I was born in the heat of battle, as the Raptor carrying my mother dodged between the blasts of death hurled at us by the Machine Raiders… or at least, that's how Mom likes to tell it. I've learned to take those stories with a grain of salt. I do know that I was born in space, the result of a tryst between my mother and a Fleet pilot. She says she gave me his last name, but I've had a chance to look at the records and the Memorial wall, and it seems more likely that dear old dad was simply lying to get laid; I've found no record of any pilot in the fleet with the name Daran. Mom met him towards the end of the fighting on Aquaria, just as she was about to be evacuated. She was feeling scared and alive and, well, it's no coincidence that the fleet experienced a bit of a baby boom around the time I was born. In any case, I never saw Aquaria myself, though Mom told me plenty of stories.
I grew up in and around the refugee populations, frequently moved, more frequently just floating in space in some spare hold while someone contemplated where to move us. I ran with a small group of kids who gained a bit of a reputation for trouble. Big, scary guys used us to do dirty work they couldn't reach… I got pretty good and picking pockets or hiding where officers were discussing sensitive material. It could have ended really badly for me, but then I met Hiram. He caught me when I tried to pick what I thought was a wallet out of his pocket, and instead found myself holding a copy of Platinarch's Philosophy. There had never been many books in the refugee holds, and I was so curious about what it was that I didn't hide in time. He asked me if I could read it, and when I said I could, he said to look him up after I had.
It took me a few weeks, and when I found him again I was thoroughly confused. We talked about it, and then he gave me another book. Then another. I was never great shakes at Philosophy, but I gobbled up art, music, history. I think he'd been a professor before the bombs fell, and was just happy to be teaching again. He kept me out of trouble, and I gave him something to do. Mom was happy because I'd stopped running with the gang, invited him over for a home cooked meal every now and again, and it seemed to work for everyone.
I was in one of the first graduating classes of Hiram's Preparatory School, one of a number of one-hold schoolhouses that had popped up among the refugee population. I'd even played for it's Pyramid team, and we came in fourth out of sixteen in the Kids Tournament some Captain or other had cooked up. Mom said I'd done Aquaria proud. And that I'd done Dad proud. I was more interested in making Hiram proud, and when he handed me that handwritten diploma, I knew that I had.
It was at that tournament that I first caught the attention of Fleet Officers, who encouraged me to enlist. It was a pretty easy decision, the choice to DO something rather than hang out in the refugee quarters hoping for some fleet make-work or a place on a factory line. They ran some aptitude tests and slotted me towards the Air Wing, which was funny. Not only would I make Dad proud, I'd follow in his footsteps! It does make me wonder, though. Who he was, why he lied about it to mom. Did he die in those battles, never knowing he had me? Did he do that a lot, and I've got some siblings floating around? I don't expect to find him in the black. Still… no harm in looking.
