Freyja Marten
| Freyja Marten | |
|---|---|
| |
| Aliases | Callsign: FM |
| Profession | DDF pilots |
| Homeworld | Detritus |
| Universe | Cytoverse |
“Defiance is not ‘Defiant’ to them unless it doesn’t actually defy anything. ”
—FM describing the hypocrisy of the DDF.[1]
Freyja Marten (callsign FM) is a DDF pilot on Detritus. She is a member of Skyward Flight and one of the only two members who completed and graduated flight school.[2] During her training, she was the ninth member of the flight,[3] however, was assigned a new flight number after the Battle of Alta Second when Skyward Flight was reformed.[4]
She is from the lower caverns,[5] has multiple sisters,[1] and was raised to believe and follow Defiant ideals.[6] She does not know the old stories from Earth.[6]
Appearance and Personality
“Being a Defiant, isn’t just about our nationality. It’s always expressed as a mindset. ‘A true Defiant will think this way’ or ‘To be Defiant, you need to never back down,’ things like that. So, by their own logic, I can un-Defiant myself through personal choices. ”
—FM explaining her world philosophy.[1]
FM is tall[6] and skinny, around 185 centimeters in height. She has short blond hair,[5] that she will sometimes pin back with glittery barrettes.[7] FM has subtle Nordic physical features and shares a name with the goddess of love and beauty from Nordic mythology, indicating that she likely has Northern European heritage.[5]
She has a slight accent which is associated with the people of the deep caverns,[8] and sometimes speaks in a formalized manner and proper tone.[9] She is fashionable and and wears new and pristine clothing, courtesy of her family's wealth.[5] Her regular DDF uniform is well tailored,[6] and she is able to look fashionable in a flight suit.[10] When not in uniform she enjoys wearing feminine clothing such as blouses and skirts.[11]
FM wears her emotions on her sleeve, is rather perceptive, and good at reading others.[12] She is highly confident and unafraid to speak her mind,[6] nor is she opposed to skirting or breaking the rules.[13] This confidence, along with her refined and poised manner, makes FM appear older than the rest of her flight.[6][4] She can be a perfectionist and dislikes her own shortcomings, even when she is doing better than her classmates.[14] FM is more conservative when presented with risky choices, choosing to take the safer option.[15] She may do this as a statement against the strong risk taking attitude promoted by the DDF.
She's is a people person who is often the instigator of group trips off the base,[11][16] and also enjoys reading.[1]
Disputer
FM self-identifies as a Disputer, a member of a movement that believes the Defiant culture is becoming too jingoistic and authoritarian and that the dictatorship ruling Detritus has too much power.[6][17] She's highly critical of military culture and worship of the First Citizens,[9][6] and is quick to notice and challenge any hypocrisy from her peers. However, for all her misgivings she is supportive of the continued war against the Krell and works hard to become a pilot,[6] despite feeling guilty for conforming to DDF militaristic society.[1] She likes being asked about her beliefs,[1] and will often complain that her flight members are too aggressive.[6]
Attributes and Abilities
“I figure these clowns will all get themselves killed, sir. I could probably win without any points at all. ”
—FM feeling cocky during the light-lance game[15]
FM is highly knowledgeable about piloting and starfighters, having achieved the rank of pilot.[2] She is best suited to smaller ships.[18]
During flight school FM trains to pilot a Poco, perform aerial maneuvers, and use its weaponry. It is unknown as to whether she was required to sit the entrance exam or whether she is the descendant of a First Citizen and was granted free admission. She may have had flight experience prior to joining the DDF,[3] however lacked some of the background tactical knowledge known by her classmates.[19]
FM is an excellent pilot who is highly skilled with a light-lance and at maneuvers.[1] She is good enough with destructors to be able to take down enemy units by brute force,[20] although this weapon is not her strong suit.[1] She has a tendency to be overly cautious, though this habit has lead her to greatly improve her precision in the cockpit.[21] She is well suited as a scout,[16] and for a time join their ranks after graduation,[2] though was initially resistant to the idea.[16] Prior to graduation, FM was also offered a place in Nightmare Flight.[22] When Skyward Flight was reformed, she joined in a specialized capacity, likely flying an interceptor.[23]
She comes from a highly-merited family, giving her a large degree of freedom, wealth, and influence.[1]
History
Flight School
FM comes from one of the lower caves and a highly-merited family.[5] After being accepted into flight school, FM was placed in Skyward Flight under the tutelage of Cobb. She was roomed with the other female members of her flight, with the exception of Spensa, who was denied accommodation.[19]
Unlike many of the other members of Skyward Flight, FM successfully launched her Poco during the first lesson run by Cobb.[3] When the lesson was interrupted by a Krell attack, FM, along with the rest of Skyward Flight, were ordered to take to the sky and line up close to the battle to deceive the Krell into thinking there were more pilots ready to join the conflict.[8] When the Krell began to chase Jorgen, FM expressed her surprise that they wouldn't attack the weakest members of the team first.[19]
“I was raised Defiant. But I choose, now, to be what people down below call a Disputer—I raise objections about the way the war is being run. I think we should throw off the oppressive mantle of military government.”
FM played it safe during the ring game when Skyward Flight practiced their light-lancing. She stuck to the easiest rings in the first two rounds and avoided the rings entirely on the final round, regardless of their difficulty.[15]
A few days later, Skyward Flight was once again sent into battle against the Krell, this time fighting alongside full pilots. FM survived the battle, however, lost two of her other flightmates: Bim and Morningtide.[24]
FM approached Spensa the day after the battle to thank her for what she had said about Bim and Morningtide's death. As the two left the classroom for the day, FM introduced Spensa to the Disputer movement and explained how and why they opposed the Defiant leadership.[6]
When the shipyard began falling, the first time Skyward Flight had flown since Morningtide and Bim's deaths, FM, Arturo, Hurl, and Jorgen, ended up cut off from the other members of the Flight after they were attacked by Krell.[25] Eventually the members of the Flight were able to regroup and joined Riptide Flight as they returned back to base.[13]
The next week, FM, along with Kimmalyn and Hurl, devised a plan to sneak Spensa into their dormitory for the evening. Following the day's lesson, FM and Kimmalyn retired to their bunks before dinner, claiming to be unwell. Kimmalyn lead Spensa to their room, meeting up with FM near the door and smuggled Spensa inside where she found blankets piled as a makeshift bed and food waiting for her.[13] As the girls waited for Hurl to return, FM rambled about the militaristic Defiant culture, it's negative effects on their society, as well as the DDF's treatment of Spensa. She explained her motivations for why she had agreed to go to flight school when signed up by her parents and how she hoped it would give her a platform she could use to push for change.[7]
After a later training session, Skyward Flight was called to action to help defend against a Krell attack. The flight took up position near one of Alta's AA guns away from the main fight to wait as backup. After the flight was given the green light to engage, FM tried to fall in behind Kimmalyn to try provide assistance when she was swarmed by Krell. Despite her best efforts, the Krell kept locking onto Kimmalyn even after they were driven away, leading to FM picking up a tail of her own, however, before long it disengaged to instead target Spensa.[26]
After the death of Hurl, FM, along with the other remaining members of Skyward Flight, were given a weeks leave in order to recover.[27] During their week of leave, FM attempted to find Spensa, even asking Cobb if he knew the location of her cave, likely in an attempt to get the other girl to hangout with the members of Skyward Flight.[11] After meeting up with Nedd, Arturo, and Kimmalyn, FM returned to the barrack's at Kimmalyn's request to retrieve a necklace the other girl had accidentally left behind when she quit the DDF.[28] On her way, FM ran into Spensa and convinced the other girl to come with her to the restaurant where their flightmates had decided to meet.[11]
Once the pair had arrived, FM left Spensa with the group while she went to order the other girl food and a drink, knowing that Spensa had eaten not much more than rat for the last few months. Although the meal was paid for by Arturo, FM studiously continued to bring Spensa food, in order to treat her friend who had not been able to access real meals since before flight school began. After returning the necklace she retrieved to Kimmalyn, FM and her friends spoke of Hurl, remembering their friend and reminiscing about their time in flight school. When Arturo's girlfriend, Bryn, went to the bathroom, the members of Skyward Flight talked briefly about the strangeness of Krell tactics and the DDF's hesitancy to talk about these things.[28]
Before the end of their temporary break, FM and Arturo went to see a League game when they were given tickets by Nedd.[29] Shortly after the end of Skyward Flight's medical leave, FM gained Spensa as a roommate, as the other woman had been given permission to live and take meals at Alta Base.[29]
Several days later, FM and Spensa joined the other two cadet flights, Inkwell and Firestorm, in the dining hall and discussed the possibility of the three cadet teams being joined into one. FM dismissed the idea of joining the scouts when it was suggested, as she believed it to be too much of the obvious choice.[16]
“This is callsign: FM. Cloak died in the blast. There are…sir, there are three of us left in the scout flight. The others died in the fighting.”
The week before graduation, the remaining members of Skyward Flight -- FM, Spensa, and Jorgen -- joined with Nightmare Flight during a routine debris tagging exercise. Thoroughly unimpressed by the dismissive attitude of some of Nightmare Flight's pilots, FM and Spensa gave a demonstration of their light-lancing skills after Bog and Tunestone attempted to condescendingly belittle the cadet's skills. During the mission, FM spotted the second half of the shipyard as it began descending from orbit.[22] The group was set upon by Krell, who had been scouting the shipyard, and took up a defensive position, providing aid to Nightmare Flight members when they were swarmed by enemy ships. During the battle, FM was able to destroy at least one Krell ship by brute force, without needing to engage her IMP.[20]
Full Pilot
The next week, FM and Jorgen graduated from flight school, along with six other cadets. As the ceremony ended, the newly promoted pilots joined the rest of the Defiant fleet to go and defend the falling shipyard. FM joined the scouts for this mission, who were tasked with driving the Krell bomber away from the ship, even if it meant sacrificing Alta Base.[2] When the lifebuster increased its speed, FM and the scouts were ordered to engage the Krell ship. They successfully destroyed the bomber, but at a great cost, with only three scouts, including FM, surviving the encounter. FM and the other two remaining scouts, joined with Riptide Flight and departed for Alta Base.[2][30] Once reaching the battle near Alta, FM and Jorgen were ordered by Spensa to take down the bomber's shield, allowing Kimmalyn to detach the lifebuster from the enemy ship.[30]
Following the battle, FM took up a specialized piloting role in the reformed Skyward Flight.[4] She accompanied Spensa, Kimmalyn, and Sadie into battle against the Krell shortly before the arrival of the Superiority battleships.[4]
She was part of the battle against the Krell when the delver and Spensa arrived, and tried and failed to save Lizard.[31] After the battle, she discovered that Jorgen had found several taynix, and she volunteered to help experiment on them.[32]
Experimenting with the Taynix
When FM volunteered to help with the taynix experiments, Jorgen assigned her the task of finding and retrieving any slugs that escaped.[32] She eventually deduced that the yellow and blue taynix were hyperjumping out of their boxes. She quickly grew fond of the slugs, feeling protective of them. She named several of them, and encouraged Jorgen to do the same. When Jorgen picked up Boomslug, FM warned him that he was squeezing it to hard, but Jorgen ignored her. This resulted in Boomslug mentally exploding and inflicting dozens of shallow cuts across Jorgen’s face and arms.[33]
After she visited Jorgen in the infirmary, FM and Jorgen were told that they would be the first to speak with Alanik since she fell unconscious.[34] When Alanik woke up, she spoke with FM using a translator pin to translate. FM answered Alanik’s many questions, and Alanik urgently warned her not to trust the Superiority’s false peace. FM began to make headway, getting Alanik to trust her more, however, Jeshua and Cobb soon entered and Jeshua harshly demanded answers from Alanik and threatened to keep her captive. Alanik, angry, teleported away using her cytonic abilities.[35]
Afterward, FM went to go find Rig and found him in the platform control room trying to find the FTL communicator. He subtly tried to get her to leave, and FM asked him what he had against her. Rig admitted that he liked FM, and they awkwardly changed the subject. They found the FTL communicator, a metal box like the one in M-Bot’s ship, and they realized that if they put a taynix in it, they could use it for hyperspeed communication.[36]
They deduce through process of elimination that the purple and orange slugs were the ones that can be used as FTL communicators. FM theorized that maybe showing the slugs an image of a delver cytonically might trigger their abilities. Jorgen sent Gill an image of the delvers, and Gill teleported away. Jorgen tried putting Gill in the special metal box that Rig crafted which was similar to the one that was part of M-Bot’s machinery. He tried scaring Gill again while she was in the box, but nothing happened. They tried putting Happy in instead, and Happy teleported, this time taking Jorgen with him, with Jorgen appearing squeezed into a cubby, to the great amusement of FM and the others. They tried a similar experiment with FM and Jorgen in a fighter, with moderate success. Jorgen’s teleporting caught the attention of the Superiority however, and they moved their battleships into position to bombard the planet and prevent the Defiant peoples using the slugs to escape.[37]
FM and Rig flew together in a Dulo, and listened to music as they flew towards the battle. They to a taynix in the fighter with them, and Jorgen successfully teleported them close to the battleship’s main cannon. The cannon and its controls were shielded however, and FM was soon swarmed by Krell. She was forced to retreat, and Jorgen accidentally teleported her far back from the battle. The cannon began to fire, and Cobb called a full retreat, while at the same time the Engineering Corps managed to get the planetary shield up, blocking battleship’s shots. FM hid until the rest of Skyward Flight came and met up with her outside the shield. After giving the taynix time to settle down, they all touched wings and Jorgen teleported them inside the shield.[38]
After making it back to Platform Prime, Rig and FM talked. Rig informed her that they’re going to try using Fine to power the FTL communication device. As they walked, Rig and FM discussed what they feared, and FM admitted that she’s afraid of dying in battle and ceasing to exist. They discussed their days in flight school and the taynix, before the topic turned to their experiments. Rig proposed that they try a different kind of experiment, and he and FM kissed briefly.[39]
FM and Rig devised a new experiment, trying to train the slugs to teleport to a specific point, prompted by caviar. She called the target box "home", trying to get them to teleport there on the command. She had moderate success with some slugs being more motivated than others. They went to the command center, where Cobb had succeeded in creating a call to Cuna using a purple taynix as a FTL communication. Cuna told them that they were trapped on the research station of Sunreach and under attack by about twenty Krell fighters, They promised their aid, if the humans were able to come and rescue them. After the communication ends, Cobb goes against Jeshua’s will and orders Skyward Flight to depart immediately.[40]
Sunreach
FM hurried to her fighter, and Jorgen teleported all of Skyward FLight to Sunreach using the coordinates Cuna gave to him. They arrived at Sunreach, and were greeted by the sight of an enormous space monster, which Cuna identified as a mammoth starpod. A swarm of Krell ships flew out to meet them in combat, and the fighting began. During the battle, Jorgen's ship was destroyed, leaving FM to think he was dead.[41] Gill appeared in FM’s fighter, then teleported her into Sunreach where she was reunited with Jorgen, who had teleported out of his fighter just in time. When Jorgen proposed that those in the station retreat and he would come back for Skyward Flight later, FM refused and told Jorgen to send the taynix images of Skyward Flight’s members. The slugs teleported away and returned with their flight members, before they all hyperjumped back to Starsight.[42] After they arrived FM saw that a new shipment of caviar had arrived, the slugs’ favorite food. She cracked open several jars for the slugs, allowing them to eat their fill.[43]
Relationships
Spensa
“...You can’t help being a product of your environment! It’s not your fault you’re a bloodthirsty ball of aggression and destruction. ”
Spensa admires FM for her fashion sense and outward appearance, finding the other girl to epitomize beauty standards.[6] FM's confidence can at times intimidate Spensa as it makes FM appear more mature and refined. Spensa is never quite able to get past her nervousness even after they have finished flight school[10] though nonetheless, Spensa considers FM a close friend who truly understands her.[44]
FM finds a lot of Spensa's bravado to come from indoctrination of the toxic and aggressive culture promoted by the Defiants, however, appreciates the sincerity behind Spensa's attitude, particularly after the deaths of Bim and Morningtide.[6] She doesn't blame Spensa for her attitude, believing it to be caused by the culture they live in[6] - a sentiment that Spensa does not agree with and struggles to understand.[6] FM is dismissive of Spensa's concerns about experiencing fear, likely because she does not understand Spensa's underlying fears about being a coward.[1] Following the revelation that Spensa's father was Zeen Nightshade, FM began acting more cautious around Spensa, although it is unclear if this was because of her parentage or her temper.[45]
FM worries about Spensa, particularly after the death of Hurl, and takes it upon herself to regularly check in with her flight-mate.[28][29][16] The departure of Arturo set off worries in Spensa, that FM might also be removed from flight school as, like Arturo, her parents are influential and wealthy.[16] After being dismissed from the DDF, Spensa avoided all of her former flightmates, including FM.[2]
Rodge
“You will not tell her I said those things. She probably doesn’t even remember who I am....Does she? ”
Rodge has a crush on FM and thinks she is smart, cute, and has nice eyes.[46] Spensa, while playing matchmaker, asks FM about her dating preferences to see whether she would be interested in someone like Rodge, although her attempts to find out information do not go very far.[28]
Nedd
Nedd had a crush on FM.[29] They have a playful relationship, often exchanging friendly insults and joking comments.[28] Nedd had hoped to celebrate with FM after her graduation, and was disappointed that she had immediately been sent on a DDF mission.[2] While they were on leave, he cornered FM and asked her out, but she told him she'd rather just be friends. He took it well, though sometimes acted overly friendly in an effort to not make their friendship awkward.[32]
Notes
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Skyward chapter 28#
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Skyward chapter 48#
- ↑ a b c Skyward chapter 9#
- ↑ a b c d Starsight chapter 2#
- ↑ a b c d e Skyward chapter 8#
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Skyward chapter 21#
- ↑ a b Skyward chapter 27#
- ↑ a b Skyward chapter 10#
- ↑ a b Skyward chapter 13#
- ↑ a b Starsight chapter 3#
- ↑ a b c d Skyward chapter 37#
- ↑ Skyward chapter 20#
- ↑ a b c Skyward chapter 26#
- ↑ Skyward chapter 31#
- ↑ a b c Skyward chapter 15#
- ↑ a b c d e f Skyward chapter 42#
- ↑ Skyward chapter 39#
- ↑ Skyward chapter 44#
- ↑ a b c Skyward chapter 11#
- ↑ a b Skyward chapter 47#
- ↑ Skyward chapter 23#
- ↑ a b Skyward chapter 46#
- ↑ Starsight chapter 14#
- ↑ Skyward chapter 19#
- ↑ Skyward chapter 25#
- ↑ Skyward chapter 32#
- ↑ Skyward chapter 33#
- ↑ a b c d e Skyward chapter 38#
- ↑ a b c d Skyward chapter 40#
- ↑ a b Skyward chapter 52#
- ↑ Sunreach chapter 2#
- ↑ a b c Sunreach chapter 3#
- ↑ Sunreach chapter 4#
- ↑ Sunreach chapter 5#
- ↑ Sunreach chapter 6#
- ↑ Sunreach chapter 7#
- ↑ Sunreach chapter 8#
- ↑ Sunreach chapter 12#
- ↑ Sunreach chapter 13#
- ↑ Sunreach chapter 14#
- ↑ Sunreach chapter 15#
- ↑ Sunreach chapter 16#
- ↑ Sunreach chapter epilgoue#
- ↑ Starsight chapter 18#
- ↑ Skyward chapter 16#
- ↑ a b Skyward chapter 30#