History
Background
Michio Pa was selected by Fred Johnson to be the Executive Officer of the Behemoth, the OPA battleship formerly known as the Nauvoo. She appears to be a foil to Captain Ashford, who is pompous and arrogant. Pa, is much more laid back and not as flamboyant. She appears in the third book of The Expanse series, Abaddon's Gate, as well as the novella The Vital Abyss, and the sixth book in the series, Babylon's Ashes.
 “Fires in the dark” — Spoilers for Babylon's Ashes follow.
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Michio Pa, comes into her own, as Captain of the Connaught. She has joined and aligned herself with the Free Navy and is given command of many newly "acquired" Free Navy ships to block passage through the gate system.
In addtion to holding command over the Connaught, she has a fleet within the Free Navy. This includes Panshin, Solano, Witch of Endor, Serrio Mal and a dozen more.
She is part of a ketubah, a seven person marriage group that makes up the permanent main crew of the Connaught. With them as Belters, she observes The Doctrine of One Ship.[1]
They are given specific orders that they can use deadly force to stop any ship, UN, Martian or OPA, from trying to enter the gates to colonize or explore other worlds. It is revealed that Michio Pa has an odd, superstition and almost downright fear about the open, uncharted space beyond the ecliptic. In her eyes, stopping ships from traversing there, was more of doing them a favor than anything else.
During the Free Navy's exodus from Ceres, Marco Inaros gives Michio Pa command of all of the Colony Ships that they've captured so far. She has orders to stock and provision them for nearly 3 years worth of supplies and food and scatter them about, using them as "Storage" ships for later recall and use by the Free Navy. During this time, she along with Anderson Dawes, has become disillusioned with Marco. In Pa's eyes, he is no better than Fred Johnson and the man she loathed, Captain Ashford. She, with the support and backing of her ship's literal and figurative family, plans a coup against Marco's careful and strategic plan to withdraw from Ceres. He has it carefully calculated so that each piece puts the UN and Mars in a very burdensome situation.
She allies herself with Carmondy, a fellow shipmate and "family" member aboard her ship the Connaught. He's military trained and initially led many of the boarding parties and raids to take Colony Ships and get things settled down on board, and handle supply capture, distribution, and pacification of the Colony crew. She reveals to Carmondy her plan of mutany against Inaros, and he at first decides to ignore the offer, even threaten to go to Inaros with the information. Pa then sends out a broadcast and immediately declares her intentions, net wide. She threatens to destroy the colony ship that Carmondy is currently stationed on, The Hornblower. With no other chip to play, he concedes.
The Pirate Fleet Rebellion
Michio Pa, is by default de facto leader of the pirate fleet aboard her ship the Connaught. This band is made up of most defectors to Marco's Free Navy Fleet. Many of the Marco's chosen "cabinet" of OPA leaders to help him lead the Free Navy see his slow departure from the original goal of the faction as a problem, and begin to break off their support of him. Michio Pa, due to what seems like her natural ability to lead and charismatic pull, is a magnet for these defectors. Soon there is a rebellion to the rebellion, and Pa begins her own "pirate fleet" that departs from the Free Navy and finds itself allying with the enemy of her enemy, Holden and crew of the Combined Fleet.
References
- ↑ "The Expanse: Babylon's Ashes", Chapter 5