character info

Part 1--Early Life
Kienan Ademetria is one of 10 children of Garyn and Laira Ademetria, a married couple living on Industria Galactica's gevenite mining colony on the planet Caldera. Until the age of 15, it was an idyllic existence, and Kienan even joined his father in the mines, despite his long-held dream of piloting the cargo ship to the tanker in space.

Then, one week after his 15th birthday, a group of miners drilled further into the crust of Caldera and discovered something terrible. They were a race on insectoid creatures . . .the Magmadivers--so named by the miners because they could swim in the molten volcanic liquid as easily as fish did in water. The Magmadivers, once awakened, began killing miners at the rate of 10 an hour.

The colonists did their best to contain them, but it was too late--the Magmadivers would not be denied. During the night, they emerged onto the surface of the planet and began killing every man woman and child in their path.

Kienan, who had been playing hooky from work that day, came back to his house to find his family dead. A Magmadiver seized him and began to beat him, dragging him to a puddle where the blood of the slaughtered villagers had come to collect. The Magmadiver tried to drown him in that puddle, and it was then that he truly lost his mind.

Kienan retaliated desperately, as a wild animal would. With a broken femoral bone, he stabbed the Magmadiver, who was totally powerless against his wild attack.

Kienan discovered that night that his destiny was to kill. It was what he was born for.

For the rest of the week, Kienan stalked the Magmadivers' enclave, killing each of them slowly and methodically. Gradually, he made his way to the now-deserted main building. The Magmadivers had left the technology intact. It was there that Kienan found a response to the report of the Magmadivers' awakening.

Industria Galactica had cut off all support for the mining colony, declaring it expendable. Kienan would find out later that this had been part of a plan to increase their stock value, which had been falling in the galactic exchanges.

As the ship neared the solar threshold of Caldera's system, Kienan ejected the ship's lifepod. As the ship crashed into the sun the gevenite onboard triggered a supernova that obliterated every planet in the system. Kienan's lifepod, at the edge of the blast wave, was propelled towards the free sector of the galaxy called the Frontier.

Part 2: Post-Caldera Years

Gradually, Kienan found his way to Kuran, a free station on the Frontier. By this time, the mystery of Caldera had spread. Once, while Kienan found himself walking the streets, he was recruited into the Midare-Giri, an underground fighting championship that took it's name from it's highest prize, an ancient weapon. Kienan used the same wild tactics in the fighting pit as he used on Caldera and became the youngest champion ever. The prize for a Midare-Giri champion (besides living to tell about it and a sizable amount of credits) is a knife of unbreakable metal, forged by a now-dead alien race. It is one of Kienan's prized possessions, and he carries it on his person at all times.

The sole lasting damage he incurred was a large scar across his back.

After his showing, some of the alien martial arts masters who oversaw the Midare-Giri began training him in their arts, deeming him worthy to learn them. To symbolize his dedication, he began growing his hair out, and braiding it. It is a hairstyle he keeps to this day. Most of the fellow assassin's retained by the Blue Dragon's refer to his hairstyle as the Devil's Tail, but suspiciously never to his face.

As his reputation grew, Kienan was recruited into the Blue Dragon Tong, a crime organization based on Kuran, but with ambitions to extend their rule to the free outer sectors, also known as the Frontier, which was even now being colonized by every major race.

Following his induction into the Blue Dragons, Kienan began learning the arts of fighter piloting and marksmanship. He showed great aptitude for these vocations, and soon became so educated in both that he routinely designs and builds his own weapons, and, should he choose to do so, his own fighter.

Kienan's mentor, First Assassin Toriares Ata'e soon become his friend as well, despite Toriares' sister Marasi slashing another scar into him, giving Kienan a perfect "X" over his back. Toriares and Kienan were so successful on mission of assassination and sabotage they became known as the Brothers of Blood, and remain friends to this day.

Early on, Kienan discovered the amnesiac woman who came to call herself Silhouette. They became close, as they worked on various jobs for the Blue Dragons with Toriares. But Kienan, who had never fully recovered from the trauma of the massacre at Caldera, pulled back from her.

Silhouette began to doubt the rightness of what they were doing for the Blue Dragons and decided to leave the syndicate by faking her own death. Kienan was shattered by this and worked alone for some time after. Silhouette, meanwhile, formed the White Dragons, a group that helps members of syndicates to escape into a free life.

As his reputation as one of the most flamboyant and capable assassins grew, Kienan began to freelance himself in addition to his duties as one of the Blue Dragons. One of the main reasons for his success was that due to a clerical error as a result of the Caldera Incident, Kienan Ademetria was declared legally deceased. Since he leaves no evidence to cause authorities to challenge that claim, he lives a life free of prosecution.

Part 3: Jayla Kyren

Kienan met Jayla Kyren early in his 19th year. Jayla was on the run from her family--the Kyrens were noted industrialists on Ganymede--wanting to make a life for herself. Kienan met her during a hit he was completing at a party.

For a period of three months, they were passionately in love. Kienan, now understanding what he had lost, wanted to explore his feelings with Jayla.

Then he was called upon to eliminate a bookkeeper trying to escape to freedom. Upon eliminating him, Kienan encountered Lewis Sinclaire and engaged in a long battle with him, only to find out that Sinclaire was in the employ of Silhouette. Feeling betrayed over Silhouette's deception and choice of Sinclaire over himself, he declared himself Sinclaire's sworn enemy and has vowed to kill him at the next opportunity.

He returned home to Jayla, but Jayla did not wait for him. Now addicted to Rush (a hyper-stimulant injected into the body through the blood vessels in the eyes.) Jayla left him and soon after ended up working in the brothels of Kuran Colony. Kienan never truly recovered from that heartbreak.

Two months after Jayla had left him, Kienan looted a corporate research and development lab, taking with him three artificial lifeforms--Marionettes, designed to be sex surrogates for long-haul space travelers. The machines soon named themselves Vain, Mirage, and Conscience--so named because it was the first word that each of them learned. Over time, they became Kienan's proteges and support crew. He also became the acquaintance of Angela Anastazi, the theif whocalls herself Nightshade and considers herself (much to Kienan's consternation) his little sister

Three months after that, they raided the secret Earth Federation testing base, stealing three prototype fighters and earning the respect and interest of Meridius Soldato, the leader of a pirate army known as the Olympus Vanguard. Impressed by Kienan's audacity and skill, Soldato also equipped Silhouette's White Dragons and is her current lover. Soldato is hunting Kienan for an unknown purpose, but what that purpose is still remains unclear.

Personality Traits:

Kienan is usually very cold emotionally, indifferent unless provoked, then his anger is extreme, wild, unpredictable, and dangerous. He shows affection to only a few, like the Marionettes, or Silhouette. The only other people he maintains any relationship with is Nightshade, the Marionettes, and Toriares. He shows respect to only one person--Mao Xai Jan, his commander in the Blue Dragon Tong. Everyone else is treated like furniture--and his stock response to most questions is to ignore or threaten the questioner.

Kienan is constantly pushing himself, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Despite his calm exterior, he is a very passionate and dedicated person. He has been known to kill his targets by shooting through himself to get them, crawling on the outside of their ships and bombing them, throwing himself without a care into the cold void of space. He trains well beyond even the thresholds of most athletes, training in heavy gravity to increase his strength, speed, and stamina, and excels in all three areas. But motivating his physical gifts is a blind determination to accomplish his mission, almost as though he is perpetually beating the odds against his survival at Caldra.

Kienan believes no one is innocent, and therefore everyone is potentially ready to die. He has shot through innocent people taken as hostages, killed entire ship-loads of people to kill one person, and even once accidentally brought the Earth Federation and an alien race to the brink of war. He doesn't have much of a feeling of morality one way or the other about his actions.

He is fair, however. If he believes an opponent worthy, he will allow them a free shot on him, or make sure they are equally matched, sometimes refusing to fight if they're not at their best.

But Kienan can also be very gentle and passionate, somewhere past his pain. He has been known to risk his own life for people he loves, and to revenge himself on people who have done them wrong. Even when Jayla had left him, he took great effort to make sure she was all right, until the day she died.

Fighting Capabilities:

Kienan is one of the deadliest people in the known galaxy, unarmed or armed. Part of this is due to his exceptional skill in unarmed combat, coupled with his natural ability. Kienan holds a rank of Master in at least 36 separate disciplines of martial arts.

His combat style is very flashy and acrobatic, employing high kicks, quick strikes, and counter-moves to exploit his opponent's weaknesses. Once their avenues of attack have been cut off, their end is usually quite brief.

Kienan is very skilled in sword combat, occasionally using a long sword in addition to his Midare-Giri blade. The Midare Giri blade electrifies the blood of any organic being it cuts through unknown means (possibly ancient organic technology), compounding the agony suffered. In fact, "Midare-Giri" means "Mistress of Pain" in the ancient alien dialect.

His primary weapons are a pair of custom-built machine pistols, which he employs in tandem, with the option of single-shot or full automatic fire. In addition, Kienan has custom designed bullet types, including the following:

Nagra Bullets: Bullets with gravity-well tips. An impact from one of these bullets has been known to blow basketball-sized holes in men and machinery.

Metroid Bullets: Viral-tipped bullets which sap the strength of anyone shot by them.

Nano-virus Bullets: nanomachines break down and eventually destroy machinery. Used primarily against machines and cyborgs.

Kienan is an excellent fighter pilot, who knowledge of piloting skills is equivalent to most recognized fighter aces in the galaxy. Indeed, one of his hobbies in between missions is designing and building his own fighter.

All of Kienan's personal weaponry is designed and built himself, with the exception of the Midare-Giri. In cases where his own weapons will not do, Kienan has educated himself on the weaponry of most alien races and every weapon Earthers have used for the last 100 years.

For more involved combat, Kienan employs a Drazga compact machine gun, capable of firing 100 rounds per minute, charged plasma rounds. Often he uses it equipped with a grenade launcher, tho he is said to dislike energy weapons.

Kienan has many other weapons custom-made for various jobs, too detailed to list here.

"Gunmetal Black," Kienan Ademetira, Vain, Mirage, and all other related characters are tm and © 2003 Lewis Smith. Use without permission is prohibited. The characters Silhouette and Sinclaire were adapted from an original idea by Micaila Taylor.