Danika

Danika Mari Jensen is a woman who recently got out of Marine Corps training in Hawaii and is renewing her educational pursuits. At only 22 years old, she managed to do a significant amount already with her life - making it to an E-5 sergeant rank before going back to school. There is just something about the way Danika carries herself. There is a confidence that she exudes, and a lithe grace and beauty about the way she walks - akin to a cunning predator. It would be foolish to assume from her blonde hair & 'made-for-magazine-cover' good looks, that she is a vacuous piece of eye candy.

Background
Danika Mari Jensen was born on May 10th, 1992 in Kane’ohe Bay, Hawaii at Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay.

Thing is, her story doesn’t start there. It started four years earlier when her parents met and started dating. Her mother, Melissa Chambers, was born to the Chambers of high society in London. They knew everybody who /was/ anybody and had friends in high places. They were a family who came from a long line of money, and distant relations with nobility. They had a reputation to protect, so when their middle daughter, Melissa, started dating a marine who had been stationed in England, they put their foot down. He was less than desirable, partially because he didn’t come from money himself, and though he was a young officer, his own lineage wasn’t sparkling and it would tarnish their family name with any kind of association.

Melissa wasn’t thrilled with her parents trying to run her social life. She put up with the ‘coming out’ party, a throwback to the old days of debutantes, and presentation to society, but really. If she had to deal with all those so called proper boys taking her out for prim lunches, and trying to grope her in the car when they dropped her off, she was ready to run away. At least Lieutenant William Jensen didn’t put up any kind of front about his interest in her. She felt she could really be herself with him.

When her parents found out, they immediately disowned her, cutting her off not only from their money… but their lives as well. They refused to see her, or talk to her. They even made her siblings cut off contact as well. Though it hurt her, Melissa was with the man she loved. It wasn’t always easy, especially when a year after they were married, he was sent on an isolated tour for eighteen months. It was an assignment where she wasn’t allowed to follow, and it put a great strain on their relationship.

When his tour was over, they were stationed in Hawaii… and nine months later, twin girls were born, Danika Mari and Delia Maribel. Danika was the oldest, by five minutes, and there were complications with Delia. The younger sister had to remain in the nicu for five days before she was allowed to be taken home to be with her family. The doctors told Melissa, it would be risky if she were to try again. Melissa was heartbroken, but so grateful to have her babies.

Melissa went through a period of post-partum depression, but one thing she never failed, was taking care of her twin girls. Those two were the most precious things to her, and kept her going through the depression.

About a year later, Melissa turned up pregnant again. Both she and William were worried. In conjunction with the doctors, they kept a close eye on her pregnancy, concerned that it would become a high risk. Fortunately, she carried the baby to term, though during delivery, there were complications that nearly cost both her, and their baby, their lives. After Dillon Michael Jensen was delivered, the doctor handed him off to the nurses, and performed an emergency hysterectomy. This time, there would be no more chances for a pregnancy to endanger her, or her baby’s life.

Danika and Delia grew up strong, though William and Melissa were a bit protective of Delia. It caused a little hard feelings in Danika toward her parents, but she /too/ felt protective of Delia. Even though the two were twins, they were fraternal, and only had similarities in their blonde hair and blue eyes. Where Danika was strong and athletic, Delia was petite and frail, even developing near-sightedness, ending up having to wear glasses. Delia would read books constantly, and developed interests in things like chess and debate. She was quick of wit, and her words were her weapons. She had aspirations of becoming a writer.

Danika, on the other hand, was unbelievably healthy, and could frequently be found climbing trees or taking on the boys in the neighborhood in competitions of foot races, or wrestling. She would get out in the yard, playing tackle football, baseball, or soccer. She didn’t seem to have a fear of anything. If she ever found anyone hassling Delia, instead of trying to reason with them, as Delia would do, she let her fists do the talking.

It’s not like she was ever considered a bully. Rather, she was considered one of the guys, and she took on the role of older brother when it came to her sister and looking out for her. Needless to say, Delia wasn’t picked on often… at least until their father was moved to a new duty station.

As a matter of fact, not only was not considered a bully, but she ended up sticking up for others who found themselves on the receiving end of bullying. One in particular was a boy named Romjin. His father was a marine, who married a woman he met while in India. The boy never really fit in with the others, and fit in with Delia’s crowd more than Danika’s. He was pretty smart, considered a science prodigy as a matter of fact, and was often performing experiments. Danika didn’t always understand his interests, but she took the boy under her wing. He would often sit with Delia on the sidelines, cheering at Danika’s games. What Danika didn’t learn about until later, Romjin had developed a crush on her. When she found out, she was careful with his feelings, and though they had a brief falling out, they patched their friendship before her father was transferred to a new duty station, and the two kept in contact, becoming regular pen pals.

Romjin wasn’t the only long term friend Danika picked up along the way. When the girls hit their teens, and puberty set in, Danika began running with a girl named Tamsin. Her father strongly disapproved, especially when the girls were caught and had to be picked up at the police station. Tamsin had been picked up for shoplifting, and Danika just had the bad luck of being with her at the time. Even so, Danika stuck by her friend. The two ended up getting into mischief together, but nothing that could ever end up Danika in real trouble.

Danika’s father was worried that Tamsin would be a bad influence on Danika, but it was later discovered, Danika was really a good influence on Tamsin, minimizing the trouble the other girl got into. It wasn’t until after Danika moved away that Tamsin ended up incarcerated in juvenile hall, for hacking. Danika wrote to Tamsin at least twice a week while her friend was in juvenile hall, and kept in contact after Tamsin was released and on probation.

As the girls grew older, they remained close in friendship, but the gap in their interests pulled them in two different directions. As graduation loomed closer, Delia was putting in applications for colleges, but Danika had other plans in mind. She had been speaking with a recruiter, and while Delia was taking her SAT’s and ACT’s, Danika added another test to her list. The ASVAB. Right after high school, Danika signed on with the Marines, following in her father’s footsteps. Well, except for the fact that she ended up enlisted, while her father was an officer.

Delia always seemed to be doing the right thing, the good girl of the two. Danika was the rebel, as if she always wished she’d been born a boy… well, except for her interest in boys. It was her highly competitive spirit. She always had to win at whatever she did… which included her grades. The only one who ever beat her out in that department, was Delia… but she never resented her sister for it. In her eyes, Delia was her nearly carbon copy. They were made of the same genes, so of course she did well. Without the distractions of all the sports, Delia was of course better in the grades department.

So after graduation, both girls shipped out. One for college, and one for marine basic training. They kept in contact with each other, when they could, and Delia’s letters help Danika make it through basic training. Sure, she was a tough girl, but basic was a real test for her. If it wasn’t for her competitive spirit and never give up attitude, she would have washed out mid-way through.

As it was, Danika’s determination and competitive drive had her graduating basic training with not only expert marksmanship, but at the top in just about everything in her graduating group. With her scores on her ASVAB, and her performance in basic training, she could have picked just about any field that didn’t require her to be an officer that she wanted… but her skill in firearms had her slated for sniper training. She performed extremely well, and was almost immediately shipped out on her first Saudi tour.

It wasn’t easy for her, having to see and experience some of the horrors that being in a war-zone exposes you to. The hardest was seeing a child stumbling across a buried mine, and being unable to do anything to stop it. It was something that haunts her still today, turning up in nightmares that had her waking, surrounded in sweat dampened sheets with her heart beating a mile a minute.

Over the next two years of her first term of enlistment, Danika spent two tours in Saudi, and one in Afghanistan. It was during her tour in Afghanistan that she received word she needed to come home.

Something had happened with Delia, and her father had made arrangements for her to be sent home on emergency leave. She wasn’t told about what happened until after she was home and her parents were able to sit her down and tell her face to face.

Her sister had been found not far from campus, covered by a tarp and left for dead. The coroner said she’d been strangled to death, and there were bruises left around her neck… distinctive shapes of fingers that had been wrapped around her throat. Her wrists showed evidence of restraints, as well as around her ankles. One of the hardest things for Danika to hear, was that her sister had engaged in intercourse shortly before her death. According to the abrasions, and the indications of restraints, the coroner surmised it hadn’t been consensual… but the perpetrator had used protection, so there was no DNA that could be used to track down her attacker.

Danika was furious, and if it hadn’t been for her brother tackling and pinning her to the ground – he’d learned a few tricks growing up with her, not to mention her being blinded by grief and anger – she would have stormed down to the police station, and then on to the campus, determined to find her killer and exact vengeance herself.

It took quite a bit of effort on her parents’ part to keep Danika from running off half-cocked, but it didn’t still the burning anger deep within her. It was only fueled when the police declared they found the killer, but the facts didn’t seem to add up to Danika. Her parents were willing to accept it, because they wanted closure… but Danika felt the wrong man had been put in jail. She didn’t quite know what it was about the story, but it reeked.

She tried asking around, but kept feeling stonewalled. It didn’t help that her parents continued to chide her, telling her to quit poking around in things. Her mother was near a nervous breakdown, and the fact that Danika wasn’t letting it rest, meant her mother wasn’t able to try and heal from the loss of their other daughter.

Since it was nearing the end of her term of enlistment, Danika applied her stockpiled leave that would take her up to her exit date, leaving her free to pursue things with her sister.

After getting into more than one battle with her father over it all, Danika took a hop over to England to hunt down her grandparents. She’d heard the stories from her parents whenever she’d asked about her mother’s side of the family, and had a good idea where to start looking. It was better than sitting around home and going stir crazy.

It wasn’t hard for her to track them down. After all, the Chambers name was pretty well known, but it was a whole other story when it came to knocking on their door. She didn’t know what kind of reception to expect, but what happened, certainly wasn’t among what she considered.

As soon as she told them who she was, her grandmother pulled her into a tight hug, as if she would never let her go. They welcomed her with open arms, as if she were there to take the place of their lost daughter so long ago. Her grandmother took her out shopping, and asked Danika to tell her everything about herself. Knowing how they felt about the Marines from the many stories her parents shared with her, Danika fudged a little, sharing her sister’s story with them instead. They believed she was here during a break from school, hoping to track down the grandparents she never knew.

The next few months were a whirlwind for Danika, learning the ways of high society in London. Her grandmother took her shopping at least once a week, and they dined at the club at least twice. She experienced tea with the ladies of her grandmother’s book club, and had to suffer through a ‘coming out’ party, introducing her to London society.

There was only so much that Danika was able to handle before she had to break free and head back to the States. She didn’t leave empty handed however. Her grandparents set up a trust fund for her to pull from as she returned to school. Not to mention, the new wardrobe, complete with accessories. They wanted to send her home with a new car too, but Danika drew the line there.

When she returned home, Danika applied to utilize her G.I. Bill, and applied to the college her sister attended. With her grades from high school, SAT, ACT and ASVAB, plus her military service, she was a shoe in for acceptance.

With her acceptance, she starts classes after winter break.

Personality
Dependable/Hard Working - Danika has a lot of pride in a job well done. She can always be relied upon to get a job done.

Loyal - Danika has an unwavering loyalty to family and friends.

Headstrong - Danika has a headstrong, stubborn streak. She's been referred to as having a hard head. Once she has an idea or goal in mind, it's very difficult to get her to give up on it. Slight diversions in manner of getting to the goal is possible, but giving up entirely, not likely.

Marine Corps Motto: Semper Fidelis (Always Faithful/Always Loyal)

Marine Corps Values:

Honor: A code of personal integrity, honor guides those who do the right thing when no one is looking. It's found in one's beliefs, but exhibited through one's actions.

Courage: It isn't the lack of fear, but overcoming fear to press on and do what needs to be done. Courage is the guardian of all other values. It is there when times are toughest, when difficult decisions have to be made. It takes the form of mental, physical, and ethical strength, and is found in the backbone of every Marine.

Commitment: Commitment is the spirit of determination found in every Marine. It is what compels Marines to serve our nation and the corps, and to continue on when others quit. Commitment doesn't take breaks, and it cannot be faked. It measures and proves one's desire, dedication and faithfulness.

(The above motto and core values were found and 'transcribed' - some paraphrasing - on the following site. http://www.marines.com/history-heritage/principles-values)

Logs

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