Spensa Nightshade

Spensa Nightshade
por Charlie Bowater
Familia Padres Zeen & mother Ancestros Becca Nightshade, great-grandfather, great-grandmother
Capacidades	Citónicas
Títulos	Callsign: Spin, Hero of Alta Second
Apodos	Alanik
Oficio	Piloto
Grupo	DDF, Skyward Flight, Flowers of Night's Last Kiss Flight
Mundo natal	Detritus
Universo	Cytoverse

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“When this is done, Jerkface, I will hold your tarnished and melted pin up as my trophy as your smoldering ship marks your pyre, and the final resting place of your crushed and broken corpse! ”

—Spensa to Jorgen Weight

Spensa Nightshade, callsign Spin, is a Defiant Defense Force pilot from Detritus, the daughter of Zeen Nightshade, and a cytonic.

Appearance and Personality

por taratjah

Para more images, ver /Gallery.

“I’m not exactly a ‘there are nuances to this situation’ type of girl. I’m more of an ‘if its still moving, you didn’t use enough ammunition’ type of girl. ”

—Spensa

Spensa is nearly twenty years old with brown hair and is 151 centimeters tall (4'11" in feet). Spensa's favorite color is blood red and she prefers simple but flavorful food.

As the daughter of "The Coward of Alta", Spensa was looked down upon by her fellow Defiants. As a result, she acted fiercely when confronted by others and used intimidation as a defense mechanism. Spensa would often lash out at people who threatened her and even those who didn't, using a wide and somewhat graphic vocabulary inspired by stories of glorious heroes from Earth that her grandmother told her. She was certain that her father was not a coward like everyone thought, and she was bent on proving it by seeming as 'brave' as possible. However, she believed that bravery was about being the most daring warrior and to never show fear. She thought that anything less would make her a coward and prove that the DDF had been right about her father.

In her time in Flight School, she came to realize that being brave wasn't as simple as she thought. People she respected, like Cobb, were guilty of doing things that she would consider cowardly if she did them herself. As she loses flightmates to the Krell, she realizes that true bravery isn't just about sounding heroic and what other people think. Instead, bravery is about her own confidence in herself and knowing that, no matter what anyone else said, she was not a coward. She becomes embarrassed by how she acted before and realizes that it's okay to get scared sometimes.

Attributes and Abilities

Spensa is an excellent pilot and also has cytonic abilities. So far, she has demonstrated the ability to intercept the Krell's faster-than-light communications with their drones and to react to those orders faster than would be humanly possible. On one occasion, she was also able to activate M-Bot's cytonic hyperdrive.

Spensa lived in the Glorious Rises of Industry with her mother and grandmother, who she referred to as Gran-Gran. Gran-Gran's mother was the "engines" of Defiant, enabling its faster-than-light travel.

History

Spensa went to school and did reasonably well, but occasionally skipped classes to go exploring or hunting. She skipped class on the last day of school when a sanitation worker was giving a presentation. She accidentally found an old ship in a cavern, seemingly high tech and unfamiliar in appearance. She was told she could take the pilots exam, and was confident in her knoweldcdge. To her horror, she found her pilots test to be all questions about city sanitation. she failed the test, having skipped class that day. She sat in the exam room for hours, then picked up a blank regular test and filled it out. Cobb, her father’s old wingmate and a First Citizen, entered the room and looked over her test. He asked her some questions, and told her to show up at flight school the next day.

Flight School

“The rules of this classroom are simple. I teach. You learn. Anything that interferes with that is likely to get one of you killed.”

—Cobb

Spensa went to Flight School the next day, befriending a girl named Kimmalyn. The training room had several flight simulators, and Spensa met the rest of her flight. She instantly disliked Jorgen, who is rich and priveleged. Cobb made Jorgen flight leader, which outraged Spensa. The cadets spent hours practicing takeoff and landing in the simulators, and afterward an alarm went off. They were called to head towards the battle because Nightmare Flight was down in the caverns. They weren’t supposed to engage in combat, just hover near the city and look threatening. But when a Krell ship went towards the city they engaged. Kimmalyn managed to snipe the Krell fighter and destroy it, and Skyward Flight went back to the surface.

por Ralf Melevo

Admiral Ironside despised Spensa and thought her to be a coward like her father, and forbade her from sleeping or eating at the Flight School. Spensa was forced to sleep in her cave with the broken ship, and to make the long commute between there and the Flight School. Because she was forbidden to eat at the Flight School, Spensa was forced to hunt for rats and mushrooms in the caves to feed herself. Still, she didn’t complain, knowing that Admiral Ironsides would take any chance to see her ejected. She tried to connect power to the ship, but her light line’s power matrix was too weak. When she arrived at flight school the next day, she found that her friend Rig was quitting. Spensa and the other cadets spent hours upon hours practicing maneuvers before letting them try destructors, as well as teaching them to use light-lances. Spensa also discovered that her helmet contains sensors to monitor her bioreadings. They engaged in a competition with their light-lances organized by Cobb, in which Spensa and Jorgen competed fiercely. They grew angry at each other after Jorgen revealed that Spensa’s father is Chaser, the infamous coward. At the end of the day, Spensa stole the power matrix from Jorgen’s hovercar.

The next day Spensa hooked up the power matrix to the ship, and it powered up. She discovered that the ship could talk, as it harbored a very advanced AI. It introduced itself as M-Bot, a long-distance stealth ship. M-Bot’s data banks had been mostly corrupted, but he knew his last orders, which were to lie low and not get into any fights. Most of his systems were offline, with only a few like communications still working. Since Spensa couldn’t fix M-Bot on her own, she recruited Rig to help her, who was still deciding on what he wanted to do, now that he wouldn’t be a pilot. He was amazed and energized by the sight of the ship, and decided to get a job at the Engineering Corps so he could help fix it.

“Sometimes I don’t feel like a teacher. I feel like a munitions man, reloading artillery. I stuff you into a chamber, fire you into the sky, then grab another shell…”

—Cobb after Morningtide’s and Bim’s deaths.

When Spensa was in her cave, M-Bot’s sensors picked up a large force of Krell inbound, and Spensa hurried back to Alta Base. She arrived late to the battle, and joined the dogfight with the Krell. Morningtide died in battle, and soon after Bim got shot down as well. Spensa and the others in Skyward Flight were still in shock the next day, and Cobb pushed them hard in training to keep them busy. Spensa later found Cobb watching a replay of the battle, and learned that Cobb had been the one to shoot down her father. He retold the story of her father’s cowardice, but his attitude hinted that the official story is false.

Once Skyward Flight was proficient with the light-lances, Cobb had them move on to learning how to use the IMP. During the course of their training, M-Bot created a private communication to Spensa using his abilities as a stealth and reconnaissance ship, and allowing them to talk privately during the course of her training. Tensions between Jorgen and Spensa grew, until Spensa grew so enraged that she attacked him, shocking the other cadets. Spensa quickly fled, dreading her imminent expulsion as soon as Jorgen told Ironsides of her actions. She eventually went to Ironside’s office to confess, but then found that Jorgen didn’t turn her in. Jorgen told her that they couldn’t afford to lose another pilot, and apologized. After that, Spensa’s view of Jorgen changed, realizing that he was always putting the flight before himself.

Spensa participated in a large skirmish over a large falling shipyard, which was home to many large sources of acclivity stone. In the course of the battle, two of Nedd’s brothers from Nightmare Flight died. The next day after flight training, Kimmalyn pulled Spensa into a hallway, then took her to the girls dorm, where the rest of the girls waited with stolen food for Spensa. They hung out all night, talking and eating. They had a great time, and Spensa enjoyed the acceptance as they bonded.

With Spensa’s help, Rig managed to get some of M-Bot’s basic functions to work, and Spensa used her light lance to open up the cavern ceiling. She flew M-Bot out into the open, and was amazed at how incredibly sensitive and incredible the flight was, even though M-Bot didn’t have a booster. At training, they practiced defending against lifebusters, using a modified recording of a previous battle. Spensa realized that the DDF must have the recording of the true Battle of Alta hidden away somewhere. A large force of Krell came down through the platforms, and Skyward Flight was called into battle again. During the course of the battle Hurl’s shield was overwhelmed and her ship was severely damaged. She went into an out of control descent, and was supposed to eject per Cobb’s instructions. She refused to be a “coward” however, refusing to eject and crashing. After the battle, Skyward Flight was given mandatory leave, and Kimmalyn quit Flight School. Spensa found out where Hurl crashed, and decided to go give Hurl a proper pilot’s funeral. Jorgen joined her, recovering Hurl’s pilot pin and giving her a short funeral. Spensa took the booster from Hurl’s ship, and Jorgen figured out that she is building a starship.

por cccrystalclear

Spensa asked Cobb about the old battle recordings the next day, and he gave her his authorization code to access them. On her way back to M-Bot after getting the recording, FM brought Spensa to a restaurant with some members and former members of the flight. Spensa found the food to be amazing, since she had been eating rat meat and mushrooms her whole life. Afterward, Spensa went to M-Bot, who told her he could show her the battle using his holoprojectors. Spensa watched the battle, and saw her father break off from the flgiht and fly up through a hole in the debris belt, saying that he could hear the stars. When he came back, saying that he would kill everyone. Chaser fired on his own flight mates, and Cobb shot him down. Shocked, Spensa spent an entire day in M-Bot’s cockpit, trying to process the information. Cobb told her the next day that if she ever saw “the eyes” or could hear the stars, she should tell him immediately. Spensa had seen the eyes before, but didn’t tell Cobb for fear she would no longer be allowed to fly. After the flight school doctor had been tipped off about Spensa’s living condition by Cobb, Spensa was given permission to stay and eat at the Flight School with the rest of Skyward Flight.

“Then those pinpricks opened. A million white eyes, like stars, all turning directly on me. Focusing on me. Seeing me.”

—Spensa seeing the eyes

With the booster installed, Rig finally had M-Bot ready to fly at full capacity, though some of his advanced features were still inoperative, like his cytonic hyperdrive. Spensa took him out for a flight, amazed at his incredible speed and GravCap capability. M-Bot projected a holographic battle onto her windshield, providing a realistic simulation, and she had him do the Battle of Alta. She noticed that her father almost seems to anticipate the Krell’s movements, acting just before they do. She heard the stars singing, and suddenly the cockpit went black, and Spensa saw millions of white pinprick eyes focusing on her. She screamed for M-Bot to turn it off, but he said that he didn’t project what she described. M-Bot feared that Spensa might make him participate in battle against his original pilot’s orders, and so powered down to wait for his pilot to return.

Spensa visited her grandmother, who told her that their family had been the engines of the ship Defiant. They could hear the stars and power the ship to far away places. Gran-Gran thought of Spensa’s ability as a gift, not a curse. When Skyward Flight was out scouting, when a large chunk of valuable debris fell along with a large swarm of Krell. They engaged, and during the course of the battle Spensa was shot down. Her ship began to go down, and she reluctantly ejected, blacking out in the process. She woke up on the ground, and Admiral Ironsides dismissed her from the flight school for ejecting. This left Skyward Flight with only two graduating members, FM and Jorgen. Spensa attended their graduation ceremony, filled with conflicting emotions. Afterward she went to a restaurant with the other of her flight, and listen to a radio as a huge contingent of Krell, a full hundred of them, are making an attack on Alta. A bomber flew in, but was shot down. The anti-aircraft emplacements were damaged, and a force of Krell flew towards the weak point. Spensa realized that there was still one ship on Alta Base she could use.

The Battle of Alta Second

Spensa got permission from the ground crew to use Arturo’s broken down ship, who’s shield system was inoperative. She took off anyway, and announced her arrival on the flightleader channel. She spotted a second bomber, and tried to take it out. It was guarded by ace pilots, and her destructors became damaged. She planned to ram the bomber as it grew close to the death zone, but her acclivity ring failed and she fell into a dive. She crashed, but survives. Cobb arrived, flying M-Bot, who had re-written his programming to accept Spensa as his pilot. She entered M-Bot and flew after the bomber. After a brief dogfight, she heard a command sent to make the bomb detonate in one hundred seconds. She had Kimmalyn shoot the bomber’s clamps, releasing the lifebuster. Spensa grabbed the lifebuster with her light-lance and flew away from Alta at full speed, bomb towed behind her. Right as the countdown reached its end, M-Bot noted with surprise that the cytonic hyperdrive was online. Spensa engaged her cytonic abilities, teleporting her and M-Bot out of the explosion.

por Mikaela Bell

Spensa entered the place of the eyes, and they focused on her. She jolted back into M-Bot’s cockpit, and he reported that the cytonic hyperdrive was now offline again. She found that she was one hundred kilometers away from the blast site, and that almost no time had passed. Spensa called Alta Base, and heard cheering. Ironsides told her to return to base and that she’ll pardon Chaser, but Spensa saw a hole in the debris belt. She flew up through it, where she discovered that the belt was a series of organized defense platforms. She saw a large space station beyond them, and could hear the Krell communication. They tried to overwrite her vision like they tried with her father, but M-Bot jammed the signal and kept her safe. M-Bot translated some Krell communications, as well as downloading some of their data. He discovered that the Krell are effectively there prison guards, keeping the humans contained on Detritus.

Relationships

Jorgen Weight

“You are amazing ”

—Jorgen Weight to Spensa

Jorgen is Spensa's boyfriend. They originally got off on a bad foot, due to Jorgen's being admitted into flightschool without completing the admission test and his ordering Skyward Flight around prior to being made flightleader. As a result, she nicknames him "Jerkface", which later becomes his callsign, much to his chagrin. Jorgen also outs Spensa as being the daughter of Zeen Nightshade, The Coward of Alta, after Spensa bests him during flight practice. In retaliation, she steals his car's power matrix. The animosity in their relationship reaches a peak when they get into a fight which ends in Spensa physically attacking Jorgen. Spensa expects Jorgen to report her, but instead he tells her that he needs every pilot on the flight, even her. After Hurl's death, Jorgen helps Spensa give her a pilot's burial and they discuss how the both of them live in their parent's shadows. Jorgen also allows Spensa to steal parts from Hurl's ship and encourages her to build her own ship so that she can fly and be Defiant. Later on, they talk about the deaths of their flightmates and hug. . Spensa also confides in Jorgen about her and her father's "defect", and he calls her amazing and reassures her that he still wants her on his flight. Both of them, along with the rest of the Skyward Flight fly together in the Battle of Alta Second.

They are described by FM as "drooling over each other since before we left Alta"

Jorgen later tells Spensa off for her recklessness and helps her vocalise her thoughts and why she pushed herself so hard. Spensa then notes that his being an embodiment of the order, unlike her, made it difficult for them to begin a romantic relationship.. After Alanik crash lands on Detritus, Spensa discusses infiltrating Starsight with Jorgen. He helps by walking her through the practical aspects of her plan and encouraging her to go, telling her he trusts her, afterwhich they kiss.

Trivia

• Spensa's race was intentionally left ambiguous.
• The first ideas for her character were developed in 2012.
• If she was a Knight Radiant, she would most likely be a Dustbringer, "with small arguments for Stoneward, Skybreaker, or Edgedancer."
• Spensa would find a lot of modern-day foods to be overwhelming.

Notes

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