Physical Description
A male skunk with a slight athletic build. He has white hair tied back in a ponytail with a few blue streaks to the right side of his face.

Biographical Data
Paxton Ames is a trained Air Force pilot and experienced combat flier. Enlisting after college he joined the Air Force and rose to the rank of Major. Serving his country with distinction he was decorated twice during the war.

After the government collapsed he found himself in the unenviable position of battling his fellow soldiers. While disagreeing with General Parker's reasons he saw no benefit to abandoning his position and instead chose to wait for an opportunity to instigate change from within. The skunk began to discretely ask questions of his fellow soldiers and filled his unit with airmen who still believed in the principles they signed up for.

Since then he has watched the landscape for any opportunity to make a difference. One day he received word of a rogue Army faction fighting to rebuild and he is intrigued.

Personal Statement
"Just call me Ames. Only my mother calls me Paxton. When I was a kid I had no idea where I was headed in life. I needed a job and I wanted some experience I couldn't get anywhere else so I joined the Air Force. There was some good natured ribbing from the birds and the bats who sort of considered flying their private domain but even they can't fly at Mach 5 without help. I never set out to be a pilot but once I tried it I couldn't get enough. Aviation was my purpose in life. I took every chance I got to take her up into the skies. There was something intangible about being up there with nothing but my bird. It wouldn't last, it never does.

The war broke out between us and them, and of course we were pressed into service. I flew 13 combat missions before it ended, and came back in one piece every time. Maybe some consider it an unlucky number, but for me it was my good luck charm. When I was preparing for the fourteenth we'd heard the war had ended, and not in the way we'd wanted. The government was gone but so was theirs, along with most of the world in an apocalypse you typically only see in the movies. I couldn't believe it. My whole family was wiped off the map in just a few hours. The place where I grew up was a smoking crater. I found it ironic that I, the only one who went off the fight, was the only member of my family still alive.

I fell apart after that. I was this close to going out when the Air Force, the Navy, and the Army joined forces to bring the country back together. We were the only ones with the manpower and equipment to do it. Together, the three branches began to return life to normal. It didn't last. Several incidents close together made General Parker paranoid and Admiral Bradley distrustful. Before you knew it, they were fighting each other. I never thought I'd see the day we were killing our brothers because they didn't agree with us. The planes were grounded by this point other than essential missions to keep up the illusion we had full use of them. Conserving like this we probably could last for years, but it was a fine act of misdirection to make the others believe we had it running full time.

I was on the ground most of the time at this point serving General Parker as one of his field commanders. Though I disliked how we did things I had little choice but to bide my time as the Air Force fought it out with the Army and the Navy just sat back and watched them tear each other apart. Finally the Air Force took out the last Army base, and as far as we knew that was it. I was left with making the best out of a bad situation.

When I heard Avery Wells was alive and starting to gather forces again I couldn't believe it. Nothing spreads faster through soldiers than rumors, so when I found out it was true I started surreptitiously following Colonel Underwood's people to find out what I could. I kept a few loyal units of men with me, people who still believed in the old ways of protecting the people and defending freedom, and positioned us so that when the opportunity came, we could fight for the right side. All we needed was an opportunity."

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