SoolinSoolin: The smallest movement is all it takes, Dorian.
Dorian: She could do it too. Soolin was taught by the best.
Soolin: The second best, actually.
Dorian: (laughs) Oh, of course you killed him didn't you? He was one of the men responsible for the death of her family. She killed all the others too. She's a formidable enemy.
Soolin: I don't give my allegiance at all. I sell my skill.
Zeeona: You know what fathers are like with their daughters.
Soolin: As it happens, I don't. Mine was murdered when I was eight.
Zeeona: I'm sorry.Soolin: So were the men who did it, eventually.
Soolin: Gauda Prime?
Tarrant: You know it?
Soolin: Yes, I know it. It's a bad place to be. No self-respecting idealist would be found dead there.
Soolin: Only a fool would go to Gauda Prime without a very good reason.
Tarrant: . . . There's still a price on our heads from the old days.
Soolin: Not on G-P, there isn't.
Vila: G-P?
Avon: I imagine that is what the locals call Gauda Prime, [to Soolin] your home planet.
Soolin: I grew up there, yes. But for a home you need a family and mine were murdered when the Federation declared Gauda Prime an Open Planet.
Avon: A general suspension of the penal code.
Soolin: That's right.
Dayna: You mean there's no law at all?
Soolin: It's the fast way to get resources exploited, in this case mineral resources.
Dayna: I don't understand.
Vila: Neither do I. How does junking the law speed up mining?
Soolin: G-P was an agricultural world. The settlers were sent there to grow crops, raise timber. They were farmers, my family among them. They were given title to the land.
Avon: And then somebody discovered there was more profit under the ground than there was on top of it, only the farmers were in the way, and the law was on their side. Hence the Open Planet designation.
Tarrant: What, get rid of the law you get rid of the problem? [To Avon] You seem to know a lot about it.
Avon: Orac is an excellent research tool. Do you imagine I would take us in blind?
Tarrant: You've done it before.
Dayna: What happened to your family?
Soolin: When the mining corporations moved in, the farmers moved out. Those that didn't were murdered.
Vila: And it wasn't even a crime.
Soolin: Oh yes, it was a crime all right. It just wasn't illegal.
Vila: That's what I meant.
Soolin: I hope so.
Tarrant: Planet must have been a draw for every crook and killer in the quadrant.
Avon: A lot of people made a lot of money.Soolin: Some even lived to enjoy it.
Soolin: I've no idea, Vila. But one thing I do know: if you want to survive on this planet you have to assume that everyone is out to get you.
Vila: I always assume that wherever I go.
Soolin: The difference is, on Gauda Prime you'll be right.
Soolin's background is better covered than most members of the crew, and in succulent dollops of dialogue.
Soolin's family were farmers sent to grow crops and raise timber on GaudaPrime. She did not claim to have been born on Gauda Prime, only to have grown up there. Later, the Federation declared Gauda Prime an Open Planetin order to allow Mining Corporations to exploit the planet's mineralresources. Avon used Orac to research Gauda Prime and so we haveindependent verification of these details.
Soolin claimed that her father and other farmers were murdered when she waseight. Other relatives were murdered at the same time or shortlythereafter. However, we could see that Gauda Prime still contained extensive forest plantations.
Soolin was taught to use a gun by an expert who was one of the menresponsible for the death of her family and eventually she killed him and other men she held responsible for murdering her family. This is corroborated by Dorian.
Soolin claimed that she sold her skill. Normally she killed with a gun butshe also carried a knife which she used to good effect on Betafarl.
She finally came to work for Dorian on Xenon.
What's interesting in terms of use in fanfic is how long the gap is betweenSoolin killing her family's murderers and joining Dorian. I've noticed alot of fanfic writers have her going basically straight from her vengeanceto Dorian, but I must admit I like having an umpty-umpty year gap, which I think is credible, since she could've finished that job quite young, and itappears to me she's mid-twenties or so at the time she joins the crew.Also, she has the assurance that to me suggests varied experience, not someone who's basically gone from GP straight to Xenon.
And, yes, I'll admit, it's useful in fanfic terms. If you want her to havea certain skill or experience that's brought up during some mission or another with the Scorpio crew, well, it's from some short-term job oranother she had back in [fill in the blank]. I find it rather fun making up past jobs for Soolin.
Soolin
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