was hearing voices that were not her own. But it wasn't really cheating if no one else could hear them...
At the age of 12, Carmen was offered a position at the Extra-Over Technology Institute as one of its designers and researchers. Bored with impressing people with her knowledge and feeling out of place among "normal" people and CERTAINLY uninterested in a career at her father's well-to-do facilities, Carmen obliged. For a while, things were interesting.
Then, as they were wont for her, they got dull over time. Fortunately, Fate was about to turn a very peculiar card for Carmen Marcella Bautista.
At the age of 14, Carmen found herself in a very strange predicament. One evening during her chauffeured ride home her limo was assaulted and accosted by several armed men in power suits. Within moments she was dragged out of the car and a burlap sack stuffed atop her head.
Several hours later she found herself in a generic, random warehouse in the middle of...somewhere.
It quickly became clear what situation Carmen had been forced into. She had been kidnapped and bound to a chair, where her captors were filming a ransom video to her father. If he wanted to see her alive again, they would be paid a very high sum of cash. And if no ransom had been paid by the end of the week, they would send her father an ear. Then a finger. Then an eye. Then a leg.
Oddly, Carmen wasn't afraid. If anything, it quickly bored her, like most things did.
By day three of negotiations, the leader of her would-be captors made a mistake of letting Carmen free of her chair binds. It was only a temporary thing, he stressed with an arrogant sneer. It was just enough time for her to devise a plan: she was going to kill him and regain her freedom.
...and his crew. And everything he had.
It happened quickly. Carmen took advantage of his unsuspecting nature by tackling him and fighting him for his weapon. Several subordinates looked on as the waif young woman--whose paranoid father had insisted she take self-defense classes as a child--all but overcame and overwhelmed him. After several punches and a nasty cut across her eye, Carmen managed to wrestle his gun free and shoot him in the chest. Then, scrambling free, she shot him in the head.
Confused, the dead leader's men just gawked at this hardy young heiress.
"Hey," she stated, wiping blood out of her eye. "Let's have some fun."
It didn't take much for Carmen Marcella Bautista to convince the remaining group of men that she could provide them with far grander wealth and infamy than their now-deceased "boss" ever could. Her ambitions were far more than just "kidnapping helpless girls" and putting them up for ransom. No, there were bigger things out there to try and pilfer and steal and take for themselves.
But first they needed a SHIP.
Carmen's first "gig" as a "pirate" was coordinating with her newfound crew the theft of a Federation Albatross-class battleship. It was a grandiose and incredibly risky endeavor, but thanks to several men within her group having contacts within the Federation AND a lot of well-thought out planning and makeshift weaponry created by Carmen (thanks to the Whispers in her head), she and the men managed to make off into space with the ship, where they headed to Shangrila to begin the long and drawn-out process of customizing the ship into one of their own.
By the age of 16, two years since the theft of the ship, Carmen had created her "own" battleship, a massive red ship she christened the "Alhambra." Their first voyage was to PLANTS. They needed weapons--and what better way to get them than to STEAL them?
In an assault on a small munitions base in PLANTS, Carmen and her crew, the now-titled "Knights of San Diego," managed to make off with several GINN units and crates of munitions and supplies. Now stocked with their own, personal "army," as well as parts to salvage, things were looking even greater for the ambitious young woman--but she wasn’t completely satisfied. She wanted more.
So in her spare time she began drafting plans for a personal 'chariot,' the CMB-001 Cuelebre. It was to be Carmen's very own mobile suit; after all, a good leader must be one that is not cowardly and will not hide in the comfort of his ship. No, Carmen wanted to fight battles OUTSIDE the Alhambra too. Not only for morale, but...well.
It looked like FUN.
A few years later and several heists and salvaging missions onward, Carmen managed to finish the unit. With the help of her second-in-command, a former (and disgruntled) Federation pilot by the name of Solomon Marshall, Carmen was "tutored" and trained as a pilot. It was like riding a bicycle--a very, very large, very lethal and imposing bicycle.
The Knights of San Diego, led by Carmen--known only as the "Red Gypsy"-travel the universe looking to pillage, steal, plunder anything and almost everything, from mobile suits to ships. They're without cause or alliance save themselves, and gladly sell their goods to the highest, hungry bidder. Under the guidance of a mere 18 year old, they are notorious and incredibly successful--and to some, a fearful force to be reckoned with.
Carmen has found her wings of freedom. But, how fast and long can this Icarus fly before her wings melt..?
PRESENTLY
Carmen is under the captivity of A-LAWS. :( They are jerks. Meanwhile, Solomon Marshall and her crew continue to look for her.
Personality Traits[]
To say Carmen is ambitious would be an understatement. The idea of having everything she could ever want handed to her on silver platters was just absolutely dull and boring to her, even from a young age. She was a daddy's girl, a little princess with the brains most geniuses would kill for. Yet, to her, that alone wasn't fun. Her ambitions as a youth were too big for sitting by idly and letting things fall into place.
In life, Carmen sees herself capable of far grander, far greater things than wasting away in some institute creating mobile suits and battleships for other people to use. Why should they profit and have fun with the things SHE creates? They're her ideas--even if they're from mysterious voices in her head--and she should be able to take them and have fun with them.
She is a strong-willed individual, to the point of being incredibly stubborn. She wants things done her way and her way only, and will fight tooth and nail to prove that her way is the CORRECT way. Further, she is a blunt and forward individual, who has no hesitations in telling someone something that they do not want to hear, however soul-crushing it may very well be. Vicious threats and harshness are certainly not beyond the likes of Carmen.
For the sake of her own self-enjoyment, Carmen has given up on ever wanting to life a complacent and normal lifestyle. The concept of living life as she desires, to live day to day, stealing and profiting off of others with like-minded individuals excites and pleases her. She is a free spirit in the truest sense, not the sort to be bound down by things like "LAWS" or "RULES" or "MORALITY." She makes her own rules, her own laws and lives by her own codes.
In actuality, however, it's safe to say that Carmen is likely a sociopath, as she lacks any real sense of "moral responsibility." At the age of 14 she took a grown man's life without so much as hesitating or reconsidering the consequences of her actions. Furthermore, she is not beyond taking whatever she wants with however much force she desires, even if her actions wind up causing casualty. At the age of 18 she has essentially become callous to the value of human life by her own desires, greed and will.
While she is not the sort to express any sense of fear or concern on (and mostly off) the battlefield, there is, in fact, one thing that alarms Carmen--and that is the voices in her head. She's aware enough to know that they are not the result of mental psychosis, because they are the sort of voices that tell her how to make the incredible things she is capable of and give her the capacity to do things most people cannot do after decades of practice. While she is a Whispered, she does not know of their existence (as of yet) and the meaning of her being. In due time she may learn; however, for now, the presence of these voices are the single-most unsettling thing in existence to her.
When not being a SPACE ROGUE PIRATE, Carmen actually has her share of hobbies--namely, tinkering with pilfered machines and reverse-engineering their stolen goods. It has, over the years, given her some insight into the technological advances and capabilities of the various organizations in the galaxy, and helped pique her interest. Sadly, it also fuels her seeming-insatiable desire to continue traversing the galaxy causing trouble for anyone and everyone. But hey, selling stolen, valuable goods to the highest bidder is FUN.
It's worth mentioning that of everyone in the world ever, the only person she trusts is her second in command, Solomon Marshall. He's a mentor to her, and a definite father figure--however "bad" having a thieving, murdering sort of mentor may be. Still, she trusts him completely, and he remains the only person in the Knights (and pretty much the entire galaxy) that knows her secret.
Relations[]
| Friendship | Solomon Marshall |
| Trust | The Knights of San Diego |
| Affinity | |
| Ambivalence | |
| Caution | |
| Distrust | Everyone |
| Contempt |
Talents & Abilities[]
- She is a Whispered, this makes her special and better than everyone (who isn't a Whispered).
- As a Whispered, Carmen's emphasis lies in Quantum Mechanics and Ballistics.
- Her knack as a Whispered is also commanding a battleship.