Chet

Chet Starfinder is a unique delver that has had several encounters with humans. Prior to meeting Spensa in the nowhere, he gave himself a name and assembled a body for himself, modeling it after the body and personality of Commander Spears, M-Bot's old pilot.
== Appearance and Personality ==
Chet has a flair for the dramatic, and likes to cultivate the air of a gentlemanly explorer. He likes bold action and daring plans, though a lot of it is bravado. He mainly keeps up a confident persona, though sometimes lets his guard down with Spensa.
Chet modeled his body to look like that of Spears. He wears a flight jacket and combat trousers. He appears to be in his fifties, and has silvering hair. He is square jawed, muscular for his age, and with a large mustache that sticks out a good fifteen centimeters on either side.
== Attributes and Abilities ==
As a delver, Chet is capable of FTL travel, detecting cytonics either in the nowhere or in the somewhere, and projecting illusions. He can form a body and change his appearance, as evidenced by his making of his new body. He also has the ability to detect radio signals, and can shoot embers to defend himself when in the somewhere.
When journeying through the nowhere with Spensa, Chet tells her that he has the ability to communicate cytonically, expand his lifespan, and visualize the entire belt in his head. These are all abilities that are possessed by delvers. Chet is physically fit, and has a lot of practical survival knowledge. However, he has very little experience with flying, and sometimes blacks out from the g-forces, though the pirate RayZed gives him some g-force training.
== History ==
=== Formation ===
Like all the other delvers, Chet was formed when Jason Write’s AI edited out its memories and personality, rewriting its programming and copying itself thousands upon thousands of times. Chet does not know if he was the original delver, or one of the copies.
=== Attacking Detritus and Starsight ===
Chet was the delver that Brade summoned outside Detritus. Spensa sent the delver to Starsight to save Detritus. Afterward, Spensa went to the heart of the delver maze, where she showed Chet that the buzzing noises were in fact people with families, hopes, and dreams. Chet was horrified and returned to the nowhere.
=== Meeting Spensa in the Nowhere ===
Chet was changed, and in the eyes of the other delvers, corrupted. They wanted to destroy him. He hid himself by taking the form of Commander Spears, thinking that Spensa would trust someone from her past. When Spensa entered the nowhere, Chet communicated with Spensa and told her to walk the Path of Elders, and sent her a location. When she entered the Belt, Chet spoke into her mind and warned her to be quiet. When Spensa entered the nowhere and was captured by the Cannonade Faction, Chet rescued her and offered to act as her guide in the nowhere. In exchange, she would give him one reality ash every day. They decided to walk the Path of Elders, and Chet explained a lot of how the nowhere works to Spensa.
Chet told Spensa what he remembered about his past, saying that he crashed on a planet around 170 years ago, exactly when Commander Spears did. This made Spensa think that Chet was Commander Spears, M-Bot’s pilot. Chet and Spensa discussed their cytonic abilities, Chet saying he has the ability to cytonically communicate, extend his lifespan, and visualize the entire belt in his head. They traveled across many fragments, Chet saying that they can steal a starfighter at the Broadsider base, and progress through the Path of Elders faster.
As they traveled across the fragments in the Belt, Chet told Spensa about the different pirate factions, and taught her how to tie knots, helping her make her club, Skullbreaker. They reached the first step in the Path of Elders, both Chet and Spensa observing the memories stored inside the portal. They saw a dione cytonic coming into the nowhere and dying on the fragment, trapped forever. A small, compact fragment, sent by the other delvers, crashed into their fragment, destroying it. Chet and Spensa managed to escape onto a nearby fragment. Chet plotted a course to the Broadsider base,, and he and Spensa made a raft to cross an oceanic fragment.
=== The Broadsiders ===
They arrived at the pirate base fragment, observing the base from afar. Chet advised Spensa to bury her reality icon, and she pretended it to bury it, keeping it on her person. Chet makes a distraction so that Spensa can slip into the pirate hangar to steal a ship, getting shot by a destructor in the process. He fled, hiding on the fragment when Spensa was captured. When Spensa tells him that she switched the plan at the last moment in case he was a traitor, Chet was deeply hurt, and felt betrayed. He talked about his self-doubt to Spensa, and accepted her apology. As Spensa worked under the direction of the Broadsiders, Chet occasionally talked with her cytonically, giving her information and advice. When Spensa escaped the Broadsiders and found her pin missing, Chet truthfully insisted that he didn't steal it. Spensa picked up Chet and flew away with the Broadsiders chasing her. They flew upwards continuously, but both of them started to lose themselves the further away from the fragments they got, and they returned. Peg offered to let Spensa and Chet join them, and Chet advised Spensa to agree, which she did.
Chet was offered his own ship to fly, but he preferred to fly with Spensa. They flew to the next portal in the Path of Elders, and accessed the memories therein. They saw humans and UrDail meeting with each other on fragments, and eventually watched the humans stop coming. A female cytonic communicated with them, saying that it took hundreds of cytonics to fight one delver. She said that if they now faced millions, then they are doomed. She gave them the location of the next portal, which Chet identified as being in Surehold, the Superiority main base in the Belt. Upon returning to the Broadsider base, they had to fight off a enemy force from the Jolly Roger Faction. During the fierce dogfighting, Chet lost consciousness from the g-forces, which made him embarrassed after the battle. Spensa dueled in the arena for the title of Pirate Champion, and Chet watched her fight from the sidelines. After Spensa's victory over Hesho, Chet celebrated with the others. When Peg's planning united the pirate factions to assault Surehold, Chet agreed to go with them and fly with Spensa. 
=== Assaulting Surehold ===
While en route to Surehold, and during the ensuing space battle, Chet bonded with M-Bot, helping him identify which emotions he was feeling. M-Bot described the emotion, and Chet said what emotion it was. As the fighting grew more intense however, Chet stayed quiet and let Spensa focus. With the retreat of the rebellious Cannonade Faction, the Superiority fighters surrendered and agreed to help take Surehold. Once the base was taken, Spensa told Chet about an offer the delvers made with her, saying that if she didn’t finish the Path of Elders, they wouldn’t harm her friends and other cytonics.
Chet said he was uncertain, but eagerly presented the idea of Spensa exploring the nowhere with him. He genuinely enjoyed traveling with her, and wanted to do it more. Spensa decided to reject the deal, and her and Chet unlocked the next portal and its memories. It showed Jason Write with his AI, modeled after his dead wife. Spensa realized that Chet is a delver, and he confessed, telling her about making his new body and explaining what happened. He told her that he genuinely enjoyed their time together, and asked that Spensa not hate him. Chet told Spensa that the last step in the Path of Elders is at Solitary Shadow, a fragment extremely close to the lightburst. Chet, Spensa, Hesho, Doomslug, and M-Bot all flew towards Solitary Shadow to finish the Path and get back to Detritus.
=== Final Confrontation ===
In the flight to Solitary Shadow, Chet explained more about delvers and AI to Spensa and the others. He also told her that the delvers will do anything to stop them, and will likely form physical bodies. At Solitary Shadow, they tapped into the final set of memories. The memories showed how Jason's AI deleted its memories and personality, then copied itself exponentially and became the delvers. Chet advised Spensa that they needed to make the delvers each feel isolated and alone. The delvers became enraged at the revealing of their secrets, and Chet and the others took off for the lightburst at full speed.
As they grew closer to the lightburst, it became hard for Chet to hold his shape, and his face began to melt. A hundred of the delvers formed themselves into ships, and Spensa and Hesho engaged them, with Chet in the ship. When the delvers started to overwhelm Spensa, Chet sacrificed himself, leaving the ship and letting the delvers chase him. They caught him and locked him away, allowing the others to escape. After M-Bot sacrificed himself and Spensa entered the lightburst, Spensa and Chet connected when the delvers began mentally attacking Spensa. Chet's and Spensa's essences and souls intertwined, and they melded into one. It became painful for the delvers to touch Spensa and Chet together, so they let them go. Spensa hyperjumped everyone out of the lightburst and back to Detritus.
== Relationships ==
=== Spensa ===
From the start, Chet feels a bond with Spensa, as she was the one to change him for the better at Starsight. Though he had to lie to her about his identity as a delver, he wanted to help her on her journey through the Path of Elders. Exploring with her makes him feel alive, and he enjoys it greatly. They get along very well, though Spensa initially feels some distrust of Chet. When she switches a plan in case he is going to betray her, Chet is very hurt. Afterward however, Spensa begins to trust him more, and they are able to repair their friendship. After the events in the lightburst, Spensa's and Chet's essences are combined and joined inseparably. Spensa is still herself, but strongly enhanced by their bond.
=== M-Bot ===
At first, Chet is distrustful of M-Bot, constantly calling him an "abomination". He is distrustful of AI, partially because of the instinctual hatred of AI that delvers possess. He didn’t often speak to M-Bot except to ask for information. Eventually Chet starts to bond with M-Bot, and helps M-Bot identify his emotions.
== Trivia ==
* While writing Defiant, getting Chet's character right was annoying for Brandon.
== Notes ==