Icari Isidolde

Icari Isidolde
"I'm not doing this b-because I like you!"
Gender	Female
Nationality	Alliance
Occupation	Mercenary Assassin Ryder pilot
Rank	Sunrider Head of Security (formerly) Sunrider CAG (briefly)
Family	Mother, Father & Brother - Deceased

Icari Isidolde is a companion character in Sunrider

A tough mercenary of 25 years from the rough quarters of the galaxy, Icari has a no-nonsense attitude about life. Icari was thrust into the harsh world of piracy when her parents were murdered by a PACT captain in her childhood. She developed a proficiency for close quarters combat and became one of the most formidable assassins in the galaxy. Her services are now sought by crime lords and world leaders alike. Icari handles the dirty business of the galaxy’s nations with a hardened heart. Deep down, she regrets the life she now leads and lives only for one purpose: to find her parents’ murderers and avenge their deaths, believing that most means are acceptable to beat PACT. Her English Voice Actress is Aimee Smith and her Japanese Voice Actor is Haruna Ren.

Spirit: She is tough and very independent, yet has a kind heart deep down.

Appearance

Standing at an average and well-balanced hight for her age, Icari's appearance can be considered attractive yet hardened, her posture and movements reflecting many years worth of having to struggle just to eke out a living for herself. Her body is feminine and shapely yet toned and well-maintained, her figure more modest but far more proportional than, say, Claude Triello, and, in spite of her dangerous profession as a mercenary, her skin is seemingly free of scarring or blemishes - a testament to her skills in having gone through her career without retaining any lasting marks on her body. She has fair skin, feminine facial features that belay her nature as an assassin and roughly knee-length black hair that she usually keeps styled in a long ponytail, with sharp emerald-green eyes that reflect her perceptive, guarded and, when meeting newcomers, skeptical nature. Her expression is typically serious or indifferent, whereas other times she sports an amused or sarcastic smirk, namely when teasing others with high-strung personalities like Ava Crescentia, shy types like Chigara Lynn Ashada or people with powerful prides like Kryska Stares.

When on the Sunrider, Icari wears the standard "Sailor girl" uniform of the Cera Space Force's female crew-members - a black miniskirt with two gold stripes around the edge, a black long-sleeved blouse with white cuffs and gold buttons and cufflinks, both with gold accents, a white sailor-collar/neckerchief with two gold stripes fastened with a gold bow in the front, black stockings with gold embroidery at the tops and black slipper-shoes with a gold buckle on each. When on combat duty, she wears the standard Ryder-pilot armor-mesh suit, colored golden-yellow and heavily-modified with several concealed compartments to hide small knives and even a compact pistol, as well as presumedly holding a miniature wetware-infiltration device to hack into and bypass security systems.

Bio

Note: (WARNING - Spoilers ahead for the plot of Sunrider: First Arrival & Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius. Read at your own risk!!)

Early Life & Tragedy

Born on an Alliance world, Icari lived a normal and nondescript life with her family - consisting of her mother, father and brother - and shared in a small business of being freelance space explorers and map-charters with them. Through this lifestyle, Icari saw many sights and experiences most her age never got to see and cultures many in the Alliance only ever heard about. But because her family had no real possessions of value aside from what was on their ship, this life in turn cost her the chance to make regular friends or settle down with a stable home, always on the move in their vessel as they charted out new parts of the galaxy or took whatever contracts they could to keep afloat. While a generally unstable life, it was likely that Icari's family enjoyed being together and probing the edges of space, discovering things that had either never been seen or had been lost for some time.

A young Icari watches as her family's ship is destroyed by PACT.

However, this life came to a sudden end when Icari was twelve, as their ship was intercepted by PACT vessels after they crossed into their ever-expanding borders - likely by pure accident, most probably due to PACT's rate of expansion outpacing the latest charts Icari's family had at the time, leaving the family unaware that what they had thought was neutral space had become the new border-marker for PACT effectively overnight. The family's ship was boarded and Icari's parents were asked to provide documentation and charts they did not possess, as - possibly unknown to Icari's family - space travel in PACT territories could only be done with permission from a Veniczar, and charting out their space was recognizable as an act of subterfuge by way of illegal intelligence-gathering.

Their ship, being an Alliance-licensed vessel that likely didn't have intents to purposefully enter PACT space in the first place, didn't have these credentials, and as a result all of it's crew and passengers were executed by the PACT troops, with Icari being forced to watch helplessly as her mother was brutally executed by the PACT Captain with a gunshot to the head. Panicked and terrified, Icari fled and hid as the rest of her family was gunned down and murdered. After it was over, Icari was barely able to make it to an escape pod before the PACT ship bombed and destroyed her family's vessel. Losing the only home she had ever known, Icari was left sobbing in anguish as she watched from the pod's viewport as all she had burned away amid the void of space.

Icari was left adrift in her escape pod for five days, assumedly with nothing but emergency rations that would likely have been kept in the survival kits, forced to endure the loneliness and cold silence of space on the back of having seen her life destroyed - something that would have left most in a state of insanity or depression. She remained this way until she was rescued by an Alliance vessel - in the Novel, Icari goes on to state that she was half-dead from malnutrition and dehydration by the time the Alliance had found her. Left with nothing to go back to, Icari was left in a state of drifting for some time, and was assumedly placed in Alliance care while she recovered from her near-death experience. This was also where she likely learned about other PACT atrocities second-hand from the Alliance, which would serve to turn her emotional turmoil into a deep-seated pit of vengeful hatred against the expansionistic faction that had murdered her parents and brother in cold blood.

Mercenary Life

It is unknown how Icari spent her life during this time, though there are at least two distinct possibilities. One is that she was taken in by someone and then left when old enough to hone her skills in order to strike back at PACT. Another is that Icari had actually joined the Alliance as a cadet or even full-fledged soldier, only to resign and go it alone after being frustrated at the Alliance's inability to strike at PACT due to the politics and policies of the Progress Party. All that is known is that at some point, likely upon hitting her teens, Icari trained extensively - possibly under an Alliance training program, if not a Spec Ops program - in combat fitness and in how to survive, potentially forming the basis for many skills she would come to favor later in life such as close combat. At some point, Icari left Alliance space once more when she turned sixteen, in order to make her own life in the Neutral Rim against PACT as a mercenary, and later on, after killing a man on her eighteenth birthday simply to see if she could do so and finding herself rather skilled at it, she took up the life of a professional assassin. She would also improve her close-quarters-combat skills even further and become versed in counterintelligence subterfuge such as security bypasses and hacking. By her own admission, Icari also ended up falling into things she shouldn't have - "experiments" in vice, presumably drinking or recreational drugs, to escape the depression of her family's death and her own loneliness.

At some point during her time in Alliance space and her years as a mercenary, Icari learned how to pilot a Ryder and gained possession of one herself, heavily modifying it with a lightweight frame, anti-targeting stealth coating, boosted engines using illegal Heratium vents, and twin anti-Ryder melee blades as the reliability and proficiency of personal shields made the use of guns against them obsolete. Emphasizing anti-Ryder capabilities, mobility and evasion together with low-grade stealth, Icari's Ryder, the Phoenix, was further adapted to equip a customized warp-capable booster ring to effectively be in and out of danger-zones before anyone could react. It also aided in infiltrating dangerous areas and picking off targets without being discovered or traced back to her clients, giving her the capability to potentially act alone almost anywhere in the galaxy.

At some point in her life, Icari also seemed to share a short-lived friendship and business - and possibly a romance - with the leader of a mercenary gang and part-time pirate group, before he was killed in a firefight with an Alliance patrol he'd tried to raid, the young man dying when he crashed his burning orbital skiff into the ship as a last act of spite. The event, and how his sacrifice was pointless as the impact and subsequent explosion did nothing to harm the larger vessel, seemed to stick with Icari as reason for why she couldn't afford to waste her life on pointless ventures, and may have been part of what inspired her to use her skills to start finally getting the thing she had always wanted - revenge on PACT.

Icari used her versatility, cunning and determination in conjunction with her combat and wetwork skills to become a skilled hitman and mercenary, working for various clients over the years. However, in spite of supposedly being a gun for hire, Icari was not a neutral party, often working for Alliance officials and absolutely refusing to take any jobs for PACT, with Icari's most frequently-contacted client being Admiral Harold Grey of the Alliance - one of the few Alliance members who would have her directly harm PACT's assets in the Neutral Rim, letting her both save lives in the Alliance and exact revenge on PACT for having ruined her own life.

One such job involved Icari impersonating a low-level female PACT Veniczar in order to rescue an Alliance citizen who had been captured by slavers and was to be sold to PACT for "liberation" into their army, with Icari having to procure and wear a special latex suit to make herself look eighty pounds fatter in order to look like the person who's identity she was borrowing. However, much to her agitation, the slavers had planned to double-cross PACT and tried to have Icari, who they believed was the Veniczar, killed. Icari was forced to fight her way through them, with some of their rounds melting through her latex suit in what Icari would later describe as "a sight to see" as parts of the outfit assumedly sloughed off in the firefight. Icari eventually managed to evade the slavers as the real Veniczar - the one Icari was impersonating - arrived, switching places with her and leaving her to the pirates as she opened the slave cells and let the captives riot. Icari then used the chaos as a smokescreen to find the Alliance civilian, get him out and escape just as the prisoners took over the ship and attacked the docked PACT cruiser, ending in a short battle that resulted in both ships and all aboard being destroyed.

By Icari's own admission, very few of her jobs had "happy endings" as opposed to being a simple case of "mission completed", and she would continue to live this way for at least six to seven years of her life, which she would also later on admit was something she got into because the danger and excitement took her mind off of many of the other grim elements of her past and let her focus on something semi-productive.

First Arrival

An Unexpected Job

Sometime after turning twenty-five, Icari's standard fare of job contracts was suddenly broken up by something she had been long waiting for - a mission that could finally let her bring her grudge against PACT up to them openly. The contract, provided by her old preferred client Admiral Grey, was simple enough and yet the consequences would be felt across the galaxy. Specifically, the Alliance had sent a detachment of diplomats to the Neutral Rim world of Versta to try and negotiate the planet join them in exchange for protection against PACT's ever-encroaching invasion fleets. Ultimately, Versta's government refused the offer in favor of retaining independence, and the Alliance in turn had asked Admiral Grey to hire a ship to escort the diplomats off the planet and out of the system before PACT could arrive and potentially slaughter them if negotiation with PACT to back off failed - which was where Icari would come in, as her job would be specifically to prevent the rescue and ensure that the diplomats were killed by invading PACT forces. This would spark political tension in the Alliance senate and be seen as proof of PACT's hostility and bloodthirsty plans of conquest, which would all but guarantee the Alliance's full committal in a war against PACT.

Icari's Phoenix equipped with it's booster ring

Excited at the prospect of being able to take the fight directly to PACT instead of simple and often ineffectual mercenary jobs, Icari jumped at the contract and departed for Versta with her Ryder, coming out ahead of the PACT fleet by at least a day. However, things became complicated as she faced off against what she assumed to be a skilled PACT conscript - a unique Assault Carrier with a spinal-mounted cannon, flying the colors of the now-defunct Cera Space Force. However, due to the fact that the ship quickly came under fire from PACT forces, it is possible that Icari may have quickly realized that the ship was not in fact aligned with PACT but attacked anyway in order to render them incapable of interfering with the Versta mission. But in the end, Icari found herself surprised to have underestimated the ship as it and a custom-made Ryder engaged her and promptly took her Phoenix down along along with the PACT forces, destroying her Ryder's booster ring and leaving her dead in space to be humiliatingly towed into the Ceran vessel's hangar bay by both the Ryder that faced her and a blue support-Ryder.

Prisoner of War

Upon being confronted by the ship's Captain, Commander, CAG, Chief Engineer and a squad of security-force marines, Icari begrudgingly exited her Ryder, unwilling to let them have the satisfaction of cutting her prized Phoenix open and dragging her out. With the ship's pilots noting that she's female like them, Icari likely deadpans mentally at the personalities of Asaga Oakrun and Chigara Lynn Ashada - the former of which being the one who defeated her - before asking if she has been taken aboard a PACT vessel. When the Captain, identifying himself as Kayto Shields, tells her that their ship, the Sunrdier, is still an independent Ceren vessel, Icari displays mild surprise at the notion that some of the ships still fly their flag since all known survivors either became pirates or PACT conscripts, to which Kayto remarks that they are an exception before asking Icari's purpose in the system. Icari in turn gives her name and states her profession as a private mercenary, and, though tells Kayto she is not with PACT, she refuses to answer any questions pertaining to her reason for being at Versta aside from it being one of her contracts. In response, the ship's Commander, Ava Crescentia, orders Icari to turn over all weapons and to submit to a search for any concealed ones, while Kayto has Icari placed in the ship's brig afterword.

Icari while detained within the Sunrider's brig.

In quick order, Icari's arsenal, which in the Novelization included several hacking modules, explosives, two concealed firearms, at least a dozen knives of various shapes and sizes and a space-whale keychain that was actually a concealed sonic grenade - enough to "topple small governments" as the Commander claimed - was promptly confiscated and Icari herself locked into a detention cell for further questioning. After a short incarceration period of presumably several hours or so, Icari was again confronted by Captain Shields and Commander Crescentia, but Icari instead brushes them off and instead questions as to the state of her Ryder, asking if they have "dirtied" it. In the Novel, Kayto and Ava take advantage of Icari's concern for her Ryder by claiming using her seized contraband - namely her assassin's toolkit - as justification to have her prized Ryder disassembled piece-by-piece to search for more. Icari, fearful and enraged at the blatant threat to her livelihood, promptly demands that they leave the Phoenix out of it, with Kayto suggesting she give him an incentive to do so.

Complying with Kayto's demands, Icari rather sternly refutes her earlier statement of not being associated with PACT "fanatics" and claiming she attacked the Sunrdier because she'd believed the Ceren vessel was a PACT freelancer, further stating in the Novel that them not having the PACT flag-colors wasn't assurance that they hadn't been forced to sign on. She also remarks that most of the independent mercenaries have joined to help PACT out of the belief that the latter will win the upcoming war, so she's come to assume most freelance units aside from herself are with PACT, also claiming that she doesn't intend to let things stand as such. Kayto notes that she apparently dislikes PACT, to which Icari, not even trying to hide her hate for the faction, affirms and goes as far as to claim she would have attacked every PACT unit in her path if not for the Sunrider's crew destroying her booster ring and disabling the Phoenix - something that has also left her stranded both in the system and aboard the Sunrider, as the invading PACT forces certainly won't help her get home.

Altering the Deal

Icari then asks Kayto why his ship is in the system, claiming it only fair that he answer her questions as she did his, with Kayto revealing they are also on a mission - from the Alliance. Piecing two and two together - or perhaps having suspected or known from the start - Icari realizes that the Sunrider was the ship Grey meant to be the token rescue forces that were supposed to fail defending the diplomats, and that she can still salvage her mission if she can only convince them to give up of their own accord. Icari obliges his request to tell him her mission, though works to make it not seem too easy by doing so on two conditions - a promise not to have anyone touch her Phoenix and a request to have Ava back off on the interrogation. Kayto agrees not to have the Phoenix disassembled, and Icari thus begins her explanation by prefixing it with one last question - the description of the Alliance official that hired the Sunrider, asking if he was "like a grey old statue."

Kayto, testing Icari to see how much she knows, remarks the Alliance official who hired him was grey "in more ways than one", which convinces Icari that she was correct and reveals herself to have worked with Grey for years. Asked to elaborate, Icari explains herself as being someone who takes contracts from the Admiral to eliminate the "undesirables" that make life hard for everyone else in the galaxy - such as insane criminals or corrupt dictators - and cites examples such as helping "renegotiate" trade prices for things like Ongessite, likening it as being a case of her carrying the "stick" while the Admiral holds out the "carrots." Icari then decides to be up-front and asks to confirm if the Sunrider was here for the Alliance diplomats at Versta, to which Kayto admits that this is why they are in the system - but also notes it still doesn't explain why a contract killer like Icari is involved in what is meant to be a rescue mission. Icari, bemused and now toying with them, drops hints to them about the Admiral having lied to them but, when pressed by Ava for more information, Icari remarks that she will only do so if freed from the brig and returned custody of her Ryder, insisting they will need her help anyway if they think they're meant to rescue anyone. Ava and Kayto deny this, with the former pointing out that she's in no position to negotiate and with Kayto - in the Novelization - stating she's gone back on her word to be honest up-front with them and thus given them no reason to trust her promises.

However, Kayto agrees to, if nothing else, consider what she says since they both seem to hate PACT, and Icari reassures him that, while an assassin, she doesn't go back on her word. Icari goes on to explain her justification by first touching upon the fact that open war between the Solar Alliance and PACT is all but inevitable now, verging on sparking a conflict unlike any seen in the past century. She claims that the Solar Congress doesn't wish to acknowledge it out of fear of the coming battles, but that certain members of the Alliance know all-too-well that fighting PACT will soon be unavoidable, acting to intervene behind-the-scenes before PACT can succeed in conquering the entirety of the Neutral Rim for use as a staging ground and resource hub. With this in mind, Icari remarks that she would rather not see herself or anyone bowing to the rule of Veniczar Arcadius and believes that proactive actions have to be taken in order to serve as a wake-up call to the Alliance that prepping for war today is the only option if they want to save anyone. But because she thinks President Alythe is too cowardly and naive to ever rally anyone against PACT, let alone have the resolve to keep them united. Icari concludes that the instability at Versta is the perfect chance to force the Alliance into acknowledging PACT as a threat that can only be stopped by force of arms.

Ava, catching on quickly, remarks that Icari was hired by this "proactive faction" in the Alliance to sabotage the rescue of the diplomates, ensuring that they were either captured or killed by PACT in order to spark political upheaval and ignite the Alliance's war-preparations early - all to ensure the Alliance is ready and willing to fight PACT or even launch the first blow themselves when war is ultimately declared and keep PACT from solidifying control of the Rim and it's resources. Icari confirms this, claiming that, if Kayto releases her and walks away from the mission to let her ensure the Diplomat's failure, he could get the support of the entire Alliance behind him towards the goal of liberating his now-conquered homeworld from PACT by helping get them in a state to wage that war in the first place. When asked by Kayto about how he would look if it was known he left them to die, Icari reassures him that the only reason the Alliance Military green-lit the Congress' diplomatic envoy was for the express purpose of having those diplomats either die or be taken prisoner, remarking that the Military will probably offer the Sunrider crew medals of valor for having "tried to save them."

NOTE: (based on what choice Kayto makes, there are two different outcomes to this)

Altering the Deal I - Making Concessions

NOTE: (These events detail the result of Kayto taking Icari's words at face-value)

Kayto believes Icari's claims and agrees to let her out of her cell, though he refuses to let her off the ship or reclaim instant custody of her Ryder and insists on her staying as they investigate for themselves, instead offering her one of the rooms in the Sunrider's crew quarters - specifically in the Ryder-pilot dormitories so that Asaga and Chigara can keep an eye on her. Icari expresses dissatisfaction at this, but Kayto denotes that she cannot leave the system without her booster ring anyway, and since setting up shop or trying to live on a soon-to-be-PACT world isn't a viable option, Icari has no choice but to accept, making to demand food as soon as she is out.

Altering the Deal II - Pray it isn't Altered Further

NOTE: These events detail the result of Kayto remaining skeptical of Icari's words)

Kayto refuses to take Icari's claims as factual until he conducts and completes an investigation of his own, asking an all-too-happy Ava to leave Icari locked up, much to the latter's visible fury as she reminds Kayto they had a deal. However, Kayto replies that he only said he would try - he never did in fact promise anything and Icari's backtracking on her word would have voided such an agreement anyway. Telling Ava to monitor her and order a meal prepped, she and Kayto leave a furious Icari in the brig as she tells them that all they'll find out is that she was telling the truth - and that they will be desperate for her help after they do.

Desperate Measures

Shortly after her incarceration aboard the Sunrider, Icari opted to try and take matters into her own hands once again, managing to both bypass the security watching her - and if she was locked in her cell, somehow unlock it - and, presumably, recover her confiscated weapons, then proceeded to make it all the way to Kayto's private quarters on Deck 0, infiltrating it without him noticing. Disabling the communications and power to Kayto's room, she sneaks up on him in the loft section of his quarters - further emboldened by overhearing his doubts while making his audio logs as a sign that he can be shaken - and confronts him at his desk, deciding to be frank in the hopes of winning his trust and faith over. Informing Kayto of how poor the Sunrider's current security systems are - compered to her skill set at least - and reassuring him that she doesn't intend to kill him, Icari remarks she only wishes to speak with him as a fellow displaced inhabitant of the galaxy, with Kayto denoting that they've survived thus far.

Kayto's photo of Maray, which Icari uses as leverage against him.

Icari, trying to build sympathy for someone who's lost everything to see her way of thinking, asks Kayto how many died on Cera during PACT's invasion to try and gauge how strongly he feels on the matter, though his response shows either a noncommittal answer or determination to his beliefs. Looking for something else to help her get a hold on his character, Icari then notices a photo of a young white-haired girl on Kayto's bookshelf who shares many physical characteristics of his, deducing the girl to be his sister as Kayto doesn't currently seem the type to be a father. This in turn aggravates Kayto, who warns Icar she's prodding a sensitive subject, but Icari presses on by asking if Kayto is worried for her safety. Icari then tries to see if honesty will help her case by admitting she has also lost family - her entire family - at the hands of PACT, which was the start of her immense hate for the militaristic faction. Pleading with him to help her ensure that the Alliance has the fuel it needs to start prepping for war against PACT today instead of scrambling in a panic when PACT makes the first move, Icari promises to help Kayto get justice, revenge or whatever form of retribution he wishes off PACT by joining his crew as a Ryder pilot against them, vowing to stay so long as he keeps hitting PACT's forces.

Kayto, still skeptical, points out he has little reason to trust Icari, validated by her version of a "conversation" being to escape custody, break into his quarters and effectively hold him hostage to ensure he listens to her. Icari takes this in stride though, deciding to break her policy on not giving away secrets an tell him another more direct piece of information - Admiral Grey was the one who hired her directly for this mission, effectively fingering him as the leader of the group moving to take action behind the Solar Congress's back. Kayto points out that Grey was the one that hired the Sunrider to save the diplomats, but Icari remarks that this was just a cover. Icari insists that war with PACT is unavoidable and, unless the Alliance is motivated to start stockpiling now, PACT will have a drastic advantage with nearly every world in the Neutral Rim and it's combined resources behind it - however, if they see the Alliance gearing up to fight a war in advance, PACT will be forced on their back foot and reduce their attacks on Neutral Rim worlds in order to recalculate, saving many worlds from sharing the fate of Cera. Icari then asks Kayto if he can really risk the lives of millions of people across the Alliance and Neutral Rim just to save a few dozen diplomats.

Kayto asks why the subterfuge was necessary, with Icari explaining that it was to appease Alythe and to make it look like the Alliance had at least tried to save the diplomatic envoy from PACT, which would in be taken as PACT being the sole aggressor without anything tying the Alliance to the ensuing political mess - as well as deniability in the event that it falls apart or something goes wrong, such as the Sunrider's capture of Icari. Kayto remarks that with this level of planning and double-dealing, it sounds as though Grey is on the verge of a coup d’etat, with Icari admitting that it's possible - while it may not happen in the immediate future, the Solar Congress' politicking has caused half the problems the Alliance faces, their unpreparedness against PACT being chief among them. If PACT endangers the lives of the Alliance's people and the Congress continues to deny the need for war, the military would be forced to do what they had to in order to defend it's people, with or without the government's support. Kayto then asks what her opinion of it is - likely regarding how she feels about being used as a tool in all this - but Icari remarks that the only thing she cares about is stopping PACT, which they both have reason to hate, once again offering Kayto to make a choice; keep his principles and save the immediate few at the cost of the many, or help the Alliance start taking a stand against PACT by making a comparatively small sacrifice to save everyone else.

NOTE: (based on what choice Kayto makes, there are two different outcomes to this)

Desperate Measures I - Flight of the Phoenix

NOTE: (These events detail the result of Kayto refusing Icari's offer)

Icari drawing her gun on Kayto after he refuses to help her.

Kayto remarks that his hate of PACT is precisely why he will not sacrifice innocents just to expedite a goal the way they do, refusing to help Icari and demanding that she return to the brig, his patience with her having finally run out. Stunned, angered and possibly somewhat saddened at being rejected, Icari protests that PACT is evil and has to be stopped, and that helping give the Alliance a reason to go after PACT is the only way to ensure they can be stopped without causing millions more deaths, citing that it is precisely the fact that PACT doesn't care about innocents that such measures have to be taken. Kayto however steadfastly retorts that they have a duty to uphold humane rights for the sole fact that their enemies do not appreciate human life, and once again makes it painfully clear that he will not condone the killing of innocents for a theoretical scenario, no matter how many lives she claims it could potentially save.

Realizing that Kayto has effectively regarded her mission and methods as being just as bad as PACT, Icari's previous emotions mix into a stew of self-righteous fury and she draws her firearm, coldly yet angrily denoting that Kayto has left her no choice but to go through him in order to get to PACT and proclaiming that she cannot afford to fail her mission at this point. However, before she can pull the trigger, Ava storms into the Captain's quarters after having discovered Icari missing and afterwords realizing the room was under a black-out - which in the Novel results in a short exchange of gunshots between Ava and Icari - ending in Ava securing Kayto as Icari bolts out of the room and makes for the lifts to the the Hangar on Deck 2.

By the time the Sunrider's crew realizes what's happened, Icari has already hacked through the systems and opened the Sunrider's hangar bay, escaping on her Ryder just in time for the PACT's invasion fleet to arrive. At this point, Icari's desperation to see her mission fulfilled leads to her using the PACT forces as a smokescreen to try and get past the Sunrider to the ship the diplomats have taken - a civilian liner called the Agamemnon. As she approaches, Icari hacks through the Sunrider's comm channel and demands that Asaga and Chigara get out of her way. Asaga however then tells Icari something that the mercenary didn't know - yet another complication to the mission, this one unbalancing the mercenary further; the diplomats have taken over six-hundred children aboard on requests from their parents to save them from the PACT invasion force in case the cities are bombed. Icari's determination is impacted, but she forcibly steels her mind by telling both herself and Asaga that millions more children will die if the diplomat's vessel is allowed to leave Versta. Asaga, becoming angry, retorts that Icari has no clue whether or not sacrificing anyone here would actually save anybody in the first place - it's all theoretical, and Icari is placing more value on theories or what may be then the innocent people and children in front of her who need protecting right now.

However, refusing to believe that what she's done was for nothing and that PACT will continue to attack worlds while the Alliance does nothing to prepare, Icari replies that that Asaga is simply too naive and self-righteous to understand that no war can be won without sacrifice, resolving to kill the children along with the diplomats in order to ensure she has her war against PACT. Asaga, believing that Icari is becoming exactly what she hates, calls the mercenary insane as they break off to engage each-other while the Sunrider and the Liberty - Chigara's support Ryder - hold off the PACT scout forces. The two ace pilots face each-other at break-neck speeds as they push their machines to the limits while Icari tries to close the gap to the Agamemnon, but in spite of her machine being lighter and more nimble, Icari finds herself ultimately cornered by Asaga, who damages the Phoenix severely and leaves most of it's systems critical in a decisive clash. In the Novel, Asaga does this by predicting Icari's flight-path, having the advantage of knowing what Icari's target was and being able to shoot out the Phoenix's engines while Icari, obsessed with reaching her goal, presses onward in spite of leaving her back vulnerable.

Icari approaches the Agamemnon, but hesitates to fire after seeing a child staring back at her in terror.

The child's expression causes Icari to freeze up before she can make the fatal shot.

Icari, left in her crippled Ryder, begins suffering a breakdown as she contemplates how everyone seems intent to stop her even if it means dooming millions to die at PACT's hands, forced into feeling like her efforts were being wasted as PACT would go unpunished for her family's death. Icari then snaps when Asaga contacts her and tells her to surrender, causing the mercenary to start laughing as if it were a joke as she remarks that all Asaga is doing is making sure PACT can continue to act without retribution - something she cannot allow and spent so many years trying to stop. Forcing the Phoenix to move in spite of it's crippled state, Icari levels her autocannons at the Agamemnon, proclaiming that she would destroy PACT herself and take revenge for everyone they ever killed, her own family above all else, as she begins laughing like a maniac as her sanity reaches it's low point, too obsessed with how close she is to sparking the war of revenge she always wanted to even care if she lives to see it anymore.

However, right before Icari can pull the trigger, she catches sight of a young girl - brown-eyed with sandy-brown hair around eight or nine years old - looking out the viewport at her Ryder in fear. This causes Icari to experience a flashback of when she lost her parents, hallucinating the girl as being a younger version of herself watching as PACT destroyed her family's ship. Seeing this finally snaps Icari out of her state and back to sanity as she subconsciously realizes that Asaga and Kayto were right - she had gone too far, willing to kill children for something they weren't even involved the same as how PACT killed her family, causing innocents to look at her in terror like the monster she had slowly been turning into. Breaking down at last as it finally dawns on her what she was about to do with her own hands, Icari starts crying and rhetorically asking herself "why", not even seeming to know what question she's asking herself - how she ended up where she was or let herself far so far - though it seems the most prevalent one is why she only now found herself unable to pull the trigger at the last second. Kayto answers her on the comm, telling her it's because she's not like PACT and that she can't ever forget that, and she sobbingly remarks how out embarrassing it is for her to break down like this as the Agamemnon warps out of the system, the Sunrider's mission a success - and Icari's own mission a failure.

Icari's holographic avatar on the Sunrider's bridge, revealing her breakdown to the Captain as she absentmindedly questions why she couldn't shoot.

In the Novel, Icari resigns herself to death as she's lost the heart to keep going, but to her surprise Kayto tells her to return to the Sunrider, even referring to her as one of the ship's Ryders in spite of what she'd done and tried to do. Once again tearing up at the open offer of kindness, Icari brings the Phoenix limping back into the Sunrider's docking bays as they warp out of Versta shortly after. When met by the other Ryder pilots - while being detained by Ava, assumedly at gunpoint - Kayto asks if Icari feels better being "one of the good guys," which Icari tries to brush off as being that she simply felt sympathetic for the children on the Agamemnon. However, she quickly realizes that saying this is as good as a confession to Kayto's remarks, and remorsefully admits with a visible measure of shame that she feels she really would have murdered the children in cold blood to get a war against PACT started - all to get her revenge for PACT murdering her family.

Icari then reiterates to Kayto and the crew that she'd witnessed PACT slaughter her family right before her eyes when she was twelve, the most prominent memory being when her mother was shot in the head by the PACT captain, and how she drifted for days alone in space until an Alliance vessel saved her, the only survivor. Icari remarks that she had spent her whole adult life trying to get revenge on PACT and doesn't intend to stop now, but Kayto points out that she managed to realize killing children wouldn't accomplish that, and Icari finally admits openly that she now feels she would have been no better than her family's murderer if she had. Kayto then surprises Icari by offering her a "better way" - joining the Sunrider as one of their pilots, fighting PACT without having to use their means, promising her that the Sunrider would always accept her if she agreed to do things his way. Kayto also admits that they'd be more likely to die along the way, but that he'd rather die for what he believes is right than sacrifice his humanity.

Icari, incredulous and disbelieving, asks if he'd really let her join him or if the crew would accept her after her actions, but Kayto reassures her - despite Asaga's skepticism in the mercenary - that everyone on the Sunrider has lost someone close, mostly to PACT, and that Icari is no different from the rest of them. Icari, surprised and almost finding it too good to be true, tearfully accepts the offer, knowing full well that she will have to work hard to gain Ava and Asaga's trust but promising that she will work together with them fully, joining the ship with Kayto's words slightly mending some wounds - but also making doubt start to creep inside her as to what her future will be as she works to try living by the Captain's rules.

Desperate Measures II - The Price of Vengeance

NOTE: (These events detail the result of Kayto accepting Icari's offer)

Icari gives an awkward thank-you to Kayto for having listened to her.

Kayto, after a moment of long deliberation, finally steels his expression and tells Icari that he will do things her way, agreeing to leave the diplomats at Versta in order to spark Alliance build-up of military forces so that PACT can be confronted by a united front rather than a hasty, cobbled-together mock-effort. Icari, relieved and even somewhat happy to feel as though there is finally someone on her side in a more personal sense - another person who's lost their family to PACT and feels that they have to do whatever is needed to ensure as many people as possible don't share that fate - remarks that she feels Kayto is doing the right thing. Kayto however deadpans that Icari ought to restore the lights and communication system to his room, leaving Icari amused at how easily he seems to make light of some situations. A

fter Icari undoes her sabotage, Kayto tells her he will inform Ava of the changes to their plans and that Icari should return to where she was and pretend to still be a prisoner, so as not to upset the crew - likely Asaga in particular - with the knowledge that their Captain is suddenly working with the mercenary that nearly killed them. Icari lightheartedly agrees to act the role of the subdued captive, but before she leaves she takes a moment to genuinely, if not awkwardly, thank Kayto for hearing her out and agreeing to help, knowing full well that the choice to let innocents die is one that neither of them is making lightly and sympathizing with him for it.

After the Sunrider makes it's change in plans, Icari becomes aware of the PACT fleet arriving in the system early, deciding to drop the charade of being a prisoner in favor of helping the ship's pilots defend the vessel's escape. On the way to her Ryder and during her "liberation" of it from the Sunrider's lockdown systems, Icari patches through to the internal coms and tells the crew that she's giving them a hand, much to the shock of Asaga, though Icari does state she'll wait for Kayto's go-ahead for launch. Kayto agrees, citing that Icari helping them to escape - a trial by fire, so to speak - can be considered her inauguration into the crew, though Ava grumbles in the background that she intends to have the Sunrider's security protocols reviewed and reworked in light of Icari's breach of them and Kayto in turn defends Icari as a "special case" they can let slide for just this once.

It is unknown if Icari had learned that there were children aboard the Agamemnon even if Kayto made the decision to let them open a channel, though it's likely Icari would have listened on the comms as insurance in case Kayto tried to go back on his word. However, while Icari assumedly felt guilty in leaving children to die if she found out, she would take solace in the fact that they would die to keep millions more from suffering the same fate, and that at the very least Icari herself wouldn't be pulling the trigger and killing them herself. Icari and Asaga find themselves as something of rivals in the field of combat, both racking up high kill-marks against enemy Ryders as the Sunrider makes a break for the edge of Versta's gravity well. At the same time though, it is possible that Icari never knew that there were children aboard the Agamemnon, believing there were only diplomats.

Icari watches the dying Agamemnon from a distance as PACT units pummel it repeatedly.

The sight of a child staring back at her aboard the burning ship shocks and rattles Icari.

However, much to the group's surprise, the Agamemnon ends up making it to the edge of the gravity well too - but unlike the Sunrider it is heavily damaged and burning brightly, multiple hull ruptures and feed-tube leaks venting oxygen and fuel out of the vessel in spires of flame that make the ship look almost like a comet entering atmosphere. All the while, it is bombarded by PACT Ryders, the pilots utterly uncaring of it's status as a civilian craft. As Icari watches the flaming ship, she is shocked to see one of the children - a girl with brown eyes with sand-colored hair - staring out at her from a viewport in fear of the destruction around her as the diplomats piloting the dying vessel plead over a static-filled comm line for help from anyone, even PACT, to save the children aboard. The sight of the child causes Icari to experience a flashback of when she lost her parents, imagining the girl as being a younger version of herself watching as PACT destroyed her family's ship. Taking a single, heart-wrenching moment to realize what she is seeing - and what she ended up allowing - Icari stares at the vessel just before the ship implodes and detonates, it's leaking fuel cells likely having ignited from a lucky shot by one of the attacking PACT Ryders.

The sight of the ship and the girl, along with the other children, dying in the inferno of the Agamemnon's destruction, causes Icari to stagger mentally as she experiences flashbacks of her family's ship being destroyed by PACT, remembering how she herself had longed for someone to come and save her family as they were killed but that nobody did - a choice that Icari has now made the same decision in, letting innocents she didn't even know about die when they could have been saved. Conflicted, Icari remarks that this - starting the momentum for war against PACT - was exactly what she had always wanted and that this incident will cause the Alliance to start stockpiling resources well in advance of any declaration of war, ensuring that when the conflict starts that the Alliance will be all-too-ready to destroy PACT for good - and yet in spite of that, Icari finds herself crying bitterly at what had to be done to accomplish it, even though she thought she had steeled herself to do whatever was needed.

Icari's avatar on the Sunrider's bridge next to Ava, rhetorically asking herself why she suddenly feels remorse over getting the war she wanted for so long.

The sounds of the other pilots - Asaga screaming in bitter anger at what PACT has done and at her own helplessness to do anything about it, and Chigara tearfully lamenting seeing young innocents die right before her eyes in a horrid death by both fiery explosion and decompression into space - only highlights the moral ambiguity of what Icari's mission truly detailed. Worse, it was due simply to the fact that the diplomats were, ironically, too good at their job - they tried to extend more goodwill then either Icari or the Alliance military had anticipated, and in doing so turning an act of generosity into an unnecessary and unexpected slaughter of far more innocents than Grey or Icari had planned on. Kayto assumedly is left in silence at the destruction too, likely having not recovered from the idea that his sister died at Cera and possibly feeling like he's abandoned her once again. The only one who maintains her composure for certian - or at least more-so than the rest - is Ava, who informs the crew that the Sunrider has cleared Versta's gravity well, which brings Kayto back to reality as he orders the Ryders to return, their rescue a failure but Icari's operation to incite anti-PACT sentiments a success.

After the Sunrider leaves, Kayto fulfills Icari's request to join the Sunrider, and the Alliance's news postings reveal that, while political gridlock keeps a declaration of war from being made, the Solar Congress has agreed to let the military begin shoring up defenses, stockpiling the fleets at the borders to stymie PACT efforts on encroaching into Alliance territory and organizing the military for mobilization in the near-future. This effectively kick-starts the Alliance's war-readiness preparations - thanks to them, the whole of the Alliance Military is now treating war with PACT as not just possible but now inevitable, guaranteeing the Alliance will be in a far better position for when war breaks out than it would have been before.

However, even in light of all this, Icari remains somewhat conflicted and muses this on one of the Sunrider's observation hallways, with Kayto eventually finding her there and taking note of her conflicted state, asking her if what she wanted didn't turn out like she thought it would. Icari sardonically asks if Kayto was stalking her, but Kayto retorts that, with her developed perceptions, she heard him coming well beforehand and brushes off the quip as her dodging the question. Icari, realizing Kayto has caught on to her, instead goes on to state that contract killing has hardened her against most atrocities and tragedies and that therefore he shouldn't worry about her feeling remorse for the children who died at Versta. Kayto however expresses skepticism, telling her that he saw the bad state she was in, both on the coms and when she got out of her Ryder in the aftermath, to which Icari tries to claim that she was simply in a daze from the events - then, after realizing this is just as incriminating of a reaction to the children's deaths as her crying was, Icari instead tries to claim that it was due to her carrying onions or onion-made portable meals in the Phoenix's cockpit.

Upon seeing Kayto's still-skeptical expression though, Icari finally admits that the sight of one of the children on the Agamemnon reminded her of herself and how her family died at PACT's hands, the sharpest and worst memory being the PACT ship's Captain putting a gun to her mother's head and shooting her dead right in front of twelve-year old Icari. In the end, Icari was the only survivor, left drifting in space for five days in an escape pod until the Alliance rescued her. Icari, wincing at the bitter memory and then quickly steeling her facial expressions into one of determination, reiterates that PACT deserves nothing but death for what it did to her family and that she doesn't intend to stop her mission to get revenge for what they did. She also seems to feel a measure of reassurance when she sees the same hate for PACT flare up in Kayto's eyes as he gazes at the stars in the direction of his homeworld Cera, the Captain agreeing with her and stating that he has no intentions to stop his own quest to get retribution for his people and family the same as her. Icari the promptly begins integrating herself into the Sunrider's crew, the incident's aftermath wounding her heart again but ultimately reinforcing her determination to see PACT pay - not just for what was done to her family, but now also for the sins Icari herself has had to commit in order to end PACT's tyranny.

Part of the Crew

After the events of the Incident at Versta, Icari works to get herself established in the Sunrider's crew and win it's trust, with Ava and Asaga being the most skeptical about the mercenary given her past actions - regardless of what they were as both paths inspire reason to distrust Icari - while Chigara and Kayto have been the most accepting, proactively trying to help her acclimatize. Icari takes to upgrading the Sunrider's security systems as, while Chigara is an expert in hardware, Icari is far more versed in programming and wetwork as well as non-standard backdoor hacking, working toward improving it at a level that has even Ava impressed. In time, Icari finds herself well on her way to effectively being a consultant for the Sunrider's internal security force, if not possibly being regarded an unofficial member of it. In the Novelization, Icari takes to becoming a drinking buddy, if not begrudgingly so, with Asaga as they debate the merits of how Asaga had bested Icari (twice potentially, if they fought again during the choice to rescue the Agamemnon) in a night of drinking contests and arm-wrestling.

Sometime later, Kayto checks in on Icari to see how she is adjusting to the crew and to try and get to know her better, finding her in the midst of trying to repair the Phoenix in the aftermath of Versta - with the damages varying depending on what choices Kayto made. Asking about the damages, Icari assures him that it's mostly superficial now thanks to Chigara's help, complimenting the engineer for having almost supernatural skills at technology and admitting that even in all her years as a mercenary she has never seen someone as skill at machinery as Chigara. Icari then confesses that she's glad they're allies and that Kayto's crew is actually an impressive lot, before quickly becoming embarrassed by the admission and demanding Kayto speak about something else before she humiliates herself further.

Obliging her, Kayto asks Icari how well she has acclimatized, with Icari replying that the Sunrider has better accommodations than she's used to. Icari is then asked about her Ryder's modifications, namely preference of swords - both as a Ryder pilot and in CQC in the Novel since in that interpretation, Icari carried a very wide variety of knives - and Icari replies that the advent of personal shielding as necessitated the use of melee weapons to cut through it and that, while most would find the method barbaric, it is certainly effective. However, Icari admits that cutting down someone personally makes a person think a bit more about who they're fighting and is both harder to do and steels someone's mind much faster than just pushing a button to kill at a distance. Kayto then asks about her life as a mercenary, as Icari made it clear from the beginning that she wasn't just a simple gun-for-hire as she made it a point to only go after PACT, PACT-associated or PACT-affiliated targets. She cites prominent examples as ranging from bombing refueling stations and taking down crippled cruisers to even impersonating a PACT Veniczar during a rescue of an Alliance prisoner - though only that one prisoner as she wasn't paid to nor had the means to save the many slaves that rebelled against the slavers and PACT during the rescue, ending off on the note that her missions, while usually ending complete, didn't tend to have happy endings. Satisfied with the response for now, Kayto leaves to let Icari continue maintenance on the Phoenix.

First Days on the Job

Icari's first official sortie as part of the Sunrider's Ryder compliment comes soon after, as the Sunrider was contracted by King Jaylor di Ryuvia for a mission to recover their long-lost crown jewel from the Nomodorn Corridor. However, their first day of searching at the remote world of Tautenia resulted in the ship stumbling upon an Alliance civilian vessel, the "Mochi", under attack from pirate forces under the command of Cosette Cosmos - a well-known pirate figure who has a sizable grudge against Kayto, as he was the one that ousted her from her original base near Tydaria.

Icari takes the chance to not only prove her worth in battle but, in the Novelization, exercise her new-found rivalry with Asaga by telling her to "watch and learn" as she outmaneuvers multiple pirate Ryders easily, using her Phoenix's adaptive stealth-sensor armor and cut down opposing units and serve as the advance assault, in order to pave the way for the Black Jack and Liberty to follow up on her lead. She then furthers her rapport among the crew by flying with ease at speeds that most sane pilots would consider suicidal, without so much as a grunt of effort from the g-forces of the maneuvers, evading the flak-fire of at least five pirate cruisers without sustaining so much as a scratch. This in turn results in even Asaga begrudgingly admitting Icari is a skilled pilot.

However, the arrival of Cosette's new "allies" - PACT forces led by Veniczar B. Cullen - complicate the battle, as does the reveal of a new pink Ryder that is deployed by the Mochi before it is destroyed, with it's pilot being a ditzy, bubbly pink-haired female that all-too-eagerly throws herself in with the Sunrider's Ryders without so much as a care in the world. In the Novelization, Icari continues slashing through the reinforcing PACT Ryders until having to break off due to incoming missiles that the Sunrider's flak-guns must neutralize, which also enables a PACT Bomber to score a lucky hit on the Phoenix that melts off part of the right wing. Furious, Icari proceeds to disassemble the PACT Bomber meticulously and piece-by-piece with her blades until only the torso remains, which she promptly impales through the reactor afterword and leaves behind to detonate from a core implosion.

After the battle ends and the Ryders - the unknown pink one included - return, Icari comes face-to-face with the mysterious pilot, who introduces herself as Claude Triello. The mercenary however is unimpressed by the air-headed behavior of pilot, and even more-so when the latter claims to be a doctor, though this is surpassed by her exasperation at Kayto's rather quick acceptance of the pink-haired privateer as the ship's new Medical Officer. In the Novelization, when Asaga suggests that Kayto is trying to coerce information out of Claude by flirting with her, Icari suggests that Ava will most likely be the one doing a risqué interrogation - of Kayto, with chains and a whiplash - which prompts a mortified Ava to all but hiss for Icari to be quiet. It is in turn very unlikely Icari had any sympathy for Kayto when he later was nearly molested by Claude - who turned out to have lost her medical credentials years ago - in the medbay, as a result of his own choice to place blind faith in her.

Haunted Enemies

After the affair of Claude's rather illicit introduction to the crew and her subsequent reveal of a "starship graveyard" in the Mnemosyne Abyss, the Sunrider arrived at a massive grave site littered with hundreds, if not thousands of defunct Ryuvian ships and an immense Ryuvian dreadnought in the middle of it - something that even Icari admits is beyond anything else she's seen in her years of space-flight, both as a mercenary and as a drifter and space-explorer during her youth. Icari then notes upon further examination of the vessels that they were the result of a massive battle, as evidenced by the fact that there is large amounts of organic material scattered throughout the defunct fleet - the remains of the crew, flash-frozen and vacuum-preserved by exposure to space in the aftermath of their ships being breached, with some of the corpses having been torn apart by the explosions and ruptures that caused the decompression. Seeing that the damage to the ships is progressively worse the deeper they head into the field, Icari theorizes that the graveyard was caused by a massive blast radiating from the epicenter of the fleet; an area-of-effect burst weapon that radiated outward, with Chigara revealing the detonation point was the super-dreadnought.

As they approach the dreadnought itself to get answers, Asaga reasons that they should explore it's interior while Icari questions whether the crew's corpses are still present, as they haven't seen any yet in spite of the vessel's immense size. Chigara reasons that perhaps the dreadnought was automated, with Icari being somewhat skeptical as it would require a computer program beyond any other, bordering on - if not actually being - a fully-actualized artificial intelligence; something far beyond modern science's ability to create effectively, even if anyone were willing to take the risk in making an A.I. in the first place, and even then an A.I. would be hard-pressed to control a vessel this size. However, Icari's demeanor turns concerned as to how dangerous it is to take Ryuvian technology lightly - emphasized when Asaga recklessly leaves her Ryder to explore the dreadnought's C.I.C. when discovering it still has an atmosphere, with Icari berating Asaga and telling her to stop and think as she doesn't even know what's inside the C.I.C. potentially waiting for them. Asaga continues on anyway, heedless of Icari's warnings - and in doing so, Asaga's presence on the bridge seemingly awakens not only the long-dormant vessel's automated systems, but a white-haired girl who was preserved in a stasis tube on the dreadnought's bridge, presumably the immense warship's pilot or operator.

Shortly afterword, the surrounding fleets begin to regain power and target the Sunrider, panicking Icari as she starts screaming that the ships are haunted and the system cursed - taking after the old tales of ghost fleets that she herself was regarding so lightheartedly earlier. However, she pushes her panic down in order to coordinate the Ryders in Asaga's absence and assist the Sunrider against the ancient automated vessels. When Asaga, still alive, returns to the battlefield in her Ryder, she is chased out by a trio of Ryuvian scout Ryders firing immensely powerful and long-reaching kinetic sniper-slugs, all the while protesting that there was only one pilot. Chigara then denotes that the dreadnought is projecting some form of solid-hologram duplicates, to which an aggravated and frustrated Icari remarks that even two-thousand years later the Ryuvian's technology is beyond anything modern technology can accomplish. In the Novel, Icari is nearly pinned by sniper-fire from the scout Ryders until Asaga helps cover her, allowing Icari to close the gap between them and take down the long-range units in close-combat easily, before coordinating with Asaga to shoot down Ryuvian missiles before they can cripple or kill anyone.

However, the three Ryuvian Scout-Ryders are revealed to have all been decoys as the original takes aim at Chigara's Ryder before anyone, even Icari, can react - though this doesn't keep Asaga from throwing herself in the path of the shot and miraculously deflect it off the flat-edge of her anti-Ryder blade. Dumbstruck, Icari begins sputtering in shock at the impossibility of what Asaga has done as there should have been no way for her to even reach the bullet in time, let alone raise her blade at the perfect angle to bounce the round off her blade in a way that wouldn't have shattered it or caused any damage at all to the other Ryders. Even the enemy pilot seems surprised, surrendering unconditionally as Asaga tows the now-powered down Ryder back to the Sunrider even as things go from bad to worse - namely that the damaged dreadnought has tried to power it's main weapon, only for the aged and decayed subsystems to cause critical feedback that overloads the immense vessel's core. Icari and the others are barely able to make it back to the Sunrider before it in turn narrowly avoids the blast of the dreadnought's detonation, which wipes out the graveyard.

Camaraderie

Once the crew's safety has been confirmed, Icari and the others confront the Ryuvian pilot, who introduces herself as Princess Sola vi Ryuvia - a figure from the distant historical records who died two-thousand years ago, during the Empire's hight - and had mistaken the Sunrider as being part of a now-long gone faction of Ryuvian Separatists. Sola reveals she possesses the Crown Jewel they were sent to recover, which she refers to as the Talbur, recovering it from her Ryder as it starts glowing when revealed - and confusing almost everyone present when Sola explains that, while it glows in the presence of royalty, it will never glow for Sola herself. However, before she can explain - and in doing so reveal something that had been kept from the crew by one of their own - the Sunrider is beset by Veniczar Cullen's PACT fleet, with Cullen demanding the Crown Jewel and revealing PACT needs it to find the Princess as she is Arcadius' bride, as she'd run away to keep from marrying the Veniczar.

Cullen ultimately attacks the Sunrider and cripples the ship, with the Novelization depicting Icari watching helplessly as the Ryders, still heaped in the docking bay from their emergency landings and in no state to fight, are knocked down by the shuddering of the vessel, disparagingly asking if there really isn't anything they can do. Distracted by this, Icari is then left stunned when Asaga suddenly takes Icari's firearm and calmly, yet sadly asks that the latter take care of Chigara and the others for her and fill in as CAG of the Sunrider, running off for one of the ship's escape pods. Asaga then reveals herself to Cullen as being the missing Princess, surrendering to him on the condition that he spares the Sunrider from destruction, which Cullen bemusedly agrees to, saving the lives of Icari and everyone aboard - after which everyone, Icari included, begin working towards putting together a rescue plan to save her.

In the Novelization, Icari's role in planning out the operation is largely expanded, showing her inviting Kayto to one of the Sunrider's escape pod banks. Brushing off Kayto's sarcastic quips about their surroundings being the perfect place for her to space him, Icari explains that she's taken to renovating and retrofitting several of the Sunrider's escape pods into combat-ready drop-pods to be used in raid operations like the one currently being planned. Icari explains that she's programmed the pod's guidance systems to flip around so that the thrusters slow descent speed enough to survive, though it would be a rough ride for anyone aboard, which fits the risky theme of their mission, confessing that she finds Kayto insane in his plan to have the Sunrider - now boosted with innovations from the newly-acquired Seraphim Ryuvian Scout-Ryder - warp in directly atop the orbiting Star Palace and rescue Asaga. However, Icari also notes that she's overruled her sense of caution to mark this as an exception to the rule for the sake of her comrade, though abashedly so as she doesn't want to admit that it's because she will not abandon Asaga now that they've become friends, begrudging a friendship as it is. Kayto subsequently assigns a marine contingent to Icari's command in order to get the pods retrofitted in time for the operation, while Icari continues to protest that she is only helping because of how humiliating it will be for PACT to have Arcadius' bride snatched out from under him, and that she can rub Asaga's face in having to come save her, though she takes kindly to Kato's complimenting her skills nonetheless.

When the mission - now named "Operation Wedding Crash" - takes effect, the Sunrider's crew swiftly jumps into the system mid-atmosphere, right above the Star Palace. In the Novel, Icari is depicted as leading the strike forces under Ava and Kayto, serving as both field commander and vanguard for the two commanding officers as they storm the Star Palace's auditorium, rescue Asaga from the PACT leaders - Cullen, Arcadius and his second-in-command Veniczar Fontana - and return to the drop-pods as the Sunrider's marines and combat drones cut through the PACT ground forces and send them into disarray. The chaos only worsens when Sola - having now effectively pledged herself as the ship's marksman, Asaga's bodyguard and deliverer of retribution in Ryuvia's name - snipes out Arcadius, revealing the latter to have been a hologram that was never present but ultimately disorienting the PACT forces further in how anyone was able to attack him at all, hologram or not.

After returning to the Sunrider, Icari swiftly deploys in the Phoenix with Asaga in the Black Jack to cut through the PACT Ryders pursuing the Sunrider's escape vectors. In the Novel, Icari, like many of the Sunrider's forces, sustains damage to her Ryder as it's left wing is partly damaged by a stray laser. A volley of missiles is then directed at it by the PACT fleet, and it's frame impacted by two missiles that make it through the Sunrider and Black Jack's flak cover, gouging holes in the armor. This breaks her cockpit's atmospheric integrity, forcing Icari to don a sealed helmet in order to continue piloting her Ryder as her cabin depressurizes - something she remarks is Kayto's fault for failing to command them better, though she is happy at his show of concern on her part nonetheless. Chigara then uses repair drones to seal up the Phoenix's damaged frame and replace the functionality of any missing thrusters in order to get the Ryder back to operational status, with Icari's pride causing her to protest at the idea that she needs assistance but ultimately accepting it nonetheless - as she has little choice if she wishes to stay in the fight. Eventually, the Sunrider manages to make it past Ryuvia's moon, barely avoiding a retaliatory attack from Arcadius's own flagship; the Super-Dreadnought Legion.

Alliance Partnership Renewal

In the Novel, Icari promptly helps organize a rather grandiose celebratory party in light of not just having rescued Asaga but having also humiliated the leadership of PACT himself, and in one of the most impossible fashions imaginable - stealing his bride out from under him and his key lieutenants. Icari actually takes the chance to congratulate Kayto on pulling off the mission, expressing that she was skeptical it could even be done and assuages any doubts Kayto has by remarking that he'd best not show such fears to the crew after the miracles he's pulled off. She further remarks that Kayto's attachment to his crew will likely get him into more trouble than he can handle, meaning she will have to be there to rescue him when it happens. When pointing out that Kayto is becoming quite the celebrity for his actions against PACT, Icari cites that people need someone to look up to in times like this, and that Kayto is best suited to motivating people against PACT and finally taking a stand.

When asked by Kayto about whether they should side with the Alliance, Icari replies that it hardly matters whether they should or shouldn't at this point as the Alliance is the only other large-scale military power in the galaxy - and with Ryuvia's fall, the only other official military power at all - that can stand against PACT and help them reclaim the Neutral Rim. Icari also notes that debating about whether the Rim's will regain their independence or become Alliance colonies is a debate a long way into the future and pointless if they are never freed from PACT in the first place. She also states that, worse comes to worse, the Alliance's long history of political indecision might allow many of the worlds to regain independence by pressing the Solar Congress afterwords, the situation being too chaotic for the Alliance Parliament to want to fight the matter out. Grateful for the input, Kayto leaves Icari be - either to work on her Ryder or to celebrate with the crew on their mission's success.

After the crew arrives beyond PACT's borders in Alliance space - and following a somewhat mortifying scene where Icari tries to get into a shower with the nymphomaniac Claude almost literally breathing down back - the Sunrider is promptly placed in charge of the Alliance's second fleet, the vessel becoming conscripted by the Alliance to lead the defense of their gateway world of Far Port. This in turn marks the induction of the Sunrider into what will eventually become the Alliance Combined Fleet and Icari's return to working as a direct asset of the Alliance Military under Admiral Grey. However, the transition back to having the Alliance as a client is not as smooth as Icari would likely have hoped, as she is immediately at odds with Admiral Grey's appointed liaison - one of his personal military advisors and an Alliance CAG; First Lieutenant Kryska Stares.

First Impressions

Icari's dislike of the Lieutenant starts off rather quickly as, not long after her arrival, Kryska confronts Icari in the Sunrider's hangar bay and proceeds to reprimand Icari for having non-regulation or illegal modifications on her Ryder as if Icari were a subordinate, not an equal, and demands that Icari remove or retool her Ryder's modifications to match Alliance regulations - especially regarding the use of Heratium-made exhaust ports as they shatter into razor-sharp shards when destroyed. Icari is left furious at Kryska's attempt to effectively browbeat her into conforming to Alliance protocols, since neither she or the Sunrider are actual members of the Alliance as opposed to retainers under their employ and thus are not necessarily subject to Alliance regulations, and proceeds to argue heatedly with Kryska until Kayto is forced to try pacify the situation.

Explaining the benefits of Heratium outweigh the safer but more cumbersome Karium-made vents used by most Alliance Ryders, Icari remarks that Heratium is only illegal because the Karium Lobby has many of the Solar Congress' members in it's pocket to corner the market through political favoritism, standing firm against Kryska's accusations that Icari is simply being prideful and selfish. Regardless of how the argument is settled though - as it is dependent on Kayto's own decisions - the event does not mark the start of a good working relationship between the two. After this, Icari's trust for Kryska only dropped further after Chigara accidentally let slip to Asaga - and subsequently spread to the crew by way of Asaga's rampant gossiping - that Kryska was actually an Alliance Black-Ops Operative and spy meant to keep tabs on the Sunrider for the Alliance.

Later on Icari stumbles on and begins teasing Chigara and Claude over the pair's infatuation with Kayto - and in the Novel finds herself laughing controllably at how the pair are all but gawking over images of the Captain on the security recordings - and about Chigara's complete innocence to lewd subjects or romance. She asks what the Diode native sees in Kayto as he is merely a "schoolboy" - though in the Novel she hesitates a bit when citing there isn't any reason a girl would be attracted to him, partly in denial about the fact that she at the very least likes him as a friend. When Chigara replies she cares largely because she feels sympathy for the Captain as someone who also watched his home and family die in front of him as she did - someone who also understands loneliness - Icari teasingly notes that Chigara is very naive and suggests taking her to a club to literally pound her innocence out of her. In the Novelization, when Claude advises Chigara to move quickly lest she steal him for herself, Icari also comments that Chigara would have her work cut out for her if she tried to pursue a relationship as Ava already tends to scrutinize everything he does, before Claude turns the tables on Icari by noting the mercenary seems to have thought about the matter herself and jokes that maybe she herself is starting to like Kayto.

Changing the subject, Icari suddenly catches sight of Kryska on the monitors - and becomes suspicions upon seeing the Alliance Lieutenant is tinkering with one of the Sunrider's data-access panels on Chigara's security cameras. Quickly confronting Kryska - and in the Novel, going as far as to hold the Alliance Lieutenant at gunpoint with a pistol to the latter's head - Icari has Kayto and Ava summoned to deal with the situation, with Chigara confirming Icari's suspicions and accusations as true by revealing Kryska was trying to copy the data from the Sunrider's computer core, specifically their technical schematics and upgrade history. Icari promptly demands that Kryska be thrown in the brig for her actions, which is supported by Ava - however, the situation must be shelved for later as the PACT fleet arrives at Far Port, marking the start for the first battle of the war.

Sisters in Arms

As the crew prepares for the opening deployment of the war, Icari readies for launch along with the rest of the Ryder pilots, though she dismissively notes that she will do so while keeping an eye on Kryska, in spite of the latter's assurance that she doesn't intend to compromise her allies and certainly not in the midst of battle. After Kayto's reveal of his plan - a suicidal charge to wipe out Veniczar Cullen's command ships then pull back to leave the PACT fleets scattered and disorganized - and a final inspirational speech, the Sunrider's forces charge ahead into battle. In spite of her skepticism of Kryska, Icari's misgivings didn't impede her from fighting effectively against PACT in the subsequent engagement, even going as far as to be Kryska wingmate - though likely so that she could keep as close an eye on the Lieutenant as possible.

Icari and Kryska fighting back-to-back amid the chaotic first battle of the Alliance-PACT War.

In the Novelization, Icari draws off missiles and shoots them down while Kryska pummels a PACT Carrier into wreckage single-handedly, much to Icari's belated amazement at how Kryska's heavy-bombardment Ryder can take on an entire ship alone. However, this draws the attention of PACT's forces, who label Kryska's Ryder a threat and begin swarming it with the intent to bring it down, forcing Icari to use tow-cables to drag the heavy Ryder back in order to evade or mitigate most of the oncoming shots, though Kryska soon returns the favor by shielding Icari from the laser blasts of a PACT Battleship. The engagement comes to a head when the Legion fires into the battlefield and downs several Alliance ships as well as some of PACT's own vessels, the retreat order finally being sounded as Asaga succeeds in killing Cullen personally and causing the PACT lines to fall apart, with all Ryders returning to the Sunrider. As the battle progressed and she continued to fight valiantly, Icari found she'd surprisingly bonded with Kryska, sarcastically yet bemusedly remarking she had never expected to fight in a war with someone like the Lieutenant at her side. It becomes a matter of being comrades in arms at this point as, spy or not, Kryska has fought alongside Icari, which is reason enough for the mercenary pilot to cover and fight alongside Kryska with the intent to make sure both come home. Kryska then notes the arrival of Admiral Grey's forces to bolster the defense and cut through the now disorganized PACT forces, securing an Alliance victory.

In the Novelization, Kryska and Icari are the last ones to return when the Sunrider declares it's retreat from the battlefield as Admiral Grey's forces arrive, with the Phoenix is towing the badly damaged and slow-moving Paladin in order to ensure Kryska can get back to the ship in time, unwilling to abandon anyone - even someone she did not and possibly still does not entirely trust. Kryska protests that Icari should leave the Paladin and ensure her own safety, but Icari pointedly refuses and pushes the Phoenix to the limit to get Kryska back to the ship, inadvertently coming close to overloading her Ryder's reactor core - which in turn causes it's Heratium exhaust ports to snap and break off, exploding into several thousand splinter-sharp shards that eviscerate the nearby PACT Mooks as the Phoenix and Paladin are sent spiraling back into the Sunrider's hangar. As Icari is unable to stop her forward momentum anymore with the exhaust vents gone, Kryska forces her bulky Ryder into a flip in order to catch the Phoenix and cushion it's impact against the wall of the Sunrider's hangar bay, potentially saving Icari's life as the Phoenix's light frame would likely not have survived a full-on collision with the hard bulkhead.

As Icari manages to haul herself from her Ryder, tired from the long battle, she is confronted by an equally exhausted but happy Kryska, who flusters Icari by stating she is proud to have fought with her and that they work surprisingly well together, referring to her not as a mercenary but as "Ms. Isidolde". Icari however works to hide her surprise by begrudgingly admitting Kryska to be a better pilot than she thought, asking that the latter regard her informally by her first name of "Icari" and stating that she was never found of titles, ranks or any such formal terms. Her acceptance of Kryska is further highlighted as she no longer protests Kryska having access to the Sunrider's secured data, which Kayto gives her a copy of personally, though she protests that their working together doesn't make them anything close to being friends - however, her embarrassment at secretly being glad to have someone else dependable on the ship as a wingmate causes her to blush slightly. This is noticed by Claude, who then insinuates that Icari is developing feelings for Kryska, much to the Icari's mortification as she protests this to be untrue and is only glad they have someone else to help defeat PACT on their side - but only until PACT is defeated and no longer. Claude ignores this though and remarks that the ship is becoming a "love nest," prompting an enraged Icari to attempt silencing the faux-doctor, which in the Novel amounts to Icari tiredly trying to chase Claude down and failing due to exhaustion, even as Kryska, Kayto and Ava note the scene with some apparent bemusement.

Mask of Arcadius

Icari returns as a companion character in Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius, serving as Kryska's wing-mate and one of the ship's two ace pilots next to Asaga, as well as offering some moral support to the crew over the harsh choices and realities war causes.

In the original plot of the game, one of the chapters of it would detail Icari learning the identity of the PACT Captain that murdered her family and finally facing them in order to get closure, revenge or both for their deaths. This in turn would have resulted in a hunt that would culminate with the choice of allowing a bioweapon to render a world uninhabitable in order to kill the PACT captain, or to save the world at the cost of letting the PACT captain go. For unknown reasons - either budget, time constraints or just simple re-tooling of the script for streamlining - this chapter was cut out of the final version game. However, chances are that it may be reintroduced in later entries such as Sunrider: Liberation Day.

Shore Leave - Controlled Mayhem

Icari in her swimwear.

In the wake of the Alliance's victory at Far Port, the Sunrider crew is given extended shore leave at the Lydia resort station by Kayto as reward for both winning the war's first battle and for their tireless efforts against PACT - something Icari takes full advantage of as a chance to get away from the strict regulations typically enforced by Ava. During her time at the beach, she dresses in a yellow two-piece bikini with black trim and a black star on the left breast-cup, enjoying the chance to relax properly for once and taking amusement in Ava's slow decline into a nervous breakdown from a lack of command structure. However, it isn't entirely without issue as Icari deals with persistent sexual harassment from Claude when the faux-doctor accuses Icari of being intimidated by her more generous curves compared to her own. Kryska joins in by stating that if Icari had "more armor" - muscle tone - she wouldn't need to feel insecure about her proportions, though Icari shoots back that Kryska lacks the feminine body needed to judge Icari's own, comparing the soldier to a space whale - which promptly antagonizes Kryska into engaging Icari in a grappling match. This, coupled with the pair's heated debate about whether armor/tone or speed/svelteness is better, and the lack of clarity on whether it's their Ryders or their bodies they're talking about, is one of the things that finally pushes Ava into having an anxiety attack, causing her to run off the beach screaming as the mercenary and soldier continue to fight.

After the fight ends, Icari takes to properly relaxing on the beachside while the rest of the crew questions Kryska about the Alliance's policy of single-sex crews aboard their ships. In the Novel, when the soldier begins boasting of the Alliance's technological superiority being evidenced by the Lydia Resort Station, Icari jokingly remarks that Kryska must be getting some form of payment for supporting the Alliance to the degree she does, disbelieving the Lieutenant could possibly be so readily devoted. At the same time though, Icari privately admits she finds herself enjoying the fact that she is finally able to take something akin to a proper vacation after all their prior hardship, relaxing on a beach with the Alliance paying for all costs - possibly viewed by Icari as being recompense for any prior missions she holds the Alliance responsible for making a mess of, the Versta Incident potentially included.

Icari later diffuses Chigara's concern over Ava's mental health with dark humor, sarcastically remarking that the commander's sanity is likely so badly compromised by now that she is off trying to give orders to a battalion of hermit crabs in a cave somewhere. However, Icari, along with Asaga, are shocked to see Ava not only return with Kayto, but that she is wearing a swimsuit as well - and actually looks attractive in it. Ultimately though, she seems to recover quickly after Ava begins helping to serve drinks and food for the group, likely enjoying the change in atmosphere from the sterner, regulation-obsessed Ava the crew normally deals with.

Shortly afterword, Icari ends up entangled in another argument with Kryska, fighting over how many kills each scored during the Battle of Far Port. Icari boasts of having cut down far more enemies than Kryska as the latter only downed six targets overall, though Kryska professes that since half of her kills were carriers - each containing at least a hundred Ryders apiece - she is the one who in fact has the higher body count. Icari however rebukes that the Ryders inside the carriers were inactive and thus defenseless instead of actual moving targets in real-time combat, going as far as to accuse Kryska of trying to take pride in killing defenseless enemies. Kryska then accuses Icari of spending most of the battle hiding behind the shield of Kryska's Paladin, remarking that Icari would have been downed early on had Kryska not been there to defend her and her more fragile Phoenix. Angered and caught off-guard at having her attacks turned back on her, a flustered Icari shoots back that she will never accept the Alliance Lieutenant as a true comrade as opposed to an outsider working with them on a temporary basis.

Kryska in turn denotes that Icari is reckless and always will be a danger to to the ship and herself - which, in the Novelization, likely refers to how Kryska had been right about Icari's Heratium vents being hazardous to anyone nearby if they shattered and shredded any adjacent Ryders. Icari then grits out that regardless of Kryska's claims, she can at least say that she's loyal to the ship's crew and claims that Kryska would betray them without hesitation if Admiral Grey ordered her to do so, with Kryska remarking that the Admiral is a good man who would never make such an order lightly - only if he truly had no alternative. Icari however expresses disbelief that Grey's honor and character are as infallible as Kryska claims - likely due to Icari's own long history of having been one of Grey's top mercenaries and hitmen - which antagonizes Kryska further, heatedly rejecting the accusation and claiming Icari's viewpoint is due to the mercenary being bankrupt of honor. Icari, now smirking bemusedly, replies that the only force she and anyone else truly cares about - the Admiral included - is money, inferring that honor is rarely something that is valued more than a monetary flow of power. Ultimately, Kayto steps in to try and sooth the duo's argument, but the pair remain in disagreement long after the fact - yet more evidence of a budding rivalry.

Fixing the Fight

During the beachside grill, Icari comes upon Asaga, Chigara and Claude, with the latter trying to encourage Chigara to come out and tell Kayto about her feelings for him, which Chigara anxiously remarks is a bad idea. Icari, amused by their antics, claims the pair are acting like schoolgirls fawning over a crush, denoting that she doesn't understand what they see in the Captain as she thinks him a schoolboy fumbling his way through the world around him. However, Icari does still remark that she agrees with Claude in that Chigara should try to confess, assuring Chigara that, even if Kayto doesn't return her feelings, it would be better to have an answer then it would be to agonize endlessly on an unresolved maybe. When Chigara denotes that she doesn't believe she could in fact move on if Kayto turned her down, Icari expresses marked exasperation - possibly because she doesn't believe Chigara has had enough experience in romance to know whether or not she is so deeply in love with Kayto as she claims, or simply believes herself, to be.

Icari then asks Asaga for assistance in convincing Chigara to confess to Kayto about how she feels, and also brings up that compared to everything they've already been through, telling Kayto about her feelings should be easier than going into the near-hopeless combat situations they have endured on a daily basis. Icari then points out that, as long as they are at war with PACT, anything can happen - for all Chigara knows, either she or Kayto or even both could end up dead to just one single lucky (or unlucky) shot in any and every battle they are in, and that Kayto may live or die never knowing how Chigara felt about him. Eventually, if not reluctantly, Asaga backs up Icari's claims that Chigara should take the risk because she wants the latter to be happy. Claude also remarks that Chigara should say something before anyone else makes their own move on Kayto - right before bringing up how she had almost molested Kayto during her initial stint as the ship's doctor, causing Chigara to start having an anxiety attack from the lewd mental image. Icari, aggravated by Claude's lack of tact, delivers a swift kick that sends the pinkette toppling over into the sand - a scene that is markedly different in the Novel where Icari tackles Claude, resulting in the mercenary being left horrified when Claude begins rubbing herself up against Icari's body and jokingly remarking that Icari only needed to ask if she had "wanted" her. Brushing off - or in the case of the Novel's instance, vehemently denying - Claude's antics, Icari denotes that the first step of getting Chigara her chance is to separate him from the ever-observant Ava, lest the latter intervene to try and stop any interaction between them. Dragging Claude along with her, Icari starts planning with the faux-doctor on how to get Chigara and Kayto alone.

Shortly following this though, Icari proceeds to become moderately - or at least slightly - intoxicated as she converses with Kayto about her time on the Sunrider, remarking that she never would have expected the young Ceran to do even half of what he has so far accomplished, his victory at Far Port through a suicidal charge against an enemy force five times the size of his own being the most notable to date. In the Novel, Icari admits that she's come to like the Captain's way of doing things, which, possibly due to the influence of alcohol, comes across as though she is flirting with Kayto, much to his surprise and amazement as it is almost a complete reversal of her normal attitude. Kryska however soon steps in, keeping an eye on the inebriated mercenary so as to ensure the latter doesn't cause any undo rowdiness, which Icari regards with marked annoyance - especially when Kryska seemingly feels the need to apologize on Icari's behalf for the latter's drinking. Kayto however diffuses the situation by reminding the two that they're all on the same side and that, while on shore-leave, there's no ranks, meaning they're all equals. Some time after this, Icari - displaying an incredibly fast return to sobriety, possibly due to having acclimatized to drinking large amounts of strong alcohol over the course of her life - witnesses Kayto escorting Sola back from the beach. Noticing how close the temporally-displaced Princess of Ryuvia has become to Kayto, Icari exasperatedly remarks to the other girls that she truly does not understand how so many of them can become attracted to the same man so quickly.

When the crew heads to their cabin at the end of the day, Icari and Claude start putting their earlier plans into motion as the mercenary retrieves a bottle of liquor she had been keeping set aside, as well as some of her wet-work equipment to jam local communications to and from the cabin, thus decreasing the chances of an interruption when Chigara finally tries to confess. The next stage comes by the pair proposing the girls play strip-poker, although Icari displays mild chagrin at Claude's shameless and rather blunt idea of the winner sharing a bed with Kayto. However, Claude's barefaced actions succeed in separating Kayto from Ava as the former locks himself up in his room to escape the awkward situation the girl's game would cause, leaving a terrified Ava to her fate. Kryska is easily off-put by Claude's suggestions, to which Icari teasingly asks if Kryska is scared of undressing because she is insecure of her femininity and goes as far as to imply Kryska is male, asking if the latter is afraid to show what is "dangling between (her) legs."

Insulted and angered, the Lieutenant ultimately joins in on the game as a matter of pride, and Icari then takes the chance to incapacitate Ava by offering the Commander the only escape left to her from the chaotic situation around her - alcohol - so as to both render Ava incapable of stopping Chigara from being alone with Kayto and ensure the tightly-strung Ava a chance to properly relax. Icari reveals that she'd been saving the wine in the Phoenix's internal storage compartments for a special occasion, claiming the vintage to have been so good that she almost believed the seller's claims that it dated back to the Fourth Ryuvian Dynasty. Ava, giving into the vice as her only means of coping with her purgatory, finally accepts the wine while claiming that she can't very well leave them alone, which Icari dubiously remarks were her own exact thoughts.

Icari's plan ultimately works far too well as Ava becomes heavily intoxicated in short order, descending into a lengthy, if not somewhat abbreviated, tirade about the many faults she found in Kayto's character during their shared school days - something that Icari takes great delight in listening to as it paints a very sordid picture of both the Captain and of Ava, the latter unwittingly incriminating herself as having cared very much about Kayto's life and behavior. Ava's tangent eventually gets to the point that Kryska is forced to watch over the ailing Commander, clearing the board of all distractions as, after giving a final few words of encouragement - and a glass of wine from Claude to help take the edge off any anxiety - Icari urges Chigara to come out with her feelings to Kayto, which the engineer finally, if nervously, agrees to do.

Icari, along with Claude, Asaga and a largely-unaware Ava, watch from the cover of the nearby foliage as 'back-up' in case someone or something tries to interrupt Chigara's attempt, reinforcing this by revealing her earlier act of sabotage in blocking out local signals to ensure that Kayto's comms don't go off, finishing off by using another glass of wine to keep Ava distracted. However, in spite of Icari and Claude's efforts, Kayto's rather solemn responses cause Chigara to conclude that nothing she could say would make Kayto share his emotional burdens of command with another - which is something that anyone in a relationship would need to do - and ultimately leaves her feelings unspoken. Icari, though disappointed that nothing seemed to come of it, still gives a thin smile as, at the very least, Kayto didn't seem to chase her off. Ava, somewhat recomposed, tiredly demands everyone turn in, with Kryska reinforcing the command in short order and escorting the begrudging pilots to bed.

Back into the Frey

The following morning, the Sunrider's shore-leave ends, the pilots enthusiastic and reinvigorated in their fight against PACT's forces as they launch into a series of new missions alongside the Alliance for the next few weeks. One of the largest operations ends up being a return to the world that either shifted or cemented Icari's view on the war at large - Versta, where PACT has set up a series of supply depots to serve as a staging ground for coordinating attacks and defenses against the ever-growing Alliance Combined Fleet Other operations include clearing out the Tydaria system of resurgent pirate activity, including former Ceran crewmembers who turned to piracy in the wake of their planet's subjugation.

However, the Sunrider's crew faced it's biggest challenge in recent memory during an investigation of Far Port's moon, where Alliance and civilian ships alike had been persistently vanishing without a trace. Upon searching the area, the crew was beset by Ryuvian cruisers - and than by a triad of lethal automated Ryuvian assault Ryders that had been maintained and preserved by a derelict facility on the moon's surface, which proceed to inflict heavy damage on the Sunrider and it's forces. Icari, dumbstruck when Sola identifies the Ryders as having been standard-issue, asks the displaced princess why the Seraphim lacks any of the same capabilities such as the incredible speed and agility, to which Sola somewhat dejectedly explains the Seraphim was a simple scout machine and that most of it's systems have severely degraded during her sleep, the latter's mood further dropping when Icari bluntly questions whether Sola's machine even counts as a real Ryder if it truly is so badly decayed. This earns a swift rebuke from Asaga, admonishing Icari for having depressed Sola.

In the Novelization, Icari plays a large role in dealing with one of the three Ryuvian Ryders. Irritated by Asaga's belittlement, Icari remarks that she will handle the Ryders on her own if Sola cannot help, taking the Phoenix into close-range and crossing blades with one of the ancient machines, succeeding in damaging it's shoulder-pod laser-rack. However, the Ryuvian Ryder swiftly retaliates and severs one of the Phoenix's wing-struts, using it's longer blade to it's advantage as it attacks in wider arcs than Icari's two shorter blades, resulting in the mercenary slowly but surely being pushed back by her automated opponent. Becoming increasingly desperate, Icari forces her Ryder into a near-suicidal lunge forward, getting into literal knife-fight range and sustaining a light cut across her machine's center-torso as she succeeds in driving her blades into the Ryuvian Ryder, jamming one through it's shoulder to render it's firearm useless and the other into it's blade-arm to keep it pinned away from the Phoenix's frame. However, the stronger and more durable Ryuvian machine begins straining against her, threatening to potentially shatter her swords and break free through pure force, leaving Icari further and further on the brink as her Ryder's frame beings to buckle from the stress.

Seeing Icari on the verge of being overpowered, Kryska swiftly intervenes and slams her own Ryder into the unguarded back of the Ryuvian machine, hooking into it with her Paladin's armatures and leveling her gauss cannons at it, sending Icari into a momentary panic as she fears that, at such close range, Kryska's slugs will tear through the Ryuvian Ryder's into the Phoenix, resulting in a joint-detonation of ruptured Ryder-cores and shattered Heratium shards from the Phoenix that would consume the Paladin as well. Incredulously asking Kryska if she has gone insane, Icari can do nothing but brace herself and curse openly as her Ryder shakes along with the Ryuvian machine as the latter's back is poured into by the Paladin, hoping that it's thickly-armored torso-armor doesn't give out before the unit goes inactive. Eventually the Ryuvian Ryder's A.I. core is punctured by Kryska's shots after sustaining roughly two salvos at point-blank range, the ruined machine going limp and finally allowing Icari a moment to calm herself - which she quickly spends berating Kryska for the risk she took as it could have killed them both, although Kryska's response, much to Icari's irritation, is a smug query as to whether Icari needs help being towed back to the Sunrider.

Moments of Helplessness

The Sunrider's next mission, issued at the behest of Admiral Grey himself, is a request to assist in the Alliance's hunt of Cosette Cosmos at the crime-ridden, resource-rich and strategically-important world of Ongess following the massive operation to drive out PACT from the system. After arriving at Ongess, Grey personally tours the ship - just in time for Cosette's forces to bomb the Alliance's supply station. After this, the Sunrider is placed on high-alert for further pirate incursions as the crew tries to locate Cosette. In the midst of this, Kryska decides to take Kayto down to one of the planet's orbital colonies in an attempt to relieve the rumored anxiety the Captain feels about the Alliance's rather permanent presence in the system - something Kayto and Icari had talked about previously, shortly before the Battle of Far Port.

However, this ultimately becomes a near-fatal encounter as Kryska and Kayto are both captured by Cosette's forces, prompting a swift decline into panic across the Sunrider's crew - especially it's Ryder pilots. Icari, dismayed to the point of tears by the turn of events, becomes infuriated by the order to wait and let the Alliance handle things, repeatedly urging that they rescue for Kayto and Kryska. Eventually her frustration hits a breaking point, culminating with Icari staging a one-woman coup d'etat as she raids the Sunrider's armory, takes as many weapons as she can carry and proclaims that she intends to rescue Kayto and Kryska on her own if nobody else will. This in turn results in Ava calling security to restrain Icari, lest the latter's actions inflame the already-unstable state of the Sunrider's crew. Ultimately, it takes six security officials to restrain Icari, if barely so, though all six end up requiring medical treatment for various injuries sustained in trying to subdue the mercenary as she is defiant to the very end. In the Novelization, Sola is also convinced to help Icari with her rescue attempt, though she quickly seems to realize the logic behind Ava's actions and breaks off the attempt far sooner then Icari does.

Eventually though, Ava's judgement proves to have been correct as the Alliance forces, much to the relief of Icari and the crew, successfully rescue Kayto and Kryska from Cosette's forces. After their return, Icari takes to relieving her pent-up tension by teasing Kryska about how quickly she was captured while Claude listens in. Kryska, still not quite over the ordeal, becomes curt and somewhat flustered, stating there were twenty armed men holding them at gunpoint and then correcting herself by saying there were forty, further irritating the Alliance Liaison when Icari points out the discrepancy in the normally-precise soldier's statement. Kayto comes across the group soon after, bemusedly asking if they can ever get along, with Kryska defensively claiming Icari is at fault for starting an argument and Icari retorting she is not responsible for Kryska having gotten herself captured.

However, much to Icari's shock and embarrassment, Claude interjects and reveals Icari's prior short-lived and mutinous rescue attempt, even claiming Icari had nearly broken down in tears when learning of Kayto and Kryska's captivity. Thoroughly mortified, Icari lets out an anxious attempt to laugh off Claude's allegations, but is left too flustered to think of a retort when Claude pushes her advantage and asks if Icari has feelings for Kryska - In the Novel, she also asks if Icari preferred Kayto or Kryska out of the two rescued officers. Reduced to near-incoherency, Icari sputters out that she is too hardened and experienced in life to have an interest in relationships or care about others in such a way, though Claude easily counters this by pointing out Icari's reddening face, prompting the humiliated mercenary to excuse herself under the pretense of needing to calibrate the Phoenix's systems - though she takes the moment to deny Kayto's claims that she always tries to act cool.

Roughly one week after Kayto's rescue, the persistent PACT scouting runs on Ongess are replaced with a full-fledged invasion force, lead by Veniczar Fontana in an effort to retake Ongess, sink the Sunrider and Combined Fleet and re-capture Asaga all in one move. In the Novel, Icari is illustrated as working together with Asaga to cut down the Ryder lines so as to clear the way for the rest of their forces, and later on is left desperately fending off the new PACT Elite Ryders as they tear into the Alliance's forces, deployed from the freshly-minted PACT Assault Carrier. Ultimately, in spite of his best efforts, Kayto is utterly outmaneuvered by Fontana and driven into a gridlock as Cosette's forces, hidden inside the colonies, reveal themselves and proceed to bomb many of the Alliance docking platforms. Ironically, much as Icari had predicted, the Alliance's aid ends up being what helps secure victory - in the form of Admiral Grey leveling an ultimatum to the shocked Fontana; retreat or watch the Alliance bomb the planet's ongessite stores, rendering the world useless to either side and killing the entire population in the process. In the end, Fontana retreats and Cosette is ousted from Ongess, and the Alliance's casualties - 30-40% of the Combined Fleet's numbers - are severe for the battle yet manageable and recoverable in the interim.

The chain of stressful battles continues when a seemingly-routine mission from the Mining Union for a shuttle escort goes completely awry, the Sunrider's crew encountering an entire fleet of PACT ships from cruisers and carriers to battleships and even assault carriers as the enemy tries to bring the vessels down. Icari, exhausted by the unexpected siege and infuriated by their contractor refusing to tell them what they risked their lives for, regards the practice of such escort missions as a "pain" overall and joins in the near-unanimous request that the Captain never take any escort assignments again.

What Has Been Lost

After this, Icari ends up meeting Kayto in the observation hallways leading to the mess hall - or, in the Novelization, inside the mess hall itself. Icari states that she is taking the chance to enjoy the calm before the proverbial storm, remarking that she has heard rumors Kayto is working on a plan to sink the PACT flagship Legion in addition to his continued pursuit of Cosette. Kayto admits this to be both true and easier said than done, with Icari advising Kayto that she knows from personal experience with large amounts of stress that he shouldn't remain quite so serious the entire time, denoting that she and the crew can see through the cheerful facade the Captain has been wearing to reassure them all as of late and admitting that even she is starting to worry about him. After a moment's hesitation, Kayto tries to brush off her concerns by assuring her that he won't let the pressure or potential concerns affect his judgement in battle, but Icari, after having spent months with the crew, is now able to read Kayto's state much more easily than when she'd first met him - and therefore tell that he's, at least subconsciously, lying.

Icari comments that, even though she had been twelve when it happened to her, she knows all too well what things like Kayto's experiences on Ongess and the fall of Cera - callous death and the loss of all he had respectively - can do to a person, admitting that her own life had effectively fallen into a state of ruin because of those same things. Letting her mask of confident indifference slip away for one of the first few times since coming aboard, Icari admits that her first years out on her own - shortly after turning sixteen - were a blur of bad situations and some equally poor choices, including turning to crime as a lifestyle in much the same way Cosette and most of the Ongessens had. She also confesses that her start in assassination was when she decided to kill a man for her eighteenth birthday simply to see if she could actually take a life, discovering she had skill in doing so and becoming a contract killer. She also speaks of spending a short time with a young man and his gang as space pirates to quickly make money, culminating in his pointless death when he tried and failed to raid an Alliance cruiser.

Kayto, slightly taken aback by Icari's rare moment of open honesty, asks if she regrets the path her life took, to which Icari - perhaps to her own surprise as well as Kayto's - admits that she indeed does as, no matter what she did, she always felt like the only thing that mattered - the only thing that would make a difference and bring her any peace - was killing the people who ruined her life to begin with. However, Icari states she now believes this to be untrue, denoting that, in the end, it hardly matters as nothing she has or ever could have done would have given her back what she really wanted; her family - a message to Kayto in the fact that Icari knows the loss of his own family is finally catching up to him, as he never let himself have any grieving period for them. It also serves as Icari's warning in that she is concerned he will become too obsessed with destroying the Legion, as he may lose sight of what cost he must pay to do so and forget that succeeding won't bring his lost family back.

Somewhat reassured by her words, Kayto reassures Icari and sarcastically states that they cannot allow themselves to become dragged down by melancholy so long as they have PACT forces to fight. Seeing that the Captain has regained at least some of his vitality, Icari bemusedly asks if Kayto had even been listening to her warning that he should take a break, before playfully regarding him as 'hopeless' and letting him walk off back to his duties.

Flight or Fight

Ultimately, the Legion is finally found, though it's location - the distant system of Helion - proves to be a mystery for much of the crew as it is far removed from the theater of war instead of on the front lines as they had expected. Upon entering a stealth run on the system, they discover a horrifying truth - the dreadnought is guarding a massive superstructure which Chigara identifies to be a Paradox Core; a black-hole generator who's original prototype was responsible for the destruction of Chigara's home, the once-peaceful scientific colony of Diode. Realizing that PACT has weaponized the device as an instrument of mass destruction, the crew makes it a priority to return to the Alliance with this information - only to be swiftly set upon by a PACT fleet under Fontana's command, assisted by Cosette's pirates.

In the Novelization, Asaga conceives of a daring and risky plan to anchor the crew's Ryders to the hull of the Sunrider' using the ship to shield them from Helion's coronal radiation while adding to the vessel's overall flak capability. Icari - making the transition to the hull smoother then even Asaga herself along with Sola - follows with the plan with a grim determination and anxious smirk out of gallows humor. However, while the plan initially works well, a group of PACT Elites close the distance by using the Sunrider's own wake as a gap in the lethal solar energy so as to open fire on the vessel's engines, resulting in Sola risking her life to repel and destroy them. Sola's inert machine, the pilot having fallen unconscious from using her "Awakening" under such extreme conditions, is pulled back into the Sunrider's hangar by Icari and Asaga - just in time for the ship to take a near-fatal hit from the Legion as it warps in almost directly on top of them.

Roughly thirty members of the crew, including Kayto himself, are injured in the attack before the ship can warp to safety, with three of the crew dying from their wounds. Icari is present in the med-bay when Kayto recovers, indicating that she was likely one of several who volunteered to assist Claude in tending to the many injuries sustained among the crew, expressing relief when Kayto reawakens and happily, if not somewhat disbelievingly, remarking that Claude succeeded in saving him, much to the latter's embarrassed consolation.

Back into the Storm

After the Sunrider is repaired enough to sortie, Kayto joins the ship up with the rest of the Alliance fleet gathered to sink the Legion and destroy the Paradox Core, giving a speech that reaffirms the familial bond between the ship's crewmembers. Icari, giving a grim yet confident smirk, remarks that Kayto has thankfully not yet lost his spirit or determination in the face of danger. When the actual battle begins in earnest though, Icari is only able to remark on what a monstrosity the Legion actually is up close as the combined fleet struggles to bring it down. However, the biggest challenge comes in the form of Arcadius himself, revealed to be a collective consciousness of individuals interlinked though a hive-mind, which engage the Sunrider's crew in a battalion of customized Ryders. But the tide quickly turns back in their favor after Asaga unlocks her full power, entering a complete "Awakening" and driving back Arcadius bit by bit, leaving Icari shocked at the newly-born Sharr of Ryuvia's abilities.

In the Novel, Icari takes to engaging Arcadius' units as best she can, her dogfight against the maniacal PACT leader being very personal as she finally faces the head of the faction that took her family from her and the madman who's regime has all but devastated the Rim. She manages to strafe at least a few of Arcadius' machines with auto-cannon fire before becoming gridlocked with one in melee range, grappling with it until they damage each-other's Ryders and fall spiraling toward the Sunrider. Claude ultimately comes to Icari's rescue, using her Ryder Bianca's gravity-distortion generator to slow Icari's fall and hold the Phoenix in place over the Sunrider, whereas the Arcadius unit, torn off Icari's blade, smashes against the Sunrider's hull and shatters to pieces.

However, the biggest shock of all comes near the battle's turning point, as, after Asaga defeats Arcadius and the latter tries to detonate the Paradox Core to take everyone down with him, Fontana intervenes and betrays Arcadius by unmasking him as a Prototype - a race of genetically-engineered beings created at Diode that rose up and destroyed their creators, who had in turn replaced the original Arcadius. Shortly after revealing this and declaring himself the new leader of PACT, Fontana executes "Arcadius" and begins pulling PACT's forces out of the battle.

Liberation Day

Icari as she appears in Sunrider: Liberation Day

Icari is confirmed to return as a companion character in Sunrider: Liberation Day,

(WARNING: The events listed here are taken from the Liberation Day BETA, and are thus subject to change during production until the final product is released. Canonicity is not guaranteed as this may be only one of several paths the game may take - as of now, this is the only one known.)

During the Sunrider: Liberation Day beta, Icari allows herself a moment to relax after the Second Battle of Helion as PACT's forces have become divided and their loyalties splintered, her most immediate action being to take a long shower to expel the tension. However, to her surprise and momentary embarrassment, Kryska decides to join her in the showers unannounced, the latter's lack of concern sharing an occupied bathroom leaving Icari flustered before begrudgingly agreeing to Kryska's request to bathe together, admitting that it isn't truly inappropriate as they are both female. Icari expresses skepticism at Kryska's boasting that PACT is on the verge of defeat, the mercenary stating that PACT isn't finished yet.

At the same time though, Icari, if not begrudgingly, confesses that she believes Kryska is a skilled pilot and thanks her for having had her back in their time together on the Sunrider, the two shaking hands as they agree to share a round of drinks when the war ends. Icari, attempting to offset the awkwardness of the situation with her typical sarcasm, remarks that she doesn't intend to start celebrating until after PACT falls and thus will not be "drunk in the gutter" as she expects Kryska to be, only for Kryska to laugh this off and remark she is called "the Stonewall" by her comrades for more than simply being a tough opponent, sniping back with a quip that she hopes Icari's fortitude is stronger than her Phoenix's Armor, causing the mercenary to sputter out in an indignant outrage while Kryska continues laughing at her comrade's reaction.

Some time later, following Admiral Grey's decision to destroy the Paradox Core, Icari shares dinner with Kryska in the Sunrider's upgraded mess hall, ironically becoming more friendly and open with her part-time rival than with anyone else in the crew as Icari starts talking about more surprisingly feminine things; chief among them being a collection of cat-pictures she has. However, she is quickly mortified to be caught like this by Kayto when he finds the two in the mess hall, and even more-so when Kryska brings up Icari's cat pictures when the latter tries to cover up their luncheon as being a strategy meeting. Much to Icari's vexation, Kayto begins laughing at this, before remarking that Icari had been right about the crew needing Alliance help and that he is glad Icari made a new friend in the process, citing that her temperament has lightened considerably. Icari, agitated, shoots back that Kayto isn't in any position to judge as he had been in an increasingly depressive state prior to the Second Battle of Helion, having only needed his 'favorite' to cheer him up again. Kayto however turns this back around on Icari as he remarks on how she has admitted to caring about him, which flusters her even worse as she anxiously replies that she simply cared about the Phoenix, not wanting to entrust command of it to someone who was about to suffer an emotional collapse.

Seeing Kayto express confusion on who his "favorite" is, Icari reveals this is what she believes Chigara to be - largely in part due to Claude and Icari herself trying tirelessly to push the pair together. She also states that Claude has set up a betting pool on whether or not the two will form or consummate a relationship, confidently boasting that she will be the winner. Kryska becomes anxious at this though, warning Icari that Ava wouldn't take kindly towards trying to stage or encourage a relationship between the Captain and any member of the crew - especially senior staff like the Chief Engineer - let alone betting on the outcome. Kayto teases Kryska about the latter's involvement being grounds for a court-martial, which inadvertently results in Kryska becoming terrified to the point of being physically ill at the idea of a strike on her military record, with Icari, showing yet another surprisingly open moment of tenderness, working to calm Kryska down and keep the Lieutenant from crying or making herself sick.

Should Kayto have completed the necessary requirements to save Cosette Cosmos from Asaga's vengeful wrath at Helion, Kryska and Icari begin working on repairing the pirate queen's near-totaled Havoc to use as a new Ryder for their own compliment, neither one believing the durable bombardment-type unit should simply be discarded when they need every advantage they can get. They get a sign-off from Kayto to begin restoring the Ryder, Icari likely serving as technical consultant for how to maintenance, replace and repair the Havoc's numerous illegal modifications as, barring the captive Cosette, Icari is the one with the most experience with black-market technology aboard the ship. But it turns out that Kayto had approved the project unwittingly due to not paying attention to what any of the forms he was signing were actually requesting of him. As a result, Ava - after chewing out Kayto for his signing off on their project without even knowing he did so - soon discovers what Kryska and Icari are doing and berates them for devoting the time of the hangar crew and the ship's recourses into rebuilding what is effectively a symbol of genocide and mass-murder closely associated with it's vicious pilot Cosette, regarding the machine as an abomination and demanding it be scrapped. Icari tries to defend Kryska's actions as logical as the Havoc itself is not responsible for what it's pilot did with it, but Kayto is ultimately the one who's choice seals the matter, deciding either to continue restoring it or to scrap it as salvage.

When an ion storm hits the Sunrider during their repairs, the crew finds themselves beset by PACT forces loyal to Arcadius, which are using the storm as a smokescreen after having adapted their systems to function in it. Caught off guard and on their back-foot, Kayto makes the risky move of trusting everything to Chigara in adapting their systems to function in the storm as well, which ultimately pays off as it saves the ship from being helpless against Arcadius' forces. Icari is one of many who celebrate Chigara as a hero on the ship and, along with Claude, take the chance to try and push Kayto and Chigara closer together through this.

However, this has unexpected consequences, as Icari's actions have unwittingly continued to embitter Asaga. After Icari starts taking her own turn in trying to interrogate and watch over the Prototype the Sunrider had captured at Helion - dubbed "Lynn" after Chigara's middle name as they are technically family - the mercenary is rather curtly warded off by Asaga, the latter wishing to speak to the captured artificial human alone. Amazed, Icari wonders to herself what Asaga could possibly want to talk with the Prototype about, realizing upon reflection that Asaga's behavior has become progressively more different from her usual self for a while now, still unaware of how her efforts to push Chigara together with Kayto are partly the cause.

Personality & Traits

Having been orphaned at a young age and forced to live day-to-day just to survive her adolescent years in the more lawless parts of the Neutral Rim, Icari has a largely jaded and materialistic view of life, believing that money and power go hand in hand and are the driving forces behind it. She seems to dislike people in status, especially ones who show off their titles and influence as a way of stroking their own ego - most politicians being especially high on the list - though retains a respect for those who use their positions to actually get something done and even going the extra mile when their power doesn't give them the ability to change something directly. Between her days as a mercenary and her time as a pseudo-criminal, Icari has been imprinted with the belief that you can't ever get something for nothing unless you're either strong enough to do it by force, clever enough to do it by subterfuge or both. To her, power comes from wealth and the mental capacity to do something with it in order to get status, and she considers justice and revenge to be two sides of the same coin as both entail exacting retribution on someone for an act they performed.

Icari tends to be confident, driven and capable of decisiveness and proactive thinking in people, preferring to take quick and immediate action rather then endlessly deliberating on the matter unless crucial and careful planning is directly required - all of which are things she respects seeing in others, which is part of the reason she worked so well together with Admiral Harold Grey. She also tends to like it when people who can think on their feet in a battle, even if the plan devised is arguably insane, which is partly why she seems to favor and respect Kayto Shields' lateral thinking and his abstract methods of command. Icari believes in the merits of having a government to oversee and limit what people can do, but only if those in charge don't abuse said system with their power - which she believes happens all too often - and she resents government officials who have the power to stop or prevent disasters but instead stand by and watch it happen out of fear of what the consequences of intervention will be. She tends to dislike rules and regulations - especially if she feels they are restricting her movements or preventing her from doing her job to the best of her abilities. This often puts her at odds with authority figures that place rules first and foremost, such as Ava Crescentia.

Possibly as a way of coping with the harsh realities of her lifestyle and the darker places her jobs can take her, Icari has developed a rather pronounced sense of gallows humor, grimly sarcastic to the point of fatalism in many cases as she is able to crack a smile even in some of the most serious situations - a prominent example being in the Novel where she gave off a dry smirk in spite of the heavy danger involved in anchoring her Ryder to the Sunrider's hull in a "reverse-emergency" takeoff amid the corona of Helion during the Sunrider's escape from the system. She often has an aloof and nonchalant air about her even in arguably-hopeless situations, typically ready with a quick quip or joke at someone's expense to lighten the mood, sometimes being rather passive-aggressive with others by lightly mocking them, such as when she mocks Kryska as having an underdeveloped figure, Claude for having an overdeveloped one, Chigara for being too shy or having a crush on Kayto, Asaga for being reckless, Sola for being stoic and anti-social, Kayto for being innocent about romance and Ava for being humorless or uptight. She also has a predisposition to give people nicknames at times, such as when she calls Claude "Boob-Rockets", Kryska a "Soldier Boy", Kayto a "Schoolboy" or Asaga a "Hero Girl." Her tendencies, combined with her natural perceptiveness, make her very quick to discern what will or won't set a person off or easily tell what is or isn't a sensitive topic, such as when Icari, with a simple cursory glance of his quarters, could identify the image on Kayto's bookshelf as being of his little sister and use her likely death on Cera as ammunition to get him to try and listen to her reasoning for her mission at Versta.

However, as Kayto comes to suspect at least once in the Novelization, Icari's humor and outward confident nature may simply be just that - a way to brighten up the atmosphere by breaking the tension everyone feels, Icari herself included, and her external humor might be only a mask to hide her own anxiety and strengthen herself and others around her so that the stress doesn't get to any of them. This in turn seems to have made Icari very good at picking up when others are under heavy duress, as she remarked she could easily tell Kayto was just putting on a show of being alright in front of the crew after Ongess when he was clearly still troubled by what he'd seen there. She also could pick up on Chigara's anxiety and affections for Kayto, and while she oddly enough couldn't discern Asaga having these same feelings, she was able to recognize the latter had begun to change rather heavily as time passed. She also seems to have something of a superstitious side to her as she rather quickly contributed the reactivation of the Ryuvian vessels around the defunct Sharr' Lac as being the work of ghosts, implying she has a dislike or even fear of the supernatural. Icari's core personality can be described as being a "tsundere" - a person who is outwardly self-confident, prideful, uncaring and sarcastic yet is actually very caring of those close to her and easily embarrassed if accused or revealed as such. This rings especially true for Icari as, while usually sardonically passive-aggressive or standoffish, she does indeed show marked concern over her shipmates as she gets closer to them, and can quickly become mortified if someone reveals examples of her expressing that she cares such as when Claude revealed her impassioned attempt to rescue Kayto and Kryska to the latter.

During the times when not displaying any of her typical sardonic humor, Icari can be stone-faced and serious, or outwardly stoic, when in times of crisis or when clear heads are needed above all else. She has proven herself to be very cunning and manipulative of others, as shown when, if Kayto refused to help her at Versta, she used the attacking PACT fleet as a smokescreen to try and bypass the Sunrider, as well as how she worked together with Claude to incapacitate Ava with alcohol and try to push Chigara and Kayto together. Her beliefs, based highly on practicality and on the realities of war, follow a very calculus-based thought process, capable of making sacrifices for the sake of the whole if need be, and most of her jobs prior to coming aboard the Sunrider required her to be professional and detached, doing whatever she needed or felt was needed to do in order to complete the mission. This also makes her more accepting of an 'ends justify the means' method of approach, and she was even willing, if not reluctantly so or without immense self-persuasion, to sacrifice the lives of innocents and children to accomplish her assigned goals. Icari has attributed much of her mental hardening to her line of work making her look a target in the eyes when she kills them, each death imprinting themselves more deeply then a distance kill with ordinance would. This same modus operandi can make Icari decidedly ruthless in combat as she has no qualms about enacting sneak-attacks on unsuspecting opponents or using others as smokescreens to reach another objective.

At the same time though, Icari is not inhuman - she doesn't kill needlessly or without what she considers just or good reason. In combat she considers it a survival situation where it is either her or the enemy, thus she won't hesitate to make sure they die when she hits them, especially if they are PACT units. She is willing to execute unarmed or defenseless opponents, distasteful as she personally finds doing so to be, if she believes they are too much of a risk to leave alive. While initially steadfast in her belief that the diplomats at Versta had to die, she is left shaken and surprised when finding out they took children aboard in their escape, and, if she tries to kill the diplomats herself in order to complete her mission, she finds that she is unable to due to the presence of the children, compacted when one of them looks back at her in terror. If the diplomats end up killed by PACT, Icari starts crying in spite of having not been the one to pull the trigger, bitterly realizing that she has let innocents die just to get what she wanted and trying to rationalize it as having been the right choice in the long run. Even then she remains unconvinced of whether or not she made the correct decision. She even admits to Kayto that, even though she didn't have an option in many cases she was in, she ultimately regrets the way her life turned out as the only thing she ever wanted was for her family's death to be made right, even though the only way to ever truly do that - having them come back - was impossible.

Despite her outwardly carefree nature, Icari is a very scarred individual, having had to turn to crime in her early days just to survive. Due to having been alone since she was twelve (five in the Novelization), she is very slow to trust others completely as anything more than comrades of circumstance, and her sardonicism and loner tendencies can be considered her shield to keep people from getting too close to her, lest they either betray her or she care too much about them and then end up hurt if they get killed. She is a jaded person who finds it hard to believe in someone doing anything out of the kindness of their heart, and even then she considers such people to be naive and foolhardy if she does meet them, believing the world is not a place "sentimentalists" can survive in for long - a belief that makes it harder for her to let go of old grudges or curb any lasting hates. The death of a young man who'd led a pirate gang she had been apart of for a short time may have only compacted these feelings, potentially making her reluctant to get into an actual full relationship with anyone - though she is not above flirting or being physically attracted to someone, as she has arguably shown subdued degrees of both to Kayto and Kryska. It is also suspected, though not as of yet confirmed, that Icari is bisexual and capable of seeing both men and women as attractive, which may also explain why she was reluctant to share a shower with other girls - though the latter may simply be due to a fear of falling victim to the perversions of Claude Triello, who has little to no self-restraint on her sexual impulses. She is also something of a bitter individual who is generally slow to change.

Icari has a very over-developed sense of pride, both in her abilities as a pilot and in her skills in general, attributing them to skill rather than luck. This pride however also makes her rather quick to anger if jabbed, especially if someone is using the same sort of passive-aggressive humor on her that she usually uses on others. This causes her to regularly butt heads with either other prideful people like Asaga or Kryska or against figures of authority like Ava, and also makes her fiercely competitive against them - as proven when she repeatedly challenged Kryska to sparing matches or debated the merits of armor verses speed, or potentially muscle-tone verses svelteness, or when, in the Novel, she challenged Asaga to an arm-wrestling contest as well as an apparent drinking contest, as well as repeatedly comparing kill-counts with her fellow Ryder pilots. Her pride can also make her somewhat petty in nature as she won't hesitate to carry out underhanded moves to get back at someone, and she can be very cocky and overconfident in her ability to succeed at something, and become almost childishly upset if repeatedly trounced at something in any way, as well as prompting her to hold a grudge with someone for a while. Due to likely repeatedly engaging in such contests throughout her life, she has a very high tolerance for alcohol herself as she was able to get herself rather intoxicated on shore-leave yet be recovered by the time the crew retired to their cabins.

Over time, Icari gradually starts to change though, her days on the Sunrider making her start to open up more and be less guarded around the crew, as proven in the beta for Liberation Day where she is able to relax to the point that Kayto is able to sneak up on her without her noticing, or to share her previously-secret cat picture collection with Kryska, revealing that she has a hidden fondness for felines. Icari also begins to become a bit warmer to be around, especially with Kryska or Kayto, and additionally starts to come more to terms with the fact that even if destroying PACT or possibly finding and killing the specific officer who murdered her parents does bring her momentary comfort, it will still not bring her peace as nothing she does will really make what happened to her right or undo what she suffered. She comes to trust Kayto and the others with her life as comrades and even sees Kayto as something of a kindred spirit, advising him on how to cope with the loss of his past life and family to PACT.

Icari also develops bonds with most of the crew in other ways as well. She develops rivalries and - if not tentatively or begrudgingly - friendships with Kryska and Asaga, both being competitors for her in piloting; the former in speed and skill and the latter in regards to using an opposing style of distance combat with an armored bombardment-type unit. Icari also competes with the two in ideologies, Asaga being an idealistic and energetic self-proclaimed hero of justice and Kryska being a regulation-loving and strictly law-abiding military officer, and later on she practically becomes Kryska's wing-mate and partner. Icari also becomes something of a running buddy with Claude in terms to setting up betting pools or trying to push people to get together, in spite of having often been put off or outright disgusted by the faux-doctor's nymphomanical personality, and she serves as a confident with Chigara and Kayto to try and boost their respective confidences in themselves as well as trying to get the pair to become a couple. Finally, Icari arguably becomes one of Ava's advisors when it comes to the Sunrider's security, effectively earning herself an unspoken position as the vessel's chief of security, or at the very least as an unofficial member of the ship's security detail. In fact, the only Ryder pilot she has not associated with in much of a direct manner is Sola vi Ryuvia, and likely only because the latter is very isolationist, which presumably makes Icari believe Sola is capable enough of looking out for herself without Icari worrying aboyt her.

Icari seems to have a favoritism for close-quarters and melee combat, especially with knives or other sharp instruments, as they can kill quieter then a firearm can and, depending on the hand-eye coordination, serve as silent distance-throwing weapons. It also is possible Icari does this because it is a more personal method of killing an opponent than firing a gun, done as a way of forcing herself to acknowledge the life she has taken and not brush it off as just one more in a long list, helping her never forget the weight that comes with causing someone's death. In terms of practical functionality, it allows Icari to make her kills at a close enough distance to gag or bind her opponent when doing so in order to keep them from crying out, taking out a weapon or calling for reinforcements. This translates into her Ryder skills, as her machine uses twin blades styled after a katana (Japanese long-sword) and a wakizashi (Japanese short-sword) respectively in order to strike down enemies at close-range, bypassing their energy shields entirely with the physical weapons. Additionally, even without armament, Icari is extremely skilled in close-quarters combat and very physically fit and capable, her body's lack of scars in spite of her high-risk lifestyle being a testiment to this - though it could also admittedly be due to simply having access to good medical resources or getting enough funds per job to hire a capable doctor. She is able to go one-on-one with even an Alliance Black-Ops Operative like Kryska Stares - though it was only in a semi-friendly sparing match - and during one job was able to engage in a gunfight with multiple PACT soldiers in spite of being restricted by a full-body latex suit used as a disguise. Most impressively, when she raided the Sunrider's armory to try and save Kayto and Kryska from Cosette Cosmos, she required at least six armored marines from the ship's security detail to subdue her, and even then Claude states in the Novelization that all six marines required varying degrees of medical attention by the time Icari's rampage had been stopped, the mercenary having taken them all down without killing any of them in spite of their being better armed than her and wearing suits of full-body military-grade armor.

Icari is a very accomplished Ryder pilot, capable of taking her Phoenix and going toe-to-toe with even the ace-pilot Asaga, in spite of the latter's innate Ryuvian enhancements to her body through bloodline inheritance and more versatile and better-armed Black Jack. She has arguably had more experience flying Ryders then Asaga had, the latter having largely spent her time in combat-simulation practice before having gone out to be a freelance pilot, and Icari's machine flagrantly disregards many of the Alliance's safety regulations in it's construction, her skill being much of the reason her machine can perform so well. Icari's skills allow her to push her Ryder to almost insane limits, able to achieve what should normally be impossible to most Ryder pilots unless they were enhanced like Sola or Asaga, and the stealth drive on her Ryder allows her to single-handedly cut down scores of enemy units. She is also extremely proficient in Ryder maintenance, able to repair and fine-tune her Ryder's systems to near-peek efficiency even after sustaining severe damage in multiple instances, one such optional instance being if she became locked in a dogfight with Asaga at Versta and the latter severely crippled Icari's machine.

In addition to her skill in Ryder piloting, Icari also seems well-versed in wetwork and security algorithms, as she was able to bypass the lockouts on the Sunrider's brig and hack into the hangar-bay systems in order to recover her Ryder and flee the ship before anyone could stop her, should she be ousted by Kayto. Ava even goes as far as to admit that Icari has improved their overall network security, implying that Icari's skill in seeking out backdoor programs in a system is equivalent to Chigara's skill in building or re-tooling machines. Due to the many non-standard or even illegal modifications done to her Ryder, Icari is also assumedly very well-versed in black-market technologies and their maintenance or application as well as how the black-market itself works, knowing what non-standard weapons are the best to get. She is also likely very familiar with illegal computer hacking software, and knowing how to counteract intrusions done with this kind of equipment is likely how she was able to improve the Sunrider's systems against such attempts.

One of the defining pieces of Icari's personality and motivation is her immense hatred of PACT. Her grudge extends to before PACT had even been in the control of the Prototypes, implying that even back then the Compact Revolution was becoming more and more hard-lined and embittered against the New Empire, and much of Icari's recent actions in life have been done specifically at their expense, the mercenary refusing to take jobs from the expansionistic faction and putting high-priority on completing any missions offered to be carried out against them. She holds a deep resentment of them for having killed her family in cold blood for something as simple as accidentally crossing their borders and demanding star-charts they hadn't even had, and has gone a long way towards making Icari herself become cold-blooded in killing PACT soldiers wherever she has the chance to. She is instantly in favor of plans that hurt or humiliate PACT and, depending on the circumstances, can be worked into an almost-inhuman fury about them, switching between either a raging inferno of anger or a coldly-seething hate. While this does seem to mellow out noticeably the longer she is aboard the Sunrider, she still has not cast aside her hatred of PACT and likely will not so long as there is a war between them and the Alliance.

Relationships

Kryska Stares - Icari's ties to Kryska's were initially the most rocky out of the entire ship, but she ironically ended up becoming arguably the closest person to Icari on the Sunrider. They are both firm if not slightly friendly rivals in Ryder piloting, often butting heads over combat styles as well as lightly poking fun at each-others ideal of a good physical form, Icari more focused on agility and Kryska on muscle tone. This often leads to Icari mocking Kryska's figure as being boyish and occasionally has Icari outright asking if Kryska is female or not, giving her the nickname "Soldier Boy" much to Kryska's aggravation and leading to her returning the derivatives by regarding Icari as being just "the Mercenary".

While the two actually do share several traits - being cunning, determined, resourceful, prideful and stubborn - they also have very different and outright opposing views on honor and duty, Icari's being far more materialistic then Kryska's is and also more sarcastic on a general basis. Icari also tends to be far less forgiving than Kryska, as the latter unflinchingly entrusted her life to Icari and came to the latter's rescue at the Battle of Far Port in spite of Icari having wanted Kryska incarcerated for trying to hack the Sunrider's engineering logs and, in the Novel, brandishing a gun and pressing it to Kryska's skull, while Icari in turn required a bit more time to acclimatize to having the Alliance Lieutenant as an ally.

However, Icari quickly moved past any ideas that Kryska would betray them easily - though she often grimly joked the Alliance pilot would if Admiral Grey ordered her to - and started to trust Kryska as a comrade in arms, the two becoming inadvertent wingmates in battle as they worked well in covering each-other's weaknesses, as Kryska's slow and heavy long-range Paladin was easily counterbalanced by Icari's fast and nimble short-range Phoenix let the pair effectively defeat nearly any opponent they came across through a tag-team style of combat. This did not stop them from critiquing each-others combat proficiencies as being inferior to their own, though it became arguable how much of it was done in seriousness as opposed to them simply trying to provoke each-other as they regularly tried to show each-other up in battle.

Claude Triello has repeatedly asked, in public no less, if Icari actually is romantically attracted to Kryska as opposed to it being a more sisterly bond, remarking the pair as already being well on their way to entering a relationship. Icari, regularly mortified by the question, consistently denies this as being even remotely possible, let alone inevitable, often erupting in self-righteous fury at anyone who suggests this in spite of Kryska herself having never once voiced complaint at the idea of being Icari's intimate other. In time, Claude's prediction seems to have become more and more accurate as Icari now displays no discomfort with performing relatively intimate activities with Kryska such as sharing dinner with her in the Sunrider's mess hall, though she still denies this as being evidence of her having romantic feelings for the Lieutenant.

Kayto Shields - While initially begrudging of him - especially for having detained her at Versta - Icari has since come to highly respect Kayto as both a man of action and an abstract thinker who can work on gut instinct as much as he does logic and planning. Aside from Kryska, Kayto is arguably the only other person on the ship that Icari is close enough to let herself be unguarded with, seeing him as something of a kindred spirit as they both have lost their families and their old lives to PACT and often serving as something of an emotional support when she believes he is working himself too hard, having lived through similar pain in her early years. At the same time though, she regards him as somewhat naive and inexperienced in how the world beyond his own home of Cera works - especially when it comes to romance and recognizing when a woman likes him, or the effect he in turn has on several of the female members of his crew - leading to Icari nicknaming him "Schoolboy."

At the same time though, Icari has arguably displayed veiled attraction to Kayto herself at times, occasionally blushing when confronted by him on certain topics as well as having blushed once when thinking on why people like Chigara could become infatuated with him. In the Novel during shore-leave, she also admitted that she liked men like him who could beat impossible odds as they did at Far Port - though the honesty of this is questionable due to Icari being under the influence of alcohol at the time, making it uncertain if she was serious about what she told Kayto or just teasing him.

Icari's stance on Kayto can presumably differentiate depending on if he is following the "Moralist" or the "Prince" paths. If he is a "Moralist", Icari will likely regard him as too kind-hearted but an overall decent person to be around, respecting him because he took her in even after she fought against his crew and accepting his offer to try and win the war with PACT without sacrificing his moral code. On the other hand, if he has a "Prince" morality, then he will be seen by Icari as a straightforward person who will always get the job done reliably, respecting that he, like herself, is willing to do whatever it takes so that nobody else must sully their hands.

Admiral Harold Grey - One of her oldest contacts in the Alliance Military, Admiral Grey was one of Icari's regular clients prior to joining the crew of the Sunrider, often taking missions that undercut or sabotaged PACT for him and others in the Alliance that thought the way he did. Icari generally respects Grey's proactive nature and his distaste of politics, but above all else she seems to respect his decisiveness in deciding that PACT is a danger and pre-empting the threat himself in spite of the risks it carries. However, whether this working relationship still exists if Icari failed her mission at Versta is unknown. She seems to regard him with a degree of fondness, indicating that she has grown to respect him or at least recognizes him as an old acquaintance. It is also possible that Grey was one of the military personnel who rescued Icari from space after her family was killed by PACT, though this is only a theory.

Asaga Oakrun - While they are not exactly the best of friends, Icari and Asaga can still be considered very firm allies, with the pair being regarded as the best pilots aboard the Sunrider and occasionally-friendly rivals for the spot of the ship's ace pilot. Icari effectively serves as Asaga's direct subordinate as the second-in-command for the Sunrider's Ryder wing, both often competing against each-other for the title of Ace Pilot. While the two get along well enough - both being rather carefree on the outside and sharing a dislike for rules and regulations - they also butt heads more than often enough, especially over which one of them is the better pilot or what makes for acceptable actions in the heat of the moment. Their camaraderie had not started out well though, and was especially bad after Versta, as Icari's actions and mission earned Asaga's ire early on and made the incognito Ryuvian Princess vey distrustful of Icari, though the two gradually seemed to work out their trust issues - shown in the Novelization to have been over a night of drinking, arm-wrestling and verbal sparring. In this, the two can be called the occasional drinking buddies, their respective competitive natures helping keep the other sharp and alert when it comes to honing their Ryder skills. However, while Icari now knows Asaga well enough to tell the latter is becoming progressively more insular and bitter, the mercenary was never able to recognize that Asaga had feelings for Kayto Shields the same as Chigara Ashada did, and Icari working with Claude to try to push the two together has inadvertently caused Icari to be one of the unwitting orchestrators of Asaga's current state. Due to Asaga's "naive" endorsement of the ideals of being a storybook hero, Icari has taken to nicknaming her "Hero" or "Hero Girl."

Claude Triello - Icari shares little with Claude aside from a general dislike of strict military regulations and not seeing their being on the crew as necessitating they follow these rules, though Icari is more liable to comply with such mandates than Claude is. However, Icari's more proactive tendencies and practicality-driven mindset are a stark contrast to Claude's lax and nonchalant lifestyle, with Icari overall being more serious and prideful than the stand-in medical officer. In spite of this though, the pair seem to have become something akin to running buddies in trying to set up a few budding romances, foremost being their attempts to push Chigara toward trying to become Kayto's romantic partner. However, Claude has also offered unrequested advice on Icari's possible potential relationships with Kryska - and with Kayto as well in the Novel - which is extremely unwanted as Icari protests there is no such feelings between her and Kryska and that she finds Kayto too naive to have an intimate relationship with. Icari also suffers from Claude repeatedly trying to paint her as finding women attractive and, in the Novel, hints to being bisexual herself when she offers to take a shower with Icari or rubs up against the Mercenary on the beach during shore-leave. On the times when they aren't working together to tease a member of the crew, Icari finds herself often mortified by Claude's lack of boundaries, foremost being when the pinkette revealed to Kayto and Kryska that Icari had tried to stage a one-woman rescue operation and was nearly driven to tears upon learning the two were captured by Cosette's forces. Because of Claude's pervasiveness and her overly-developed chest, Icari nicknames her "Boob-Rockets."

Chigara Lynn Ashada - While Icari often teases the Sunrider's Chief Engineer endlessly about the latter's infatuation with Kayto Shields, Icari is overall somewhat more gentle and less scathing in her quips than she is with some of the other crew, seeming to treat her more like a little sibling than a rival like with Asaga or Kryska. She sees Chigara as kind-hearted and innocent, yet initially is exasperated by how anxious the engineer is about trying to tell Kayto how she feels, likely not entirely convinced that Chigara has enough experience to know the difference between a crush and actual love. Icari tends to look out for Chigara because of this naiveté and does her best to help put Chigara in a better position to come out and be honest with herself, using her experiences in life alone to try and help teach Chigara that the world doesn't need to stop just because something does or does not work out. However, Icari's constant helping Chigara ended up becoming slightly detrimental in the end, as Icari's focus on Chigara as the obvious candidate for someone who needs help left Icari unable to notice more subtle cases of those in need of support, like Asaga's stewing resentment of Chigara's growing preferential treatment among the crew.

Ava Crescentia - Icari was originally distrusted by Ava immensely, which was in no small part due to Icari's own initial lack of respect for the Commander's serious no-nonsense attitude and overbearing enforcement of rules. However, after the Versta incident was over, Icari worked toward proving herself worth any trouble Ava considered the mercenary to be, eventually impressing Ava through her diligence in improving the Sunrider's network-security. In spite of their original dislike of each-other, the two actually share an agreement on what the effective cost of war must be and how it should be approached - by striving to keep morality second to victory - and, in spite of often making snide remarks behind the Commander's back, Icari likely respects Ava's ability to get the job done and unflinching sense of responsibility even in the face of death.

Sola vi Ryuvia - As Sola is largely introverted and generally prefers being alone, Icari has not had many interactions with the Sunrider's weapons expert and sniper, though it is likely that, like most of the crew, the pair share a mutual respect for each-other's abilities. Sola is quite possibly the embodiment of the silent, determined and always level-headed warrior that Icari herself has strived to be, though Sola's lack of desire to socialize with most seems to be a feature the pair do not share. Icari also might find her near-emotionless outward persona to be off-putting as well due to how often Icari tends to interact with the rest of the crew, though the fact that Sola has also lost her homeworld to PACT likely gives the pair common ground in opposing the tyrannical faction. Icari was also able to quickly notice that Sola was getting closer to Kayto Shields, becoming exasperated by how even someone normally cold and silent like Sola could become attracted to the Captain so relatively quick.

Cosette Cosmos - The self-made pirate warlord shares the background of being a potent figure in the galactic underworld, both having no remaining living relatives and being forced to adapt to harsh life on their own. However, their professions - one a mercenary following jobs and the other a leader taking charge of others - are starkly different. Also differing is their beliefs on what is an acceptable "greater good" as Cosette regularly works with PACT to try and secure freedom for Ongess as well as get revenge on the Alliance for Ongess' continuing state of decrepit life and against the Sunrider and it's crew for humiliating her with several defeats as a matter of pride. Icari, for all she considers acceptable for her line of work, committed acts as part of her mission or for her idea of what was best, whereas Cosette murder in cold blood for even slight offenses as often as not, yet there is still an undeniable sense of similarity between them as both fight the Alliance or PACT for the same reason - vengeance for past transgressions against them.

Veniczar B. Cullen - Icari's opinion of the portly PACT Veniczar was rather low, having derivatively nicknamed him "Pigman" due to his girth and decadent tendencies. In fact, the only thing Icari had wished of him was that she could have seen his face when he died at Asaga's hands during the Battle of Far Port. In all likelihood, Cullen was the embodiment of the mental image Asaga had of all PACT's Veniczars - greedy, callous, brutish, self-serving and utterly repugnant human beings for one reason or another.

Veniczar B. Fontana - Fontana is likely someone who breaks the mold of what Icari would consider typical for a PACT Veniczar as he is logical, polite, well-mannered and does not try to consider violence the first recourse. His physical attractiveness - enough to make even Ava consider him handsome in the Novelization - would possibly be another aspect that would throw Icari off, though she would be just as likely to regard him as nothing but a "vain pretty-boy" who thinks too highly of himself and PACT's cause.

Veniczar S. Arcadius - As the leader of the faction that took away her family, it can be said that, barring the PACT captain who had murdered her parents, Icari's hate for Arcadius is second to none and her single-most desire is to see Arcadius dead by her own hand for all the harm he has done unto her and the rest of the Neutral Rim. However, when the truth of Arcadius' identity is revealed, it complicates her vendetta since her parent's murder actually predates the rise of the Prototypes into Arcadius' identity as the Diode Catastrophe that immediately succeeded their birth was far after the death of her parents, implying that even then PACT was starting to become what it hated. This in turn means that, even with Arcadius deposed, PACT as a whole - Fontana's revisionist group included - still may find itself the target of Icari's hate even if parts of it become apologetic to the galaxy at large. This does not seem to blunt her hate for the Prototypes in the slightest though, instead seeming to hate the revealed Prototypes not for her parent's death but instead for all the destruction they caused while leading PACT.