Michael Vega Character in Scrapjack Universe | World Anvil

Michael Vega

Michael Vega

My name is Michael Vega... I am a man, not a machine... really, I am still a man...
— Vega, looking in a mirror
 
 
It was a simple job.
 
Captain Zeitlin said it was not much better than a raid on some rogue scientist and his out of the way lab. The guy wasn't supposed to have any defenses, no bodyguards or even some old and busted WarDroids.
 
Supposed to.
 
But the job went to hell right after we got boots on the ground.
 
The target was a Dr. Demeltev Kana. Some disgraced scientist that had worked for Telmark Labs before something happened and the company jettisoned him. He was holed up in some old derelict. A main line ship named the Argo. She was one of the old deep space exploration ships sent out by Core Prime before the Core Wars.
 
But Dr. Kana had more than a busted up old exploration ship and a lab. Turns out he was into cloning, cybernetics, and a whole lot of maldito lunacy.
 
We secured the route between the docking bays, main bridge and engineering. What we found on the bridge should have been a clue to cut our losses and run.
 
The Argo's bridge crew died hard. They were trying to get somewhere but never made it. Most died at their post. Some looked like they killed each other. The captain was in full battle gear, still pressurized. But, for some reason, the only thing inside that suit was a skeleton.
 
Engineering was where it got ugly.
 
Kana had made himself a small squad of... things. Clones, Doc told us during one of our few brief moments to get our breath. Clones with cybernetic "additions". Made them hella nasty.
  Mei Yong Ma Duh Tse Gu Yong sort of nasty.  
I went down not long after the third assault as we were trying to get back to our ship. Myself and three others got separated from Captain Zeitlin, Doc and the others.
 
The rest was a blur.
 
I died. Ugly. Hard.
 
But, then I didn't. It was like a bad nightmare that ran over and over. There was clones, Kana, experiments. Some young lady's voice saying she was sorry in my head and crying a lot.
 
Then I heard Captain Page Zeitlin, yelling at me with that "ride through hell with a snowball" command voice. It brought my to my senses.
 
Only to find out, to save my 'life', I'd been 'digitized' or 'uploaded' into an old droid from the Argo.
 
I'm still working out how to... control myself. I've got my own memories, but... somehow I've got memories of other people. Some of the Argo original crew. It's like I was 'uploaded' with pieces of other people. Parts of personalities.
 
Also, the droid's busted up programming gets in the way, keeps thinking I'm a virus.
 
Well, I've been called worse.
 
Now, I'm traveling with Captain Zeitlin and some Scrapjacks. They have an old WarDroid with them. Of all the things... I get to learn how to 'walk' again (or crawl and fly) in this new body thanks to an old WarDroid.
 
The maldito 'Verse never stops getting weird.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Michael Vega had been human, 5' 9", with a quick smile and quick wit.
 
Since the events aboard the Argo, Michael woke to find 'himself' digitized. His mind, who he was, had been uploaded into an old scout and survey bot from the Argo.
 
The survey bot has the shape of a metallic spider, complete with eight functional limbs. It can crawl over most surfaces, even ceilings, and does possess a repulsor lift and drone rotary wing flying mechanisms.
 
The bot dates from before the Core Wars. Bronze colored outer armor, glowing blue electronic sensors and emitters give it an unearthly look.
 
While it had been kept well maintained, it had taken a beating over the years. It's active programming is damaged, made worse by the forcible upload of Vega into the machine's main cortex.
 
Vega is the main 'AI' in charge of the bot but still has to content with the sporadic spasms from the original programming that misfires based on the situation.

Mental characteristics

Mental Trauma

Vega did die and deep down he knows it. Yet, he also knows he's alive in some sense of the word. Just not as he was before.
 
The 'upload' process, where he was forced into a survey bot's positronic cortex to save his life, was flawed. Vega was merged with stray memories of other people. Original crew from the Argo that didn't quite make it.
 
Along with sorting that out, the survey bot's fractured programming periodically attempts to flush him out, considering him a virus. However, the programming is only partially intact. Most was removed during the 'upload' process, which left Vega the primary 'AI' in charge of the bot body.

Quick reflexes and a quick smile... when he was human. Now, after a job gone very wrong, he's trapped in a droid body. A literal digitized "ghost in the machine".

View Character Profile
Children
Current Residence
The Calypso
Gender
mentally male
Eyes
digital, electronic blue
Hair
none
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
metallic bronze
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