(Posted on 11-27-200)
(I am aware that there is a typo in the main title, but I cannot correct anything in the subject heading. I do not have an e-mail for the author, so I could not ask him to resubmit it with the correct title--Jude)
Voyages
This story is set in Ambrosia's Escape Velocity universe. I claim no credit in the making of Escape Velocity. It is the creation of Matt Burch and produced by Ambrosia Software. This story is set in the Pale plug-in universe with a few twists of my own (same as above except different creator).
Prologue
My name is Liam "Skyhawk" Dain. I was born in the forests of Endor in 2238 to Joel and Mira Dain, part of a noble clan of Endor, five years after Great War was won. My father and mother were traders and merchants who owned a scoutship. I spent more of my time offworld than on. I guess that's how I came to love exploring space. When the Civil War broke out in 2235, my parents sided with the Rebellion, and most of the people on my homeworld, including most of my clan, were put into forced labor.
Two years later, my mother and I were sent to live on Diphdia II, which had just become independent, by my father while he went to fight for the Rebellion. It was five months before word of his death reach us. He had died when the ship he served on was destroyed. I wept for several nights before I came to the realisation that the Confederation did not kill my father; The Senate did. When my mother died two months later, I was shipped off to Pale IV in the Pale system, a planet of great beauty and wonderful technology, to live with some reletives who had escaped the tyranny of the Confed Senate ten years before.
When I was fifteen, I enrolled in the Crey Academy and the Pale Naval Academy, and both consumed my life for the next three years. I graduated with flying colors, earning from Crey degrees in Archaeology, Exploration, Galactic History, and Ship Engineering. From Naval school, I learned commanding, starship piloting, and many other things. I was offered many postions by Pale Trading and Navy, but I refused, wanting to seek adventure and fame. How I miss those days so long ago.
I bought a shuttle and set course. When I was 17, I witnessed the signing of the YemCon treaty on ISN so I knew that it would only be a matter of time before it was to become a great government. I joined the Levo Milita two months later, piloting a Defender, a thrill for someone who loved flying with skill. I quit a year later, and became a co-pilot for the Rapier Telrio, whose captain was John Williams, a Vegan pilot of the Great War.
For the next year, we made big money as freelance mercs for the independent worlds. I left after that, saying goodbye to one of my best friends. I took the money I had stowed away for over the past few years which totaled 2.9 million credits. I bought a Maskrovian Corvette and named it the "Grey Star", a ship which proved in the years ahead a formidable opponent which was fast as well as deadly. I flew it alone from New Ireland until I reached New Britan in the Rigel system. There I hired my crew.
My first officer was chosen carefully, when I saw her kick a burly pirate's butt when the pirate tried messing with her. The Confed commander she gave her report to was thoroughly in awe of her as she had a commanding air about her. She was made my XO twelve hours later. In the years ahead, she helped in many ways and to this day she is still known as "Nuke".
I have been many things. In my youth before I was 19, I was the last heir to a clan that is no more. In my autumn years I am an old schoolar on Endor, but in between were my greatest and most tried years.
It began in 2250...
(This message has been edited by moderator (edited 11-27-2000).)
