Krystal Desmond

Krystal Desmond is a human female mercenary most famous for her work with Axel Erachin and Ray Shishigami. She is also known across the mercenary world as "Dragon Warrior" because of her HMV. She is a very talented HMV Pilot and specializes is aerial assault, a skill that is very valuable to her and her team. Outside of her HMV, she is a crack-shot with her two Pulse Pistols and is quite talented in hand-to-hand combat.
She has worked for Ray Shishigami in Rise Part One and Axel Erachin in both parts of Rise, and has worked for both The Empire and The Paladins while under their leadership.
==Biography==
===Early Life===
Krystal was born on Homeworld under a wealthy family in 65 AF to Hugo Desmond and Amanda Desmond. Because of this wealth, she was a very spoiled child, getting anything she wanted without ever having to work for it. Her spoiled childhood led her to being a very selfish person by her school years, and she had trouble making friends because of this. Her lack of friends often led to her fighting and breaking rules, and she never really cared for or thought about the consequences of her actions.
On one occasion her and her family went to the planet Ossyria for a family reunion, where she briefly interacted with the rest of her family and saw the life of those in the Southern Rim was much different than her own. Krystal did not care much for it, being a spoiled girl she was not used to the lives of those below her. At this family reunion, however, she met for the first, and so far only, time her cousin, Kurt Desmond, who later became a member of the 32nd Ossyrian Mechanized Infantry.
Krystal was bullied a lot growing up, especially in her high school years, and because of her selfish personality the few friends she had didn't trust her. Throughout high school, she had a crush on a boy named Jason Prescott, and, when she was 16, asked him out. Jason rejected her, which devastated Krystal, and throughout the next few months she was never able to get over it.
After a few months, Krystal still couldn't get over it, and brought her father's Pulse Pistol to school, and shot Jason in the chest. Krystal, thinking the boy was dead, ran back home, grabbing her father's second Pulse Pistol, before taking out her life savings and running. When she started running out of money, Krystal became apparent that she needed a steady source of income. Looking at her two Pulse Pistols, she decided she would become a mercenary and has been ever since.
==Career==
Krystal's early career started off with just odd-jobs from protecting her client to killing a man that a client wanted dead, and it was all quite small-scale at the beginning. Her first major job she was hired by a company known as Malken Industries, a famous weapons-manufacturer. They hired Krystal to kill a man by the name of Wilson Jax, the President and CEO of a rival company known as Jax Industries. She was to kill the man and all other chairs of the company during an important meeting regarding their next project. Security was tight, but Krystal had no real trouble dispatching them, and when she made her way to the top floor, she killed them all and took their development plans, returning them to her employer for a big payday. Malken Industries was taken out only a week after this job was completed with a similar demeanor, leading many to believe that Krystal was in charge of that job as well. However, she was not.
This job got Krystal's name out there, and she immediately started getting better job offers from higher end employers. She started taking down more and more corporations and killing more and more upper-class citizens around the Galaxy, which earned her many more credits and job offers. Eventually, however, Krystal got one particular job offer that would change the course of her career.
She was hired by a man named West to kill a high rolling business man by the name of Hugo Desmond; Krystal's father. She walked into her former home, and when her family saw her, they thought that she had finally come home, but when she raised her pistol to her father's head, they knew that she was here to kill him. However, Krystal hesitated, something she hadn't done on the job before. In the end, she couldn't bring herself to kill her father, and she ran from the house, going back to her employer, still wanting the money.
Krystal told West that her father had been killed, but without any proof West wouldn't pay her. Krystal demanded the money, but West wouldn't give it to her and said that he needed to check with his people that Hugo was actually dead. When it was revealed to him that he wasn't, Krystal shot West and took the money. She used this money to buy what she had been saving up for for a while: an HMV. This was her first HMV, and with it, Krystal to do much higher paying jobs. She used The Dragon on many operations and it earned her a lot of money, and eventually, her skills were recognized by the Empire.
===Work With The Empire===
Krystal was hired by Ray Shishigami one year ago to work for the Empire, which she accepted, not being able to pass up the impressive paycheck. Here, she met up with several other mercenaries, including Lara Rymond and Ivanna Sidorova, two women who would eventually become very good friends.
====Mission on Congo====
Their first mission took place on the planet of Congo, where they were to infiltrate a base belonging to the Hydra League and kill the villain known as Largo. When her team landed on the planet, they were attacked by a group of T-rexes, which the team had to get away from or be destroyed there. Krystal made it out of the herd relatively quickly, and once out provided some fire support for others still surrounded by the beasts.
However, while most of the squad made it out of the forest to the plains, one mercenary, Ivanna Sidorova, was trapped by the T-Rexes. Ray, however, said that it wasn't worth it to save her. Rex Ryoken, the squad's second in command, decided to go back for Ivanna, and Krystal decided to go with him, along with Lara Rymond, Earl James, and a few others. Eventually, the rest of the squad came to help as well.
Right before rescuing Ivanna, a much bigger T-Rex which was the mother of all of the others appeared. This one couldn't be killed by bullets, however, as it's scales were harder than most metals, and thus had to be killed through creative means.
After Ivanna fired a volley of missiles at the T-Rex, Rex realized that the weak point was it's eyes, and told the squad to aim for them. After the eyes were taken out, Ivanna was able to escape and the squad moved on toward the Hydra base.
Once Ray explained the layout of the base, it was evident that it would be nearly impossible to penetrate the base's defenses. This was Krystal's first encounter with The Paladins, who offered to help the team get into the base. After some deliberation, the team accepted the help of the new faction that presented itself.
Their plan was simple, The Paladins and Ray would distract the Hydras while the mercenaries would use the mountain the base was carved into to get in. This was the team's first encounter with Commander Fury, one of the three Heads of the Hydra League.
When the rest of the mercenaries landed in the base, the Hydras were caught off-guard, but with their superior numbers, still managed to hold the mercenaries off for some time. Largo eventually showed up in his mech, the Massacre, and took Lara hostage.
Krystal moved to help Lara, when a four-legged black Mech landed. After hailing Krystal in The Dragon, it was revealed that it was the boy Krystal shot in her high school 9 years earlier; Jason Prescott. Krystal was forced to face him, with Ivanna providing valuable support.
After a long and grueling battle, however, the Hydras were forced to retreat, and with Largo dead by the hand of Khenan Wa’Tzeek, the mission was a success.
====Time on Vegas====
After the mission on Congo, the Empire brought the squad on board the Regal for briefing on another mission, this time working with Axel Erachin and his squad. However, both squads were given some time off and allowed to roam the planet of Vegas. Krystal decided to spend this time with Ivanna Sidorova and Lara Rymond, and the trio spent some time in a casino.
===The Empire's Betrayal===
After some time in the casino, Krystal and Ivanna Sidorova got a call from Ray Shishigami to kill Lara Rymond. The two women were shocked by the order at first, and deliberated vigilantly what to do. After some time and the Gentlemen entering the casino they were in, the pair decided to spare Lara's life.
Krystal grabbed Lara and put a pistol to her head, making the Gentlemen think that they had captured her. After the Gentlemen told her to pull the trigger and kill Lara, she instead brought her Pulse Pistols to bear on the two Gentlemen and pulled the triggers, killing both of them, before fleeing the casino with both of her friends in tow.
After receiving a call from Axel Erachin, they were told to meet in a warehouse near the Regal, which the trio's Mechs were still on. Running out of time, Krystal and her two friends stole HMVs from a garage and made their way to the warehouse.
From the warehouse, the team moved back onto the Regal, where, to their surprise, there were no guards. Krystal immediately disembarked and got back into her Mech, The Dragon. Once embarked, however, her radar gave off several pings of enemies, causing Krystal to whirl around and fired at, what she saw, were Undead HMVs. However, several of her teammates said that they weren't real, and after disembarking from her HMV, saw that they were correct. IT was just a trick Ray set up using his nanobots in her Mech.
After that, she began fighting the Rapiers, along with the others in her team, when Karl Vladick in the Jotun came through, helping the mercenaries with the Empire forces. With most of the Empire forces taken out and the others running for their lives, Krystal made her way to the Albatross with the rest of the mercenaries and left to the Deity. This was the last time Krystal would ever work for the Empire.
===Work With The Paladins===
Krystal began working with the Paladins shortly after the Empire labelled her as a traitor. She was taken aboard the Deity right after getting her Mech back from the Regal, and stayed with them until the end of the Paladins.
====LUNAR Train Heist====
Krystal's first mission with The Paladins was robbing the LUNAR Transportation System used to transport supplies between Empire-controlled planets. Krystal's team, which consisted of herself, Clyde McConnelly, Ivanna Sidorova, Lara Rymond and Terrance Jharves, was to shut down the engines of the massive space train to stop it and make it easier for the other team to detach the target car. From there she would assist getting the car back to the Deity.
Axel's team was placed inside the train itself, thanks to a part-owner of the train funding the Paladins. However, the mechs that inspected the squad used thermal vision to discover the mercenaries/Paladins in the crates, causing a battle to occur.
Karl, Clyde, and several Paladins drew fire from the Empire soldiers at the front of the train while the others moved to the engine to take it out. When the Regal showed itself, Ray Shishigami, Earl James, and Khenan Wa’Tzeek inevitably came to attempt to stop the combined might of the mercenaries and Paladins, and attacked the group at the rear.
After the engine was destroyed, the team took the car and retreated to the Deity. The mission was a success, however not without a cost. Rex Ryoken lost his life for The Paladins' cause, and, by extension, the mercenaries' cause as well.
====One Year Later====
A year passed before the Paladins called the mercenary group Axel Erachin assembled again, and this time brought some new faces. Krystal herself had stayed with The Paladins for the entire year, having nowhere else to go, and they helped her revamp The Dragon for a new specialty: aerial assault. It was good for Krystal to see her mercenary friends again.
====Mission on Villa====
Krystal's first mission with the reunited team was to a planet called Villa. Their mission was to extract a man named Hugh Perry at his daughter's wedding on the planet and bring him back alive to the Deity. The operation was called "Operation Wedding Crashers", which earned a few snickers from the mercenary group.
The plan was to infiltrate the wedding disguised as part guests and get Perry when he was alone. Meanwhile a worker's revolution on the planet led by Tara. The mercenaries were to pair off with one another and act as dates. Krystal paired with Clyde McConnelly, and had Gyver Edged come with them as well to act as the alien servant the non-human races were portraying to not seem out of place.
Clyde, Krystal, and Gyver were tasked with finding out where the HMVs of the team were parked, and secure them so the team could make a quick getaway.
The job was quite simple to perform. Krystal exuded her womanly charms on the guard of the valet and he told her everything she needed to know. With the knowledge that the HMVs were on Level 7, they left to go join the party.
However, before they could, Clyde noticed a second valet run up to the one Krystal had just charmed, and they both left into the garage, leaving the entrance unguarded. They knew that something was wrong, and the three of them entered the garage, weapons drawn, and made their way down to Level 7.
Once on Level 7, the trio spotted the bodies of the valet that Krystal herself had charmed, as well as several other valet and guards. They realized that the group inside the garage were members of The Jackals, as evidenced by their cybernetic implants. They were planting bombs on the HMVs of the mercenaries, obviously not wanting them to leave. When one of the Jackals fired on Clyde, a firefight erupted in the garage.
After a short while, Guildenstern entered the battle. However, the C4 on his leg detonated, blowing it off, and leaving him mostly immobile. One of the cyborgs with a scorpion tail attacked Krystal, the tail ready to impale her, when Clyde shoved the cyborg out of the way, and fired several shots into him while he was down. Krystal never forgot that act, and was perhaps the start of greater feelings.
Upon defeating the Jackals in the garage, Krystal got into The Dragon as ordered, and looked up to see the Jackals and The Empire battling in their HMVs above the garage.
When Abraham Keyes and Lara Rymond entered the garage to help the trio clear a path out of the garage, with Abraham carrying Lara, Krystal threatened the Southerner, saying that if he let anything happen to her friend that the Empire would be the least of his problems.
After holding off their enemies for a while, the team made their way to the sand ships they needed to use to get to the location of the Deity. However, the Jackals also commandeered one and followed them. They were led by Lang in his mech, the Samurai, which had the ability to teleport across the battlefield. Knowing that they were going to need speed to defeat the teleporting Mech, Krystal made it her goal to take Lang down, as in her Mech's Dragon Form, nothing outsped it in the air.
After a fierce battle with the Jackals and Lang, the team managed to defeat them. However, not without a cost. Before Lang died, he grabbed Krystal and teleported into the path of some of Tara's missiles, killing lang and severely damaging The Dragon. A peice of shrapnel planted itself in Krystal's head before she blacked out. That was the last time Krystal would have vision out of her left eye.
Other members of the team didn't fare so well either. Axel Erachin had lost an arm, and both Lara Rymond and Hugh Perry were dead, one Krystal's friend the other their target.
When Krystal awoke in the medical bay of the Deity and her and her team's injuries explained, Krystal couldn't help but cry. She had lost a friend and vision in her left eye. She considered the mission on Villa to be the worst mission she ever encountered.
After grieving and checking on her Mech, Krystal than threatened Abraham and demanded he explain how Lara died, putting one of her pistols to his temple as she did so, as Abraham explained, he lowered the gun to his heart, asking Krystal to pull the trigger. Krystal then realized that Abraham regretted everything that had happened, and so Krystal lowered her weapon and walked away. The man had been through enough that day.
Krystal then went up to the gym to take out some of her anger, where she saw Clyde McConnelly training Haken Wastia just like he promised before the mission on Villa. Krystal, wanting to vent some anger, offered to spar with Clyde while Haken watched, believing that it would be good for him to see how they fought. Clyde was hesitant at first because of her loss of vision in her left eye, but after reassurance, agreed to spar with her. The sparring helped Krystal take her mind off things and give her closure.
====Paladin Betrayal====
After falling asleep in her room, Krystal was awoken by the sound of gunshots in the hallway, when a Paladin entered her room. After asking the Paladin what was going on, he tried to warn her of the Paladins betrayers before he was stabbed and killed by another Paladin, who later revealed to her that they joined the Hydra League and were there to kill her. After Krystal shot the two Paladins in her doorway, she walked out into the hallway, where a loyal Paladin held off a traitor by attacking him, and revealing to Krystal that not all of the Paladins had defected.
Later, she ran into Ivanna Sidorova and Gyver Edged, and explained to them that the Paladins were split, before heading down to the hangar to secure the mercenaries' HMVs
After reaching the hangar, there was a battle between the loyalist and traitor Paladins, where she learned that Karen Armstrong was leading the traitors. At the end of it all, the mercenaries learned that the traitors had captured Axel. The rebellion was over, and The Paladins disbanded. But not before giving one final mission to the mercenaries: Rescue Axel.
====Mission on Oasis====
 
After the betrayal of the Paladins, Karl Vladick offered the mercenaries one final mission: the chance to rescue Axel from the Hydra League fortress of Oasis, promising the same pay as the Perry mission. Krystal took it, not because of the money, but because she knew Axel would go in guns blazing for anyone here, including her, and she now considered these mercenaries her family. She also started to realize that this wasn't just about the mercenaries, but the entire galaxy. She had a chance to change things for the better. A chance that she took.
During the mission briefing, Karl revealed why The Paladins existed, saying that there are artifacts that can grant immortality and that The Empire were looking for them, and it was their job to stop anybody, Empire or Hydra, from achieving that power. Before he told them this, Karl was the only one who knew this.
After Julius Valken offered the mercenaries a chance to make a video and send it home, Krystal took part, and made a video to her family on Homeworld, telling them that she was alive and all that had happened, even adding at the end to leak the video to the media and show the people what The Empire really was.
Feeling that she might not get another chance, Krystal walked up to Clyde McConnelly and, trying to tell him how she really, felt, kissed him, before leaving to spend what was possibly her last minutes alone in the bar with her closest friend, Ivanna Sidorova.
The plan was to divide the mercenaries into two teams. HMVs that were more stealth-based as well as Tara's HMV, sneak in to the prison from the bottom using the drill on Tara's Mech while everyone else attacked headlong and provided a distraction. Krystal, with no real stealth systems, was part of the attacking group, and was in the middle of the battle as soon as it started.
Krystal then took part in attacking Karen with several other of the mercenaries, until Ghost Rider gave his life in order to deal massive amounts of damage to her.
It wasn't long before the Hydras revealed their new, beast-like HMVs, which proved to be much more powerful than the ones the mercenaries were used to seeing. Even still, the mercenaries managed to fight them off effectively.
Then, three massive Empire vessels entered Oasis' atmosphere, immediately sending out a giant payload of missiles towards the mercenaries. Krystal flew overhead in her HMV, trying to rescue Ivanna who was on the ground straight in the path of a missile, when the missile hit, it left Ivanna and her HMV motionless, and Krystal feared the worst. She thought she had just lost her closest friend again.
When Abraham Keyes rescued Ivanna, Krystal flew down towards him to get him out quicker, and, after thanking him, joined the fight again. Abraham then mentioned taking one of the AA guns on the planet, and Krystal piloted The Dragon to do so, telling all of the other mercenaries to get out while they still could. She was willing to give her life to get the others out. The AA gun also gave cover fire so that the infiltration team could escape. Despite her telling her allies to get out, several of them came to help her, and began holding off the enemy HMVs as she fired at the ships.
Ivanna came to, which made Krystal very happy, as she took Gyver's advice and began firing on the missile bays of one of the ships.
After a while, the Jotun and an Empire-built HMV of similar size, The Demented, which was piloted by Earl James, followed by several Empire HMVs as well as Ray Shishigami and Khenan Wa’Tzeek in the Hive and Juggernaut respectively.
During the battle with the Empire forces, Krystal began to take on the Juggernaut after seeing Clyde McConnelly and Haruka Yoshimitsu tossed aside by it like they were rag dolls. During the battle with Khenan, Julius Valken contacted her and told her to keep him distracted while he sneaked up behind him and attack. As she was distracted the Juggernaut, Haruka piloted the Lucky Strike and managed to remove one of its four arms, with Julius removing another shortly after. Then Abraham Keyes joined in and started pounding on the large HMV, forcing Khenan to eject, and taking the Juggernaut out of the battle.
After the battle, Karl fought Earl in the Jotun, allowing the other mercenaries to escape via the Albatross. The battle on Oasis was over, and Krystal had survived it, but she had lost three valuable allies in the battle of Oasis: Ghost Rider, Tara Bei Fong, and Karl Vladick.
While on the ship, Krystal noticed that one of the mercenaries had poured shots for everyone, and she took it. She then noticed a box that said "From Ghost Rider, use it well." Inside was his power mace, which she kept.
After heading down to The Dragon and sitting in it, reflecting on the mission, she received a mysterious transmission, and after a while, it was revealed to be from Jason Prescott.
===Arrival on Factory===
==Personality==
Krystal has been described as a bad ass, and traditionally for good reason. She has never really cared for rules or regulations, and in the past has not really cared about the consequences of her actions so long as she benefited. She never found the need to make friends since being on the run, knowing that people you considered friends can just as easily become your enemy or betray you. That said, she valued the friends and family she did have.
However, in recent events, Krystal has had a wake up call, so to speak. She has seen the treachery of The Empire, and has seen the oppression it has caused. She's started to view her fellow mercenaries on Axel's team her family, and would not leave a single one of them to die. She wants nothing more than to free the people of the Empire from the oppression they have caused them, but also knows that it cannot be the Hydra League to overthrow them, and knows that they would be just as bad as rulers. She feels that the people need to be the ones to do it, and she will do whatever she needs to to help them do it.
==Relationships With Other Characters==
Throughout her work, Krystal has met many people, though the most notable of these were those she works with in her current team, all of which she views as family.
===Axel Erachin===
Axel Erachin is the leader of her current team, and a man Krystal trusts with her life. He has proven time and time again that he cares for all of the mercenaries he works with, something she greatly admires about him.
===Lara Rymond===
Lara Rymond was one of Krystal's best friends, and Krystal considered her as more of a sister. Krystal found herself faced with a choice to kill or spare Lara, and when Krystal chose to spare her, the two were friends ever since. Lara's death devastated Krystal, and she nearly killed another of her fellow mercenaries because of it.
===Ivanna Sidorova===
Ivanna Sidorova is the other of Krystal's two best friends, and the only one of the two still alive. She has been with Krystal since the beginning, when they both worked for Ray Shishigami and when they both decided to spare Lara's life. The two have been through a lot together, and neither would let the other die if they could do anything to help it.
===Clyde McConnelly===
Clyde McConnelly has quickly become one of Krystal's closest friends in the group since the mission on Villa. She has developed romantic feelings for him, and has expressed them to him, but whether or not he feels the same way she doesn't know. Still, regardless of what happens she will fight side by side with him any day.
===Gyver Edged===
Gyver Edged is a strange one. Ever since the two met the Canis had been flirting with her nearly constantly. Still, she considers him a friend and a valuable ally.
===Abraham Keyes===
Abraham Keyes Krystal first really talked to in the garage on Villa, where he took Lara in his HMV. However, where she truly confronted him was when she was grieving about Lara's death. Abraham was with Lara when she died, and because of the grief she felt she confronted him about it, where she pulled a gun to the man's head and nearly killed him. However, seeing how much he regretted what happened, she spared his life, and the two became friends.
===Julius Valken===
Krystal only really talked to Julius before the mission to Oasis, where she asked him if she could make a tape to send to her family. The reporter showed to have a lot of passion for finding the truth, and the truth was exactly what the Galaxy needed.
==HMV==
Main Article: The Dragon
The Dragon is Krystal's personal HMV that has had two different versions. It is most well-known for it's ability to transform into a Mech Dragon and specializes in aerial assault.
==Alternative version==
The cinematic version of Krystal is mostly close to the original. For the first film she's following group B. She's see as the loose cannon of the group.
thumb|200px|Sabrina L as Krystal Desmond
==Theme Song==
thumb|300px|left Ironwing was chosen as it's themes demonstrate Krystal's bad ass nature as well as her affinity for aerial combat and dominance.
==Trivia==
*Krystal is heavily based off of Lara Croft, and her picture is even of Lara Croft
*Coincidentally, one of Krystal's best friends in the series is named Lara
*Krystal is one of a very small number of mercenaries to stay with the Paladins after the Empire's betrayal.
*The Dragon is one of the only Mechs that has undergone a heavy change between both parts of Rise.
Category:Characters