Hester Erin Lane is a rare bird: an Aerilonian not descended from generations of ranchers or farm folk. Instead, the Lanes have carried a proud tradition of public service down through the years; her relatives were teachers, doctors, lawyers, and politicians, down to her parents(her mother a public defender, her father an EMT). Her grandfather even served a term as Aerilon's delegate to the Quorum of Twelve back in the 80s.
All that seemed far away and inconsequential to Hester as a child, though; she grew up in the northern woodlands, in a town called Ryker's Aerie, just outside of which her parents owned a house and a stretch of property. An adventurous tomboy in her childhood, she grew up exploring the local wilderness, a pastime which continued even into her teenage years. Even as a child she was an able swimmer and climber, and developed into a more than capable shot with the hunting rifles and shotguns her parents kept. As she grew into adolescence she developed a close relationship with her uncle, a ranger at a nearby environmental preserve, who taught her how to survive and make her way in the wild. By the time she was 13, she knew all the various woodland trails in and around the outskirts of Ryker's Aerie like the back of her hand; by 16, she was cutting her own trails into the brush.
As she neared adulthood, Hester's parents tried to steer her towards more sedate pursuits in preparation for her future career as a public servant and civic leader, but to little avail; while she had developed a strong respect and admiration for the system that her family had served for so long, she had little actual passion for anything that didn't involve guns or nature.
In retrospect, then, it should hardly be surprising she chose the Colonial Marines as her vocation, though the decision shocked her family at the time. Over the objections of her parents, Hester sought and gained admission to the Fleet Academy, receiving a degree in biology upon her graduation. Her first assignment as a newly minted ensign was as a platoon commander on the Tauron garrison, though she signed on for the second leg of the Piraeus project only a few months later.
