Rena Delgado was the wife of Segundo Delgado and the mother of Victor Delgado.[1] She was first introduced in Earth Unaware.
History[]
Earth Unaware[]
Rena Delgado was a member of the council aboard El Cavador. Concepción Querales, the ship's captain, called the council together to discuss the discovery of an alien scout ship approaching the solar system which Edimar discovered. Rena took the stance that El Cavador should contact local ships and Weigh Station Four about the approaching alien ship. During the meeting, her son Victor raised an objection, thinking everyone aboard El Cavador should have a say in the next course of action since this was such an important topic. Rena defended Victor's objection when it was faced by opposition by Toron. In the end, the council decided to contact a few local ships such as an Italian mining clan and the Makarhu by laserline.[1]
Segundo and Victor often went outside the ship to prepare El Cavador for the incoming alien ship. Rena went outside one night to tell Mono to come inside because they had been staying up late making additions to the ship. Rena would also ask Victor if he wanted food and told him to come inside, but Victor stayed outside with Segundo and Marco. Soon after, a Juke Limited corporate ship captained by Lem Jukes bumped El Cavador, damaging its shielding and communication devices.[1]
Eventually, Concepción needed some way to contact Earth about the aliens, so they sent Victor by means of a quickship with all collected data. Rena, Segundo, and Concepción collected money to give to Victor after he left for the purpose of receiving an education on Earth. Rena also made a letter for Victor to give him hope on his seven month journey to Luna.[1]
Concepción decided to attack the alien ship, and contacted a WU-HU Corporate ship and Lem Jukes. The plan was to send all women and children to the WU-HU ship, so they would be safe during the attack. During her departure from El Cavador, Segundo tried giving Rena a couple letters. She refused, but Segundo ultimately hid the letters in her belongings in case he died during the attack.[1]
Ultimately, Segundo was flung off of the alien ship during the attack. As he was floating in space, he sent a message of his last words to Rena which Captain Doashang let her listen to. From that point on, Rena was one of the head communicators between Doashang and the remaining crew of El Cavador, who were staying on the WU-HU corporate ship.[1]
Earth Afire[]
Captain Doashang convinced Magashi to allow Rena and the remaining El Cavador crew to stay on a WU-HU Corporation private station. Rena and the other crew members worked for their food by repairing the station and lived in a small storage room.[2]
Over time, Rena began hearing words of dislike for the El Cavador crew on the station and began to try to find a way to leave. Eventually, a vulture ship led by Arjuna came asking for men to help salvage ships destroyed by the Formics. Rena was able to convince Arjuna to allow the women and children of El Cavador to work on the ship, as Magashi would not allow Arjuna to make the offer to her men. Before making the offer to the rest of the crew, Rena had Arjuna take her on a tour of his ship, where she met Arjuna's family.[2]
Back on the station, Rena proposed the offer to the crew, but Julexi opposed her and tried to divide the crew. However, the conversation took a turn when Edimar spoke against Julexi, who then made a derogatory comment about Edimar's sister, causing Edimar's mother, Lola, to slap Julexi. The conversation quickly calmed down and after further discussion the crew voted to go with Arjuna.[2]
On the Gagak, the women of the El Cavador were trained on the different aspects of scavenging before their first mission. In the meantime Rena had been compromising with Arjuna on different aspects of her family's stay on the Gagak. Eventually, the women of the El Cavador went on their first scavenging mission. The women were the ones who searched the ship, while Arjuna's men put the supplies in the net. During the mission, Arjuna asked Rena to search to ship further, while the others scavenged the bay. Rena and Abbi scavenged the ship further to find a generator. While cutting out the generator, Rena discovered Abbi was missing and found her crying over her son and quitting on life. Rena had to deplete Abbi's oxygen in order to save her when Arjuna suddenly warned Rena about a surprise appearance of the vulture Khalid. Fortunately, Rena was able to find a quick escape off the ship after she had lost all hope. When trying to get back to the Gagak, Lola caught Rena and Abbi after Rena bounced off the hull. Rena was greeted by Arjuna aboard the Gagak.[2]
Earth Awakens[]
After a salvage haul, Rena often stayed up late filing information on the salvage as she was the most qualified. One night she sent the report of salvage to the asteroid Themis, which later responded with an offer to allow the Gagak to subscribe to a news feed for 100 credits per week. Rena tried to see if Themis could search in the news feeds for Victor, but that would also require a 100 credit fee.[3]
Rena went to ask Arjuna about the offer and was greeted by his wife Sabad when she knocked on the door. After a minute, Arjuna woke up and came to talk with Rena. Arjuna said that the Gagak could not afford the newsfeed, so Rena proposed forming a partnership between their crews to turn the Gagak into a mining ship. Arjuna liked the idea but turned down Rena's offer due to the patriarchal nature of his tribe. Arjuna then said he could make the deal work if Rena and the other El Cavador women married him as his concubines, but Rena declined. Rena then explored the potential of a patriarch for El Cavador, discovering the only possible patriarch was Victor since he was the only adult male left from El Cavador. At that point, Arjuna agreed to using the Themis newsfeed in order to find information about Victor.[3]
After Arjuna agreed to the idea, Rena took the idea of turning the Gagak into a mining ship to the remaing members of El Cavador's council, who voted in favor of the proposal. Julexi and Sabad later argued with Rena about the idea, but Julexi's arguments were dismantled by logic causing her to cry. Rena then encountered Edimar, who asked Rena to get Arjuna to allow her to illegally connect to the Parallax Nexus in order to retrieve information about the Formics. Rena and Edimar then had a discussion about what home was for the family before they were interrupted by an e-mail from Victor. Rena sent a message back to Victor sending him love, telling him about Mono's death, asking him not to lead an attack on the Formic ship, and asking him to find someone to marry.[3]
After Rena had an argument with Arjuna, she met with Edimar, who informed her that the Formic ship in the solar system was merely a scout ship and the mothership was still heading toward Earth, assembling itself into a fleet.[3]
The Swarm[]
When Rena discovered that Imala, Victor's fiancé, decided to apply for the International Fleet, she encountered Victor asking why he had not informed her of Imala's decision. Rena and Victor then got into a conversation about marriage, as before arriving on the Gagak Victor believed marriage was more compulsory despite Rena's difference of opinion. Rena then comforted Victor's fears that Imala's application was the end of their relationship before going to the helm.[4]
During Victor's investigation of the Formic-occupied Asteroid 2030CT, he was attacked by Formics and lost radio communication. Rena, in a panic, wanted the crew of the Gagak to come after him and save him, but Arjuna held her back.[4]
Imala showed Rena, Victor, and Arjuna an e-mail from Rear Admiral Shongwe, informing Imala that the Gagak needed to go to an IF base nearly four months away. Rena agreed that the crew needed to follow through on the orders to avoid any future trouble. Rena also wanted Imala to retain the captainship after Imala requested Arjuna take it back in order for the crew to retain a sense of consistency.[4]
When they arrived at Turris Outpost, Rena met with Captain Mangold along with Imala, Victor, and Arjuna. He presented the crew with the IF's offer of purchasing the Gagak for 60 thousand credits and safe travel back to The Belt. When Arjuna refused, Mangold threatened to commandeer the ship under the authority of the Hegemon. Victor realized the IF needed the Gagak to investigate something out in deep space, but Mangold didn't confirm or deny this conclusion. Mangold detailed each option that the crew had to deal with the situation, but ordered Victor to be sent separately from the crew of the Gagak in a Zipship that would meet up with the Fleet that was heading to face the Formic warships, as per the Polemarch's request. Angry at the situation, Imala presented Mangold with an agreement on her terms, that would see Arjuna rightfully compensated for his ship and his family safe in their travel to the Belt. Though hesitant, Arjuna agreed to the offer, and Mangold revised the contract. After signing, Mangold demanded that Arjuna and Victor return to the ship so he could speak to Rena and Imala alone. He outlined the Gagak's mission to investigate a Formic "observer" ship outside the solar system that the IF believed held the Hive Queen. Though wary, Rena and Imala agreed to the mission.[4]