Yang Shen Lin
Yang Shen Lin was born on the wrong Core.
Yang Shen Lin is the name she chose for herself. It speaks of an old proverb about finding a single tree hiding in the forest. Lin was born Wen Yu, first born of the Wen family on Terra Nova, a Core V world. Yes, that Wen family. Chief shareholders of the Bank of Terra which is housed on Terra Nova.
She was destined to be a mogul, a shark; to preside over a banking empire that spanned the cores. Instead she was drawn to taking things apart and making them better. She was drawn to the teachings of Tao, especially Feng Shui. She was too devout to be a ruthless banker, too interested in her “hobbies” to learn high finance, mergers or acquisitions.
She was a disappointment.
Until she was gone.
One day she calmly walked onto an interstellar transport – her hair up in a severe bun and her suit shiny and clearly bespoke – on a tour of the cores in preparation for her higher education, reviewing the numbers for an upcoming take over. When the transport arrived at it’s destination she was not on it.
Wen Yu is still missing, originally presumed kidnapped, a large reward was posted for her return. a VERY large reward. The more years that pass, the more folks decide she is dead, but the Wen family is persistent and her disappearance cost them.
Yang Shen Lin was born on that day. She has quietly made a place for herself as a Scrapjack Mechanic although her somewhat Zen approach to engine repair and frequent references to the emotional state of inanimate objects can make it hard for those new to her to trust her ability. However, given time, her near encyclopedic knowledge of pre- and post-war engine manufacture will tend to shut up even the most obnoxious nay sayer.
Lin herself is too young to remember the war, and was raised too privileged to remember the privations of the early post war period.
Lin is happy. Lin loves her job. Lin would be forced to return to the red and black world of corporate banking, or worse likely be locked up as crazy by her own family. The reward for her return, however, is very high and bounty hunters have come sniffing before.
Make up and inscrutability can do a lot, hair dye can do more and she uses all of those to hide. Besides, who expects an underage mechanic to be the the Lindbergh baby anyway.
At least that’s what she thought…Throughout the past few days she has learned a great deal about herself. She thought she was an only child, but she is not. She thought she was the only person with her face, but she was cloned, multiple times. She thought fighting was anathema, but learned that “auditor” isn’t JUST a financial designation. And she learned that somebody was trying to take over her old family from the inside. Something that would destabilize the balance of power on the cores.
And she had to reveal all she’d learned of herself to her crew. People she wasn’t so sure she could trust. Including more than one of the sort who’d sell you out for what it could get them.
Regardless, Lin is an odd duck. She sings to her engines, she has specific rules of where things should be both in and outside the engine. She never uses her bunk, preferring to string a hammock in the engine room.
Lin is polite and very shy with strangers but happy and warm with her friends. She used to keep everybody at arms length, but has bonded with the Captain and with Noah. She is slow to trust, but her loyalty is worth it.
She speaks of the ship as a dear friend. She speaks TO the ship as a dear friend, a little sister. The more coarse of her associates suggest that she is sexually involved with the ship, she certainly shows no interest in any humans, male, female or you name it.
She is thin and always clad in coveralls. She is dark and has the epicanthic folds common to those of Asian descent. She may or may not be sporting engine grease on her face and clothes and her nails are short and blackened from constantly working with engines.
by CB Ash using Creative Commons
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