Kat Langford-Wilson (Alpha Timeline)

"I'm the Captain because no one cares about this crew more than I. This is my family. The Tombstone is my home."

- Kat Langford-Wilson

Captain Kathleen 'Bones' Langford is a primary character of the Shadowrun: War (Alpha Timeline) campaign. She is in command of the Tombstone and its operations, serving under Rear Admiral West. She is an Adept, focusing on athletic abilities, and follows the Athlete's Way.

Story
Kat was raised single-handedly by her father, after her mother died due to complications with her birth. This was later realised to have been due to Kat's unknown Adept powers. After this came to light, Kat's father, already an alcholic recluse destroyed by his wife's death, turned on his own daughter, and abused her emotionally and physically. He kept her in the bubble he himself had created, restricting her education and not allowing her to grow socially. Kat taught herself to read using her mother's handwritten diary, which she found in the attic of the house.

As a result of such a neglected childhood, Kat grew up socially stunted, anxious, and scared of her own magical powers. Everything came to head one night, when her father, once again in a drunken rage, began beating her. Kat snapped, and punched her dad back in self defence. With her Adept ability, the blow proved to be fatal as she caved in his skull, killing him instantly as his brain bled. Terrified of what she had done, Kat ran outside and began crying, attracting enough attention for a neighbour to approach, see the blood on Kat's hands, and phone Lone Star.

When the police arrived and quickly deduced the situation based on the sheer volume of empty bottles of alcohol in the house- almost equal to the bruises which peppered Kat's body- a detective took Kat aside and struck the orphan a deal; she would face no ramifications of her actions if she agreed to go to a youth Military programme, sign up for the army as soon as she was old enough, and assist with the war effort in Columbia.

And so, Kat agreed, attending the Ares-funded school until she was 17, where her Adept abilities were noted, and she was drafted into the infamous 'Tombstone' squad, lead by none other than Sergeant Brian West.

Tombstone, with Kat acting as a vanguard, soon became quite popular with the brass. The squad, consisting of the troll Drog, medic elf Ashley Wilson, and tech specialist Miles Ortega, took warmly to Kat, and the young girl relished the experience of finally having friends, and some semblance of family.

Eventually, Tombstone were called in to help evacuate an elite squad, led by Major Violet 'Grimm' Brookes, who would later be integral in shaping the lives of the squad. While infiltrating the Rebellion headquarters, the team came face to face with Adam, as well as The Reporter, for the first time. They also discovered the equipment which would lead to the creation of space-warp technology.

After a fierce battle, where Ortega was critically wounded, Tombstone returned to base camp with their discovery. Kat was then informed by Ashley that Ortega had been paralysed from the neck down and would be honourably discharged from service. Grimm also instructed the team that they too had been discharged from the military, and instead were being invited to join a prototype PMC, working in space with the technology they discovered. They were then given specialised training, and a spaceship, which was christened the Tombstone.

Kat, now a Lieutenant-Commander, started slowly taking more responsiblities as a leader, learning from West that she was expected to take over from him and lead the marines aboard the ship. After more marines joined the team, Kat was met with many challenges before she overcame her crippling insecurity, as well as getting therapy for her extreme phobia of alcohol and those under the influence, with the help of Ashley.

Aged 22, Kat was promoted to the rank of Commander, and filled the role of head of the marine team. She shared second in command duties of the Tombstone with the pilot Hendricks, and reportsed to Captain West for duty.

Kat continued to serve upon the Tombstone, suffering the loss of her first soldier, Winters, to the hands of some psychotic psionics, after which a team of psionic soldiers were added to the roster. Eventually, by the age of 25, Kat was appointed Captain of the Tombstone, succeeding West prior to Grimm's retirement.

The crash upon Tempus offered numerous growth points for Kat. For the first time, Kat met her mother, albeit in a somewhat futuristic form. The loss of so many crew has also affected Kat, inflicting her with insomnia and hallucinations of her dead team members.

Kat will return to captain the Tombstone when it returns to orbit after a 6 month shore leave.

Kat is currently serving off the ship on maternity leave.

Personality
Kat is extremely shy and nervous when she enlists in the army, aged 17. As a private, she is eager to please, still residually afraid of failing other people. On her first mission, a training exercise against Tombstone's elite rival squad, Raptor, Kat performs admirably, but panics when she is rounded on by an unknown assailant, and before she is shot, kicks out at his leg, shattering the bone completely with her Adept-enhanced strength. This later turns out to be the commanding officer of Raptor, who is withdrawn from service due to his injury. After this incident, Kat earns her military nickname; 'Bones', much to her own displeasure.

She matures slightly with loss of Ortega, who she had grown close to and looked to for guidance, though nowhere in comparison to West. After seeing Ortega get shot down, Kat acts with more passion during the fight, throwing herself out of a window and tackling Adam in mid-air, only to get knocked unconscious by the cyborg The Reporter.

After becoming a Lieutenant Commander and working in space for some time, Kat again takes steps into burying her demons, undergoing therapy with Ashley to cure her chronic fear of alcohol. It has long been questioned her extreme tendency for self-sacrifice, fuelled by her empathy and love of her team, who she sees as her family. She is still to this day battling herself on where her loyalties lie in the long run, and whether she can truly make the hard decisions when they come around.

Romantically speaking, she is fairly ambiguous, having had sexual relations with people of both genders, and seems a bit aloof when it comes to relationships, and is reluctant to disclose her feelings easily. She was in a two year relationship with Simon Adalwolf, before this came to a close. Currently, she is married to Ashley.

West
Brian West is a source of huge inspiration for Kat. He is the father figure she never had, and their bond has been strong from the start. A tradition has struck between the two, where when Kat does something that impresses West or makes him proud, he rewards her with a juice box. This is a throwback to when West promised the squad member who took down Raptor's commander a beer, but as Kat was both underage and afraid of alcohol, she recieved juice instead.

Kat and West have lengthy chats as she becomes more integral to the workings of Tombstone. He lectures her about leadership and responsibility, sharing his own stories and experiences in the hope it would help mould her into a true Commander. He is quick to pick up on any negative feelings Kat may be having, or doubts, and sees her as a daughter as much as she sees him as a father. It is West who oversees Kat's candidacy for Commander and 2IC of the Tombstone.

Kat and West split piloting and targetting duties of the Little Wing, and it can be noted that Kat has saved West's life on several occasions.

Ashley
Ashley, chief medical officer of the Tombstone, is Kat's best (and first) friend. The two quickly formed a friendship over their shared interest in music, with Kat being an exceptional guitar player, and happening to know how to play some of Ashley's favourite songs. This formed the basis of a relationship that has gone from strength to strength over the two women's careers together. Ashley tends to be the one to patch up Kat whenever she is injured in a fight. It is unclear whether this affects the chirpy medic at all. The elf tends to be the first person Kat will turn to in times of trouble, and they talk daily, with Kat frequenting the Med Bay with or without injury. These visits lessened somewhat when Ashley began dating Doc, and Kat felt uncomfortable with interuppting their time together.

Recently, after Doc's diagnosis and eventual death, there have been developments in the friendship between the two best friends.

As of the summer of 2084, Kat and Ashley have entered into a relationship. They are public about this towards the crew, and the two live together in the Captain's Quarters when aboard the Tombstone.

Before leaving for a particularly formidable mission, Kat gave Ashley one of her dog tags to keep, and Ashley gave her one of her own, as a mark of their relationship and wish not to be separated. When Kat returned, Ashley told her to keep the dog tag, stating she didn't wish to part with Kat's just yet.

While on shore leave in Paris, Kat proposed to Ashley, who accepted. They married in Phoenix in December 2084.

The two have additionally adopted a four year old Elven girl called Cathryn (Cee), who was the sole survivor of the UFEC Harbinger.

Over the years, the two had four children biologically; Simon, William, Lily, and Amy.

Cee
'Cee', real name Cathryn, is the adopted daughter of Kat and Ashley. She is four years old, and an elf. She is described as having blond hair and brown eyes, and is a technomancer.

Cee's parents were killed during the outbreak on the UFEC Harbinger. The young girl was saved by the Captain of the ship, and kept safe until Captain Langford's crew arrived. Almost instantly, a bond was formed between Cee, Ashley, and Kat. Once back on the Tombstone, Cee was cared for by Ashley and Kat, and the three grew very close. Upon arrival back on Earth, Cee was taken away by Social Services, and the separation visibly upset both Kat and Ash.

After their engagement, Ashley asked Kat if she would like to apply to adopt Cee, and Kat agreed.

Drog
A troll, Drog shares very few words with Kat, though he was the first ever team member she met, and the two arrived in Columbia together. Kat is protective of Drog, asking for his opinions on issues, though is sometimes guilty of neglecting him, as is the rest of the ship.

Kat refused to leave Drog behind when he was strapped to the bomb, even though he ordered her to leave. She was willing to die with him, if need be.

After Kat's criminal charges were dropped, courtesy of Ortega, Kat found herself to be the owner of her childhood home. Keen to demolish whatever memories the place held for her, but unwilling to refuse her mother's last wish, Kat knocked down the building, and rebuilt the house from scratch, expanding the territory, and offering Drog half her home.

When on Earth, the two live together, along with Joel. When on Earth, Kat enlists Drog to do the grocery shopping to help with his reading skills.

Felix
Felix, another elf, is an engineer, with a fondness for drones. He and Kat have had little time together, the most having been spent back on Earth, during a scouting mission, where Felix directly disobeyed Kat's orders as a soldier of higher rank. Since then, they have spoke little, though this will hopefully change as the Tombstone changes after shore leave.

Lieutenant Commander Cameron has since left the service of the Tombstone.

Hendricks
Hendricks is the pilot of the Tombstone. He and Kat ran against each other for the position of Commander, before the rank was split between them in a sharing role. His attitude towards staff irks the ever-empathetic Kat, but she takes care to listen to what he has to say, and is prepared to comply on certain issues in order to make their working relationship cohesive.

After Commander Hendricks' sacrifice on Tempus, Kat gains a greater level of respect for the man than she previously thought possible, and she takes time during shore leave to settle Malcolm's affairs, as well as visit his sister to deliver the unfortunate news, and offer condolence.

Grimm

Kat has great respect for Grimm, though she is weary of the elf's insane nature. As a commanding officer, Grimm tends to be guaranteed Kat's diligence and unwavering loyalty no matter what.

Kat may have accidently slapped Grimm in her sleep once, and still feels sorry about it.

Winters
Kat first meets Winters back on Earth, before the discovery of the space-warp technology. They have mutual respect for one another as soldiers, and Kat intends to make him her 2IC of the marines.

The death of Winters was the first soldier to die under Kat's command, and she required sedation when she found his body in engineering. As a mark of respect, Kat has a tattoo of a snowflake behind her left ear, reflecting that this loss is always on her mind.

Wolf
Simon Adalwolf, a German sniper, is a member of Kat's marine squad. The two start off with a flirty friendship, which soon turns sexual. While unsure of her feeling's, Kat was willing to see where the relationship went, and spent time in Germany with Simon and his family.

Simon beats up Edge after he punches Kat.

After two years together, Kat spoke to Wolf and explained that she did not feel as strongly for him as he did her, and felt it would be best for them to part while they could still be friends. Wolf was upset by the break up, and did not speak to Kat for six months. However, the two have since reconciled, and after Kat offered Wolf a position on the Command Squad as her personal rifleman, the German seems a lot happier on the Tombstone.

Kat will visit Wolf in New York to discuss his promotion to Lieutenant, and new role as Head of Marines.

Victoria
Kat is probably more impressed with Victoria than any other of the new marines they pick up. Head of electronics, the tech-savy Brit perks Kat's interest when it comes to anything involving hardware, or technology in general. Kat worries that their working relationship may have been somewhat spoiled by her difficulty with Edge, but was reassured that Victoria had remained resolutely on her side, regardless of her brother's actions.

She too beats up Edge, and helps tape him to the ceiling after he punches Kat.

She also bails out the entire squad from prison after they are arrested at Kat's birthday party. She was in the bathroom while the fight ensued, unknown to her.

Victoria, after the death of Hendricks, became the new second in command, and recieved the rank of Commander.

After the events of Chicago, Victoria was promoted to the rank of Captain, and will take charge of the Tombstone while Kat is on maternity leave.

Edge
Kat faces her first true test in leadership due to Edge, after coming across a bomb-strapped Drog in the engineering deck. After ordering for the ship to be evacuated, Kat refuses to leave her old friend behind, and attempts to disarm the bomb herself. After a few successes, and then even more fumbles, Edge intervenes, ripping off the bomb vest and racing out of the ship with the explosive device. Realising Edge's suicidal plan, Kat races to catch up with him before detonation occurs, using her enhanced speed and power to tackle Edge to ground, making  him drop the bomb vest, and it flies down the walkway. Winters hurries to seal the door to protect them team from the blast, but is greviously wounded in his attempt. Kat shields Edge from any collateral damage and is knocked out in the process. Edge remains conscious to take a full view of Winters' injuries, and is haunted by this.

After this, Edge begins to carry feelings of anger and resentment towards Kat, getting drunk soon after the incident, and directly questioning her authority, as well as her capability as a soldier. Kat is hurt by these accusations, though takes effort to remain calm with Edge and attempt to make things right between her and the engineer.

Eventually, on the eve of the elections for Commander, Kat approaches Edge, allowing him to punch her and let out his obvious anger. He does this, and their relationship is repaired. This is the first act that spurs Kat on, finally trusting her own mind as well as her heart.

Despite the turbulent initial relationship, the two are now very good friends, and tease one another whenever possible.

Kat still feels guilty that she never caught Edge in time when he fell out of the Stork.

Doc
Kat and Doc, despite their difficulties (more Kat's than anyone else) maintained a good friendship throughout the Cajun's life. Kat, being the Captain, was one of the first to learn of Doc's terminal illness. It was through this confession that Kat felt obliged to share with Doc her true feelings towards Ashley, and this turned out to be a strengthening point in their friendship, rather than a hinderance. Kat offered to Empathically Heal Doc's cancer, despite this almost certainly ending in her own demise. Doc was touched by the young woman's selflessness, but refused outright, saying he did not want anyone else to be hurt by his illness.

Doc's eventual sacrifice upon Tempus greatly affected Kat, and she has now began suffering hallucinations, much with the rest of the dead crew, of the man she once served with.

Joel
Joel Love is another adept, who joins the Tombstone and immediately sparks a good friendship with Kat. His checkered past does not put Kat off in the slightest, and the two spend many a night drinking together in the bar. Joel's highly perceptive personality results in him acknowledging things about the Captain she is not quite willing to admit at times.

Joel lives with Kat in Phoenix during shore leave, and the two spend many a night drinking until the next day, and chatting about their lives.

Abilities
Kat, an Adept, specialises in the role of frontline assault. She is a leader, a gunner, and more than willing to charm her way out of sticky situations. She has recently began training in sniper rifles.

Kat, having been encouraged by the military youth programme's psychologist to take up an artistic hobby, began playing guitar at age 15, and still plays regularly in her room on the Tombstone. With Victoria's help, she has started recording a few pieces she plays regularly, collecting them for an unknown project.

Having had a somewhat sparse education, Kat took advantage of her expanse of free time when the Tombstone was just getting started, and began studying intensely from whatever textbooks she could get her hands on. She has expressed an aptitude for biology, and may start getting lectured on medicine and physiology by Ashley. It has been recommended she take lessons on pharmacology with Doc, but she has yet to accept the offer.

She wishes nothing more than to be able to jump over a building, but frack me it just isn't happening.

Another Adept ability of Kat's is her Empathic Healing. By absorbing the wounds of others, and thereby inflicting them upon herself, Kat can heal people from even the most critical of conditions. As of this moment, Kat has empathically healed; Sparky, Edge, Drog, Larissa, Wolf, and Joel. The subject of Kat's particular ability is a source of great tension between Ashley and Kat, as the elf does not hold back at displaying her disdain of this talent. To this day, Rear Admiral West is still unaware of this latent ability.

Children
With her wife Ashley, Kat raised a total of five children. The oldest, her adopted daughter 'Cee', was an Elven Technomancer. After Kat and Ashley's retirement from frontline duty, the two decided to try and have a child biologically.

Kat insisted upon carrying their first baby, fearing the risk a potentially Awakened child could place on Ashley. Not wishing for history to repeat itself, the two began a fertility treatment to get Kat pregnant with Ashley's child, using a fusion technique. The first attempt was unsuccessful, upsetting Kat, but her fears were dampened after their second try proved to be a success.

After a harsh pregnancy, which lasted seven months due to the nature of Adept gestation, Kat gave birth to twin boys, Simon and William. Simon was in distress prior to his birth, and was subsequently rushed to the NICU. After giving birth to William, Kat passed out, her blood pressure dropping dramatically due to the absence of the stress the babies had been placing on her heart.

When Kat woke up, Ashley was there, with William in her arms, and Simon in an incubator. William, named after Kat's grandfather, was an Elf, and given them middle name Joel, honouring his mothers' dead friend. Later on, he would present the qualities of a powerful Mystic Adept. He has blonde hair, and Kat's blue eyes, where Simon Eugene has Ashley's green ones. Simon is human, unlike his twin, and a pure Adept, though due to developing asthma pre-natally, Simon decidedly focused his powers on the more social aspect of superhuman, and took on Ashley's desire for knowledge, becoming a brilliant doctor.

After two years, the family decided to expand once more. This time, however, Ashley requested to carry the baby, as she felt that, despite having three children, she did not yet feel like a mother. Kat reluctantly agreed, but began annoying Ashley almost as soon as she confirmed she was pregnant, constantly checking on her and carrying her places, worried about the stress the pregnancy might cause to Ash. The two had a huge fight about this one night, but later made up after both apologised for their behaviour. After eight months, Ashley gave birth to twin girls; Lily and Amy.

Lily Victoria, an elf, has green eyes and oddly red hair (the source of this is unknown, though it is suspected it comes from Ashley's side of the family). Awakened like most of her siblings, she is a Mystic Adept, like William, though she focuses on speed where he excels in strength.

Amy Elizabeth, a human, has blue eyes and blonde hair, and is the only Mage of the Langford-Wilson children. She is exceptionally bright and powerful, and follows the Hermetic Tradition.

The birth of the two girls proved taxing for Ashley, as shortly after the birth she went into cardiac arrest, and was declared clinically dead for six seconds after her heart stopped. She was quickly resuscitated. Kat, to this day, still calls it the scariest moment of her life.

After Tempus
After the successful warp back into familiar space, the Tombstone, minus seven souls, arrived back in the orbit of Mars. Contact was reastablished with Rear Admiral West, and it was left to Captain Langford to explain what had happened.

The experience on Tempus has left Kat with an inability to sleep. Her insomnia cannot be battled with medication, given her Adept metabolism. Any drugs she uses burn off too quickly to affect her, according to Joel, who advises her on her predicament. Kat has also began suffering hallucinations of dead crew members, in particular, the recurring figure of Doc.

Kat has had her titanium bone lacing removed for personal reasons, as well as her adrenaline pump.

Crozia Prime
Kat's first sanctioned mission for UFEC involved taking the Tombstone to the colonised planet of Crozia Prime. Crozia was responsible for the production of the substance Tritanium, used in the structure and framework of UFEC ships. Production rates had recently fallen, and the threat of rebellion lingered planet side.

Throughout her investigation, Kat faced many obstacles, finding the inhabitants of Crozia self-centred and unhelpful. After one week, Kat was betrayed by Admiral Gunderson, her CO on the mission and the head of UFEC operations on Crozia Prime. Gunderson, fuelled by racist bigotry, had went rogue, and nearly succeeded in dropping one half of the planet on the other, before the Tombstone squad foiled these plans.

During a recon mission at a nightclub, Kat was poisoned with cyanide and nearly died from the effects. Kat was somewhat awkwardly reunited with her ex-boyfriend from Columbia, Captain Ryan Sunderland, Gunderson's right hand man. The two clashed, and Kat cut off Ryan's right hand to prevent him detonating a deadly explosive.

Kat had a total of five intense hallucinations during her time on Crozia Prime. The more chaotic recent attacks have thought to be a result of halving her medication supply with Edge, who has been suffering from similar visions.

As the result of a miscalculation on Kat's part, the Tombstone has since been issued with a warning concerning friendly fire.

Quotes
"I've got a bed." - K. Langford, to an unnamed Renraku employee, c.2077

"This is down to me, I am in charge, your regret is not your burden to bear." - K. Langford, to E. King, c.2078

"Being with Ash is like seeing the sun for the first time, after being locked away forever, nothing compares." - K. Langford, c.2084

"I must be hallucinating again, 'cause you just agreed to marry me." - K. Langford to A. Wilson