APPLICATION ☼ ATARAXION

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PLAYER INFORMATION
Your Name: Sid
OOC Journal: balphesian
Under 18? If yes, what is your age?: Nope.
Email + IM: balphesian[at]gmail[dot]com / balphesian (AIM).
Characters Played at Ataraxion: Resnik [NPC]

CHARACTER INFORMATION
Name: Mace
Canon: Sunshine
Original or Alternate Universe: OU
Canon Point: Just after returning to Icarus II from Icarus I.
Number: 102

Setting:
"Hey, Capa. We're only stardust."       
- Searle

Sunshine takes place in a world very similar to our own, in that it's the same-only the sun is dying, and if something isn't done prevent it, humanity will die too.

So, how is this possible? Science tells us that the sun will not begin to "die", or run out of fuel, for another five billion or so years. When that happens, it may become massive enough to engulf Mercury, Venus, and Earth as it grows to its red giant phase, which is radically different than what happens in the film. Instead of growing larger, scorching the water off the face of the Earth, and killing the human race, the sun gradually dims, and leaves Earth in a horrible, perpetual winter. Again, how? It's the total opposite of what's supposed to happen. According to CERN scientist Brian Cox, the movie's science advisor, it's because a Q-ball becomes lodged in the Sun's core.

A Q-ball is, essentially, a tiny manifestation of total particle anarchy. Inside of a Q-ball, the forces that hold our known universe together-the ones with which we are are passably familiar-cease to exist. No rules! Or very, very different ones, anyway. It's what makes a Q-ball capable of most anything, and that, by extension, is what makes it dangerous for things hanging around the universe. Like stars, for example. "[A Q-ball is] so small that if you put one on your desk, it would plunge through the centre of the Earth like a needle," says Alexander Kusenko, professor of Physics and Astronomy as UCLA. "It would be like a bullet passing through a cloud of vapour." A tiny, anarchist bullet. Made of chaos.

Now, our sun is not dense enough to keep a Q-ball in its center; it would shoot right through in less than four minutes without losing so much as 0.001 per cent of its velocity. But for a different, much denser star (i.e. a neutron star, which is essentially a leftover, super-dense stellar core), a Q-ball would slow down as it reached the core, and get trapped. There, it would destroy the core from the inside out, eating neutrons and spitting out energy until the star dims and loses mass. (For the purposes of this explanation, the Q-ball is also a stellar woodchipper in addition to a bullet and/or needle.) Then, the Q-ball would cause the star to explode into a mini-supernova, killing it.

But for the sake of Sunshine, the Q-ball remains caught, somehow, in the Sun's core. This is the essential plot point Our Heroes have to contend with; their sun is dying, and they must deliver a stellar bomb in order to reignite it. Enter Icarus II, and the mission that went from Bad to Worse to Well, Objectively Speaking, Things Worked Out In The End. ( Sunshine @ wiki after the jump. )

History:
“Mace is from a military family and background and he’s very cut and dry, morally uncomplicated."       
- Chris Evans

The quote above is literally the only background we get on the character of Mace, so most of his history will be vague extrapolation based on this plus what we see in the film. As many NASA applicants come from US armed services such as the USMC, USN, and USAF, Mace's intimate knowledge of flight and aerospace engineering (both aero and astronautical) lends him to previous experience in the Air Force more than any other military division. As his family his military, Mace most likely entered the Air Force ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) at the age of 18, earned his advanced engineering degree during his four years of ROTC, and then served four years of active duty in the AF before leaving the military and beginning his astronaut training with NASA (presumably as the first Icarus mission to the sun was being launched). This puts him in his late twenties, and sets him up for Sunshine proper.

"Our Sun is dying. Mankind faces extinction. Seven years ago the Icarus project sent a mission to restart the Sun, but that mission was lost before it reached the star. Sixteen months ago I, Robert Capa, and a crew of seven, left Earth frozen in a solar winter. Our payload: a stellar bomb with a mass equivalent to Manhattan island. Our purpose: to create a star within a star. Eight astronauts strapped to the back of a bomb. My bomb. Welcome to Icarus II."       
- Capa

Before the events of Sunshine, Mace was among those eight astronauts hand-picked to operate Icarus II: Capa (astrophysicist and payload specialist), Cassie (pilot), Corazon (biologist), Harvey (communications officer), Kaneda (captain), Searle (doctor and psychologist), and Trey (navigator). The mission is sponsored and created by both the American and Chinese governments, as seen on the Icarus patches worn by the crew; I'm assuming that in the future, both NASA and CNSA teamed up in order to facilitate the mission and to provide the technologies with which Icarus I and II are both outfitted.

When the film begins, these astronauts have been in space for 16 months, and are just shy of Mercury's orbit-the dead zone. The crew are still functional, but are also beginning to show signs of emotional deterioration. The fact that they soon won't have any means of communication until the return journey is not one that goes unnoticed; Mace, in particular, has a major p r o b l e m with it, as he is unable to send his comms package back home when Capa mistakenly takes too much time to record and deliver his own. A tussle ensues.

After being "diagnosed" by Searle, and assigned a few hours in the Earth Room, Mace apologizes to Capa. Badly. They get on with the mission and their daily lives, of course, but this is perhaps the first clue we get as to the downhill route the movie seems to be taking. It becomes even more apparent when Harvey picks up on a transmission coming from what appears to be the sun itself; upon closer inspection, it turns out of the be the distress signal from Icarus I.

Mace protests, pushing home the fact that they shouldn't turn off their course, that they should complete the mission without endangering the crew or indulging in distraction. Their course, however, is not up to him to decide; Kaneda ultimately turns the verdict over to Capa-who, being the ship's physicist, is the one of the crew best suited to give a completely informed answer. After running a simulation concerning the unquantifiability of their success rate, Capa determines that two payloads are better than one, as it's a hit or miss mission either way. Trey plots the necessary course, but forgets to realign the shields in order to correspond with the new angle of approach to the sun; as a result, several of the panels making up the solar shield are damaged and must be repaired manually. Mace volunteers Capa to go with Kaneda, angry that Capa had agreed to rendezvous with the Icarus II in the first place; Capa agrees, and he and Kaneda both suit up in order to go and deal with the problem.

Unfortunately, in the process of repairing the shields, the incinerated tops of two of the comms towers (from where Cassie had readjusted the ship's shield angle to give Kaneda and Capa as much shade as possible) subsequently spark a fire down the length of the ship, straight to the oxygen garden. It begins to burn, and Icarus starts to turn its solar shield back to its original position in order to prevent another blast. Cassie attempts to override this procedure with Harvey's help, but Mace stops them, knowing the oxgen reserves to be ultimately more important than the reparation of the shield. Upon voicing this, Kaneda backs him up, and sends Capa back to to the airlock while he finishes fixing the last of the panels. As the shield turns back to its original angle, Kaneda completes his work, and is consumed by exposure to the sun and oncoming solar wind.

Back inside, Trey is quite understandably upset at his initial mistake-cripplingly so-and is put under heavy sedation as a result of being diagnosed as a suicide risk. They discover that there isn't enough oxygen in the reserves to get their to their payload delivery point, and so have no choice but to rendezvous with Icarus I in order to replenish their oxygen and operate the second payload, if they can. While Cassie lines them up, Searle, Capa, Harvey and Mace begin preparing to board the Icarus I; they dock with no trouble.

Once inside the massive, empty husk of the Icarus I, the away team discover the petrified bodies of the original crew, turned to dust by solar exposure in the observation room. It's obvious this was a group suicide by the way the bodies are positioned, leaning up against one another as if to gain some kind of communal comfort in their horrible last moments. Mace learns that a) the the mainframe had been taken out of the coolant, which had caused the ship's system to fry, rendering it completely dead in the water, and b) that Pinbacker, the ship's captain, had left a message denouncing the science behind the mission-because God willed the sun to die, and that it was no human's place to interfere with that. With no way to salvage the second payload or harvest the oxygen from the gardens, which had grown unchecked for several years, the crew have no choice but to return to the Icarus II and continue on with the mission-but before they can actually do this, something causes the Icarus II to undock from the Icarus I, leaving a wide gap of open space in between both ships.

There is only one suit left, and despite Harvey's desperate attempts to claim it for his own, it is taken by Capa, who is top priority at that point. Mace comes up with a plan to wrap himself and everyone else in insulation in order to bridge the gap without dying outright, but Searle, seeing the hole in the plan, volunteers to stay back and operate the airlock manually in order for both Mace and Harvey to get back to the ship. The jump is imperfect; Harvey is knocked aside by the force of decompression and misses the mark by a wide margin. Mace nearly doesn't make it either-Capa has to swing to the side, grab him, and throw him into the airlock before the atmosphere is equalized. They both crash to the floor. While Mace recovers from the intense cold, Searle heads to Icarus I's observation room, sits, and is incinerated when the Icarus II moves on.

Corazon explains that the amount of the oxygen left is still not enough to get them to their delivery point. It seems, then, that killing Trey in order to conserve oxygen is their only option if they want to make it to the sun alive. Mace puts it to a vote, and everyone agrees-except Cassie. Majority rules, and Mace stands to do it anyway, but not before offering his second apology in the film. (He also picks up a vibrating scalpel with which to finish the job-it's bit excessive, and speaks of some pretty violent overtures, probably triggered by the extremely psychologically taxing environment. Seriously, Mace? Why not OD him? You're gonna kill him with a scalpel?)

But upon entry to the medical wing, Mace discovers that Trey has already removed himself from the equation. He then pins this massive upset on Capa (no surprise there), and proceeds to slam him into things (and get slammed into things) before Corazon warns them of the low O2, and leaves with Cassie. As the mission continues and oxygen gets lower and lower, Capa is interrupted while doing his calculations by a concerned Icarus; he comes to learn that there is indeed a fifth member onboard the ship, which turns out to be Pinbacker, covered in horrible burns, totally bugfuck nuts and out to sabotage the entire mission.

Pinbacker, while chasing Capa down, locks him in the airlock; he then finds Icarus' mainframe and takes it out of the coolant tank, before finding Corazon in the oxygen garden and murdering her with one of the vibrating medical scalpels. Mace tries to re-stabilize the hydraulics holding the mainframe out of the coolant, but his leg becomes trapped as the mainframe descends, and he freezes to death in the water before he can save the system. Cassie stabs Pinbacker in the Earth room and leads him into the payload; after Mace dies, Capa manages to free himself from the airlock by depressurizing Icarus, and once doing so, primes the payload for release. He makes it to the payload just seconds before it separates itself from the rest of Icarus and flies into the sun's corona. Inside the bomb, Pinbacker catches up to both Capa and Cassie, but they manage to escape (with the skin off his arm) before he kills them. Then, Capa finally detonates the bomb, meeting the surface of the sun-not by falling, but face-to-face, on his own terms.

(TL;DR, space exists, everyone dies, but they save humanity in the end.)

Personality:
"Do I have to spell it out for you? We have a Payload to deliver to the heart of our nearest star. We're delivering that Payload because that star is dying. And if it dies, we die. Everything dies! So that is out mission. There is nothing, literally NOTHING more important than completing our mission. End of story!"       
- Mace

From a young age, Mace has been taught how to operate in the most physically and logically efficient way possible. If he ever possessed a mindset that was less than straightforward (and let’s be honest, teenagers aren't exactly paragons of uncomplicated thinking) it was trained out of him when he joined the military; he couldn’t afford to think like a civilian, or to cultivate ethics that would compromise his superior's orders. That isn’t to say he doesn’t have morals; he clearly does, if his reactions to killing his fellow crewmembers for the sake of the mission are any indication (a slightly sad version of :|, essentially, but it’s clear he’s not a complete machine-he just compartmentalizes extremely well). It's just that these morals are very black and white, as opposed to muddled with pesky grays. Mace does not allow Feelings to get in the way of his Objectives, and this allows him to operate with very clear intent when in high-stress conditions. (I should note here that Mace is pretty much emotionally stunted in every emotion that isn't are-you-stupid or argh-so-pissed.)

Since Mace has been trained as soldier, he has accepted that a) his life is essentially forfeit for the the greater good, b) so are his fellow compatriots', and c) there is always a risk, no matter what the situation. He thinks like this: what’s the fastest and most efficient way of getting from point A to point B? If the answer is “killing one person to save the lives of many”, he’ll do it. There’s no need for extraneous thinking, no room for morals. Weigh the odds, and if you don’t come out on top, you do what you need to in order to get there-whether it's returning Icarus II's shields to their original position at the risk of losing two of the crew, or volunteering to execute a "weak" crewmember in order to save oxygen (which would be Trey). In the case of the Icarus mission, Mace is simply unwilling to consider what might happen should they all fail. It’s not an option he has the luxury of contemplating.

In addition to (or perhaps because of) this, Mace slides easily into a leadership role. While Kaneda is repairing the shields, and after, when Harvey assumes the position of captain after Kaneda’s death, Mace is the one who makes the majority of the tough decisions, unofficially overriding Harvey’s command. As the film continues, it becomes clear that Mace gradually loses respect for Harvey, who is ultimately unable to keep it together under pressure. It’s possible he feels that Harvey doesn’t have enough presence of mind to do what has to be done; and based on Harvey’s behavior when confronted with uncertain or traumatic obstacles, Mace is unfortunately right to question Harvey's desperate motives. He knows Harvey's mind is in panic mode, and he's aware of their whole situation. But come on, man. Come on.

As an engineer, Mace likes to fix things. When something is broken, he wants to repair it. Simple. So when he can't, or when his preventative measures fail to work, he gets understandably frustrated; the entire Icarus mission could have been "fixed" by not rendezvousing with Icarus I, which he was quick to point out and vehemently advised against. And then, when the mission started to spiral out of control, and eventually reached the point of no return... well, that's shit you can't fix, no matter how hard you try. (Again, a case of are-you-stupid-why-didn't-you-listen-rgh-so-pissed.) But Mace isn't the kind of man to give up at the first sign of trouble; he'll continue to do whatever the hell he can to rectify the situation, to make the best of broken glass, which is why he's willing to do so much in order to help-even if much of that is the difficult option. Mace doesn't do things the easy way. He doesn't half-ass anything. He does things the right way, even if it's hard.

(Interestingly, while Capa's parallel in the film is undoubtedly fire, Mace is repeatedly associated with water, or ice. His personality-cold, harsh, unforgiving-reflects his mid-film brush with freezing in space, and, ultimately, his death. This is odd, considering Capa is far quieter and calmer than Mace, who, during the course of the movie, becomes increasingly prone to violent outbursts and hotheadedness. The More I Grab At Straws You Know!)

As for his general conduct, Mace tends towards control and routine. This can make him come off as a bit of a dick, to be honest. He doesn't necessarily want to control the actions of others, but prioritizes complete control over his own faculties; unless someone interferes with his own twisted kind of zen, Mace is a pretty cool guy, and generally doesn't afraid of anything. He can influence the outcome of the mission by doing this or that in order to save it; he can offer informed advice, and he can know when he’s right and when someone else is wrong. But when, for example, Capa is allocated the burden of deciding whether or not to rendezvous with Icarus I, or when Capa uses up the communications time with his package, or when Trey kills himself, Mace begins engaging in hostile behavior; understandably, his attacks are aimed at the source of his anger, the problem factor: Capa. Capa, who has disrupted the routine, fucked up the mission, and therefore endangered Mace’s perception of physical and personal control. And also basic l o g i c. But despite his malicious attitude towards Capa, on whom he blames the entire bad end of the film, Mace knows when to fight his battles. At the end of the day, he still trusts Capa to do what needs to be done; they can agree to disagree, so long as nobody dies more than they have to.

However, we can also assume that Mace doesn’t often feel that he’s lost control of a given situation. This is obvious from his meeting with Searle (very early on in the film), which is implied to be the first one he’s had concerning an angry outburst. To be honest, a lot of factors-the living conditions, the high-stress atmosphere, cabin fever-contribute rather intensely to Mace’s lashing out and being easily set off. Sometimes, you just have enough. You lose track of time, you do stupid shit. Everyone does.

And yet, regardless of this, he remains one of the most level-headed members of the crew when faced with a crisis. He can admit his mistakes and own up to them. When Mace makes up his mind, that's it; he's able to judge the situation at hand and determine how to deal with it within a moment of calculating the drawbacks. If you need a solution to a pressing issue, and you need it fast, he's your guy. He is driven, forceful. Not without a very dry and black sense of humor, either, but he is also not without his flaws and altogether too human traits (anger, judgement, bitter accusations, pettiness, brusqueness, a certain level of perfectionism). He's intelligent and resourceful and focused, yes, but as much as he pushes away his emotions, they can come back to bite him in the ass. Better to be distracted, to be in charge, with a goal and a plan, than to be caught up in a maelstrom of uncertainties. Forrill.

When not in Crisis Mode, Mace is relatively quiet, preferring to distract himself with busywork; he often works with his hands, and checks on Icarus' systems just for the immersive quality of the labor. When casually conversing, he's even-toned, stubborn, well-informed, and might even crack a (sometimes sarcastic) joke here or there; he smiles when the atmosphere's light, isn't afraid to interject or speak his mind on the topic at hand, and can navigate any given social situation without much trouble-save ones that require him to use more tact than he's used to supplying (which is... not a lot. See: his apology to Capa. That sucked, Mace). Typical loner, though; don't expect him to go out seeking social experiences. Serious Business isn't his default state. Additional fun fact: waves are totally zen.

Abilities, Weaknesses and Power Limitations:
+MECHANICAL ENGINEER. Mace was chosen to be the chief engineer onboard humanity's last hope to survive, and is therefore incredibly skilled in the art of materials sciences. He knows how all the individual pieces slot together, how to build, manipulate, and create technology; how to memorize and monitor complicated mechanical systems, and engage in creative, practical problem-solving as it relates to the machine and its environment. If he didn't have a hand, or at least a finger, in the design plans for Icarus II, I'll eat my sock.
+TRAINED ASTRONAUT. NASA-bred. Well-versed in land and sea survival techniques, SCUBA, microgravity, high and low-pressure environments, space suits, spacewalking, most sciences (especially engineering as it applies to spacecraft), vessel operations, etc.
+MILITARY BACKGROUND. Specifically the USAF, or United States Air Force. He's very strong, very capable, and knows how to take down a dude in five seconds flat-with or without a weapon.
+LEVEL-HEADED. Calm and (reasonably) collected under pressure. When-or if-things go wrong, he can operate with a relatively clear mind, and with steady physical conviction.
+MORALLY UNCOMPLICATED. This allows Mace to make the hard decisions without lingering on emotional or ethical aspects. He is the one who repeatedly does what needs to be done, whether or not the task at hand is morally complex.

-HOTHEADED. He's got quite a temper, so if you set him off, you're very likely to get manhandled. Mace isn't one to hold back, unless he's being held back. Physically. By other people. (Sorry, Capa.)

POWER LIMITATIONS. None. Mace is human, and has the unfortunate propensity to die when faced with circumstances human beings are ill-equipped to survive in. See also: his job.

Inventory:one (1) Icarus uniform, which includes:
-a black polo/white t-shirt combo
-a pair of blue EVA trousers
-a pair of black sneakers
one (1) Icarus comms link (worn on a lanyard around the neck)
one (1) watch
one (1) belt
one (1) battery pack

Appearance: Mace, who is played by Chris Evans, is tall, 6', and built like a mack truck soldier. In the beginning of the film, he's unshaven with longish scraggly hair; at his canon point, he sports stubble and a buzz cut. Generally seen in a t-shirt and Icarus-issue EVA pants, with the comms link looped around his neck. He wears a watch on his left wrist. This is a pretty good full-body shot of what he'll be wearing, plus the polo and hand bandage.
Age: Late twenties (unspecified).

AU Clarification: n/a.

SAMPLES
Log Sample: The observation room is dim, filtered, cast in dull copper and slashes of rust-gold. The sun sits, as always, suspended in space as it writhes and seethes and burns, turning sluggishly on its axis; Mace sits on the bench facing it, elbows on his knees.

It's not the sun in Mace's dreams, but he almost wishes it was. Maybe then he'd leech some kind of faux-tranquility out of the thing, instead of seeing it as a tool of their imminent destruction. Instead of solar flares arching high into space, or churning masses of frothing, gaseous liquid, Mace dreams of home; of high cliffs, of crashing waves, greenery and humanity, images the Earth room can readily provide. He signed this contract a long time ago, and distanced himself from the possibility of homesickness; he'd known what he was signing up for.

And anyway, if Mace had to choose one place of solace, it wouldn't be the observation room. It wouldn't even be the Earth room. As far as he's concerned, there is no safe quarter on this vessel; not the oxygen garden, the payload itself, not the break room, not anywhere. The ship is a speck of nothing in a vast arena of nothing. "Safe" is laughable. Where he'd rather be has no bearing on his feelings of overall "safety"; it's to do with knowing he's contributing something, he's making a difference, he's saving lives.

So no, he doesn’t come here often. Not like Searle does. Mace prefers the cool interior of the ship, the curve of dark metal against insulation foil, the feel of a wrench heavy in his hand. Those are familiar things, tangible, solid and real. The mainframe, his work partner. Icarus, his closest friend. Searle loses himself in the wash of sunlight for hours on end, if time permits him; Mace has seen him sitting right here, on this same bench, same place, sunglasses on. Bathing in some kind of twisted untouchable therapy, completely serene and at peace with himself.

Well, more power to him. Mace isn’t qualified to tell the ship’s own psych officer how to best self-medicate, but the sun seems to be doing a bang-up job.

After all, this is the reason they’re all here, this is what they’re living for-what they’re probably dying for-no illusions there. Because of this beautiful monster, this horrible giant who crowds their dreams at night. (And it’s not just Capa who screams, but Cassie too, and the ship is too silent in the vacuum of space to ignore their yells). This is all there is, out here, the silence and the sun, and the knowledge that countless lives are depending on eight astronauts to deliver them from eternal cold and the hopelessness of perpetual solar winter.

And as long as they have a chance, Mace is okay with that.

Comms Sample:VIDEO ☼ 0-

[ Mace settles into frame, crossing his arms. He’s leaning back in his seat, which appears to be stationed in one of the break rooms off the corridor his room is located in, giving the atmosphere of the feed a bright, artificially lit cast. ]

All right. Now a lot of you probably haven’t been in space before, and I’m gonna tell you this right off the bat: it’s not as fun as it looks. There are a lot of medical and mental health problems you’ll probably have to deal with sooner or later, and you’re better off knowing what they are now than finding out the hard way. I'm not a certified psychologist-I don't think anyone here is-but I've been in space for a while, and it can really mess with your head. So do yourself a favor and look this over.

[ Incoming file transfer: ]ATTACHMENT
> space_conditions.txt
This ship has artificial gravity, so you don’t have to worry about deconditioning. And it’s huge, so there's no reason for you to stay in your rooms all the time-total isolation won't do you any favors, so don’t be an idiot. Walk around, talk with other people, do what you need to in order to not go stir crazy. And don't lose track of time.

[ He pauses, tapping his fingers against his right bicep, one at a time. ]

I’m not sure what kind of supplies we have onboard, but in case there isn’t as much as we think, just go easy. You copy?