Althea

Althea was previously in the Imperial Navy. She grew up the bastard child of one of the wealthy lords on the hive planet Kragnos in Segmentum Obscura. Notwithstanding that her lineage wasn't pure enough to inherit his position, she was her father's favourite child and he spoiled her as only a rich father could. It bothered her brothers that she, a girl, and a bastard, was his favourite.

Her life was changed when she received her first grav bike at Candlemas when she was 10 years old. She took to tearing through the hive spires where her father and the rest of the noblesse lived. By the time she was 13, she was beating boys 5 years her senior in grav races, often pulling off nearly impossible stunts to ensure her victory.

She was 17 when her father died and her eldest half-brother inherited his seat. In the dark hours of that first night after his death, she left with only what she could carry and went to the nearest Imperial Navy recruitment office. She had to lie about her age.

For four years she was a Navy grunt. First into the breach on all boarding actions. It was on one such mission when the pilot of her boarding shuttle was killed that she grabbed the controls and ensured that her shuttle, and the twenty men inside (remnants of four separate squads), made it back alive. She was allowed to continue piloting boarding shuttles and she gained a reputation for daring and risky maneuvers. Yet, her craft had one of the highest mission success rates. 

Two years later her shuttle took a direct shot and her control panel exploded, ripping apart the left side of her face and taking her eye. Although she was an excellent pilot, she was still only a pilot, and the Navy would not pay for a proper replicant graft. Feeling betrayed, she left.

She used what savings she had, but the black market eye she purchased did not mesh perfectly and her stunt flying days are mostly behind her. She works as a merc and guard for now, saving her money for a proper replacement, but she hasn't forgotten that she was meant to fly.