The Vitalis is a remodeled Predator-class SDF combat ship, purchased by Melinda Larin and the 11 crew members who survived the attack and subsequent crash of the Vitri 16 years ago.*

Over twenty stories tall and armed to the teeth, the ship is a technological marvel, especially considering most of its systems have been overhauled and remodeled from of a model discontinued nearly a century ago.

A private vessel, the Vitalis has greater freedom than the military-contracted Vitri and is selective with regard to what jobs they take on. Their primary focus is liberating slaves (and eliminating slave traders), smuggling (usually drugs medical supplies) and humanitarian aid, but also occasionally includes bounty hunting, armed transport and blockade running.

When not on a job, the ship can be found at the RhyDin spaceport, Melinda and the crew having chosen this planet as a base of operations due to its lack of invasive customs laws and wide range of clientele.

The Captain:

Melinda V "Mel" Larin
Date of Birth: 0-21709** (Age 72)
Home: Straphia Prime, Beta/Thargon, Delta

A former Lieutenant of the Straphian Defence Force, Melinda emigrated with her mother to Thargon in the Delta Quadrant after the fall of Alpha (24-4-21754). While mother and daughter alike were die-hard career soldiers, both were disgusted at the withdrawal of Straphian forces from Alpha while Sintherrata was under siege.
Seeking work, she joined the Vitri as a weapons specialist in 21757. Five years later, following the retirement of XO Timmons, Melinda was promoted to Second Officer.

She assumed command in 21764 after an attack on the Vitri which killed six of the crew, including Captain Ducat and XO Echeron. Stranded on a planet with a hostile environment, the ship was patched up just enough to get home, but could not be restored to full working order. The crew elected to keep her as the permanent Captain upon the purchase of the Vitalis.

On 25th Ichi, Cycle 21769, the crew was betrayed by former XO Mikal Saranos, who was in league with a slaver colony. The slavers had locked themselves in the cages for their own safety during an uprising, and the slaves mistook the crew for reinforcements. During the ensuing battle, Melinda killed the former host of the Ikural symbiant Kethel. Realizing what she had done, she offered Kethel her own body as a new host, and the two have been bonded ever since.

Mikal Saranos was executed for his betrayal.


* More to come on the history, stay tuned.
** The Quad's calendar consists of Union Day, followed by 13 'months' of 28 days each. Union Day itself is simply written as 0. It is Melinda's birthday.

Lya II "Tits" Ven, Infiltrator/Combat Specialist
Date of Birth: 8/11/21715 (Age 65)
Home: Solarfall Theta, Gamma

The youngest member of the crew, Lya is a prodigy of combat and tactics. Raised by a family of soldiers in Solarfall Theta, she was one of the few not to take up the tradition of military service. Instead, she sought mercenary work until she was wounded in a firefight, losing her eye. In 21761, Gill met her in the hospital as she was recuperating, and pulled strings to have her implanted with a seraph eye on the condition that she join the Vitri's crew. She was the one who discovered Saranos' plot and exposed him for a traitor, despite an offer of tremendous wealth to keep her silence. As her nickname implies, she is very well endowed and is known for complaining that "the goddamn things are always getting in my way."

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Donald VI "Don" Vallancourt, Tactical Officer
Date of Birth: 20/10/21698 (Age 82)
Home: Sintherrata, Alpha

A powerful telepath, Don was an instructor at the Sintherrata Academy for Psychic Development and a reserve officer in the Emperor's Army. During the fall of Alpha in 21754, Don was taken prisoner and tortured. Once his captors learned he was a telepath they went so far as to remove his tongue, since they could still extract information from him even if he could not speak. In a rage, he triggered a psionic explosion that did enough damage to allow him to escape.

Eight years later, he encountered Melinda during a routine stop at Straphia Prime, and she asked Captain Ducat to bring him aboard. Don's talents have proven indispensable, having established communication through language barriers and even located prisoners and slaves by finding their brain patterns.

Unfortunately, the removal of Don's tongue was thorough and done in a way that even the Quad's advanced medical nanomachines are unable to regenerate it.

Zaramentarka "Z" Cerulus, Sorcerer/Infiltrator
Date of Birth: Unknown, his age is assumed to be around 400.
Home: Upper Gamma

Z is a blue dragon from the Cerulus clan, one of the few Blue clans that chose to maintain its independence rather than join with the Silivistar to form what is now the Azure clan. Disillusioned with his clan and his place in it, he left Gamma and has since traveled mostly in the form of a human. His ability to take on virtually any form has been an invaluable asset to the crew.

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William III "Slim" and Mirielle "Miri" Renzek, Assassins
Date of Birth: 6/11/21700 and 27/4/21698 (Ages 80 and 82)
Home: Lexicon, Delta and Atacor, Gamma

Slim and Miri were contract assassins who met after being hired by two different parties to kill the same target. What began as a friendly rivalry turned into romance, and soon after the two were married. They left their respective employers since the nature of their work kept them apart for long periods of time. The Vitri, although it paid significantly less, gave them a place to live and work together.

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David "Shell" Cielvena, Quartermaster
Date of Birth: 15/1/21680 (Age 100)
Home: Straphia Prime, Beta

Shell was an accountant for the Straphian Budget Committee, and was placed on the Vitri's crew to report its finances to Prime, as the ship was under government contract. He tendered his retirement to stay on with the Vitalis after the Vitri was lost. His duties have expanded greatly; Shell now manages the cargo manifest, all income and expenditures, various bank accounts and even some of the crew's personal assets.