HEADCANON POST (SPOILERS FOR SEASON 9 !!!)
-Her full headcanon name is: Jillian Kelly Markhes.
-Carolina was on a gymnastics team at a very young age. (It explains her acrobatic fighting style as well as part of her competitive nature.) Was team captain as soon as she was old enough to be.
-She grew up in North Carolina, the only girl to three older brothers.
-Despite having many prospects lined up for her, Carolina chose the military because something just called her. She trusts her instincts on it.
-Due to comments in canon about how the Director's "given her everything" and wanting to do anything to return the favor, my current headcanon is that she was about to receive an OTH (other than honorable discharge) from the military (reason = ?) when the Director saved her at the last moment upon seeing her potential, recruiting her to Freelancer.
-Since joining Freelancer, she's been used to being number one. See the personality on her application for clarification on this.
-After the Sarcophagus mission and being dropped to number two, Carolina cried for the first time in years and then promptly got right the fuck back to work.
-It was being dropped to number two after Texas that pushed Carolina to accept two AIs. In a nutshell, she almost brought it upon herself. Almost. The Director never mentioned the particular harmful effect of the AIs and thought of her jealousy and continuing strides to be number one again as an experiment.
-She pushed herself harder than ever after receiving both AIs and was sure she would be able to manage it on her own, didn't accept help from anyone except York (who happened to be in the right place at the right time).