Name: Carrie-Anne Ellynor Jade Age: 23 Height: 172, 46 cm =P Hair Colour: Golden Brown Eye Colour: Blue Race: Hapan Home-Planet: Mornié Faction: Hapes Consortium [ Introduction ] Family: Eleanor Jesslyn Jade [Mother] Arian Clement Jade [Father]

History:

Twenty three years have now passed since the wintry day Arian Jade and his wife Eleanor Jade wept joyfully over their newly born daughter; Carrie-Anne Ellynor Jade. The company they had founded many years back had only just gone bankrupt, and so the new child was their only joy. Carrie was born on Hapes, but soon after the day of her birth she and her parents moved away, leaving the Hapes Cluster and their bad reputation there behind. Mornié was the name of the planet they moved to. An icy planet where it is winter almost year-round. Eleanor and Arian Jade had tucked away quite some savings before their company had gone bankrupt, and so, they had the possibility of living in great luxury, and keeping the Hapan Culture with them.

Educated from the age of 3 by a private tutor, Carrie spent much time at home. When she was 10, however, her mother, being chased by enemies of her past, broke through the ice of a river and drowned directly beneath Carrie and her father’s feet. This of course brought her closer to her father, who soon after this sent Carrie to a public school, feeling she should start building up friendships and see the galaxy.

Arian may have been quite a strict father at times, but he loved his daughter more than anything else in his entire life. After his wife’s death he became a trader and also an explorer, and travelled much throughout the galaxy, with his daughter by his side many a time. Carrie’s sense for adventure was first aroused upon reading an article on the archaeologist Professor Robinson Von Croy, and she persuaded her father to allow her to accompany the archaeologist on his forthcoming tour of the Unknown Regions of the galaxy. She also became interested in mountain climbing during her time in Knaur, a planet well known for its many valleys and high mountains. At 18 Carrie moved on to a university in Naboo, studying History and Journalism. There she met Jake Armstrong.

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The sun was bright and the sky was brilliantly blue. Carrie and her parents were plunging through the thick snow that glittered marvellously in the sunlight. But she suddenly stopped. Ahead of her in the snows, she fancied she had just seen three human shapes on the brow of the slope, looking straight at her. But it must have been a trick of the light against the white, for even as she looked Carrie blinked in amazement. The shapes had vanished completely.

‘Carrie, what is it?’ said Eleanor Jade at her side.

‘Nothing, Mother,’ answered ten-year old Carrie, shaking her head. On they went and gradually Carrie began to fall behind.

‘Come on, Carrie, try to keep up,’ cried Arian Jade – Carrie’s father.

Carrie was born on the lonely planet Mornié – or so she was convinced. There she lived a peaceful life with her parents, but as she was at the age of nine years the planet was invaded by troops of soldiers, clad in odd white suits and armed to their teeth. They had probably been sent by the Empire, Arian had told his daughter.

Ever since Carrie and her family had been on the run from these soldiers, hiding in the depths of the snowy forests and mostly travelling at night to remain unseen.

‘Get a move on, Carrie,’ growled Arian, ‘you’re always lagging behind.’

Carrie struggled to catch up. And as the family neared the ridge of the mountain they were climbing, Arian caught something in the corner of his eye. He screwed up his eyes, and instantly he was sure. In the far distance, behind them, coming over the horizon there were six tall soldiers, making straight for them.

‘Soldiers,’ he snarled, ‘they’re following our tracks.’ The family sprang forwards, but as they reached the ridge for a moment sheer exhilaration of what they saw swept away their sudden fear of the men. They were looking out across the soaring mountains, vaulting over the central plains of Mornié. The crags and slopes, the huge ravines and sudden precipices seemed to go on for ever. The mountains were capped with snow and others were bathed in red light that made them glow. The sun was sinking once more.

‘Hurry,’ cried Eleanor.

The going got harder as they ran, plunging down slopes in front of them and climbing up to steep slopes ahead. Eleanor paused again to look back and she saw that the soldiers were coming over the ridge too.

‘Keep going!’ she cried desperately.

Higher the family climbed, fighting through the snow, and at last they came to the brow of the next slope. To the east, the mountain plunged down into a wide valley and Arian saw, with relief, a snaking river winding south, through generous snow-clad forests of glittering white conifer trees.
Even from here Arian could see that the river had started to freeze. It might be possible to cross.

Down the mountain the family leapt. Eleanor kept behind the group, encouraging her daughter and making sure that she didn’t slip. Arian was the fastest, though Carrie almost matched him, she was keeping up now. They reached the tree line and Ellynor looked back once more. Still the soldiers were coming on. They had crested the second peak and were eating up the slope. As the family ran the wind cried in their ears and it seemed to be saying just one word alone:

Escape.

It grew darker and darker as the group threaded through the pines, moving smoothly and steadily now across the ground where the snow was less heavy. As they looked up through the trees they could see that the sky had turned to coal and stars were beading through the black. A moon was rising and the air had grown perfectly still.

At last they came to the far edge of the trees and the river lay before them. It was at its widest point here and they saw a perfect sheet of white stretching ahead and glistening brilliantly in the moonlight. Along the banks, willow and pine trees had bowed their heads over the frozen edges of the water and their trailing branches were covered with snow. Below them the last remains of autumn grasses, straggling leaves and tilting bulrushes, had been seized into a static beauty by winter’s grip, glittering with tiny icicles and bulbs of frozen dew that flashed like stars.

Carrie gasped at the sight. She lifted her head to the sky and felt a sudden gravity as she saw the full sweep of the Milky Way above. The moon was still low, so the carpet of stars was clear and bright.

‘Come on,’ said Arian, ‘we should cross. We’ve nearly made it.’

‘Not here, Arian,’ said Eleanor suddenly, ‘it’s too wide. Look at the ice on the edges. It looks desperately thin.’

Here and there through the film of blue Carrie could still see the water, moving steadily and noiselessly beneath the surface. Arian was about to turn south as he began to tremble.

‘Quickly. Back into the trees.’

Another group of soldiers was coming along the river bank. Luckily, these ones had not seen them, and the family slunk nervously into the shadows and waited. The soldiers stopped only a few trees away and Carrie shuddered.

‘No sign,’ the leading shouted irritably. ‘But they mustn’t escape alive.’

‘We should carry on,’ said another soldier.

‘Yes,’ whispered the first, but as he did so Carrie heard a sudden whistle from the north along the river. The leading soldier answered with another whistle. They seemed to be communicating in some sort of way.

‘They’ve found nothing either,’ the leading soldier grunted. ‘There’s no one here.’
He turned and led the group silently away into the night. Arian stood trembling, a fury rising inside him at the thought of these soldiers stalking his family. But he could do nothing now without endangering everyone. They waited and waited in the shadows and at last Arian spoke.

‘Come, we must try now.’

‘No Arian, not here. It’s not safe.’

‘But we can’t go north or south,’ said Arian, ‘trust me, Eleanor. I’ll go first and test it. If you stay in my tracks there should be no danger.’

Eleanor came to see, very reluctantly, that to stay where they were was equally as dangerous as crossing the ice. Arian led them forwards, but Eleanor hung back nervously as her husband stepped out onto the film of white and felt it bending and ringing beneath his feet. He took a step forward and after a while he was a good way out on the frozen water. Arian’s boots had made a fine trail in the film of powder.

‘Right, then,’ said Eleanor, ‘Carrie, follow carefully in our tracks and stick together. If you feel it cracking, move away from the sound.’

Eleanor led her daughter nervously on to the ice. The surface held though, and after only a short while Eleanor was with Arian again. They pressed on, in single file, Carrie following her leaders’ footprints. They were so close to the far bank now they could almost leap across.

‘Safety,’ whispered Carrie, ‘safety at last.’

But as Eleanor brought up the rear, and the group became more confident, she found herself looking up into the night sky. Her attention began to wander as she gazed at the stars and as she did so she started to drift away to the right.

‘Nearly there,’ cried Arian as he saw the far bank.

‘Thank goodness for that,’ gasped Carrie with relief behind him, ‘you’ve led us across, Father.’

As Arian turned back to his family his eyes flamed. Eleanor had swung far out to a place where the ice looked desperately treacherous. Arian’s voice carried straight out to the young woman in the thin, blue cold. It startled Eleanor from her reverie. Realising she had wandered from the trail she cursed under her breath and leapt forward.

‘No, Eleanor,’ cried Arian, ‘don’t!’

The young woman was bounding straight for the thinnest part of the ice.
‘Eleanor,’ shouted Arian angrily, ‘listen to me, darling. Stay where you are!’

Eleanor stopped dead in her tracks and looked around desperately. Arian was scanning the surface, looking for the safest place for his wife to cross. From where he was standing it seemed thick enough.

‘Eleanor,’ called Arian as they heard the river sing treacherously around them, ‘move to your left, Eleanor, very slowly.’

‘No, Arian.’

Arian could not see the thin blue crack that Eleanor had just spotted exactly where her husband had told her to go. The young woman began to shake.

‘Eleanor,’ cried Arian, ‘trust me. Don’t be frightened. Now do as I say and move to the left.’

She hesitated, but her husband’s voice was somehow reassuring. Her terror had closed off her thoughts, shut down her will, and now all she wanted was to be protected, to be told what to do, to be shown the path back to safety. Eleanor began to inch to her left and even as she did so she felt the ice bending beneath her boots. The woman froze again.

They heard it first. A fissure sound running between them and Eleanor as the ice cracked and she disappeared with a splash.

‘Mother,’ cried Carrie, springing forward. But her mother had vanished into the water.

‘Stop,’ bellowed Arian.

Carrie was already at the freezing blue pool which had suddenly appeared in the moonlight. She was lighter than her mother and the surface around the pool held as she whimpered and stared in horror at the now still waters.

‘Carrie, don’t move,’ cried Arian frantically.

Suddenly a movement caught Carrie’s eye, and she stared down at the ice beneath her boots.

‘What is it, Carrie?’ cried Arian.

But she could not speak. She had heard it first and the sound was getting louder.

‘Father,’ she shivered suddenly. ‘Mother is underneath me.’

She could see Eleanor’s face through the ice itself, her hands desperately scraping at the frozen surface, the bubbles of air swirling from her mouth. She had managed to pull out her meat knife and was desperately trying to stab the frozen surface only just preventing her from being swept downstream by the still living current.
But the surface here had grown thicker again and Eleanor couldn’t break through.

‘Help her, Carrie,’ snarled Arian.

She was frozen with fear.

‘Do something, Carrie.’

She just whimpered as Eleanor’s body began to slide, still fighting, still gasping for air. Arian was at his daughter’s side now and he cursed her furiously as he pushed her aside and tried to break through, scratching and clawing at the river with his bare hands. He began to jump and slam down with his fists. Carrie watched transfixed as her father wrestled to save his wife, drowning beneath her feet. A hairline crack appeared where Arian was slashing at the surface, but still the ice held and still Eleanor was slipping away.

‘For goodness’ sake help me, Carrie,’ snarled Arian desperately.

As Carrie finally came back to the waking world and began to help try and save her mother, Eleanor lost her grip and the pair of them sprang after her, mindless now of the ice and desperate only to save Eleanor. They were slashing at the frozen river, but it was no good. They could see Eleanor just beneath them, her exhausted body finding it harder and harder to fight the current, the bubbles of air fading on her mouth.

As her delicate hands finally lost their grip and she was swept downstream, Carrie saw a sliver of blue in her mother’s closing eye. Carrie and her father stood there motionless, frozen with horror and despair. But suddenly he swung round.

‘Damn you, Carrie,’ he cried furiously. ‘You should have called out sooner.’

‘Too late,’ she stammered, ‘too late.’

After a brief silence though, Carrie felt a desperate rage rise within her. Her father had no right to blame her for the death of her mother. ‘It’s your entire fault though!’ she screamed at him, mindless now of being heard. ‘Mother told you it wasn’t safe to cross! I hate you, Father.’

‘Carrie,’ he said. His voice was no more than a whisper. ‘Look, darling, we must not argue now, we must stick together, and be strong.’

Taking a few steps towards his daughter, he offered his hand to Carrie. She grabbed it, trembling furiously, with tears sparkling in her vivid green eyes. Arian embraced her daughter, and together they wept under the sparkling stars, their breath curling into mist in front of their faces.

And in that moment, an unbreakable bond was forged between them…

--

That one night changed Arian and Carrie’s life for ever. Eleanor Jade had broken through the ice of the river they had tried to cross and had drowned right beneath her family’s feet. After this, Arian grew to be a quiet and mysterious man, who loved his daughter more than anything else in the entire galaxy. He almost clung to her. He became an explorer, and travelled much throughout the galaxy with his daughter by his side most of the time. He taught her how to fence, even shoot arrows with a bow, use weapons and fend for herself with a martial art he had been taught by his own teacher. He may have been hard on Carrie at times, but in the end, she appreciated it.

As if nothing had ever happened, the war soon ended. The icy Planet of Mornié was peaceful once more. Carrie and her father, however, still fought wars with themselves, deep within their hearts, not knowing whether they could have saved Eleanor that night, and searching for faults in themselves.

At the age of fifteen Carrie and a bunch of her friends decided to do something outrageous: Get themselves a tattoo. She had the words Mas Rhal tattooed onto her left ankle, written in the beautiful and curvy tongue of Mornié, which meant as much as fearless. For the folk of Mornié were known as fearless. Fearless of the biting cold, fearless of the darkness, fearless of the galaxy.

It was not long after this when Carrie met Jake Armstrong, the son of one of her father’s most trusted friends. Within the next years Jake and Carrie grew to be best friends, so close they both were prepared to die for one another if the need should ever arise.

When a total of eighteen winters had passed through Carrie’s life, Arian disappeared. Where he went – and whether he had gone by his own free will or not – Carrie was never meant know. After this Jake was the only person she was close to. Quite soon after Arian’s disappearance Jake fulfilled Carrie’s greatest dream and took her to the Hapes Cluster, where they lived together on Lorell.

Two years passed, which Carrie spent working in the “Animal Bar” in Karumba, a raffish old port on the Gulf of Avalon. Her fighting skills and sharp answers served her well there, and soon drunken men fighting over a girl became a common and easy to deal with situation.

But when Jake said he had to leave in search for his half-sister, the one relative left of his family; Carrie decided she needed something more than just a job in a bar. So she moved on to Hapes itself. There she worked for the Phoenix Corporation, in charge of the King’s Honour squadron. Through this job Carrie was assigned to some extra jobs by the King. Once she was even assigned to some jobs in the King’s palace on the planet Hapes. Here she met Marian Sanders, at the time a waitress in the palace bar. The two became best friends in the years to come.

Carrie also met Mors Baynos here, today’s Hapan Minister of Intelligence. He was the one who asked her to join House Tyrridon, back then a Noble House. There she met many more future friends, for example Lord Marcus Bayne. Some time passed, and then House Tyrridon fell apart. But Carrie’s new friendships never fell apart.

She joined the Royal Hapan Navy after this, taking the Silver Plate of Dedication with her after a loyal service to the Phoenix Corporation. To begin with she became the commander of the Raider Squadron, and later, after a fleet-transfer, leader of the Silver Eagle Squadron. This was when she had the small tattoo of an eagle spreading its wings tattooed across the small of her back, to resemble the fact that she finally felt free and also because this animal had become her favourite creature. For it was free – and above all, proud and fearless.

While Carrie climbed the ranks of the Navy, she often thought of her dearest love Jake, yet he never returned. She took on part-time jobs, such as writing for the Hapan Newspaper and working with the Ministry of Intelligence. Soon she took on the job of Chief Editor of the Hapan Newspaper, by then already famous as the “Hapan Star”. The paper picked up from there, and grew to be the most popular magazine of the Cluster. For taking on the work of the Hapan Star, Carrie received a Letter of Commendation. Some time after this, the Publisher of the Hapan Star, Celestin Abriel, one day decided to pass on the entire newspaper to her. Since then, she is in charge of it.

When Carrie received news from her father, she set off for her home-planet in the hope of meeting him there. Instead she found Jake. He had found his sister again, on Naboo, where she had been living with her father, Jake’s step-father and greatest enemy with it. The two had got into a fight, and Jake had been wounded badly. His ship would allow him to go no further than the Planet of Mornié, and so, here he was in the old ruins of Carrie’s family house. It was here he died in Carrie’s arms, shortly after he had whispered his few last words to her: Carrie, my Silver Spirit.

She buried him in the garden, with many a blessing, and set his grave beside her mother’s tomb, which read Eleanor Jesslyn Jade, Lost But Never Forgotten. There were some loose ends waiting to be tied up after this. Carrie flew to Naboo in search of Jake’s sister, Ancelyn Tyler, along with her father. Jake and Ancelyn’s mother had died in child labour, seven and a half years ago, and so Ancelyn’s father would not give his daughter away so easily. Carrie fought bitterly, remembering all the while that the murderer of Jake Armstrong stood before her. She won the fight, and got away with a scar, below her chest, where Ancelyn’s father had cut her with a knife.

Ancelyn was now an orphan. She began to grow on Carrie’s heart though, and the two could no longer bear the thought of being parted. Together they flew back to the Hapes Cluster, and there Marian, Carrie’s newly wedded friend adopted the girl.

Back in the Hapes Cluster, Carrie’s part-time job in the Ministry of Intelligence proved to have been a great decision after all. Carrie spent more hours than necessary working for the Ministry, for she enjoyed the job much, and she also enjoyed working together with Minister Mors Baynos. One day Mors asked Carrie to join him on a special business trip through the Hapes Cluster. This changed her life for ever. When they were on the planet Vergill, he waited for a sunny day, and asked her to marry him in the golden light of a setting sun. This was the reason for them choosing Vergill to be the location of their wedding ceremony.

A while after this, Carrie took on the job of Deputy Minister of Finance. She soon figured that she had taken on too many jobs, and so she had to quite her part-time job with the Ministry of Intelligence. Not much time after this she was offered the job of Minister of Finance, and so, she left the Royal Hapan Navy, with many a tear shed, and took on the job. But she did not leave without taking something with her. She took her entire crew with her, who had accompanied her on every mission and every patrol she had been on in the Navy. Part of the crew became reporters for the Hapan Star; the other part joined her in the Government.

With all this good news, Sod’s Law would have something go wrong for Carrie. She began suffering from heavy fever, and even when at work, she would collapse and fall unconscious all of a sudden. This was then the cause for many a Leave of Absence. Years ago Carrie had caught a heavy illness on a strange planet on one of her father’s “Exploration Trips” as he had called them. The doctor had prescribed an anti-biotic for her, which had conquered the illness. But it would not let her be. It had come back, and it had come back for good. And so a great operation had to be done, with the side-effect of infertility. And so, Carrie cannot receive any children now. However though, this does not greatly effect her anymore, for her life is busy enough as it is, and she feels fulfilled with all the wealth and people she has around her now. And so it shall stay.

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