Dr. Reid/Ash theories and lore (Pathinder's Quest Book Spoilers)

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DISCLAIMER

None of this information is confirmed canon lore. Just my theories based on evidence we have.

Ashleigh Reid became the apprentice of Dr. Mary Somers, a single mother and astrophysicist in the 2620s/2630s. Over time Reid proved her skill as a scientist and became Somers' assistant. After Lillian Peck, the founder of Olympus, hypothesised that all energy within the Outlands would be depleted by 2700, Somers was invited to move her family over to Olympus, including Dr. Reid. 

After tireless hours of research, Somers and Reid discovered Branthium, an element that Somers was sure could be the key to limitless energy. When Somers eventually announced her discovery of Branthium, and that she would travel to a black hole to extract it, this piqued the interest of a number of people, including Hammond Robotics. Hammond contacted Reid and secured a deal with her. Reid had to a: steal the Branthium from Somers an b: dispose of her, so she wouldn't be a problem. In return, Reid would become the head of Peck Labs. 

Reid accepted.

Somers and Reid travelled to the event horizon of the nearest Black Hole to Psamathe, and Somers herself would be the one to get close to the black hole in a smaller capsule and use her robot NEWT to extract the crystal. When Somers had completed her task, Reid stole the branthium crystal and broke the tether, plunging Somers' capsule into the black hole.

After returning to Olympus, Dr. Reid announced that Somers didn't make it, however she came back with a sample of the branthium crystal. As she was promised, Reid became the head of Peck Labs, as well as the legal guardian of Newton, Somers' son.

Her completion of the task asserted her loyalty and skill to Hammond, and as such she was assigned with numerous other missions. Reid's skill as a scientist grew as she began experimenting with her branthium sample and reporting her findings to Hammond. Hammond wanted the crystal's power for their own schemes, so Reid gave it to them, and according to the public, she'd lost it somehow.

As a desperate measure, Lillian Peck formed a group of Olympus' best scientists, the Project: Iris team to come up with a solution to the energy crisis and fast. The team consisted of Dr. Amélie Paquette, Dr. Conan Shelley, Dr. Aleki Gibraltar, Dr. Armen Fletcher, Dr. Anastasia "Stay" Oliveira, Professor Milly Delgado, a now young adult Newton Somers and of course, Dr. Ashleigh Reid.

The team built a heavily modified MRVN, Pathfinder, to aid them in their research and project. Reid was secretly tasked by Hammond to sabotage the team at the end of the project, with assistance from Syndicate mercenaries. Tensions between the group, namely Dr. Reid and Dr. Paquette, escalated, and Reid knew it was time to do her job. She first presumably captured Newton, and then put the Project: Iris facility under lockdown. When Paquette tried to resist, her hand was decapitated by Reid. She forced her colleagues to do as she said, taking them out and leaving Paquette to bleed. After Reid had left with the others, Pathfinder, their MRVN, helped Paquette to her feet and assisted her. She told him to stop Reid while she sat back and recovered from her nasty wound.

Reid and her mercs had the scientists at gunpoint near the Phase Runner, when Pathfinder came to assist, defeating most of the mercs and rag dolling Reid about, before she landed a nasty shot with her P20, incapacitating Pathfinder. Things seemed to be in her favour, until she noticed a sword sticking through her chest; she had been brutally stabbed by Paquette, who had herself come to help. While dying, Reid, in a last effort, threw her branthium crystal at the Phase Runner, but before the explosion, the scientists told Pathfinder to go through the Phase Runner. He was their legacy. The Outlands' last hope. He jumped through and more Syndicate mercenaries arrived at the scene, but they were too late. The branthium reacted with the Phase Runner, causing a huge explosion and the Rift to appear. After the explosion, branthium crystals began appearing in numerous places throughout the Outlands, and were given in to Peck Labs to finally put an end to the energy crisis.

Reid's corpse was recovered from the incident by Hammond and they managed to preserve her head. After she had proved her loyalty and skill to Hammond, she was too valuable to lose. They created a source code from her head and used it to create the simulacrum, Ash.

During Ash's creation, the Frontier War broke out between the IMC and the Frontier Militia. Ash received additional programming to become a skilled science pilot for the IMC. After she was fully operational, Ash was sent from the Outlands to the Frontier, where she joined the fight against the Militia. 

In the early 2700s, Ash joined Kuben Blisk's group of mercenaries: the Apex Predators. As one of Blisk's lieutenants, she eventually became the head of a Vinson Dynamics testing facility on the Planet Typhon, where she experimented on captured Militia riflemen for a few years. 

A Militia Pilot, Jack Cooper and his titan, BT-7274, stumbled upon Ash's testing facility, after killing her colleague Kane. She received a call from Blisk alerting her about the two, and was tasked to kill Cooper and BT by any means necessary. Ash managed to kidnap BT leaving Cooper without his titan. She used the terrain of her facility to force Cooper up into the simulation dome, where she put Militia riflemen against Spectres and other IMC robotic infantry, testing their capability. Cooper managed to defeat all of Ash's tests, even though she attempted to cheat and send extra forces into the dome. Cooper escaped the dome, impressing Ash and in another attempt to kill Cooper, she scuttled the entire complex, stating herself that it was overkill. The explosions managed to free BT, and Cooper reunited with his titan. Despite all her efforts, Cooper was still alive and Ash decided to step in herself. Ash and her Ronin titan engaged in combat with BT and Cooper but were both destroyed. Cooper managed to escape the facility and Ash was killed. Or so he thought.

Ash's crushed body was recovered by Vinson Dynamics. Her source code was heavily damaged and a lot of her memories were destroyed. After she was rebuilt by Vinson and no longer with the Apex predators, she served as the corporation's field commander primary liaison for the pilot mercenaries. She believed that the answers to her past lay in the Remnant Fleet.

After unknown circumstances, Kuben Blisk threw Ash's head into an interdimensional portal as a last-resort to some dangerous predicament. Her head split into nine pieces, scatted all over the shadow dimension, where Revenant ruled Kings Canyon.

Years later, the Legends were asked by Loba Andrade to repair the head of Ash and return it to Hammond. Wattson and Crypto re-constructed Ash's head and the Legends placed it on Ash's headless body, which lay in an underground facility under Kings Canyon. Ash was instantly revived when her head was re-attached. 

Ash was taken in by Hammond, who took her to Hammond Labs in Olympus and extracted codes from her memory banks and left her in a dumpster. Ash was soon discovered by Pathfinder, who helped her and took her back to the warehouse he booted up in. Since Ash is a "girl" and she is his "friend", Pathfinder boasts to the other Legends that he has a girlfriend, piquing the interest of Rampart and Mirage, who visit the "couple" in Pathfinder's warehouse.

While talking to Ash, Rampart accidentally triggered her memories with the words "we were just in time", the last words of Dr. Aleki Gibraltar, Dr. Reid's former colleague all those decades ago. This got the attention of Blisk, who paid a visit to Ash and after he told her that throwing her head in the portal was a last resort, she forgave him and the duo ran off, leaving poor Pathfinder heartbroken, although Ash did leave a note thanking him for his help.

*After living low with Blisk, who later returned to his job as the Commissioner of the Apex Games, Ash was put in charge of the Arenas, a new stipulation of the Apex Games. She presumably recognized Horizon: Dr. Mary Somers, who survived the black hole but due to time dilation, returned 87 years too late, and missed the life of her son Newton, also breaking her promise, all thanks to Dr. Reid.

*This is my speculation from Ash's leaked voice lines added to the game files in patch 8.1. Presumably the announcer for the Arenas mode, Ash says two important lines:
"Do you think you have what it takes to impress me, Legend/dearie? We'll find out. The Arena awaits." She says "dearie" instead of Legend to Horizon, heavily implying she recognizes her.