Isabel Perez

Isabel is one of the Ballard Constitution's lower-class citizens. Isabel knew from an early age that she didn't want any part of the Constitution's cutthroat academics, preferring a life of adventure and freedom over white-collar science. Given the Constitution's capitalist society, Isabel languished through most of her teenage years just trying to get by, spending her spare cash on Freelancer holovids and Soldier of Fortune e-zines. Her parents were worried she was wasting her life in her fantasy world, but oddly ended up incorrect. Isabel had no love of studying but immersing yourself in a hobby can sometimes have rewards. In Isabel's case she ended up moving from pure fiction to hard nonfiction. She eventually built a working knowledge of just about every major weapon used by Freelancer bands, though it did her little good stuck flipping burgers at a Ballard fast food joint.   After getting fired for threatening a boss, Isabel stowed away on a transport ship leaving Ballard space. She hitchhiked for some time, scrounging what she could and living a life of abject poverty. She spent a year doing odd jobs on a Freelancer-operated station before finally striking up a relationship with a sympathetic freelancer who was rather impressed with her weapons knowledge. The two worked together for some time: he showed her the ropes, she kept him warm in bed, and eventually they developed something of a true partnership. This would be tragically dashed after a few months when they were ambushed investigating an alien derelict. Only she escaped the ship.   It was a bittersweet moment for Isabel. Though she had lost her patron and lover, she'd finally become the independent freelancer she always wanted to be- and was rich with a lot of unique tech. She adapted some of it to create for herself a new weapon, which she calls a railbow- one part crossbow, one part railgun. The rest she found only useful as knickknacks and sold to fund some gene therapy which gave her the ability to sense electromagnetic fields. Unfortunately her ship is falling apart and she lacks the capability to repair it; instead she's been scavenging pieces of it, selling the parts to improve her personal gear and to take on new and more lucrative missions.

Though a citizen of the Ballard Constitution, Isabel wasn't much of a scholarly type. Her education is almost entirely based on her own personal research and her life hitchhiking around the universe.   Notable skills: Ranged Combat [Railbow]; Knowledge [Weaponry]   Secondary skills: Perception [Seventh Sense- Electromagnetics]; Mechanical Engineering [Scavenging]

Isabel has been grounded for some time on Shamble Station, a minor Freelancer shipbreaking station bordering Ballard Constitution, Shung Empire, and Sun Dynasty space. She's been selling off her ship while doing several odd jobs, looking to get the hell off of Shamble Station and moving again.   Last contract: Aside from her minor odd jobs, her last mission was to help deal with a shipbreaker strike. The union boss had incited his men to strike over overtime hours, and the business owner made the mistake of caving too quickly to their demands. This encouraged the boss to begin a second strike for even more concessions, which were roundly rejected. Unfortunately, the strikers commandeered a derelict with operating weapons systems and threatened the station. Isabel and a half-dozen other freelancers were paid to put down the 'strike'- really a rebellion, at this point. While most of her teammates charged the airlocks, Isabel and a computer system specialist donned spacesuits, floated to the ship, and hacked the external sensor pods. The derelict sensors informed the union boss that Shamble Station was sending debris right for the bridge, and so the union boss and his entourage headed to the 'armored' observatory to command the strike from there. Isabel charged up her railbow and shot the boss right through the observatory glass. With their boss dead and their morale in shambles, the strikers quickly gave up to the boarding crew.