Keesha

Name: Keesha Ski'irish

Species: Bat Recom

Height: 4' 8" (3' 11" not counting the ears) Full wingspan 11' 9"

Weight: 55 pounds (25 kg)

Eyes: black

Hair/Fur color: dark brown

Age: 50

Faction: Independent Trader's Guild

Profession: Owner-operator of a small freighter / occasional political activist.

Background: Former fighter pilot. She never made high rank herself due to an inability to suffer fools in high places gladly, and retired at the rank of commander. She took her saved combat pay and bought a small fast freighter, which she uses for courier work and small cargo runs.

Early on in her second career, she discovered that the large freight carriers were doing their best to squeeze out competition, even in the niches where they weren't competitive, and helped found the ITG as a counterweight to the lobbyists of the big corporations. The Talosians suspect her of smuggling (of course, they suspect all foreign ships - and a great many of their own - of smuggling) but have never had a shred of evidence to prove it, and she's got a clean record in the rest of Known Space.

Skills: Top-notch pilot and astrogator, competent starship mechanic. She's much too small and lightly built to be a brawler, but she's deadly accurate with pistol or a thrown knife in gravity or freefall. As a bat recom, she can fly (with enough air pressure) and 'see' by echolocation as well as with excellent night vision. She avoids full sunlight as much as possible, though, and is sensitive to both bright light and loud noise.

Personality: As is typical of military types who've actually been there and done that, she's quiet about her exploits. She's friendly and willing to share a drink or lend a helping hand to someone down on his luck - but don't try to take advantage of her.

She does have the typical fighter-jock attitude of being the best at what she does, but since she can usually back it up, she's not arrogant about it. She's a student of history and politics and a dabbler in the sciences as well - half a century gives one a lot of time to study all kinds of things.