Captain Leofwine Pendragon-
[Origin of Name- Anglo Saxon]
[Rough Meaning- Beloved/Dear Friend from the dragon's enclosed land]
Leofwine Pendragon was born into a life of middle class on the pyramid of society. Neither high society, nor the poor low class part of society. His parents made an honest living. His father was an inter-system trader, working weeks at a time. His mother was a police officer, patrolling the borders of the Liberty systems. Leo took to his fathers trade. Mainly because of the traveling. He could see and meet new people every day. Have the thrilling of being stopped and possibly chased by pirates, and also earn the one thing that made the worlds go round...Credit.
When Leo was but five years old, his father started taking him on his trade routes. There, his father schooled him in everything from the alphabet, to the best trade routes, and the fine art of Commerce. When he was ten, he was at the console during his fathers routes half the time while his father did the gruesome paper work that came along with being a Trader. At the age of fifteen, Leo received his first small freighter as a birthday gift. From there his own little business grew. He started making solo flights from New York to Texas and back. Then, from New York to New Tokyo to Texas and back to New York. Each time he went on his route he learned a little more, put back a few more credits, and by the time he was eighteen he had his very own Whale freighter.
Three years later, when Leo was just past twenty-one years of age, he and his father were on a short run from Cambridge to Honshu, a safe route during certain times of the day. Every run he and his father had made in the years before had been safe ones, but recently his father had become ill and had been taking longer and longer to make even the simple runs. Today was going to be a day that changed Leofwine Pendragon's life forever.
Like all the other mornings before, Leo had been helping his father take his morning meds, a small dose of the Orange Dream, and a breathing treatment to help his lungs. It had been a hard morning for his father, accompanied by violent fits of coughing and handkerchiefs spotted with blood. When they finally left the docking bay at Cambridge they were already four hours behind schedule. Time is money in the business of trading. When his father needed money for medical bills, time was not something for them to waste.
They had just warped through to the Leeds system and were halfway down the trade-lane to planet Leeds, when it was disrupted. Leo had jumped a few moments before and made it through safely, but his father had no such luck. Just as Leo turned his freighter around to check on his father his voice came over the comms. "I Love You, Son. Carry on my name and become the best Trader in the Universe. And tell your mother I love her." The Comms. Went deathly silent. Leos vision started to go black at the edges, blood ran from his face as if fleeing a terrifying predator, his ears rang as if the whole universe were screaming at him. And then he saw it, the shockwave rippling from the explosion, the derby shooting off in every direction, the pirates tractor beams pulling in his father precious cargo. He watched, all of it in slow motion. The ringing in his ears, the blood rushing from his face, the explosion, the shockwave, his fathers last words, they all came crashing down on him in one nightmarish wave. He passed out, his elbow switching on the AUTOPILOT as he fell.
"Leo......."Leo..." "Get up, Leo...." Leo groaned and opened his eyes slowly. There were loose wires hanging from the ceiling and walls of the cockpit. Soon becoming fully aware of where he was, Leo shot up and gasped as he fell into the captains chair of his freighter. Darkness threatened to take him again, creeping up on the edges of his vision like a panther clings to the shadows outside of the hunters campfire. In an act of self-preservation, his pilots instincts kicked in and took control of his body, ignoring the pain in his head and arm. He ran a quick diagnostics check on the ship. Thrusters were only pushing 50% of max capacity, hull damage was at 85%, shields were recharging but only at 15%, and there were only ten batteries left. His navigation system wasn't registering his location. He must be quite far from his liberty/bretania routes. The radar wasn't reading any hostiles in the area...or anyone else for that matter, so Leo put the cruise on as he tried to figure out where he was.
Hours later, after flying through a huge radiation field, his eyes beheld the beautiful planet of Malta for the first time. His radar read 10k from destination. As the numbers began to dwindle, his heart beat faster and faster. Adrenaline pumped through his veins thicker than his own lifes blood. "3.... 2...1," he panted under his breath. He reached out a severely shaking hand to the comms. Button. "This is-" He choked and coughed then began again, his voice stronger this time. "This is Captain Leofwine Pendragon of the trader ship Majesty, requesting permission to dock." A friendly female voice answered his request, "You're clear to land. Please proceed." Leo wasted no time docking, ready to be on a, hopefully, safe planet.
His first stop was the medical station close to where his ship was docked. The adrenaline in his system was fading, and the pain was replacing it. Not only physical pain, but emotional as well. There was an ugly purpling lump where his elbow should be, and blood was caked to his hair, cheek, and neck. The nurse was friendly enough, not questioning his Liberty bought Trader ID. After binding his arm, cleaning him up, and checking that the small gash in his head had scabbed over, she gave him directions to the Local bar. He thanked her and headed out.
Before heading to the bar he inspected his freighter from the outside. From the looks of it, and knowing the current situation between Kusari and Bretenia, he had taken some stray shots from a fighter or two, and the dents in the hull could have been made by one of the many asteroid fields surrounding the area. He had enough credits to obtain another freighter if needed, or make repairs on his current one.
After a few drinks in the bar, he came upon a friendly local. Alejondro Perez was his name. He was a local cardamine farmer. After a few more drinks and more than a few tastes of the Orange Dream, he explained his situation, told the man his life story. How his father died, blacking out, coming upon this friendly planet. Alejondro decided then and there that Leofwine Pendragon was going to be his brother. He took him back to his plantation and introduced him to his family. He taught Leo everything there was to know about Cardamine and harvesting it.
The locals took a liking to Leo also. One of them was an Outcast pilot with the Callsign- Jolly_Roger. He taught him how to fly. Not the freighter type flying, but the intense flying. Helped him purchase his first fighter, a Sabre. Taught him the tools of the trade, how to pirate, when needed, and the most important lesson of all. He taught him the Honor of being an Outcast. It touched home with Leofwine, and after meeting a few of the other pilots that felt as strongly about his new found home and restoring it to the former glory as it's good people deserve, Leofwine Pendragon made a vow, with all his friends and fellow Outcasts as his witnesses, to defend this planet and it's people from any who sought to take from them and give nothing back. He vowed to help restore Malta to its former glory!
![[Image: pendragon-2.png]](http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y277/bearlee89/pendragon-2.png)