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Tyler "Yokel" Kent (Galactica)

Vital Stats


Appearance

Yokel1.jpg

Tyler fits the stereotype of the "handsome farm boy" - tall, rugged good looks, and a highly-toned figure from an active upbringing and lifestyle of labour, combined with moderate exercise. He stands just under 6' in height, and whilst not bulky, has notably defined musculature, which isn't obviously apparent when he wears loose clothing. This appearance, combined with his "farmer" background, has often let to further derision from male pilots, whilst more friendly "attention" from the females (and the occasional male). Tyler doesn't really make much effort on his looks. He keeps his beard trimmed and thin, and his hair short more out of practicality and tidyness than any fashion choice. Although on occasion has let his beard grow, he rarely is smooth-shaven, as he states that an active lifestyle results in sweat, which can be aggravating when close-shaved.

Like most pilots, Tyler is typically found wearing his working blues, or flight suit pants and undershirt. When out of uniform, he favours comfortable, airy clothing such as jeans or slacks, with a t-shirt or hoodie depending on the temperature.

Biography

Pre-Exodus

Tyler was born on the Vasirn Mining Outpost on the planet Troy, a planet in the Cyrannus star system standing aside from the Twelve Colonies, which was mined extensively - principally by Virgo and Leonis. His parents were miners of Leonin and Aerelon origin, and his childhood was spent around mining and station equipment. No proper educational facilities, he was mostly home-schooled and learnt in the field or what he could with the corporate facilities for the children of the miners. It was a spartan life, full of hard work, with entertainment mostly sporting with other children, but a happy one. In his preadolescence, a mining disaster resulted in the death of many miners, including his own parents, and Tyler was taken in by Julius Baltar, his uncle on his mother's side. Julius was the current inheritor of his family's ancestral dairy farm outside of Cuffle's Breath Wash on Aerelon, and he found the hard-working-but-peaceful and honest life on Aerelon appealing and not totally indifferent to his lifestyle on Troy.

Whilst he would never say they were very close, he did build a good relationship with his cousin Gaius. Gaius was a genius who even from an early age wanted more out of life than what he could get in Aerelon, and at age 10 taught himself to speak with a Caprican dialect in hopes of one day being considered a citizen of one of the more respected and wealthy colonies. Although Tyler was no genius, Tyler was no simpleton and Gaius convinced him that he was too smart and obviously capable with machinery to spend his existence on a dairy farm. A little after Gaius' 18th birthday the two cousins left Aerelon for Caprica. There Gaius focused on improving his education, with Tyler often being the one to help put food on the table by working honest, but simple jobs. Eventually, Gaius went to Caprica University to fulfil his dreams of becoming a computer scientist and, although they would keep in touch sporadically, that would in practice be the end of their relationship. Tyler is too kind to say that Gaius used him and abandoned him once his goals were within reach, but others have described it as such - especially uncle Julius, who Tyler would visit when he had an opportunity, would still help on the farm, and kept a more close relationship with than his own son. On his own, a chance encounter with some Colonial pilots in the pub led to him signing up for the Colonial Fleet. Due to his lack of education and background, he was expecting to end up in the enlisted ranks, but he scored well enough in the aptitude tests to enter flight training.

The academy was a rough time for him. Most pilots seemed to come from Caprican, Pican or similarly wealthy and respectable colonies. Whilst there were others, there were few from Aerelon and making fun of him because of his backwater origins became a pastime for many of the cadets. It was tough for him because on Aerelon issues with bullies or others that got in your face were usually resolved with alcohol, or fists (or both) - but in flight school doing so would cause him to be expelled, so he decided he would "win" by graduating. Although the "Yokel" nickname they gave him was meant as an insult, he took it upon himself as a mark of pride and defiance - and his Aerelon optimism and ability to remain cool under fire were sufficient to weather the storm until they finally let up once he's earned his place in their eyes. Still, he made a few friends and graduated - barely. He was a decent pilot but found some of the more academic disciplines harder.

Whilst the higher-scoring cadets, and those from more prestigious backgrounds, found themselves posted on ships of the line, or Picon fleet headquarters, Tyler was posted on the Hephaestus, an ageing logistics frigate that provided repairs and maintenance to hollow stations (stations that had been abandoned but still maintained in case of future use) or automated stations. He alternated in his duties between flying occasional defense patrols in vipers, but principally flying shuttles or Raptors. His typical duty involved flying to a facility with a specialist and repair parts, then officially wait or fly a CAP until it was time to return. In practice, due to his knowledgeability of mechanics, Tyler more often than not would get involved with helping the specialists in their duties, deferring to their knowledge. His attitude towards the enlisted men would likely have been disapproved of in other areas, but in "the back end of nowhere" and working with the crews it endeared him to them. Tyler would just put it down to being used to being useful and a willingness to be involved in honest, hard work. Whilst he was quite knowledgeable in mechanical repairs, this exposure helped him learn more about technical repairs. It was a fairly quiet, peaceful life. He enjoyed his job, and liked the people he worked with.

The Exodus

The Fall of the Twelve Colonies occurred as Tyler was out on another mission to a backwater hollow station - an unmanned location of virtually no strategic value, and therefore something that ultimately saved his life. With no trouble expected from this remote location, he piloted there as he had done many times in a Colonial fleet shuttle. On this mission, he was flying Petty Officer Kassiopeia Sprang, a young specialist who had often accompanied him on these missions. In the long, boring trips the two had become friends and found ways to pass the journey time together; and once on-site he would often help her out. By chance (or fate, if one is so inclined to believe) Kassiopeia was also from Aerelon, although from a different town far away - but this was a commonality that helped them become fast friends, as both were "hard-working and easy-going folk, trying to do an honest day's work for an honest day's pay." On location, he would often help her out - although her mechanical and technical skills were obviously superior to his, he was quite handy himself and functionally became her assistant on many jobs - during which he picked up some technical skills to compliment his prior mechanical skills. On this mission, they were conducting repairs on the station and heard on the comms about the attacks. Too far to be able to get involved and with no ability to jump, they tried to contact authorities and seek instructions at first, but that proved fruitless when that proved fruitless and comms began dying down, began flying out carefully searching for the Fleet.

Returning to the location of their stationed cruiser, they found only a graveyard of destroyed ships. They kept searching for any Colonial contact, to no avail. Eventually, they heard the call to Ragnar Anchorage, but with only sub-light drives, there was no way they could get there in time. They despaired at the realisation that what was left of humanity had abandoned them and moved on, but they were Aerelons, and strong in character. They became determined to adapt and survive - certain that, like them, there must surely be other humans left behind and in hiding. They hoped to be able to find them in time - though first priority was to find a way to survive in a Cylon-occupied galaxy.

They believed that if they went to any habitable location, the Cylons would find them. Therefore they decided to stick to areas that were not permanently habitable. At least, not without help. As they had on their runs worked on hollow stations - former military bases abandoned long ago, and maintained by the Fleet mostly out of habit - as well as automated mining, energy collection and similar facilities, they had locations they could remain in relative comfort, as long as they kept going to other locations to get resources needed such as fuel, energy, repair parts and other necessities. The stations were designed to be habitable by a small group, but depended on continuous resupply - but this would keep them mobile. The danger came with food - the unmanned stations did not have food supplies, and although some of the automated facilities generated space-grown crops, this was limited. Where possible they constructed biofarms to supplement their needs, but they needed time for essential foodstuffs to grow, and that would be insufficient for long-term survival on its own. The simple fact was that there were many planets that still had resources they could use - from foodstuffs in the cities that were abandoned or population killed by nuclear strikes, which they could weather short-term with anti-rad medication they obtained from various military, solar-collection and mining stations' limited medical facilities - but these locations now had Cylon occupants. Their trusty shuttle was too slow and defenceless for realistic long-term survival.

So they decided to use what little rations they had, or scavenged, to buy time for them to salvage pieces from the many ship graveyards. With literally hundreds of destroyed vipers floating in space, it is little surprise that they found one Mk VII Viper mostly structurally intact, with the main damage being in the cockpit and engines. There were plenty of destroyed vipers, so with great patience, caution, and time, they eventually managed to salvage enough pieces to repair the viper at their "home." They also salvaged comms and dradis equipment from remains of Raptors and other ships, and Kassiopeia managed to kitbash improved monitoring and jamming facilities, which made it easier for them to remain undetected by the Cylons. Having a functional viper may not have extended their operational range any, but it made sub-light journeys faster, gave him some ability to defend himself from the occasional Cylon scout ship encountered, and some offensive ability for the occasional assault he may have required to make. With this, he was able to fly down to planets whilst avoiding detection, and steal food and other supplies from the Cylons. Tyler learnt the hard way how to be quiet and scavenge, and use his firearms for self-defence when required. Each outing was dangerous, but they learnt which patterns and locations worked best, and didn't over-reach. Thus, they survived.

It wasn't always easy, and there were a few close calls. Occasional scouts, unexpected patrol changes leading to encounters with Cylon defenders, and a whole plethora of technical problems with their "home" nearly ended their lives on multiple occasions. One particularly harrowing occasion resulted in a core containment failure due to an eroded component, which caused an explosion that very nearly killed Tyler and especially Kassiopeia, who thereafter was never physically the same and although she would guide (and in doing so, teach) Tyler what to do to carry out repairs on both mechanical and technological equipment, was generally unable to carry out the repairs herself. Still, Tyler did not mind.

But the worst part was the solitude. For a long time, it was just "Ty and Kassy" and although they got along well, it was tough. Both of them at various times would succumb to despair, anxiety or other malaise. At times they were great friends, at other times lovers, and other times would hate each other and barely speak for weeks on end. But only having each other, eventually the cycle would repeat itself out of mutual necessity. Kassy's injury of late has made things harder, and Tyler's having to take up the slack on maintenance as well as resource-stealing has both toughened him physically, as well as exhausting him physically and mentally.

The Aerelon spirit is strong, but even it can only hold up so long with no future in sight. But Ty has not yet given up hope of encountering other surviving humans. He steals food, scavenges repair parts from ship graveyards, and monitors the comms to seek out other human life. The routine keeps him going. Kassy keeps him going. For now.

Current Activities

Tyler resides principally at the "Echelon-Delta" comms monitoring and relay station. The station's equipment monitors comms channels, relaying Colonial signals on to the stations as part of the network of hundreds of Colonial comms relays employed by military and corporate usage until the Fall. Built during the Colonial wars, it was initially designed to be manned by a small group of operators and maintenance specialists with monthly resupply runs (and occasional operator changes), but when the military needs for the station died down, the system was converted to be an automated station requiring only occasional maintenance and repairs. In it, he maintains a small bio-farm where he grows some vegetables, and with Kassy's help keeps the air scrubbers functional, maintains the systems and tries to prevent the old systems from deteriorating and failing.

Several times a week he makes runs out on the Viper to the nearby agricultural centres, where he steals more crops from the now-wild fields, maybe, if he's lucky, the occasional rabbit, or rat, or similar small animal he can take back and cook to break the monotony of an otherwise forced vegan diet. On other days he will sneak into the former population centres, avoiding Cylon inhabitants, and steals medical supplies or other goods (principally non-foodstuffs). Whilst the practical cargo space in a Viper is limited, it was believed that the extra speed and defence was better than the less-frequent-but-far-riskier journeys on a shuttle, or even a raptor (which they have had trouble trying to get properly functional due to all the tricky advanced tech, which is harder to get replacement parts for), and so the supplies he can effectively steal per trip is limited, and kept to essentials. On other days Tyler flies scout missions in an attempt to locate other human survivors, or uncover new facilities or locations with resources they can use.

Tyler and Kassy (principally Kassy) monitor the comms in the station. They hid in the station once when Cylons boarded and messed around, and they believe that the Cylons have tapped into the station and use it to help relay their own communications, as well as monitor for Colonial signals. They have carefully counter-tinkered and managed to find a way to block this access - although they have reserved its use for a crucial moment, knowing that using it would inevitably result in Cylons coming to investigate the fault at some point, and evidence of tampering would lead to discovery, and therefore be fatal for them. They have also worked to crack the Cylons' encryption and algorithms to listen in to their comms, but they've had only limited success in this. Kassy believes they can be more successful in this endeavour if they take the risk of actually modifying the systems, but Tyler is reluctant to make too many changes just in case.

When on the station Tyler and Kassy converse a lot and entertain each other mainly through stories, card games, and sports (though now this is more limited since Kassy's injury). Tyler has learnt via self-practice, and the occasional book he has acquired, how to play a guitar and a few other instruments. He enjoys this and is becoming decent, though has a long way to go still. He always enjoyed crafting as a hobby, and used to enjoy carpentry when he was young, and when possible he still practices this both as a hobby and a useful skill to create things needed/useful on the station.

But as the malaise of being without other human contact for so long gets to them, Tyler has started becoming more reckless. Whilst not yet lost to despair, he is taking more risks than he once did. Travelling further in the search for resources and life, scanning more openly, taking more resources, and otherwise doing activities that may potentially reveal activity where the Cylons should expect none. Kassy has berated him for developing a death wish, which Tyler denies. But he does admit to wanting to do more than they've done - some days he even actually thinks that Kassy's suggestions to try to hack the Cylon network, or actually transmit secretly in attempt to contact other Colonials, may actually be what's needed.


Personality

Tyler is a good-natured and simple man. He is easy to get along with and friendly to everyone who is polite to him, and will most likely just ignore or politely tolerate anyone who isn't. Back on Aerelon if someone got in your face, you put your fist in his - but in the Fleet that would get you in trouble, so he's learnt to bite back this instinct for the most part, although it's still there. He enjoys playing Triad and other sports or physical activities, being in excellent physical shape, and equally enjoys relaxing evening with good company playing games, listening to music (or playing instruments), and he boy he misses the old barn dances back on Aerelon and is quick to break into dance! He's quite a social person, although not a socially manipulative one, and quite naive, idealist and trusting. He is confident in his abilities - some would say too confident - and being treated as 2nd-best all his life by those of higher socio-economic class than him, he usually tends to sympathise and support the underdog in situations, not liking bullying.


Other Notes

Tyler is allergic to citrus. Specifically, he suffers from what medics call Oral Allergy Syndrome (OAS) when he comes into contact with the juice of raw oranges, lemons, limes and grapefruits. If eating food or drink containing raw citrus food (properly cooked citrus has no real effect) he often gets intense tingling and itching of the lips, tongue and throat, often with reddening and mild swelling of the lips and gums. Touching the peels will not affect him in any way, but notable and prolonged physical contact with the raw juices can cause mild contact dermatitis (skin redness, itching, flaky skin) as his skin releases inflammatory chemicals after contacting the allergen.

Oranges, limes and grapefruits were always easy enough to avoid, but Tyler had to make it a habbit of asking for drinks or food without a lemon. That said, citrus fruits aren't really something he's had to worry about since the Fall of the Twelve Colonies.


Combat Style

As a trained pilot, Tyler isn't really trained in combat beyond basic training. He received basic firearms, weapons and unarmed training in basic training, but little more. Despite this, growing up on Aerelon and mining stations, where the stereotypical local passtime was going out and getting drunk, then getting into a fist-fight, has made him a reasonable brawler. Whilst not professionally trained beyond basic, he has a hardy constitution and punches well above his weight, and has been known to punch down people far bulkier than he is. Many infiltration missions into Cylon territory have led to him being not terrible at covert activities, and he has had to use his firearms on occasions.

This has all led to Tyler certainly being no marine, but being capable of seeking cover, and defending himself or giving support fire from a defensive position; and reasonable at brawling if need be. Tyler is quite keen on learning more martial arts or the likes, and had began taking part in Fleet boxing at the time of the Fall, and if given the opportunity would like to take this up again. He practices with the boxing bag in the station mini-gym, and where possible practices shooting on deserted locations or parts of the station, and in this new universe of Cylon threats, feels he needs to improve those skills as someday the Cylons will likely locate him, and he will need those skills to attempt to survive.

In a Viper, Tyler is a cautious flyer. Although he was never a bad pilot, and has good agility, he was not one of the top pilots. A reliable, steady pilot that could be depended on for flying shuttles, or viper CAPs, he was the kind of pilot others wanted as a wingman to watch their tails, but not a hotshot that would get the fame and glory. His time on solo operations with the viper have helped improve his skills with a Viper, so he is capable of holding his own, but he is more used to evading and manoeuvering than engaging. In combat he would support his assigned wingman, focusing more on dodging attacks and taking the heat off his wingman whilst they took out targets, unless given orders to the contrary.


Social Style

Tyler is described as having two weaknesses socially. His main one is that he is a bit of an idealist, and tends to believe the best in people and trust them until proven otherwise. He is usually honest, and assumes others are also honest with him, which can make him easy to be taken advantage of. If this is betrayed, he finds it very hard to trust that person again, and harbours grudges, although it's not normally too difficult to give an honest-seeming apology and partially regain his trust short-term, but a further betrayal will put that person on a proverbial no-fly list for him.

His second weakness is the ladies. He is old-fashioned and is particularly polite and respectful to the ladies, and having been quite successful with the ladies all his life because of his good looks, and his open an honest nature (and that of the people in his home town) means that he often is quite the ladies man, and finds it hard to reject their advances (he sees no reason to do so, unless there is an obvious reason why he should do so) - and is more likely to be trusting to them (especially when the water-works are laid on) than to males. He knows this weakness and tries to not be so trusting and idealist, but it's ingrained.

Bullies of any sorts (to him or others) will earn his disfavour, whilst those who are friendly, open and caring towards him will gain his friendship and a loyalty that can move mountains. He would do anything for his friends or superior officers who treat their subordinates with respect.


Signature Equipment

  • ID "Dog" Tags
  • Picon Five-seveN (standard-issue pistol)
  • Military Undershirt
  • Fleet Pilot Flight Suit
  • Fleet Officer Working Blues Uniform (silver piping)
  • Fleet Officer Dress Grey Uniform
  • Guitar
  • Harmonica
  • Multipurpose tool
  • Backpack


Signature Quotes

  • "I'm just a simple man trying to do an honest day's work for an honest day's pay."


Gallery

  • Yokel1.jpg
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