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professionalnooneatall · 6 months ago

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Everyone Keeps Saying Make Something New, but When I make Something Aggressively New, I Get "not like that,"

I was talking with an Imam once and I asked him how a Muslim would go about doing the Hajj if they lived on Mars. With zero hesitation he said "Get on a rocket and go back to Earth, there's only one Mecca." The quote stayed with me and for over a decade I've been developing a television show around that sentence:

It's the far future. Humanity and our allies live throughout the Milky Way and there are Muslims on every planet where there are humans, which is to say all of them. Let me introduce you to the characters.

Master Fleet Adm. Achmed Abdul Qadir

Regal, bird like, rather tall with a well-trimmed mustache, salt and pepper hair, Qadir is a devout Muslim with a calm “been there done that” attitude from being over 100 years old. Shrewd but compassionate, Qadir applies Islamic jurisprudence as often as possible, resulting in a high degree of compassion. Because of this Qadir was among the first wave of volunteers to fight under the banner of the Alliance first on Mars under NATO/METO and later as Alliance Forces Earth, and finally just the Alliance. Qadir is unflappable in nearly every respect. If he ever uses foul language - in any language he knows - it��s not a good sign.

Command Sergeant Major Maya Abdel-Fattah

Lean, lethal and shorter than most people. Always wearing hijab in public. Cybernetic right arm starting at the shoulder. Maya is the strong, silent type. A full Alliance Marine, qualified planet and space she wears the Galaxy Globe and Anchor. Maya was widowed and lost her whole family in a space transport accident and so she transferred to the recently codified Alliance Marine Corps from Alliance Forces Earth Quartermaster Corps. Maya served with the Black Sword Brigade, a particularly tough unit specializing in deep strikes and decapitation attacks. She serves as the senior enlisted on the ship and if there's fighting to be done she can get it done from 1,000 meters to 1 centimeter.

Command Sergeant Major (ret) Robert W. Leary

Hearty, tough, Irish and Black American. Very American military, Qadir’s best friend, so much so Qadir’s actual wife, Jamila, referred to Leary as “My husband’s work wife” when they worked together under NATO and METO military operations before the Alliance conflict. Father died in Corpo Wars, mother retired from the 1st New York Brigade after the North American Protectorate was codified. Leary met probably his closest friend Achmed Qadir while on R&R leave in Iraq, specifically when he attended the completion ceremony for Al-Rahman Mosque in Baghdad. Leary is deeply atheist but very respectful and knowledgeable of many religions; he’s street-smart and socially intelligent; these two are often hand in hand. Leary is also an Alliance Cultural Preservation, Restoration, and Development (CPRD) Officer, ensuring cultural needs and practices are cataloged and practiced, respected, and continued for and by Alliance personnel.

Lt. Cmdr. Dikembe Emenike

Eminke is the executive officer of the Grand Falcon. All four limbs are cybernetic, an aerospace engineer, a race car driver, and Chief Engineer in the construction of the Grand Falcon, the ship that takes Muslims back to Earth for Hajj. Emenike is an accomplished pilot and like most veteran pilots of the war has an absurd amount of flight hours. He was onboard a ship that had to use its jump drive system without enough calculation and the jump put the ship into a planet’s atmosphere, subsequently crashed and plunged into that planet's ocean. Emenike was among the survivors and due to his actions - using the ship's propulsion to beach the craft on the nearest landmass - the casualties were lower than anyone could have projected.

Master Chief (ret) Paulina Stevens “Boston” Abdur Razzaq

Boston is an Iranian American, punk rocker, with lots of tattoos, lower jaw is cybernetic, it’s a subtle piece, though, and mostly matches her skin tone. She has close-cropped curly hair and a nose ring. Experienced medic and explosives technician, Boston formed her own contracting company - Iron Pineapple - after the war for “post-war and peacetime operations,” which has an extremely broad definition meaning her team didn't want for work. Boston has been divorced twice, from a man and a woman. She doesn’t do anything by half measures and this extends to her personal relationships. She connects intensely with people and intimate partners are no exception so her command style with her team is often very blunt but compassionate.

Maj. (Dr.) Mohammed Al-Aziz Billah

Dr. Billah, or "just Dr. B," as he would introduce himself, is stocky, bearded, intense, and driven but is kind and has an impeccable bedside manner. Billah is often in a doctor’s coat over his Alliance uniform. He is Qadir’s nephew on Jamila’s side. A devout Ahmadiyya Muslim, Billah saw becoming a doctor as a holy mission. He is a certified physician for both people and earth animals, having studied both sciences concurrently at Penn State. Billah served in Iraqi military as a combat doctor and in between tours he worked with members of the Jain Dharma as a veterinarian. His incredibly wide skill set made him ideal for treating non-human beings and many foundations for combat medical procedures were established by him and other members of The First Medical Fleet of similar skill which would become Alliance Medical Command. His refrain, "Death Is my Only Enemy," became the official motto of First Medical Fleet, "Death Our Only Enemy."

Special Warrant 2 (ret) Shen She Zhan

Shen underwent sixteen very painful surgical procedures to increase her height and skin grafts to make her skin look like that of the Hiraska aliens whose empire threatened the whole galaxy with facial reconstruction including reshaping her jaws and her eyes were fully replaced. Her cover was blown but she was able to escape however he pod was intercepted by Alliance Forces Earth personnel who didn’t believe she was actually human. Qadir’s ship received the signal and he intervened but not soon enough to prevent her torture. Qadir, Leary and Billah were there for her recovery so they are on the very short list of people she trusts, those three serve as kind of her “sounding board” for certain topics and issues. Qadir was furious with the task forces’ treatment of Shen and he disbanded it and several senior leaders were relieved of duty. After the war, she joined Iron Pineapple and Boston became the fourth person in the galaxy she trusts. This history informs much of Shen's responses and actions. Among strangers, she is very controlled but given the presence of one of the four, she will speak her mind clearly.

Major (ret) Maria Shahid Rodriguez-ChavezMajor (ret) Maria Shahid Rodriguez-Chavez

Latino and Arab Christian, Chavez is a real technical wiz and can fix anything; hardware or software even if she's unfamiliar with it because she has an intuition about technology overall. Chavez is a trans-woman but presented as masculine for many years. She is gradually becoming more and more comfortable with herself but will often retreat into her technological expertise and focus on solving tech problems rather than personal development. She often seeks guidance from Boston, Leary, and Billah. Qadir knows her record and operates off that and assumes she is as good as she is. She is estranged from her father but is in touch with her mother and kid brother, who live in Leo City, the lone domed human settlement on Mars. Her plan settle with them somewhere and open a small business, probably an automotive repair shop and salon.

Senior Command Chief Jamila Qadir

Jamila is a highly experienced nurse with time in ERs, plague zones, and combat zones, and her compassion for humans is matched only by the sheer “lack of fucks,” she gives. Her compassion for people is matched by her husband Achmed, but she will not suffer fools gladly, will not make time for bullshit, and definitely won't stand for your nonsense. She has tried to play matchmaker for Leary on several occasions. It didn’t go well each time and she has given up as Leary "loves purpose and mission. And my husband." She is often the smartest person in the room as she knows how to apply her knowledge of people learned through being a medical professional in any given situation.

Petty Officer 2nd Class (ret) Akira Shima

Akira was a quantum navigation systems programmer and he is exceptional at that, having served on many task forces. He has a mind for science and tactics but he is largely untested due to getting relegated to "IT bullshit" when he was in uniform. He is motivated to prove himself at every opportunity and is often unorthodox in his thoughts and actions but he is effective and when he combines his abilities with Chavez they are unstoppable. He is very intuitive and empathetic and regards engineering as a science that helps people, not just solves problems. He understands software interacting with organics as he often had to fix cybernetic limbs in the war when no formal technician was present. Shima is “always on,” and will often wake up in the middle of the night having dreamed of a solution to a problem he may have only heard about in passing.

Valerria Vall

Assigned a special advisor to the Grand Falcon, Vall is a member of the Omega, a race of beings who once fought a Terminator-style war between organics and machines. After about seventy years they realized it was pretty stupid and over time they became a “joint race,” the Hiraska saw them as the greatest threat to their empire and released a plague that destroyed all organic life in their home system. They barely survived and are now fully artificial. They founded the Alliance as an anti-colonial and defensive force against the Hiraska to prevent what happened to them from happening to any other beings. As they connect with new extraterrestrial species they send a representative to study and learn from their cultures, altering their whole physical and mental self to mirror that race to create a deep cultural understanding.

Kimi Running Rabbit

Running Rabbit is part of the new generation of humans that grew up off-world and is the youngest member of the crew. She is part of the Alliance Tribal Nations, a recognized part of the Alliance government’s judicial, social and educational systems. Running Rabbit began as an alliance cadet but the war ended and she spent two more years just training with little engagement against real threats. When she saw the Hajj ship needing volunteers she signed on with an individual contract. Like many other personnel who were born off-world, she’s only heard stories about how vicious earthbound humans were to each other but especially horrible to the indigenous peoples and she hates Earth and doesn't want to ever go there. This mission is the first time she has been around a significant population of earth-born humans. Kimi is well educated in languages, histories, and cultures through the Alliance Primary Education system but she has limits as they are "textbook,"

Lt. Cmdr. Jordan Nusholtz

Nusholtz is the youngest pilot of the main ensemble and uses direct interphase to pilot vessels. While Qadir uses zero augmentation and Enemike uses maximum augmentation to pilot starfighters, Nusholtz is the middle ground between those two schools of thought/action and will come up with unique solutions within that content. In fact, he has skills and experience on par with Qadir and Enemike despite being at least a decade younger. He initially joined under a task force assembled by the Israeli Defense Force but they withdrew from the Alliance after Mars was secured and Nusholtz joined the alliance as a pilot - and accepted a three-step demotion due to the nature of the alliance rank structure at the time - to bring the war to a conclusion and in solidarity with his adopted brother Anthony who is Palestinian.

Master Sergeant (Ret) Anthony Sydnor

A former infantryman turned technical repairman, Sydnor is the Rosencrantz to Cmdr. Jordan Nusholtz’s Guildenstern, with a more absurdist sense of humor and a more practical view of the world. Sydnor is a widower but has three sons who are all in the Majiid initiative. He has a rather dim view of being in space, however, like many humans, he seeks the leave Earth behind and settle on one of the Alliance's home planets or even one of the terraformed planets which could include Venus would be preferable. He is Palestinian American and that informs his cynicism. He runs general supply on the Grand Falcon and if something needs to be acquired, he’s the one to acquire it.

Col. Rashad Ibn-Arai Al-Wali

Col. Al-Wali is the “by the book” type of person who doesn’t care much for individuality. He is an alliance sentience code enforcement officer, meaning he ensures the rights, history and dignity statutes for all living beings are, in fact, assured. Rather like a police officer but personal property isn't the goal. This also makes him the de-facto first contact officer. His personal feelings actually run counter to the sentience codes so in a way the codes are his “check,” to do the right things. The codes were NOT written exclusively by humans so in a way, he seeks guidance from them in much the same way Qadir does with Islam. However, Qadir seeks to justify compassion, kindness and justice whilst Al-Wali tries to justify his personal feelings and gets consistently thwarted.

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