“Can’t confirm anything yet, but select hunters are being told that an escape craft was missing from the Tyrant’s Demise after the battle, maybe meaning that not everybody who survived the battle was questioned by the UGS. Officially, there is no bounty for this person. Unofficially, someone high up in the UGS is offering money for proof of this missing crew member’s silence. I think it’s clear to say that someone wants the truth about what happened at Yeppa to stay hidden. ” – Miguel Dins, Commander of the Stars of Freedom Rangers
In our first crew member highlight, we’re talking about the Chaser’s weapons system’s operator, Tai Chew. When he is first introduced in the opening cutscene, he is described by Wolfe as an ex-UGS who has experience working on UGS ships the size of the Chaser and bigger. Through the course of your voyage, you’ll also learn that Tai has plenty of war stories from his time serving in the UGS military, isn’t afraid to share those stories, and is always itching for a fight.
Whether you’re fighting bounty hunters or pirates, he’ll always be more than happy to return fire and take them down. Even when up against the Empire, or his old allies, the UGS, he’ll take his job as one of the ship’s main methods of defense very seriously. At first, this could come off as him being a trigger-happy soldier always eager to blow something up. As you learn more about him though, you’ll find that his gung ho attitude comes from a fierce loyalty to his friends. He acts as a mentor to Edwin, an friendly/annoying older brother to Wolfe, and a respected colleague to Nila, who years before the start of the story, would have been his enemy.
Where does Tai’s loyalty come from? As you dive deeper into the lore of the The Chaser’s Voyage universe via the Crew Journal, you’ll learn more about his past, detailing his enlistment and life as a member of the UGS. Particularly his time serving as a member of an elite group of UGS Pirate Hunters onboard the UGS battleship “Tyrant’s Demise”. In fact, you’ll even be able to read about some of his greatest exploits, such as the Battle of Hydriis. You’ll also learn that Sector 99, the sector of the galaxy where your adventure takes place in, was where Tai mainly operated. You might casually hear him mention planets he’s been to before.
Dig further into Tai’s past and you’ll learn more about his involvement with the Battle of Yeppa, a devastating conflict that ended the Galactic Ceasefire and restarted the war between the UGS and the Empire, as well as why Tai is no longer fighting on the front lines for the UGS.
Like all of the main characters, Tai was designed by Nate Donahue with the final art in the game being done by Zachary Noah (Link is NSFW and 18+ ONLY). Throughout his design process, his distinctive spiky white hair, eyepatch, and robotic prosthetic arm were a constant (although his arm went through several iterations). He is voiced by the talented Shaun Richardson.
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