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Mariko Shinon, former commander ahead of several battles in the breen-dominion war, clone of Sarah M. Aruana is a Solas Tempus tactical and security officer. Her first notable assignemt was as member of TACCOM, now she serves under command of Vident Obscura as tactical specialist. She distinguished herself from the rest of her class for being an adult with the learning capacity of a child, assimilating complex info very fast and with a high rate of avail. In simulations and operations, her effectiveness rate was above expectations, showing effort, involvement and hard work on the line of duty. Her file also notes how she often just follow orders, very few times standing up for her beliefs or offering alternative courses of action, with the exact expression being "Just another security officer, although she is very good at it. Way too good". It is something she is still working on to improve, though.
Distinguishing Features
She stands out easily in the crowd for how tall she is, her melanistic black fur and two large wings with a wingspan of 26'5" or 805 cm. In general, Mariko is a winged dragon-mammal hybrid covered in black fur. She is extremely strong and muscular, never falling below a specific threshold. Her ears are a mix of tiger ears with fish fin but predominantly mammal looking and pointy. Her eyes are ruby red and have a pupil dilation similar to felines. Her nose and mouth are similar to those of dragons, like Sarah, although with longer fangs. She still has flexible lips. Her entire body was bioengineered to be as aerodynamic as possible, having a big pair of wings, serving as her primary wings. There are secondary wings on hip level and fins at the tip of the tail as stabilizers. The neck is nearly as wide as the head. Mariko has sharp retractile claws on her fingers and toes, going as far as two inches or five centimeters. Her legs are digitigrade shaped and the paws are like a tiger’s but having five toes, with the fifth toe hanging from the side, making her stand at 7’2” or 218 centimeters tall, with the primary wingspan being 26’5” or 805 cm and the secondary wingspan being 5’0” or 150 cm. Her tail is two thirds longer than her legs. She weighs 330 pounds or 150 kilograms. She is pretty heavy but this does not stand in the way of her mobility of flight capabilities. Because of how her body produces a small amount of a fluid that acts as natural steroids to keep her muscle fibers stimulated, her voice sounds very deep, even when she is talking normally. But she is capable of sounding like Sarah if she makes some effort.
Personality
In the core, Mariko has the mentality of a child but without the immature behavior of one. She is much younger than what is indicated physically, being about twenty to twenty five years younger than her actual appearance.
Mariko is cold and serious, often talking as if giving orders. She has issues in socializing with others but not because she doesn’t like people. She doesn’t know how to talk with people or even to express herself without potentially hurting others. Not that she would care. As time passes, however, she gets to know the others around her better and even begins to trust herself more to her friends and talk about matters that otherwise would make her uncomfortable.
Mariko is also cold in combat, not hesitating even when she has to kill someone. But while this may seem like a ruthless and bloodthirsty behavior, Mariko is actually against it, preferring non lethal approaches whenever she has the chance, either scaring others away or by knocking people out and continuing her mission.
Eventually Mariko becomes more open and sensible, being seen as a big winged pussycat by her friends and occasionally smiling, although she may make some sadistic jokes, comments or pranks, finding amusing to mistreat people if they are looking stupid, often making Mariko look like a bully.
Given how Mariko grew up and all the bioengineering she had to go through, she ended with no sexual drive, not being attracted by either gender. This does not prevent her from eventually liking one gender or both if her body heals from all the changes she had to go through.
Special Abilities
- Extremely Strong
- Mariko is roughly ten times stronger than humans. This is possible due to her muscle development over all her body;
- Fast and Agile
- Mariko is capable of augmenting her speed in similar fashion to the Water Dragons. She has also built up her agility for combat, being able of performing several acrobacies if necessary;
- Aggressive Immune System
- Mariko takes a lot more to get sick or under effect of drugs or alcohol;
- Biomimetic Fur
- Mariko is able to use her fur as a means to shift how light reflects off of her, useful for camouflage. She can only do it with a good awareness of her surroundings and while she is still, as it requires some concentration to maintain it;
- Tribending
- Mariko is able of controlling three different elements individually or at the same time, with them being Fire, Electricity and Wind. She is also capable of enduring extremely high levels of the Elemental State, having grown used to them already;
- Fire: Because of her size and metabolism, her normal body temperature is higher than for normal beings, requiring a more efficient way of bringing her temperature down. But this heat her body generates is enough to already get started with firebending, as well as regulating her body temperature. In Elemental State, She can create fire out of nowhere, making herself catch in flames and still not burn herself, as well as manipulate fire in the environment.
- Electricity: Being advanced in thunderbending, Mariko is able to generate static electricity by rubbing her fur, getting started in this bending without even entering Elemental State. If she does enter the state, however, she is capable of generating lightnings, electromagnetic fields and changing the ionic state of objects or even the air itself, making her able to gather clouds in the air or ionize objects.
- Wind: Mariko’s body is capable of generating a large amount of wind with her wings alone, enough to get started in this bending without even entering Elemental State, becoming the strongest of the windbenders on the planet. If she enters Elemental State, she is capable of creating windstorms and manipulate the air pressure in her surroundings to create drafts in any direction. A frequent one would be updrafts to allow herself to take off faster or to pull many people to a center and hit their heads. Windbending is also used to allow her to fly much easier, as she is quite big and heavy.
- Adaptive respiratory system
- Mariko was organically modified to perform as efficient in anaerobic conditions as she is in aerobic conditions. This only works for a short period of time, however, being harmful if done for way too long;
- Extremely developed senses
- Part of the bioengineering process and supersoldier enhancements, Mariko’s senses are pretty much perfect;
- Echolocation: Either through sound or wind movement through windbending, Mariko is able to scan an area if her vision is limited or blocked. This is useful in reconnaissance or locating people. While she can do this when walking or flying, it works the best when she is standing still and with no noise, with the only noise she needs being the one she makes or from her target;
- Acute sense of smell: Part of the developed senses. She can notice certain smells better than others;
Special Skills
- Combat
- Mariko is skilled in hand to hand combat, having a precise but a bit of a wild fighting style to better benefit from her augments;
- Learning
- With the mentality of a child and brain of extremely high learning capacity. She has photographic memory and a higher than average IQ, being scored at 145-150.
Special Equipment
Mariko is seen to always wear a Mark 4 Solas Tempus Communicator, being a quick source for energy due to the Space Variance Reactor. This is useful when using Thunderbending or Firebending in an environment with no available source, allowing her to create her own fire and electricity necessary for combat.
Biological Analysis
Mariko was created as a result of cloning and bioengineering by dominion science teams. The source was Sarah Aruana, a Water Dragon from another planet, and several other species. Because of this, Mariko has a mixed biology, being both dragon and alien, although her appearance is dominantly dragon.
Skin and Fur
Mariko has an impermeable skin and biomimetic fur, being highly reflective and fireproof. It is black coloured and controllable by the epidermis, allowing the entire fur to shift position, if facing any direction or outwards as if they were spikes. The reflective properties of this fur are what grants Mariko the ability of mimesis. There are also stripes on her fur, being slightly less shiny and thus, giving contrast.
The impermeable nature of her skin prevents her from transpiring like humans do, being similar to Water Dragon biology. This also renders epidermal treatment less effective if she ever needs it. It is also more durable than for dragons, humans and kemonos, granting her more resistance against cuts, similar to certain kinds of leather.
Cells
Mariko shares the long lifespan of the dragons and her immune system is aggressive, not allowing herself to suffer the effects of alcohol, drugs and medicines except in higher doses, although the effects are still delayed. This makes Mariko very dangerous, as she can still stay up and effective in battle even if she is shot with tranquilizers.
Her regeneration is also increased, given the high cellular activity, renewing cells and aggressive immune system.
Muscles
Her muscle development is exceptionally high, stepping well in bodybuilding grounds. This is an artificial result, part of the supersoldier program she was a test subject. Her muscles were engineered to not lose muscle mass as fat, with the muscle fibers being constantly stimulated instead to give the illusion of constant activity. This creates a threshold which the muscle mass never drops below, which is already very high. A side effect is constant fat burning, even when idle. Mariko is required to balance it out with appropriate nourishment, high in calories and nutrients.
This whole bioengineering packs an average of ten times the average human strength, which is equal on all her limbs, including wings and tail. This muscle development on her wings and tail makes them heavier, affecting her total weight quite a bit but does not compromise mobility or agility.
Bones
Another target of bioengineering while at the supersoldier program was Mariko’s skeleton. Her bones are still made of collagen and calcium but reinforced with an organic alloy-like made only out of calcium. This makes her bones not only strong but resistant as well, being harder to break and excellent at absorbing impact.
Head and Neck
Mariko shares many similarities with Sarah Aruana, as she was cloned using Sarah’s DNA. Her head is very similar to Sarah’s. The four horns are shaped in the same way, size of the nose, eyes and mouth are the same. But the similarities end there. Mariko has pointy feline ears, a mix of the tiger ears with the pointy fin ears from Sarah. Her head is covered in fur, including her horns. Her nose is reptilian, much like Sarah’s. Her eyes are ruby red and her fangs are slightly longer than dragon fangs, being characteristic of felines like the tiger.
Because of the extra weight on her head caused by the horns, her neck has well developed muscles to support the weight. The horns weigh four pounds in total, or roughly one kilo and eight hundred grams. It is also worth noting that her neck is nearly the same diameter as her head. Similarly, her throat is capable of expanding about two times its natural width, allowing for large objects to be swallowed in, like fishes, without necessarily having to break them down in smaller pieces or needing to chew.
Inside her ear exists a membrane that closes on the ear canal and protects her from sonic waves as well as allow better water pressure control if she is underwater, a remnant of the dragon biology coming from Sarah. As for her audition, Mariko has perfect pitch and a more sensible audition overall, allowing her to listen to more subtle sounds. It is as developed as her vision, allowing her to know her way around if her vision is compromised.
Her vision is improved on top of dragon vision. She is capable of seeing things at long distances without the aid of binoculars without missing a detail. She only needs to focus.
Everything else is compatible with dragon biology.
Torso, Arms and Primary Wings
Mariko’s torso is comparable to the one of humans.
She does not break away from the mammal category, despite all bioengineering works and cloning. Mariko has small breasts, being A-Cups and sometimes looking totally flat chested. They can still be stimulated to produce milk. Mariko have a very noticeable six pack abs, not being hidden by her fur at all.
Her arms are very strong and thick as result of her muscle development. This is also the same for her wings. The winglimbs are structured similarly to actual arms, allowing Mariko to use them as an extra pair of arms in combat if she really needs to. The wingspan is 26’5” or 805 cm wide. They are huge, strong and agile.
The respiratory system is very efficient, able to extract oxygen in the triple of the efficiency for humans and kemonos, with the efficiency reduced when the air is thin. A remnant of the binary respiratory system from Sarah is the ability to breathe underwater, which was also genetically repaired to allow Mariko to breathe in saline water such as in the ocean.
Mariko’s metabolism is very fast, which allows her to perform tasks without having to stop to catch her breath. Her lungs are equally developed for the amount of oxygen extraction she needs, although she can still use oxygen at the same pace, if not higher than what is extracted from the air or the water.
The gastric fluid in her stomach is capable of melting organic material to ease digestion. It is used to assimilate the materials found in any food Mariko swallows, like fish. The assimilated material is then used to nourish her body or reinforce her bones, as is the case if she swallows a whole fish and break down the fish’s bones.
Mariko’s hands have retractile claws which could extend as far as two inches or five centimeters. They are very sharp.
Pelvis, Legs, Tail and Secondary Wings
The pelvic bone is still on the same size as is for dragons, being slightly larger than for humans, as the dragons are egg laying creatures. Her reproductive system is fully functional and is identical to the one of dragon females.
Mariko’s legs are considerably longer than human legs. It was genetically coded to have the legs of a tiger but to scale. Means that they are digitigrade shaped, with the heels never touching the ground. The digits now have the shape of a paw with five toes, with the fifth hanging from the side. The toes have retractile claws just like her fingers. The different leg shape gives Mariko additional height as well as better mobility. The muscles are equally developed, able to withstand repetitive movement at high speeds, making Mariko an excellent sprinter when she is not flying.
Mariko’s tail is two thirds longer than her legs, being longer than Sarah’s tail. It is slightly thicker and it replaces the coccyx. At the tip of the tail, there are fins like those of a fish but structured like wings, being able to be folded and extended in the same way. Usually, Mariko keeps them folded and hidden beneath the fur on her tail and extends them when she is flying.
At the hip level, located on her back and the beginning of her tail, there is another pair of wings. Those are much smaller than her primary wings but also aid in flight. The wingspan is of 5’0” or 150 cm.
Medical Conditions
Mariko has a noticeable accelerated metabolism, faster even than the basis for her genome, Sarah. Given her size and weight, this requires her to eat larger quantities of food to not suffer from undernourishing.
Her body is constantly producing higher levels of hormones and fluids, comparable to the effects of steroids in controlled levels, forcing her to always stay above a specific threshold of muscle mass. If, for some reason, Mariko is not doing enough physical exercises to keep that physique, her brain may send signals to the cells that stimulates them briefly during her sleep, being the activity necessary for the cells to not atrophy or convert into fat mass.
The aggressive immunity system in her body renders her resistant to many forms of medicine, requiring unusually higher doses, almost to the point of having overdose side effects. While this is good to resist any drugs that may be injected in her bloodstream, this makes medical treatment less effective and potentially deadly for her if she is in a critical condition.
Origins
The Breen-Dominion War
Created during the dominion war by splicing genetic material of many species in order to create a supersoldier. It was done by acquiring the blood sample of several dragons in the arkship Dragon of the Seas when it was attacked by the dominion in the Gamma Quadrant. For Mariko in specific, it was the blood of Sarah Aruana, the only known dragon who managed to escape the attack. Used as a base for Mariko’s genome, she is considered to be Sarah’s clone. It is possible there were other cloning attempts and that Mariko is the only stable one, as she was the only of her kind in the battlefield.
She was also the only one who was experimented with an artifact found in the attack to Dragon of the Seas, a chisel used to carve stone and embed them with functions similar to the one of a computer. When studying the chisel and why it could give those properties to stone, it was also discovered it could also modify living beings if they are equally carved with the same chisel, with the difference being the symbols. As a result of the experiment, the dominion understood that they could alter the individual beyond what conventional bioengineering can achieve, although trial and error ended in the death of many test subjects, forcing them to step back in the augmentations caused by the chisel.
With that in mind, the icons of Thunder, Fire and Wind were “carved” on Mariko’s arms and legs but later turned into scars that were covered by her growing fur, but still retaining the elemental bending abilities she acquired. In exploring those abilities, more was learned about how it worked and Mariko was the only known individual to ever possess those abilities. A fourth icon was also carved by the chisel, one that gave her the ability of biomimesis through light refraction by shifting the fur position, something only possible by controlling the epidermis. While such ability required time to learn to use, eventually Mariko learned it. The result was a black fur that could absorb light to make her nearly invisible in dark environments, as well as a way of camouflage.
Relieved from War
Mariko was on the front of many battles, leading the breen-dominion troops on land like their personal Goliath. Eventually, she was captured by the Federation as a war prisoner and criminal. After facing trial, her origins and involvement in the war were explained by Mariko herself, who didn't even bother to keep secret the little she knew. After being found guilty and with an extensive bureaucracy involved, she would take her sentence under custody of Solas Tempus in the colony of Serenity Concord. It is when she would be offered an opportunity to start over and go through rehabilitation. It is when she was offered to join Solas Tempus, go through the entire academy and bootcamp and give new purpose to her life. She gladly took the offer and swore to improve.
Unwasted Potential
After the academy, she joined Solas Tempus' Blue Team to server under the Tactical Command, or TACCOM. There, she put her abilites and skills to the test, as well as learn where she failed during the war from the tactical perspective. Eventually, she becomes one of the most trained and skilled agents, refining her knowledge and skills, as well as learning better techniques using her unique abilities. She joins Vident Obscura some time after in a new assignment that could use her unique abilities.