Sierra Morgan

Lance Corporal Sierra K. Morgan (Service Number 10215-74889-SM) is a twenty-year old [23-year-old if accounting for time skip] Marine who is stationed aboard the Paris-Class Heavy Frigate UNSC Warspite in 2555, three years after the Great War; assigned to 1st Platoon/Charlie Company/3rd Batallion/4th Marines/5th Marine Expeditionary Unit/6th Marine Infantry Division  (1P/C/3B/4R/5MEU/6ID), under the command of Captain Johnathon C. Scott (Company Commander) and Second Lieutenants Vlad Eisenberg  and Michael Trementias. is an ex-Marine currently residing in New Philadelphia, URNA, Earth. She is an Inactive Reservist awaiting the Spring semester to attend school for English Literature and Education.

Childhood
Sierra Katherine Morgan was born in 2535 in semi-rural town on Miridem. The first, and only surviving, child of ex-Marine Lance Corporal Aaron Morgan and Doctor Cassidy (Sheppard) Morgan, the family lived on Miridem until its glassing in 2544.

The family of three lived happily in a close knit community until the Covenant arrived when Morgan was only nine-years-old. In the middle of the night, her father herded the family into their car and drove to the nearest starport. Off in the distance, the alien cruisers began to fire their ventral beams into Miridem's capital city. Morgan's father turned on the vehicle's radio to tune into the news stations providing information. The local CDF and a small contingency of UNSC forces had begun evacuation procedures in the next proximal city. The family diverted, arriving after several hours to board the last remaining repurposed freighter outbound from the planet.

Escaping to Earth, Morgan's father managed to contact a distant relative whom agreed to let them stay in their home in New Philadelpha. Until the age of eighteen, Sierra lived with her family and received Primary and Secondary schooling while her parents took low wage jobs to pay rent. A few years after their arrival, her father suffered a severe heart attack from stress and high cholesterol levels, killing him before emergency services could arrive. This tragic loss crippled the family's bond. Wounds were mended in time, and the family came into a spot of financial stability when Sierra's mother was able to attain a position at the local university as a Professor of Psychology.

In the second Covenant invasion of Earth, New Philadelphia was thankfully spared of most of the conflict, becoming a safe-haven for civilians fleeing from other eastern URNA cities. This did not last long, however, as the increased population density and dwindling UNSC Defense Forces made the city a prime target of opportunity for a Covenant offensive. Unsurmountable Jiralhanae forces pushed their way into the city with the UNSC being beaten back at every intersection. Civilians were forced to make a scramble for Camden, just across the Delaware River, using the intact bridges, boats, and evacuation pelicans to ferry themselves across. Morgan and her mother were among the evacuees carried across in D77H-TCI Pelican transports, a memory that haunts her constantly; sitting in the blood tray of the dropship watching blue fires raise from the high rises and waterfront, the acrid smell of singed flesh and seared titanium an instant reminder to her past.

Early Military Career
On her eighteenth birthday, Sierra made a conscious decision to follow in her father's footsteps and joined the UNSC Marine Corps. Taken to basic training in Parris Island, South Carolina, she was quickly blended into the ranks as an average recruit, not particularly distinguishing, not the troublemaker that turned heads to the drill staff. Upon completing basic four months later, she was given the rank of Private, and assigned to the newly reinstated 3rd Marine Regiment whom had taken considerable losses to the point of total faulting of the chain of command. The regiment was rebuilt, and when enmassed and organized, took it's position helping to police and resecure the Outer Colonies.

Two years into her contract, Morgan was inexplicably transferred to the 5th MEU, where she was assigned to Charlie Company under Captain Scott aboard the UNSC Warspite. Never knowing the reason, Morgan simply accepted the reassignment and settled in, keeping mostly to herself. Within the first two weeks, she had risen the ranks to Lance Corporal, the rank of her father before his passing. In the same mission that earned her her promotion to Lance Corporal, she also received a Silver Star, awarded to her by Captain Scott for fighting despite the plasma burn injuries she had sustained. While story was bolstered to seem that she had simply shrugged off the wounds, she actual was incapacitated; simply giving up her ammo to the Corpsman tending her to continue the fight. Although she feels that she did not truly earn the medal, but nonetheless holds onto it as a memento of her time in the 5th.

Stranded
Upon returning from HOTH's siege on the city, the Warspite was attacked by a Covenant Cruiser which heavily damaged the ship, forcing all hands to abandon ship. Morgan was on a video call with her mother before the alarm klaxon sounded, running to her post and forgetting to end the call. The video played until the ship crashed; plasma, fire from re-entry, and the force of the impact smashing the ship to pieces, convincing her mother that she had died.

However, Morgan survived, successfully evacuating in a Life Boat pod with the rest of the MEU. Upon landing, the Life Boat hit a rough patch of terrain causing the pod to rock and jerk the passengers inside. Morgan hit her head against the bulkhead from the initial impact, giving her a mild concussion, but one sufficient enough to cause her to not register new memories. She has few recollections of the 5th's time stranded on the isolated planet.

Time-Skip

Trivia

 * I tried to give her a british accent in the beginning.
 * She was originally a redshirt character, but eventually evolved into--easily--my best character.
 * Morgan was the only Marine to choose to go home after the time-skip.
 * While I really didn't want to PK her, it fit perfectly with her personality.
 * She has never once told anyone in the 5th her first name (and yet, people somehow kept finding out).
 * She is the only Marine to roleplay field stripping her MA5 and Magnum (to my knowledge).