"Bolt has two meanings, Austin. It's up to you to decide which one you're going to live up to." Austin remembered the conversation with his father vividly. His father had been trying to help him cope with a bully at school but that statement had left a life-long impact on his life. It was at the heart of his recent change of profession.
Austin had worked for several years as a dock-hand, loading freight for shippers, saving up for the time when the ship he loaded would be his own. He had sweated, bled and fought for the day he eventually bought his first ship. It was a cheap, used Starflier long past it's prime. Still, it was his and Austin remembered the pride he felt when he took it out of dock the first time (well, every time he launched it into space, actually). Eventually, however, the ship reached the end of his ability to patch, cajole, kick and cuss into working order and he had to sell it off for scrap.
The old Starflier had done it's job, though. It had earned him enough money to buy his first transport. From there, he stubbornly kept working, saving and upgrading his ships until he found himself a moderately successful trader. That was the beginning of the end of Austin's first career.
Maybe it was the pride of his accomplishments or maybe he had just gotten greedy but Austin started making more dangerous runs. He started making runs through pirate-infested systems to increase his profit margin. It wasn't long before the pirates took notice. The first one was the worst. The pirate accosted him while he was taking the jumpgate from the Honshu system into Sigma 13. He wasn't able to stop the jump but the pirate caught him after the jump. Austin had tried to run and quickly discovered that when a pirate says " I can destroy your ship in one shot." that he should take them seriously. He'd learned the hard way, however and losing that ship set him back at least a year's progress.
In spite of losing that first transport, however, Austin also learned in later run-ins with pirates that he had a knack for evasion. Most pirates who tried to "tax" him went home empty-handed but there were a few who got their money. Those losses stung Austin bitterly. He had lived up to one meaning of his surname but the humiliations at the hands of the pirates turned Austin's heart toward living up to the other meaning. Austin had had enough. It was time for payback. It was time to hunt the predators who had robbed him of not only his livelihood but more importantly than that, his self-respect. It was time to stand fast, to hold things together instead of running from his fears.
