Zen/Background
Just prior to P-day, Zen was a bright young student with an interest in computer science and programming. With good grades, a supporting family, and connections within the Navy, he soon found himself in an internship program that would mold him into being the type of person the Navy needed. It wasn't the sort of career he had seen himself entering into, but the opportunity to pick up valuable experience and travel around on the government's dime seemed too good to pass up. Becoming a promising member of the Naval Air Research Divison, he would continue to hone his skills surrounded by very sharp individuals. Without being tied down by a family, when the opportunity came to join the crew of the USS Leviathan, a deep ocean weapon testing vessel, he immediately signed himself up.
As fortune would have it, Zen was selected to join the crew of the USS Leviathan and was soon adjusting to life aboard the ship. Sailing out from one of the naval bases in California, he would be out of contact with a few of his friends and loved ones for a while. There, he would continue to work with computers and design simulation models based on the live data other groups were feeding the team he was on. He would be kept busy with plenty of work, up until the point when the world was shaken by a catastrophe of unprecedented scale.
Following the advent of P-day, Zen would live on the USS Leviathan under a strict contingency protocol. With all communication with the mainland cut off, they were left in silence, initially not knowing what had happened. It was only sometime later that they managed to get in contact with RSX, discovering what had happened, and learning how dangerous the world had become in the blink of an eye. Many who were aboard become distressed about the situation, eager to learn what had happened to their friends and families back home. Zen was one of them, hopeful for good news, and fearful to learn the potentially horrific truth. Some members aboard the ship, however, were more interested in staying put and not risking becoming involved with some unknown virus. And so, with the crew split on the decision, those who decided to venture back onto the mainland where granted use of the auxiliary vessels to make landfall and were sent off with the best of wishes. Zen was one of them, deciding that he'd rather risk infection and learn the truth than being left in the dark.
With the structure of the government in shambles, Zen and those who joined him in returning to the mainland found themselves being taken in by RSX and given a helpful start in adjusting to this new world. A basic understanding of how nanites worked, combat training to protect against overly eager mutants, and some standard equipment... This would be their new start. It was easier for some than it was for others, and some weren't at all interested in receiving any of RSX's aid. In Zen's case, it would be a few years until he was finally granted an opportunity to go home and see firsthand what had become of the life he knew.
The home was nothing like Zen remembered it. Ruined buildings, empty streets, and scared mutants were all that he would find. The home he grew up in was half-collapsed with clear signs of feral markings all around it. No messages, no clues as to where they might have gone, there was nothing that would help him find out if they were alright. Any evidence he found would only hint at a very unfortunate end with bloodied clothes and claw marks littering the interior. Disheartened by what he found, he would return with the scouting crew back to RSX HQ and try to cope with the idea that anyone he knew before P-day was likly gone.
