MAA Operator Devika Rai conducting an interrogation on a rebel Azimuth aFra after a successful escapee ship raid.
Devika Rai, an operator of the mercenary group Militen Aquila Aurea (Soldiers of the Golden Eagle) is the demolitions and engineering expert of Squad Ares. Devika is one of the younger members of Squad Ares, aged the same as Mi-Yun Lim but older than Amada Benitez and Eileen Yenura. She is often paired with fellow MAA operator Mi-Yun and acts as a counterbalance to her more energetic and troublesome nature.
Biography[]
Devika was born the youngest child of Namit Rai, chief engineer and explosives pioneer who had founded the most profitable construction and demolitions company in their nation. Despite being low on the totem pole in terms of inheritance, Devika's unbridled enthusiasm with "the booms" as she called it when just a small child convinced her father that her future lay with the company and encouraged her to pursue engineering and science as much as possible. The investment paid off in dividends as she was not only a top graduate of her schooling but already contributing to company work projects. Namit was convinced he finally found his heir to the company, his little daughter Devika a prodigy to his hard work and innovation. Unfortunately, family politics was rife among her people and culture, and her older brothers and sisters were less than happy with their father's decision to make the "chotai ultka" or "little brat" as heir to his presidency of the company. The recent passing away of their mother had made their father "mentally weak and timid" which could only explain why he'd choose Devika over them.
Upon Namit's death from a long battle with illness exacerbated by the death of Devika's mother, the will had stated that his company board elevate Devika to President, but without his knowing his own children had altered the will and testament through bribes and loopholes to keep her completely out of it. Devika was suddenly left with nothing as her siblings kept her out of every facet of the company itself. To add to matters, they had also falsely accused her of hoarding company secrets and selling them to rivals, essentially exiling her from the professional realm. Despite her drive and initiative as an independent contractor, the stain on her reputation traveled far and wide.
However one "group of interest" had emerged a year later to hear her out and test just how skilled she was in the art of demolitions. The couple, an old married pair calling themselves private investors, had wanted someone for their own business operations in the fields of construction and demolition. To her shock, they revealed themselves as Relus and Hannah Parr of the Militen Aquila Aurea. Though she initially bristled at their proposal that she remove herself from the corporate field and instead adopt a more military one, the promises of money, reputation, and the fact she no longer had a home within her home had finally convinced her to join up.
Assigned to Squad Ares, she had been paired with the perky electronics and engineering expert Mi-Yun Lim, much to her chagrin. Ironically, the two have been one of the most competent mercenary duos since the intial founding of the MAA. To her benefit, she finally feels like she has a family despite their very nature being mercenaries, and it wasn't long before she had found affection in the form of daredevil pilot Connor MacAelus.
The deadly kind of cute.
Personality[]
Given her upbringing and strict collegiate training, Devika is very no-nonsense when it comes to her job. To carry it even farther, she is very no-nonsense in just about everything related to her craft. To her credit, that attitude comes forth with an amazing competence and ingenuity with explosive technology and precise points that can bring entire compounds to their knees. It was her craftsmanship that helped the MAA to develop the BTSP or "Big Things in Small Packages" devices, no bigger than the size of a watch, that could have the explosive force of the highest caliber artillery round. Because of this, the MAA also benefited greatly from formed effective countermeasures to explosive devices as she displayed her knowledge in the very weaknesses or counters of her own explosives. Among the mercenaries and Squad Ares itself, Devika is often seen as a voice of reason and the best method of containing the unbridled energy of Mi-Yun. For this reason alone Relus Parr saw her as a perfect match to the Pixie of Ares, again much to the chagrin of Devika and his own wife Hannah who took a significant liking to Devika like the daughter she never had.
Relationships[]
- Mi-Yun Lim - The water to her oil or the fire to her ice, Mi-Yun has been her partner since their first mission/contract together at the Defense of Installation Bismarck-8 against overwhelming Kasparov CIA Shik Security Forces. Despite their clashing personalities, coming up against the wave of clone women forced them to stop bickering and cooperate. When the battle was won for the MAA and Azimuth, the friendship was born from there too. Devika often has to reign Mi-Yun in from trouble given her frisky and exciteable personality, interjecting her energy with rational caution and skepticism. She's often bewildered by Mi-Yun's amorous proclivities especially towards Albertonian shiks, Megan "Corvielle" Bunton, SHADO sentries, and some varieties of AZPHAR personnel, either on a drunken dare or bottled-up emotions is caught up doing the same exact things. Needless to say, it doesn't help her not be annoyed by Mi-Yun's logic.
- "Major" Hannah Kyung-Parr - Devika is figuratively the daughter that Hannah never had. The Major herself is quite skilled in the arts of demolition and seeing someone like Devika outdo her brings rare moments of pride and "motherly" adoration. Because of this, Mi-Yun is often spared harsh reprimand by The Major.
- Connor MacAelus - The two weren't much of talkers upon her initiation, but after Bismarck-8 each subsequent mission brought them closer together, not to mention Devika's unspoken affinity for redheads. She is also one of the few that actually enjoys Connor's daredevil maneuvers, even as his girlfriend, where the rest would prefer Mi-Yun's boyfriend Aeden Mueller to pilot on most missions. Aside from that, Connor is one of the few who is more like Devika than anyone else in terms of personality, and despite the cliche of opposites attracting, these two always find moments of calm and rationality with each other.