Ashley Williams

Ashley Williams



Born on April 14th, 2158, Ashley Madeline Williams comes from a large family that includes a long line of Alliance Soldiers. Her father was an enlisted man and she is the oldest of four daughters in the family, followed by Abby, Lynn, and Sarah. Due to her father's frequent deployments, she helped to raise her sisters, and the four siblings grew close to one another as a result. Despite his hard work and dedication, Ashley's father never rose above the rank of serviceman third class, a fact she is deeply bitter about.

Following her family's tradition, Ashley enlisted in the Alliance Navy as a marine after high school and was assigned to the Recruit Training Depot in Macapa Brazil. During training, Chief Williams was certified proficient with the standard-issue M7 assualt lancer and light to standard-weight combat hardsuite. She also completed certification in zero-gravity combat aboard the Rakesh Sharma Orbital Platform in Earth geosynchronous orbit. For Hostile Environment Assault Training, she was assigned to Fort Charles Upham on saturn moon, Titan, where she was awarded a commendation for her bold assault technique in a field exercise simulating an attack on turian point defense emplacements. Drill Instructor Gunnery Chief Ellison noted her steadfast endurance and aggressive instincts, and promoted her to squad leader, and subsequently to platoon guide after observing her effective tutelage of the less skilled members of her training unit. Her platoon had logged unanimous positive feedback on her leadership in the recent fitness review cycle. Private Nirai Bhatia praised her focus on team-building exercises and "tough but fair" discipline.

Later, it was revealed that her grandfather was General williams, who surrendered the garrison at Shanxi to the turians during the First contact war, thus becoming the first human to surrender to an alien force. Her superiors' prejudice against her family meant she had mostly been stuck on groundside garrison posts — preventing her from gaining actual combat experience — despite her exemplary technical scores. She repeatedly requested a transfer to a shipboard posting, but each request had been denied, without explicit reasons. Possibly due to the discrimination she experienced, Ashley asserts that a Williams has to be better than the best, to make up for Shanxi, making her dedicated to her job, but also prickly, blunt and quick-tempered. Her aggressive instincts and tendency to speak bluntly are suitable as a field unit, but might lead to complications if her duties require her to interact with civilians. Additionally, her political opinions may be problematic, given the focus on improving relations with the Citadel.