Kairalla T'Rez

### Identifying Marks

* Scars from bone-tissue reinforcement surgery down arms and shoulders, supported by titanium-paneling inlaid into the clavicles.
* Blotched scarring around the left-eye, caused by a shrapnel wound.

## OOC Info

### Status

Active

**Kairalla T'Rez** is a member of the Council Recovery Corps and a former GUARDIAN Operative and an asari Commando. Part of the Armali Snipers order of Commandos, she is one of the youngest to have ever been accepted into their ranks.

## Biography

Kairalla T’Rez came into the galaxy in the early hours of November 25, 2080. She was born to the recently married couple of Kaltana T’Rez, a former soldier for the asari republics, and Larem Yieko, a former gunsmith and sharpshooter for the drell peace forces on Belan. Soon after she was born, the family relocated to a medium sized homestead on the arid, sparsely-populated planet of Kalril, the land granted to them by the hanar for Larem’s exemplary service. This would be the place where Kaira would grow up, her earliest memories consisting of running barefoot through the dunes just to the east of her home. Her mother educated her, filling her head with the militaristic ideals of selflessness, duty, and sacrifice for the betterment of the galaxy. Her father educated her in a much different, far more more interesting way.

Drell, by asari standards, live short lives. Larem was no different. He lived everyday knowing that eventually the hitch he felt with each breath would catch up to him - that eventually he'd die, and leave his daughter and wife behind. He was going to make sure that when he did, he would have imparted all he knew to the little girl. So, starting when Kaira was no older than 35, barely older than a child, he began teaching her to shoot, straight and clear, at any range. A year later, he began teaching her how to make weapons, how to fuse the wiring, bend the mass effect fields to her whims. A few years after that, she was shooting the rifles and pistols she had created herself. During all this time, he also imparted something much more important: his memories, philosophies, and lessons that would shape Kaira for her entire life. The lesson that no matter what your superiors may order, you are responsible for your action. The lesson all people, no matter how bad, have a good side. The lesson that you can make a difference for the galaxy, as her mother said, without signing away your freedom. Each one of his teachings was labeled by number, filed away, and ready to be recalled whenever the situation required.

The last of her father's lessons was the hardest. When Kaira was 50, her father was turning 85, extremely old for a drell. He was nearing the end of his days. One never would have suspected that by looking at him, however. The drell continued his work until the very last days before his death, still tinkering with various weapons on his deathbed. Going without anesthetics or hospital treatment , simply so he could spend his last days with his wife and daughter. He was determined to be the master of his own death. That was his final lesson to his daughter, his final teaching: to never, ever stop. To, as she recalls it, “push, and push, and push, until finally something gives.” He breathed his last breath on January 2nd, 2130, leaving behind nothing physical for his daughter but a small, religious token: a prayer flag to Cyria, the drell goddess of life. It bears a simple message in traditional drell script:

*”Goddess of the sands, may you guide me to your arms so that I might no longer wander.”* His death also left her with another, far more painful lesson. She had thought that he would live forever, that he would always be there for her and her mother. Instead, she was forced to realize that no one belonging to any race other than the asari and the Krogan would be there forever. They would grow old, and they would die, no matter how much she cared for them.

Kaira spent the next 10 years of her life training with renewed tenacity, sharpening her skills with a rifle to a razor edge. By the time she was 60, the minimum age for the asari militaries, she could use her rifle more skillfully than 50-year veterans of the force. In boot camp, this preparation showed. It gave the young asari a chance to wholeheartedly throw herself into her work, to finally use everything she had been taught. In practice, she shattered records in both marksmanship and stratagem, astounding officers and earning herself a recommendation to one of the most prestigious orders of the asari military: the Commandos. More specifically, to the training branch of the Armali Snipers. They were known to her to her as an elite cadre of commandos, who wielded the legendarily-deadly M-98 Widow rifle to support their peers, with many stationed aboard their own frigate; the ARS Arlaine.

Her training began on August 1, 2145. She and a group of more than 100 other selected recruits were set down on a planet, given a set of coordinates, and told to start running. If they didn't make it to their coordinates by the day's end, through the planet's thick forests and swamps, they would be eliminated from the program. Suffice it to say, tests like these were efficient at culling the herd, and there would be *plenty* of them over the 35-year training period. Topics covered in their training ranged many fields, from lessons over the physics and trigonometry of a projectile, to simple, brutal tests of biotic endurance.

The Armali order was different from every other asari warrior order. Whereas the huntresses and justicars put emphasis on solo work, Armalis are taught that the best results are found in a pair: a sniper, and a spotter. All through training, this point was emphasized. Pairings became sisters, and it wasn't uncommon for them to develop romantic connections. That was why it was so unfortunate that in the final year of training, Kaira’s spotter washed out, and at the end of it, only the young sharpshooter and two of her fellow trainees remained. She turned 100 only days before she received her rite of passage, the augmentations that would define the rest of her military career. She was the second youngest asari ever welcomed into the Armali order, the youngest ever of course being her new CO: Polgara Bel’Garis, the now 375 year-old commander of the Armali Snipers. She was a legendary figure song the military, the kind of person a young asari would have an action figure of. Her virtues were drilled into the minds of the recruits: honor, unwavering discipline, loyalty to the republic. Kaira had looked up to her for the entirety of her training, which made the sniper all the more happy when her CO approached her only a few days after her Rite: she needed a new partner, her former having left the order for reasons the elder sniper wouldn't specify. She said she saw potential in her, potential to do great things, to go beyond the asari. Kaira accepted the offer immediately, relishing the idea of spotting and sniping with a legend.

Pol, as she liked to be called, was much different than all of the comics and trading cards had said. Instead of working with a stoic, no-nonsense commander, as Kaira thought she would, the asari found herself working alongside someone much different. The CO was friendly, laid-back, caring, the polar opposite of her common portrayal. This fact was most heavily reflected in her opinion of the Republics: she was completely disillusioned. She felt that the asari needed to take a more direct role in the Galaxy, that they needed to step out from behind the shadow of the Council (whom she thoroughly believed to be corrupt) and work directly for the greater good of the Galaxy. These were opinions that she openly voiced to Kaira, and her only, during their long sojourns on mission, in which they were the only friendly souls for miles. She grew to respect her CO immensely in their 6 years of working together, adopting similar views in relation to the politics of the asari. She hoped, for a time, that their relationship might have grown deeper than simply partners.

This was a vision that would never come true, as in January 2186, Polgara went AWOL, disappearing into the Terminus Systems with no warning or explanation. During her months of absence, Kaira grew more disenfranchised with the asari, especially following their revilement of GUARDIAN’s Declaration of Independence, an organization she had grown to admire. Her skepticism finally came to a head in September, when Pol made a brief, but momentous appearance. Kaira had been on shore leave at her apartment on Illium, when she received a knock at her door. It was her CO, who had come, it seemed, to give her a brief, urgent message and request: leave the asari. Join Guardian. Pol had spent time in the Terminus systems; she saw how bad things were getting. Something needed to change, and the asari weren't going to make it happen. People like Kaira were the ones who needed to force the change.

With that, she left without a trace. Kaira followed a month after, taking nothing from the ship but a set of Asharu plate and a Widow rifle, setting to follow the request her friend had given her, and the advice her father had spoken a long time before. She had the potential, and she had the training. Now it was up to her to do something with it.

Her first action upon leaving was to visit her homeworld, and her mother, who was nearing the end of her matron years. She thought that she needed to explain herself to Kaltana, to justify her actions; but, little did she know, her mother was already in her corner. It wasn’t reconciliation -that would take years, and growth on both their parts- but it *was* support from the only family Kaira had left. That was enough. From Altakril, Kaira went on to the Utopia system, to Haven...and then to Asgard, GUARDIAN’s training station, as a part of their groundbreaking Elite class. There, she found herself immersed in an environment not unlike bootcamp with the Armali; surrounded by warriors, diplomats, and celebrities, she was expected to prove herself, to present her own merit. That she did; and so much more. Kaira prospered on Asgard, made friends that would last a lifetime -or, at least she would remember them for *her* lifetime- and proved to be one of the standouts of the class, with the respect and friendship of her instructor, and many of those around her.

And then, the station was destroyed. In a sweeping attack, almost all of GUARDIAN’s military infrastructure was annihalated in a simultaneous series of bombings, targetting their ships, their colony, and their personnel. Kaira, and most of her class, survived by the barest margin...but their instructor, and her friend, Brunyllyn, wasn’t so lucky. As they watched, he suffocated in the vacuum...and he wouldn’t be the last friend and fellow soldier to die by her side.

Assigned to the Providence following the attacks, Kaira immediately launched into the galaxy’s newest, and greatest, war; the campaign against the Reapers. She crafted weaponry, secured valuable technology, and eliminated some of the worst threats of the war, all several times over. Her confidence in GUARDIAN sustained her, along with the support of her friends...but before long, to her horror and grief, even those began to dwindle. Kaerra, her XO, was killed before her eyes. Julia went down in a firefight not long after. Nic, Kreeg, Barbara, Faze; just about every single operative that she knew either left GUARDIAN, or was killed. That left Kaira alone, for the most part; a period of her life which she still prefers not to think about, under the thumb of a commanding officer who was cruel and callous, and an XO who was blatantly abusive. With no companions to vent her energy with, everything was devoted to the war, to her weaponry, and to her missions; she went days without rest, without a break in her efforts. Even her smile began to fade. It was her way -unhealthy as it was- to cope with the slow death of galactic civilization.

It was a combination of two events that snapped her out of this haze, that inspired her to truly live again. The first was the death of Polgara, her close friend, and mentor, at the hands of the Reapers. While infiltrating a Reaper death-camp, intent of finding a “relay-core” -which would ultimately lead GUARDIAN, and the rest of the galaxy, to the OMega 4 relay- Kaira came across her former CO within the bowels of the Reaper facility. Polgara had been captured by the monsters, after months of fighting, and tortured relentlessly. But, she hadn’t broken, or given in to indoctrination. Even on the verge of death, she still smiled upon seeing Kaira. Held in her protege’s arms, Pol gave her last words, telling the young asari not to mourn; ordering her to fight, and live, before finally saying that she was proud of her. It was devastating; but, as such things usually do, it helped her grow. Polgara had lived her life the way that she had wanted to, and had died on her own terms, in the arms of someone she cared for; she had taken the Reapers, and everything they stood for, in stride. From that moment on, Kaira did her best to imitate her friend’s manner; she tried to live with the Reapers, to make sure that what might have been her final months weren’t totally without meaning. She sought after her friends as they returned to GUARDIAN, visited Phoebe Marchand when she was recovered from Cerberus custody, and made efforts to connect to her new crew. When it came time to fight at the Omega 4 Relay, she was ready to serve behind Barbara Cortez, her true commander; to save the galaxy.

And there, she encountered her second perspective altering event; her own death. Or, at least, what was *almost* her death. Onboard the Providence, a piece of blast-shrapnel took the young woman’s head from her shoulders. One inch more to the right was all it would have taken. Instead, it destroyed her left eye; leaving her quite literally with a new perspective on life, and how she lived it. Although she survived the battle, and went on to recover fully, it was impossible to shake off just how close death had been, and just how bitter her own death would be. There was so much that she still hadn’t done yet, so much that she had never experienced. If that piece of shrapnel had gone through her brain, she would never even get the chance to try it all.

From then on, she resolved herself; to see the galaxy. To live her life the *way* that an asari maiden was supposed to. Returning to the decimated Asari Commandos, and then to her friend Barbara, a newly minted Spectre, she refused to shy away from the things that she once might have. And from that, she grew; emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. She matured into the beginnings of a real leader.

Now, with the CRC, there is no telling where she might go, the friends that she might make...or meet again. All of it is up in the air, ready for her to take the targets as they come; exactly the way that she prefers it.

## Personality

In many ways, Kaira is the very image of your average asari maiden. In others...not so much. She is hyper, happy-go-lucky, and very aware that she is still young, with 900+ years still ahead of her. This manifests in a generally kind, spunky attitude that emanates off of her wherever she goes, except while on a mission where she manages to keep some semblance of professionalism. Her sense of humor isn't the most refined, and can even be considered juvenile, but that’s just another part of the appeal; after all, who needs high-brow humor at the end of the day? This is not to say that she is unprofessional; it is important to remember that Kaira is very, *very* highly trained, and as such can maintain discipline when required of her. This trait only grew after the Reaper war, turning her into some-semblance of an exemplary officer...when she wasn’t given an opportunity to goof around, of course.

Kaira is, unfortunately, very naive, genuinely believing that there is good in everyone and everything, and as such is extremely trusting. Despite this, Kaira is tough to manipulate: she has a good sense of when someone is coercing her to do something for ill reasons. In one sentence; despite her naievety, she is *not* a pushover. She is simply a bad judge of character and will fight loyally for her “friends”, no matter how unkind or toxic. This does not extend however, to those that she has been ordered to kill; whenever she sees a name and a face pass through her file to be targeted, she is well aware of the things that just have been done to require the attention of an Armani Sniper. It is blatant hypocrisy, of course, to firmly maintain that there is good in everyone, and that everyone can change, while also serving as a highly efficient killer, whether in single target operations, or full-fledged firefights. She finds excuses, of course; that her targets are a danger to those around them, that they might have hurt or killed her or her spotter...but that doesn’t account for the fact that she has defended some in the past with those exact characteristics. It is a serious, fatal flaw; one that could cause serious emotional turmoil, if brought up. There are some things to Kaira just doesn’t want to think about.

Her youth also manifests in many obvious ways, such as her childish fascination with huntresses and their swords, Although, this obsession has diminished slightly now that she had joined a warrior-order just as exclusive as the ranks of the Commandos. One could call her a closet-nerd, a fact proven by her former participation in Galaxy of Fantasy and Asari Heroes, though she does her absolute best to hide it from anyone but the closest friends.

Kaira also inherited many genetic characteristics from her drell father. Aside from the obvious physical benefits of flexibility and agility, she inherited a portion of the amphibious race’s most unique traits: a near perfect memory. While in no way close to the widietic nature of a Drell’s memory, she can easily recall details from events many years before, and often does such when remembering her father’s teaching.

There are two traits that are not easily discernible from an outsider’s view of Kaira. The first and foremost is that she is extremely stubborn, and has even been described as iron-willed. If she misses her target with her first shot, any observer can be sure that she'll continue to pursue them with unwavering gusto. However, this trait can often make her seem obstinate, or even single-minded, when pursuing a target. Instead of looking for an alternative path to her objective, she will simply throw herself at an obstacle until her plan is accomplished.

After joining GUARDIAN, fighting extra-dimensional threats across the galaxy, assisting in the destruction of a full-fledged Reaper, and standing on the frontlines of the Reaper War, Kaira has matured. She witnessed friends die; several of them, and some of those in brutal, horrifying fashion. She lost Polgara, a woman that she loved and admired as one of the best friends and mentors of her life. She herself was nearly killed; on Asgard, on Terra Nova, and on the Providence, where she lost her left eye, replaced by a cybernetic copy. From that, she gained new perspective, mainly on death, and the brevity of life. Before the war, Kaira had never been drunk. She’d never been to a real party, never gone clubbing, never had any of the experiences that usually defined the life of someone her age. Now, knowing just how *short* her life could be, she’s not willing to waste her years; she’s begun to grow more comfortable with her youth, and *herself* as a separate entity from her work. Whether or not that new maturity will effect her long-standing phobia of emotional and physical intimacy is yet to be seen. Before, even when she wanted to, she had never allowed herself to grow that close to another person; she feared the moment when they would die of age, of disease, while she had centuries ahead of her, without them. She couldn’t fathom how other asari managed to simply *live* with it. Now…perhaps her understanding has grown? Or, perhaps...not.

### Exceptional Skills

* **Not your average deadeye** - It is perhaps an understatement to simply say that Kaira is a very good shot. Trained in the fashion of the Armali snipers, and with recoil-reducing cybernetic modifications to fit the bill, many of her feats of marksmanship could be considered exceptional; especially for one so young, though her decades of early training help in that regard. Her ability to work feats of biotic mobility into her shooting, and her unerring accuracy, makes her an unpredictable, dangerous opponent; thankfully, she has a *very* accepting good side. Already, many of her elders view her as having incredible potential in her field; for one so young, there is no telling how she may grow, when she gets to be Polgara’s age.
* **Artiste de la Mort** - Kaira is skilled in more than just gunplay, of course; she’s also great at making the guns that go into gunplay. Taught by her father, a professional weaponsmith for the Hanar Illuminate Primacy. Rather than designing and creating simple utilitarian pieces, however, she prefers to put an artistic flare on each weapon she makes; her designs are exotic, aesthetically sleek, and generally, effective, if limited in their productivity.
* **Unforgettable** - Kaira has an astounding, almost photographic memory, something that is both a great blessing, and a curse. It makes her designs better, helps her in combat and in strategy, and ensures that she remembers *every* Galaxy of Fantasy Class-type and Asari-Heroes trading card that she’s ever seen. But, it’s not a selective ability; she remembers just about everything, from the pleasant, to the bittersweet, to the downright horrifying...and as a soldier, fighting on the frontlines against the Reapers, she saw plenty of that.

## Physical Description

In simple terms: Kaira is, physically, the definitive young asari. Her facial expressions, her voice, her quirks and habits; every little thing adds up to the image of an asari maiden. She speaks with simplicity and enthusiasm, her tone almost always lighthearted, with a slightly lilting accent gained from her home colony. She carries herself with generally well-contained energy, having learned in boot camp that fidgeting wouldn't get her anywhere. One of her defining physical characteristics is her smile; backed by genuine mirth, affection, and friendliness, her grin is more infectious than a weapon of war, and brighter than a 1000 watt bulb. Even the surliest of her asari comrades could never withstand the look; often, they remarked about her terrifying ability to beam while zeroing in on a target more than a mile away.

But, as one would expect of one her age, Kaira has a laundry list of quirks to iron out. She has a tendency to tap her feet when any kind of music is playing, even humming along when it's an enjoyable tune. When in conversation, her facial expressions bounce from emotion to emotion without any semblance of control, which has lost her quite a few card games with her sisters-in-arms.

The most unique, and noticeable, features of Kaira’s appearance are her obvious cybernetic augmentations. There are deep, uniform scars down the length of her arms and shoulder-blade, where nano-titanium supports were grafted into her bones to provide structural rigidity that would hold against the recoil of her rifle. Even more obvious are the metallic panels on each side of her collar, constructs welded onto her completely artificial collarbone to provide mechanical resistance to the recoil through the use of pistons and microscopic mass effect driven resistors. Externally these constructs manifest as uniform metal panels, each about the size of a playing card, jutting just a millimeter out above the surface of her skin. Kaira has adjusted well to these additions, losing every trace of self-consciousness related to them, even enjoying the explanation of their function that she has given innumerable times. In addition, during the battle of the Saharbarik system, Kaira lost her left eye fighting boarding-Reaper forces. Soon after galactic peace was declared, she obtained a replacement cybernetic, completely identical to the old one, save for the fact that it will never age or develop cataracts, and can change hue with a few taps on her omni-tool, something she finds hilarious.

When in combat she wears Armali Asharu plate armor, comparable in weight and protection-provided to Alliance Apex armor. Her personal set is still painted with snow-camo from her latest outing in the field. Outside of combat, Kaira prefers light, unencumbering clothing; something that won’t get snagged on her paneling, and that she won’t mind getting gun-oil smeared on. Tank-tops, light tunics, and similar garments all make appearances in her wardrobe, although the first of these, introduced to the galaxy in the heady days of her sixties, is without a doubt her favorite.

Kaira’s combat style is very much centered around the nature of both of her weapons: she hits extremely hard, with pinpoint accuracy, optimally from a great distance, using warp and warp ammo to weaken barriers, shields, and armor before-hand. She also practices an ancient asari martial art, from when the race was still in the early stages of the black-powder era, by the name of Taliat Sul. It focuses on stunning one's opponent with vicious biotic-strikes, before disengaging using blink or charge, and executing the disoriented opponent using a rifle or sidearm. Extensive experience in combat, with the Armali, and with GUARDIAN, has sharpened these skills to a razor-edge, and has built upon her knowledge of strategy. But, caught unprepared and at short range, she will still have a tough time; it’s just not a situation in which she prefers to fight.

### Armament

* M-98 Widow Anti-Material Rifle: A white-and-red drell prayer-ribbon is tied around the barrel. The scope has been extensively modified; it can be adjusted to account for 1x to 88x magnification, sacrificing the upper limits of long-range accuracy for adaptability. The glass is also fitted with variable electronic lenses, which can be activated to allow for thermal-identification sighting effective up to 50x magnification, or EM-signature sighting, effective only up to x8 magnification. The barrel is extended and vented to allow for greater exit-elicits and lower kick, and a memory-foam pad has been installed on the stock for comfort. An under-barrel attachment-loop has been added, commonly used in conjunction with a Long-Distance Punch-Hook Line.
* TR-1 Missionary
* Various other armaments

### Abilties

* Biotic Blink
* Warp
* Lash
* Warp-Ammo