Birthname: Jessica Ophelia Astra Preferred Alias: Jester Star or just Jester Pronouns: They/She Age: 23 (born May 27, 3288) Height: 163 cm Weight: 63.5 kg Place of Birth: al-Din Prospect, Lagrange, Alpha Centauri Allegiance: Independent, Rainbow Alliance of Systems

Early Life

Jessica was born to a Federal family on a small industrial outpost in Alpha Centauri. She grew up sheltered in a strict and conservative household and from very early on showed signs of gender non-conformity, of which was mostly shunned and ignored by her family members and peers. Her schoolage was mediocre, and she fell behind in the fields of mathematics and engineering, however, she excelled in literature and art and exhibited an interest in political theory during her late adolescence. Most of her upbringing was spent in the Alpha Centauri system, with occasional trips to Hutton Orbital at Proxima Centauri, where her mother, Helen Astra, worked as a trucker. A lot of her early childhood was spent in a daycare, which was really just whoever was available to watch her at al-Din Prospect while her parents were at work. During times when the family were together, they would tell her stories about the Sol system, and how beautiful it was. Her father, Obidiah Astra was mostly away on active military duty within the Federation Navy, serving as a Lieutenant under the Hudson Administration. He was a stern man, who did not enjoy Jessica's overexuberant sense of humor, and often scolded her for harmless pranks and demanded from her authoritarian respect. At 17 she began to go through an intense rebellious phase, refusing most days to even speak to her father. She called him a tyrant, and he called her a brat, but ultimately, the tension between them never truly became politically charged until after she acquired her piloting license. On her nineteenth birthday, she passed her pilot's exam and officially changed her name to Jester, as featured on their Pilot's Federation License.

Early Career

At first, Jester was mostly doing freelance work for whatever station she found herself in at any given point in time, but after persistent pressure from her parents she decided to work as a trucker for Hutton Orbital Truckers Collective. Her mother was immensely proud of her, and though she struggled at first, she began to understand the logistics and routines of hauling mass cargo. Interdictions from pirates were a common occurrence, each time never less stress inducing than the last. Over time, Jester began to feel a need to be more proactive about the pirate threat, so she joined the Federation Navy, to her fathers elation.

Service in the Federation Navy

As much as she loathed pirates and desired to punish them for their transgressions against innocent haulers, her main motivation for joining the Federation Navy was to acquire a system permit for Sol, of which she had daydreamed of visiting since childhood. Her duties would include active combat sorties against pirate threats in Epsilon Indi, which was an intense time in her life. She was not particularly good as combative maneuvering, and acquired combat wounds including facial scarring and blindness in one eye. She went thousands of credits into debt to cover the expense of a surgical procedure for a robotic eye prosthesis. After which her promotion to Petty Officer was recognized and she was issued a Sol system permit. There, she was ordered to interdict and search random crafts and inspect their cargoes for illicit goods, which she found tedious on both parties involved. She did not appreciate feeling as though she was not doing anything proactive to stop actual criminal activity, and talks between other pilots at the station's bars suggested that the Hudson Administration was perhaps more akin to a massively corrupt fascist state as opposed to a militant democracy.

First Impressions with the Prismatic Imperium

In between her patrols, she would spend time talking to independent pilots from all over the Bubble, with an open mind to understand what residents from other cultures thought. One day she overheard someone watching a news broadcast on their pda, The People's Media, who were broadcasting an interview between a very plain-looking middle-aged man and the most beautiful blue-haired woman Jester had ever seen. Princess Aisling Duval, an Imperial, was speaking about her progressive policies for humanitarian aid and scientific discoveries. At first, it struck them as odd, that an Imperial would be anti-slavery, as they had been brought up in an environment rife with anti-Imperial propaganda, and that all Imperials were scum and slavers and deserving of Federal extermination. It was only then, that she realized truly how corrupt and evil the Federation actually was, and that there WERE people out in the galaxy which actually fight for moral justice and equality and that promote the general well-being of their citizens. On that day, they packed their bags and transferred all her belongings to Chelomey Orbital at Cubeo III. During this time, they began to write in a logbook about their journey and post it on an independent pilot's forum.

Fall from Grace

She began doing work for the Prismatic Imperium, although mostly trade, and mostly as an outsider. They noticed that Imperials hold themselves with an aire of grace and elegance when interacting with them, but could not help but to feel that they were still being held at arms reach. It didn't bother them. In fact, it made sense. As a Federation born independent pilot it would be wreckless to trust one with such a background, not without them having proven their worth. Worth and value was something that Jester did not have, and in fact, they were still in medical debt from her eye procedure. She knew that being in debt would be seen as dishonorable within the empire, so they did what they knew how to do, haul cargo. In the Imperial sphere of trade hauling Imperial Slaves is quite profitable, moreso than anything they'd hauled before. Thousands of slaves were moved, and it weighed on Jester's soul. To try to minimize some of the damage being done to those Imperial families, they decided that they would return to Cubeo and do similar work pirate hunting, this time for the Prismatic Imperium, and this time with help. She hired a crew member from Chelomey Orbital, an older imperial pilot named Eileen McGowen. On their last sortie together, they dropped into a wreckage crawling with pirates. They were outnumbered. Jester survived, McGowen did not. Jester lost their remaining organic eye in the battle, and relied on the robotic prosthetic for vision moving forward, and took the event as a sign that they are only hurting all the people around them. They decided to leave everything behind and head out into the Black, towards Beagle Point as a pilgrimage, somewhat hoping that they would not make the journey home.

Time Spent in the Black

From July 20th, 3309 to June 14th, 3311, Jester was exploring the Black outside of the Bubble. During this time her log entries began to take a more cynical, introspective, philosophical mood as she reflected on her humanity, her past, her mortality and her impending future. On October 23rd, 3310 her mother, Helen Astra, passed away from alcohol intoxication, something which she did not learn until she received a transmission on May 12th of the following year. On the 25th of the same month, they reached Beagle Point and added their mothers name to the memorial beacon before heading home. Along the journey, they visited Sagittarius A*, Colonia, several Nebulas, and took the Neutron Highway back home.

Introduction to RAOS

Returning to the Bubble, Jester decided to distance themselves from the Superpowers at large, and looked for a queer friendly community that they might find belonging. They Joined the Rainbow Alliance of Systems squadron, otherwise known as RAOS, and began doing general work for their partner faction the Rainbow Systems United, or RSU, and independent democracy. During this time, she has furthered colonization efforts for them, received their second ocular implant (which has proven to give them migraines), started hauling building materials to stations and installations when needed, and generally updating the squadron about the goings-on within their sphere of RSU influence. The group as a whole casually discusses politics and economics, but something changed in Jester most recently when Jerome Archer of the Federation Republican Party and Li Yong Rui of Sirius Corporation invaded Aisling Duval territory and began a full frontal assault. Jester was given documents linking Sirius Corporation and Jerome Archer to a conspiritorial shadow organization called the Club, of which RAOS as a signitary of the Anti-Club Accord is sworn to oppose. They were given orders to mobilize in support of Aisling Duval, where they now find themselves actively supporting the Prismatic Imperium once again, this time with a renewed sense of integrity. During this time, they began doing freelance work for the Prismatic Imperium, assisting them in removing imperial slave labor products from their supply chain, and networking with other commanders in the Cubeo system.

Recent Accomplishments

Throughout most of Jester's life they had been an avid consumer of Onionhead Gamma strain, which they often referred to by its slang name, "helix" due to it being an illicit substance where she grew up. In early August of 3311, Jester decided that the substance was emotionally holding them back, so they went through rehabilitation wherein they detoxed and sold the remainder of their helix to their old dealer in Federation space, agreeing to part ways afterwards. After a period of sobriety from the substance they applied for a political position on the RAOS Council, the Secretary of Recruitment & Retention, as well as starting their own journalism company Jester Journalism LLC where they publish articles related to folklore, urban legends, and cultures from around the Bubble and beyond.