Warning: Contains spoilers for Crossfire. Kestrel's life has changed a lot over the last year or so, and she's still in the process of getting used to it. For many years she ran the shadows with her team, building a reputation as someone who was smart, competent, and able to do the job with a minimum of disturbance. She and her team became known as a group who could take on most types of jobs, from infiltrations to extractions to datasteals to just about everything in between.

Kestrel as portrayed by Poppi Monroe...picture used with permission. Check out her website here.

The day they accepted the assignment to infiltrate a remote corporate installation on an island off the UCAS East Coast, Kestrel had no idea that in the space of a few hours her entire life would be turned upside down. During this time she lost her entire team when their helicopter was shot down by enemy fire, and acquired a unique and intriguing new friend when she saved the life of the young Great Dragon Gethelwain, who had made a desperate escape from where was being held captive on another part of the island.

Together, Kestrel and Gethelwain escaped the island and took refuge in his lair in the Algonkian-Manitou Council lands. As he recovered from his terrible wounds, she began to work through her grief over the loss of her teammates. By the time the two of them emerged from the lair, they were not only fast friends, but business associates as well. Gethelwain was intrigued by his new world, and agreed to join Kestrel in her plan to set up a fixer business--something that would allow Kestrel to use her shadow-honed abilities in a less dangerous capacity while allowing him to become acquainted with the more interesting sides of the Sixth World.

Kestrel now serves as the "nuts and bolts" member of the team, doing the things she loves and is good at: procuring weapons and gear, making street contacts, and providing occasional backup when the team needs it. Gethelwain, now going by the name of "Gabriel," is the front man, handling negotiations with Mr. Johnsons and the more esoteric of the team's requirements.

Kestrel is smart (street as well as book: she graduated from college back in Boston before being disowned by her family after she refused to follow the corporate path), gregarious, and has a wicked sense of humor. She enjoys introducing Gabriel to new situations just to see how he'll deal with them, but she also maintains a certain childlike wonder at the direction her life has been taking. She is fiercely loyal to her friends and tries not to accumulate too many enemies, since she doesn't want to devote the time to dealing with them. Although many have speculated that she and Gabriel are romantically involved, no one has actually been able to prove it. To the contrary, she has been seen around town with numerous men, most of them shadowrunners; lately she seems to have a (slightly more than casual) relationship going with Ocelot.