Hernandez character sheet Part 2:
Background:
== Background ==
Early-life:
Hernandez was born Carlos Quintana on 14th January 2033 and raised in Tampa, Florida (CAS). An only child, his parents were 2nd generation Colombian immigrants granted CAS citizenship at the time of the Secession in 2032. His parents were owner/operators of a small but generally successful deli-cafe in a predominantly Latino working class neighbourhood. Given the times he lived in, Carlos had an almost idyllic childhood, more common of the 1950’s than the 21st Century experience. Although no scholar, he graduated high-school with relative ease, and excelled at sports. As well as playing both ways in high-school football (wide receiver and cornerback), he ran track and held regional age-related records for the 1500m and steeplechase. His ‘sports jock’ status ensured that he was popular both among his peers and with the chicas. On the day of his graduation he signed up for a 5-year term in the CAS military as an infantry foot-soldier; his parents proclaimed this their proudest moment alongside being awarded citizenship back in ’32.
Military career:
Given his relatively sheltered upbringing, the first year or two in the army were quite an eye-opener for Hernandez. Although he struggled at times in the early days, his natural sporting ability helped see him through basic training, and once established in his unit, he really took to the life. By the time he signed up for a 2nd 5-year term he had a good deal of in-field experience, and had progressed to hold a position as a junior NCO. Signing up for a 2nd term also entitled him to enter the ‘upgrade’ program, gaining some whizz-bang cyber implants. During his final two years of service he was re-assigned as an NCO instructor overseeing basic training of raw recruits. He even achieved his 15-minutes of fame appearing (infrequently) in a syndicated trid show following a recruitment class through their 6-month ‘Boot Camp Training Experience’. Taking advantage of this along with two fellow NCO instructors, they played on this short term public awareness and invested their severance pay into setting-up a security business.
Life in business:
Established in 2061, Severo Security was an almost immediate success. Trading of off their obscure trid fame, at first most of the work they attracted related to bodyguard assignments to Z-list celebrities and wannabes, but over time they managed to establish themselves as serious, if minor player providing anti-piracy services (consultancy as well as personnel) for trans-continental freighters. By 2064 they had nearly 100 contractors on the books, and Carlos had stepped back from ‘active’ service, leading a relatively cushy civilian life, working 9-5 at head-office and progressively shacking up with the various secretaries they would employ in the office. Then came Matrix Crash 2.0 and it all went to drek. Suddenly SINless, no access to any of his personal savings, to top things of, records of ownership for Severo Security were also lost on the wind. Spending months trying to fight the system and claim back what rightfully belonged to them to no avail, the three owners started acting more militantly as their desperation grew. The final straw occurred when a court decision assigned ownership of Severo to Global Marine Security (a minor subsiduary of a business hoovered up by Horizon in the wake of the Matrix Crash and quickly offloaded to Eagle Security). With nothing left to lose, they launched a foolhardy frontal assault on the regional Horizon HQ intent on having their business re-signed over to them by (literally) holding a gun to management’s head. Things didn’t end well, and Carlos was the only one to make it out of the building alive.
That’s when it happened; forced by overwhelming numbers to beat a hasty retreat, a hectic car chase ensued. It was brought to a sudden end when the car Carlos was piloting skidded out on a downtown street and ploughed straight into a young family on the sidewalk.
One of the kids, barely older than a toddler never made it [Big Regret].
Carlos still doesn’t fully understand how he managed to escape pursuit after that. At the crash site, his Horizon pursuers having by this point been led off of their extraterritoriality property were suddenly being engaged by local cop forces responding to the rolling gun fight that had been taking place. Somehow Carlos managed to slip away into the night. Forced to lay low for weeks on end, he eventually had to face facts that his business was lost, and he was now consigned to a SINless existence and flat broke. At the same time he was also trying to come to terms with the loss of his freinds and business partners, as well as the accident - the incident constantly playing over and over again in his mind. Of course he’d taken lives before in service, even earlier that day on the run on Horizon, but this was different.
His only solace was putting a plan of action in place for the future. The system said that Carlos Quintana didn’t exist, so that identity would be no more; he would start life anew. With the assistance of some contacts (ex-employees from his days running Severo Security), he was able to get a deal together that would get him out of CAS territory whereupon he would have to sign on for a 3-year merc contract and work off the cost of a good quality fake ID and the basic kit he would need to do the job. And hence Chip Hernandez was born and the move towards the Shadows began. A 3-year period of squalor fighting in various hell holes around the globe ensued. In the circumstances, he had expected nothing less – there was no way he would have been able to do such a deal with any of the major players like MET2000 or Combat Inc. No, he ended up with Cortes PMC, yip, he had never heard of this two-bucket operation either. Throughout his 3-year contract Hernandez was generally in as much danger from the drunks, chipheads and dumbass morons nominally on his own side as any of the opposition they were up against (often just as much of a rabble). Survival was the name of the game, and that was what he achieved, and all he chooses to recall from his time with Cortes PMC.
Life anew:
Under his new identity of Chip Hernandez, he was able to get back on track(everything was a great physical match with his new SIN, but Chip. Frag! It does his head in – he just goes by ‘Hernandez’). As Hernandez he was able to sign on to better Merc contracts, spending considerable time active in Africa in the late ‘60s and even managing to go up against his old nemesis Horizon by proxy in the ‘70’s with various contracts in and around South America spanning the pre-war shadow- boxing and eventual full blown Amazonia-Aztlan conflict. It was during 2072-3 mostly spent in and around Bogota that he became thoroughly disillusioned with the Merc life; over time he had come to realise that all he was doing was serving the interests of the Mega-corps that he had slowly come to despise for little appropriate reward. After a particularly harrowing encounter when his patrol was captured by opposition forces and subjected to various interrogation techniques including torture using pharmalogicial and magical means [Records on file (as Chip Hernandez)] before being released via prisoner exchange, he knew he had to make changes. Seeing out his contract, he started drinking pretty heavily and associating with various fringe elements in Bogota - they would badge themselves as Neo-Anarchists. Some were well intentioned trying to help the local populace or invoke some sort of change in the system, but many were just fronts for various vigilante groups or neighbourhood gangs.
As cred started to run low, Hernandez had limited options for how to proceed other than return to the Merc life. He managed to eek out a few more months in Bogota picking up ad hoc strong arm or bodyguard type jobs but nothing steady, and the city was becoming a more and more unpleasant place being at the epicentre of a full scale war. Finally Hernandez cut his losses and shipped out back to Cape Town. There he managed to pick up some work back on boats providing anti-piracy security. At first this was limited to local runs up and down the dangerous African coasts, then he finally managed to pick up a better paying gig on a larger vessel pulling trans-continental duty.
Having docked in Seattle, following a long trek from Cape Town via the Panama Canal, the container ship he was currently active on was raided by customs. They must have had some sort of tip off as they headed straight for containers that turned out to be full of illegal immigrants (unbeknownst to Hernandez). Even worse some of the containers had more bodies dead than alive in them. The ship was to be locked down, and everyone interrogated. Not fancying the chances of his fake ID standing up to the sort of scrutiny this might open him up tot, Hernandez jumped ship. The only problem was that he had to leave most of his kit behind during his flight, and what Nuyen he had on him was needed to bribe various dockworkers who assisted his evasion of passport control and customs to get city-side.
Seattle – present
With limited specialist equipment and no money available to him, life in Seattle started off as a real shit sandwich, sleeping in doorways and abandoned buildings and swiping food from market stalls was completely humiliating. Eventually figuring his only way forwards was to become a professional criminal rather than a (terrible) amateur. During his time rolling in Bogota he had found his unit at times working inconjuction withvarious gands or gangers also on the Aztlan payrol. Having spent extensive time all but embedded with the Chulos, he was familiar with a lot of their operational methiods, down to the details of their hand-signals. Tracking them down he made contact with the local branch of the Chulos based out of Puyallup, and talk his way onto the payroll. Yes he was old for a ganger, and couldn’t understand half the slang the kids around him would use all the time, but he did his thing standing over-watch on street corners for chip and drug dealing operations, and enforcing the local neighbourhood protection racket when required. After bailing out one of the gangs lieutenants (Scorpion) who found himself cornered and outnumbered when a chapter of the Ancients had come rolling through Chulos turf looking for trouble, Hernandez started to gain some street cred. Contact was made shortly after this incident by a ‘big fixer in town’ via Scorpion, and a meet was set. Long story short, his new Good Friend Piatek was willing to front a man with his skills the money he would need to get himself properly equipped and back on his feet again as well as introduce him to the real world of the Shadows [In debt]. Three months later, Hernandez knows he has made a deal with the devil, but at least it has enabled him to keep the payments up on the interest and even make a first repayment back on the capital. He thinks he is beginning to find his feet in the Shadows, but with this line of work, it doesn’t necessarily mean that he sleeps well at night.
Contact details:
Good Friend Piatek; Seattle; Fixer (4, 1)
Hernandez is in debt to 'Good Friend' Piatek to the tune of 45,000 Nuyen. Hernandez continues to work off his debt one job at a tme.
David Renwick; Tacoma/Auburn; Gym manager (1, 2)
David Renwick is a shift manager at Max's Ironworks - a gym facility in Tacoma close to the border with Auburn (S 324th Street & Pacific Highway South). Dave is probably Hernandez's only real friend made in Seattle thus far. Hernandez spends an inordinate amount of his time at the Gym, and virtually monopolises use of one of the two rickety old running machines most mornings for a good couple of hours. Both were high school jocks and maintain a keen interest in professional Pigskin and particularly MMA and can spend half the day bantering back and forth around re-runs of bouts or matches running on the gym's trid. Monday Night Football has also become pretty much a regular appointment for the two of them at Jammy Jimmy Reno's Sport bar in Auburn.
Importantly (with Dave's assistance) Hernandez has comandeered three permanent lockers at the gym as part of his membership dues (see lifestyle), being his only stash for gear given the temporary nature of his day-to-day cubicle allocation.
Della Washington; Tacoma/Auburn; Street Vendor (1, 1)
Della has a food truck set-up early every morning on the edge of the car park of the Sea-Tac mall. Close to Max's Ironworks and in sight of the bus terminus, it has become a regular haun for Hernandezt, whether for breakfast, lunch or just a soykaff while sitting on a plastic chair at one of the temporary tables watching the world go by. Over the past few months, Hernandez has got to know Della and her two sons who run the joint (Harvey and James) pretty well; just shooting the breeze during the lulls between service.
Scorpion; Puyallup; Gang lieutenant (Chulos) (2, 2)
Hernandez had to rely on some of his old gang connections to hook up with the Chulos while getting on his feet after being dumped in Seattle. Ended up doing menial drek jobs for the most part, watching corners for dealers, bit of neighbourhood shakedown, etc. Pretty low-level, but got him through his first months on the strret before he made the connection with his 'Good Friend' to move on to 'better' work. During his time as a Chulos associate, he saved Scorpion's hoop when the Ancients came rolling through Chulos turf shooting up the neighbourhood and had him cornered.
Lifestyle notes
The Green River Inn offers a range of regular hotel rooms on the upper levels, and 2 stories of cubicles above the ground floor level. With cash being tight keeping on top of the interest due on his loan, and trying to pay down the capital Hernandez continues to live the cubicle lifestyle for now. It gives him the opportunity to change arrangements overnighjt if necessary, and provides a step up from sleeping in doorways or derelict buildings he was reduced to when he first arrived in Seattle. The cubicles themselves at the Green River are standard fare, but the general servies around the hotel offer a step up from most cubicle establishments. Hernandez used close to a dozen different establishments before settling on the current arrangement (for the moment at any rate).#
Hernandez maintains a monthly membership at Max's Ironworks gym. This is not a place available to crash, but he can be found there most mornings working out, and often hanging out well into the afternoon. The shower facilities are kept cleaner than the communal facilities often are at his cubicle hotel, so he generally prefers to get cleaned up here day-to-day. As part of his membership dues, he has additionally paid up for 3 separate lockers, One is his regular locker with his work out gear, trainers, etc. A second is used to store his bug-out bag. The final locker holds his 'working' backpack; cubicle rental only spans from 1pm - 11am to enable the automatic cleaning systems to do the necessary, and he is not keen on toting articles like grenades and a sub-machine gun around town with him 24/7. This is a handy interim solution until he can get himself improved digs on a more permanent basis.
