Bartholmea Bargas -- "BB"

Background & History

Everyone in Severus Sector knows the story: the daughter of General Getulio Bargas, ruler of Estado Novo, was raised in luxury and taught to follow her father’s orders unquestioningly. BB at-tended the best schools, studied hard, and entered the Academy at 16, where she honed her skills in aviation and tactics and led the polo team to inter-planetary victory during her junior year.

Once commissioned, she rose quickly in the ranks, attaining the rank of commander at 26. While she knew it was in part due to Papa’s influ-ence, she also knew she deserved it – it was her skill and daring that had helped defeat the pirates in the sector and allowed the sphere of Estado Novo’s influence to expand to new colony worlds.

What everyone didn’t know was that the General’s power had been bought at a steep price. BB herself –closest to the General after the death of his wife -- only knew part of the story. He’d ridden into office after a military coup, but had been popu-larly elected term after term. Oh, from time to time there were other candidates, but they never gathered much support, and the rebellions that came up periodically – those were radicals. Fringe groups, that’s all – that’s what she thought.

As she gained in power in the Navy, BB learned more about her father’s regime – about the political prisoners, the General’s iron grip on the press. When she became involved with one of her father’s personal guard, she heard that there were even rumors that BB’s mother had died on his order when she’d dared to leave him.

Her dissatisfaction grew – but what could she do? This was her father! But when she and her squadron were tricked into bombing a refugee settlement on an asteroid in the Estado Novo system, believing it was a pirate’s nest, BB did the unthinkable.

Leaving naval service and speaking publicly at the United Federation of Worlds headquarters against her father were the most difficult things she could imagine – but she knew she couldn’t live with herself otherwise.

BB’s testimony against her father’s regime was damning, and it opened the floodgates – both good and bad. Human rights organizations streamed to Estado Novo, but BB was condemned as a manipulative liar by her the General, who accused her of wanting to discredit him in order to take control of the planet herself.

She wasn’t going to stop now – she’d come by the General’s pride and stubborn streak honestly. She pursued her case in the press and in the courts, and she made sure everyone knew what he was up to.

The case gradually fell from the public’s view, and BB was left in a curious place. Though a hero for exposing the abuses of her father, she was shunned in most social circles. Her military skills were sought by a few of the smaller worlds, but the larger worlds ignored her – who wanted to employ a whistle-blower?

The Challengers of the Unknown intrigued BB with their offer. She’d always thought of them as naïve do-gooders, but as she learned more, she realized they were more than just a well-funded group of explorers – they solved problems. Big problems. Maybe they could even help her solve her planet’s problems.

Here was an opportunity to use her training (in a really fast ship!), and even keep an eye on the General. And her team’s assignment? The Tethys System in Severus Sector, just a blink of the eye from Estado Novo.

Personality & Motivation
BB has changed. Once a hotshot pilot and spoiled heiress to an entire world, she’s now cool and serious. She feels herself a pariah, and has lost interest in any romantic involvement.

However, when taunted by her rival, Com-mander Dorian Nero of the Tethys Navy, she has to squelch her rage. He embodies all of the arrogance and small-mindedness she thought she was leaving behind on Estado Novo. Worse, he thinks he’s a better pilot than she is – and nothing could be further from the truth.

His father, Admiral Nero, has become the clos-est thing BB has to a friend on Tethys, although she’s uncomfortable when he asks her military advice. While no longer loyal to her father, she remains loyal to her planetary origins.

She’s starting to lighten up around her Challengers teammates, however, and though she’d never admit it to them, their camaraderie is helping to start heal her old wounds.

But the only time she ever feels truly alive is when she’s piloting, pushing her spacecraft to the limits of its engineering.

Hobbies & Pastimes
While she’s eschewed her previous way of life – BB donates her salary to the poor – she retains a few of her old upper-class hobbies, such as playing polo when planetside and racing Formula-1 aircars. Recently, she’s had one of her Challengers team-mates teach her acrobatics, so that she can pull off some of the same stunts in person as she can in a spacecraft.

Clothing & Appearance
BB is tall and slender, with curly black hair and black eyes. She’s not classically attractive, but is striking. She usually wears silk shirts, a leather jacket and jodhpurs with high, laced boots. Her hair is back in a ponytail, and she wears a knotted scarf around her neck.

Quote
“Yeee-ha!!!

Character Sheet

Contents copyright Shelley Chrystal Mactyre, 1996-2003.
All rights reserved. Picture by Keith Curtis.