Ace

The image of Jäger from Rainbow Six: Extraction was used for Ace.

**Alfred "Ace" Hitzig** is a German pilot who was previously employed by UDF as a courier pilot. He has lived at many different colonies, most notably C-E29.

## Early Life

Hitzig grew up in Görlitz, Germany, His parents Axel and Annika, both deceased from natural causes, were UDF engineers. His father focused on design while his mother specialized in robotics. Though both influenced Hitzig's interest in engineering, but his particular passion was in piloting. Since a young age, he held a deep admiration for Manfred von Richthofen, a Prussian fighter pilot from the early 1900s better known as the Red Baron.

## Luftwaffe Pilot (2103-2111)

Though his parents had hoped he would follow in their footsteps, they agreed to let Hitzig enlist in the *Luftwaffe* (German Air Force) at age 17. He remained with the *Luftwaffe* for two four-year terms.

## Courier Pilot (2112-2122)

After completing his second tour of service with the *Luftwaffe*, as he was preparing to enlist for a third tour, Hitzig was approached by UDF to join their engineering department of ECRT which his parents both served. He declined this offer, wanting to continue active duty as a pilot.

Seeing that his interest weren't with aeronautics design but aviation, UDF instead offered Hitzig the lucrative role of courier pilot. Curious about the experience of piloting an interstellar craft, Hitzig agreed. He was assigned the ESS-Eagle III, a black colonial dropship.

Hitzig's first action as a UDF pilot was to draft an appeal, requesting to paint the ship red. When his appeal was denied, he decided to paint it anyway, earning his first career writeup. This would prove to be the first of many, as Hitzig continued to modify his dropship further and further over time until it was nearly unrecognizable from most other ESS ships of the Eagle designation. Feeling the uniqueness of his plane required a unique name to suit it, Hitzig decided to rename his dropship--once again, against regulation--to the ESS-Zirkus. This was a direct reference to JG I, the famous aeroplane fighter wing led by his hero Richthofen. The German nickname for JG I was *Der Fliegende Zirkus*, meaning "the Flying Circus."

Initially, he served as a postal courier to C-A53 and C-B15, but this proved a waste of his skills, so he was instead reassigned to courier postings on multiple frontier colonies. It was during this period that he married Franziska Selig, though they would later divorce. His most notable posting was the final post of his career, C-E29. In 2122, he was present for the C-E29 Incident. and proved an invaluable asset to the ESET team, whose own pilot had died during their crash-landing.

### Difficulties with Other Pilots

Hitzig's eccentricity and admiration for the Red Baron was noted by fellow UDF pilots, who often mocked Hitzig because his admiration for Richthofen bordered on obsession. Though a highly competent pilot, most of his peers avoided copiloting with Hitzig due to his eccentricity and laissez-faire regard for regulation. Though Hitzig took being seen as a maverick in stride, he wasn't seen as harmlessly rebellious by his peers: he was seen as a loose cannon. He quickly found himself isolated from other pilots, who began to refuse joint runs with Hitzig, believing he would be a liability to fly with. Being ostracized by his fellow pilots embittered Hitzig, who stubbornly grew only more antisocial and curt with others as a result. It was also during this time that his infant child died, which in turn soon led to his divorce. Naturally, such events only made Hitzig even more callous.

## ISRAD (2123-2126)

After learning more about the true purpose of C-E29, Hitzig was particularly frustrated by the circumstances involving the crash of the ESS-Falcon, which directly led to the death of an Operative. The engineering knowledge from his parents and a lifetime around aircrafts allowed him a unique insight into both the pilot and designer's perspectives, and why the crash resulted in King's death. He began to vocally champion the cause of switching from modern, hyper-efficient electronically-injected to old-fashioned mechanically-injected systems on all future ESET dropships. The change, Hitzig argued, would prevent electronic interference from destabilizing engines.

Apparently, Hitzig made enough of a fuss that he soon drew the attention of the Director of ISRAD, the Interstellar Research and Development team. Hitzig was invited to make his case before an open forum of ISRAD's finest engineers, which he eagerly accepted. Hitzig was able to defend all of his proposed changes, due to mechanically-injected fuel systems requiring significantly less resources to construct and maintain, in addition to the primary benefits regarding EMPs. The engineers of ISRAD were particularly impressed by Hitzig's complex knowledge of aviation, as both an engineer and a pilot. After a unanimous vote to implement Hitzig's proposed changes, the Director of ISRAD invited Hitzig himself to personally oversee the redesigns.

Having grown dissatisfied with his tenure as a courier pilot, due in large part to his isolation from other pilots, Hitzig agreed to transfer to ISRAD. During his tenure with the team, the design and robots skills that he learned from his parents came in especially handy. After the fuel injector redesigns were completed, Hitzig began to work on R&D projects following his own interests.

Cooperating with fellow ISRAD engineer Maxime Allard, with whom Hitzig had developed a close rapport, they created two prototype surveillance drones; a comm-linked surveillance aero-drone and an identical but silent-running variant. The standard aero-drone was painted red and codenamed Project Manfred, after the Red Baron. The silent-running aero-drone was painted black and codenamed Project Lothar, after the Red Baron's younger brother and fellow pilot Lothar von Richthofen. Both aero-drones were given the official designations of AD-M and AD-L, respectively, which led to them also being also called Adam and Adal by their two creators.

## REACT Operative (2127-Present)

Both Hitzig and Allard were recruited to REACT in 2127, with UDF seeing great potential in AD-M and AD-L, but lacking Operatives with knowledge of the new technology. Naturally, recruiting the creators was the most logical decision.

## Operative Loadout

Depending on the game, Ace uses a slightly different loadout, due to the different systems.

### ESET Operative

Stranded uses the standard Fate Core system.

#### ASPECTS

* **High Concept:** Ace Pilot
* **Trouble:** Antisocial
* **Other:** Fan of the Red Baron
* **Other:** Noncommittal
* **Other:** Divorced

#### STRESSES

* Physical: ●●●○○
* Mental: ●●●●○

#### SKILLS

 Crafts
 Rapport
 Athletics
 Fight
 Shoot
 Drive
 Empathy
 Lore
 Notice

#### STUNTS

* **Flying Ace:** You are a skilled combat pilot, and as such may roll Drive instead of Shoot to attack in a dogfight.
* **Plane Mechanic:** You may roll Drive instead of Crafts when working on a vehicle capable of flight.
* **Fly By Night:** Whether in dead of night or during a storm, your piloting skills remain true. You never face increased difficulties due to environmental factors (darkness, weather) when flying. This does not protect your plane from taking damage from the environment – but your skill remains unreduced.

Refresh: 3

#### WEAPONS

1. **Primary Weapon:** Revolver (6 shots)
2. **Secondary Weapon:** None

### REACT Operative

All further games use the Fate Accelerated system. The general skills, stunts, and aspects have been adapted to suit the FAE system while retaining the same general functionality.

Ace's role is Defense.

#### ASPECTS

* **High Concept:** Drone Specialist
* **Trouble:** Antisocial
* **Other:** Fan of the Red Baron
* **Other:** Flying Ace
* **Other:** Divorced

#### APPROACHES

 Clever
 Flashy
 Quick
 Sneaky
 Forceful

#### STUNTS

* **Plane Mechanic:** You may roll Drive instead of Crafts when working on a vehicle capable of flight.
* **Quick on the Draw:** You can use Careful instead of Quick to determine turn order in any physical conflict where shooting quickly would be useful.
* **Strength from Determination:** Use Flashy instead of Forceful on any overcome rolls representing feats of strength.

Refresh: 4

### LOADOUT

 Sidearm Pistol
 AD-M Drone\*
(20ft)
 AD-L Drone\*
(35ft)

Though Ace can only equip one drone per loadout, he can use either.

## Gallery

Ace as he appeared during the C-E29 Incident.Ace in his REACT uniform.