BIO: Captain Stephen Shuford of DSE

[DSE)Ghost.Town]

Nationally: Libertonian, originally from Planet Manhattan.
Gender: Male
Age: 30
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 150lbs
Ships in my command: DSE)Sky.Train, DSE)Globemaster, DSE)Ghost.Town, DSE)Cardinal

Appearance:
Picture of myself with my young son Kamden at my sisters wedding: http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-as...9337_n.jpg

Picture of myself with my daughter Katrina and wife Amanda: http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-as...2320_n.jpg

Pictures of myself (in red shorts) at a Brazillian Jiu Jitsu tournament on Planet Pittsburgh (DSE Grapplers Challenge IV). I placed 2nd if you are wondering:
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-sn...3088_n.jpg
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-sn...3265_n.jpg
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-sn...3921_n.jpg
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-as...4165_n.jpg

Skills: I am blessed with the gift to gab (talk to others). I am very empathetic towards the needs and feelings of others, which is extremely handy in social situations, even piracy incidents. I am also extremely skilled with modern computers and spend a lot of time tinkering with my computer and ship systems. Also, somewhat of an intellectual, I collect old Earth style paper books. I am also active in martial arts training and have been for many years, especially in Muay Thai, Boxing, Wrestling and Brazillian Jiu Jitsu.

Personality: I am, as stated earlier, conscientious and empathic, especially with old friends and when meeting new ones. Without sounding arrogant, I believe I am generous, a philanthropist even, as I can not remember the number, or even half the names of new pilots that I have helped by giving them money for everything from pirate encounters to buying them brand new ships. That is not even mentioning all the time I have given teaching many, new to sirius, the ropes and profitable trade routes and mining site. Unfortunately, and this is honestly not always my favorite character trait, I can also be a firebrand, and sometimes take things too far when pushed into confrontation, especially when a friend is in danger. Otherwise I'm a pretty easy going person and not hard to get along with, or so I've been told. I often find myself working solo, but appreciate when someone can teach me something new, as well, and I do greatly enjoy group projects as well, much more so than acting solo. I enjoy the feeling of comradery, the teamwork and the sense of being part of something much larger and more permanent than myself. Moving on, I always pay back debts, on or before time, as I hate to owe anyone in the first place and too often, though I lend money expecting not to see it again, people forget about their debts and never pay them. Between my gentle nature and hyper-vigilance, when a friend or myself find ourselves in possible danger, it's sometimes as if I'm two people in one. In truth my hyper-vigilance has saved me many times, but if engaged, win or lose, I earn my respect after the dust settles and none of these altercations are instigated by me, this I can promise you. Unfortunately we live in a dangerous world with pirates, rebel and terrorist groups prowling the very areas we work in and too often the pubs we frequent after a job well done. Most importantly, to me at least, I am a loving father and husband and a dedicated worker and employee.

Biography: I was born, an only child, on Planet Manhattan to wealthy parents, unfortunately they died in an atmospheric decompression while serving onboard their Universal Shipping transport. Afterwards a far less wealthy, but kind and very intelligent uncle took me in. Uncle Frederick Carl Shuford, whom we always called Uncle Fred, a cosmologist by profession, who I credit with interesting me in the vastness, wonder and amazing variety of space and all that resides within it and, perhaps even more importantly, space travel (which eventually became my life). I love and treasure my uncle for not being interested in me only for my relatively small inheritance, but because he loved my parents and me, even though we only saw him sporadically, when they were alive, due to busy work with both my parents and him, as well as the vast distance between our homes. It was always a good time when he'd come over though, and a real treat when we got to visit him. Even now, though my uncle passed away years ago, perhaps because of how much my uncle sacrificed to raise me, on his modest income, and how much I respected his opinion of me, It is still tough for me to admit and talk about this, and I never did tell him while he was alive, but, In my adolescence, just a few years after my parents death, I tried my hand at being an outlaw smuggler and drug dealer. This was perhaps because of the impact of and my reaction to my parents deaths. Well, a psychologist might put it that way, but, in my opinion, it was the result of my own bad choices. Though I may have been a very intelligent young man, I certainly, looking back, had an immature mindset, and without pushing away the blame, it may have been easier to choose this path due to the area my uncle and I were forced to live in on Planet Manhatten, which was certainly a rough one, though I had more options than most of it's residence due to my background, schooling and the benefit of living with a brilliant cosmologist as well, instead of a drug smuggler or a common criminal. All the same, I chose the path I chose Back then I was selling decent sized amounts of cardamine to independant dealers and multiple pounds, every week, of synthetic marijuana to everyone and their mother. Well, a local group of planetside Liberty Rogue affiliates, upset at my selling to independants and not paying Liberty Rogues for the right to sell in that area ambushed and shot me several times in the process, once in the face, taking out my left eye, which is why I wear the red optical chip you see in my picture. I survived, of course, or you'd not be reading this, thanks in no small part to the quick actions of an off duty Liberty Police officer, turns out he was a real big shot, hard ass cop too, "Pistol" Pete Braddock. And believe me, I never thought, in my line of work, that I'd be happy to see a cop, but trust me, I would have kissed him on the mouth when he came to my rescue. I was already bleeding out of my head and torso badly, and I figured I was done for, especially with my eye blown out and the exit hole in the side of my head. I, unfortunately, saw these hideous wounds when I dropped down and noticed the walls at the restaurant, I got ambushed at, were all mirrors. After seeing my condition I really wished I'd never had the chance to look, or that I had died instantly. Anyway, I am getting off course, this officer, Pete Braddock, after a short shootout had killed the 2 Liberty Rogue affiliates that had almost killed me, and was using restaurant dish towels to put pressure on and stop the bleeding from many of my wounds. I got to the hospital, had surgery and was sent to ICU afterwards. Surprisingly, Officer Braddock, visited me several times in ICU and in rehab after they knew I was stable and going to make it. It was there he met my uncle, and after hearing about how brilliant and how much of a good kid I was (my uncle was ignorant regarding my criminal lifestyle and because of this, and our solid relationship, had a very high opinion of me) Officer Braddock never had the heart to tell my uncle I was targeted because of my own criminal activity, and refusal to bend to the Liberty Rogues. Well, this officer visited me almost every day in rehab and we developed a friendship that grew the more we talked. He must have seen something in me as he took a serious interest in me and we had many conversations regarding where my life was heading even after I got out of rehab. Surprisingly, most of all to myself, as my uncle and surprisingly Officer Braddock both had a lot of faith in me it seemed, I turned my focus, efforts, intelligence, no less than my entire life towards something else, something lawful, positive and something that could potentially make me 10,000 times the money I was making selling drugs, and I'd probably not loss my only remaining eye doing it. I finished high school and went to college, at the University of Aeronautics, to study interstellar mining with a minor in interstellar navigation. After graduating and getting my bachelors I worked for several companies, Synth Foods, Interspace Commerce and Universal Shipping among them, but I never felt truly comfortable, or like this is what I was going to spend my life doing. At the same time I was working at these companies, I was going to night school. I went to and got my masters at Northeastern Manhattan College, my masters was in interstellar logistics, a highly useful field that offered plenty of opportunities and that wasn't going to be obsolete for the next, I don't know, 50 billion years (that is a guess of course). I also met my beautiful future wife, a Kusari woman named, Amanda, at Northeastern. After graduating Amanda and I married and we bought our first ship, a modest Rhino. We bought it so that my wife, Amanda, could travel to her parents and families homes in the New Tokyo system. Moving forward a little, I was talking to some friends from work, which was the Independant Miners Guild at this point of my career, these friends were miners and they advised me how profitable mining could be if you knew where to get the ore and being veteran IMG miners, they knew right where to look. Looking at their lifestyle, the cars the drove, the ships they flew and their always sharp attire, I decided it was a no brainer and that I was going to try my hand at mining, whenever time permitted, which was after work, on the weekends and any days off I had. Well, as if under a spell I soon became obsessed and soon enough started mining with the group of veterans from IMG. Luckily I was able to borrow/rent, for 15% of my mining profit, an old, but safe and reliable, MV-422-B "Surveyor" Civilian Light Miner from one of the miners. Soon after starting, just like that I was making some really decent money. This new part time mining hobby of mine, quickly surpassed what I was making at IMG doing logistics and after giving my notice it became my full time job. Shortly after this my wife and I added a baby girl to our family, our little princess, Katrina Marie Shuford. With the "Surveyor" and my mining activities, my family was doing good and I even eventually saved enough to buy a Rhino and not long after from this Rhino I upgraded to a Dromedary. I was hauling ore now from the miners, though I still rented the "Surveyor," for when no hauler was needed, or I was working solo. While mining, I started to develop a deep friendship with several employees of DSE, whom I met in the field, and after a few months of mining together I applied to and was hired by Deep Space Engineering, DSE). This was a major, big league, company, mainly building trade lanes, but also with a solid mining division. A year after joining DSE I had a son, Kamden Michael Shuford, who brought a lot of joy to myself and the family, especially his older sister, Katrina, whom he fell in love with, and looked up to immediately, and whom he constantly followed around. After my son's birth, not terribly long ago actually, aided by a significant loan from a friendly Junker (Even more surprising as this is a group I have a terrible reputation with!) , I bought a Hegemon. I soon earned enough money to pay back the loan as I was making 10 million per run, mining silver from Humboldt and selling it at Cali Minor for $9,000+ per unit. Because of this new job at DSE, mining mainly in Humboldt, my family moved and still own a home on Cali Minor. After saving up several millions I switched to transporting goods for DSE, and bought a Bison, which I fell in love with. Later still I bought a Mastodon, which was great for hauling, but with only one turret, rear facing at that, which made me feel vulnerable. Several months after that I finally settled on the ship I fly 99% of the time now and have truly fallen in love with, my flagship the "Enterprise" class Luxury Liner, which I gave the name Sky.Train. Shortly after my first year or so flying Sky.Train, I have much more disposable income than I would have ever thought possible. I also now own an, "Anki," for helium mining in Okinawa, and an, "Arrastra," for Silver mining in Humboldt, both DSE) registered ships. At this time, I have to say, from my vantage point, the future is looking brighter than I ever believed it could be, and my family is living a very satisfying life where money is never a problem and travel is luxurious and best of all free! Having the luxury liner is great because I often bring my entire family, and even some of my extended family and family friends for trips around sirius. In fact, my entire family spends more time on Sky.Train, these days, than it does on Cali Minor (who can blame them though with the weather on Cali Minor). Yes, life is good and I owe it all to hard work, my old co-workers at IMG, who first got me interested in mining as a way to make money on the weekends, a chance meeting with an almost insanely friendly Junker, who took a big chance lending me the money for the Hegemon, and finally DSE, an unreal company to work for with a great group of people, a company that's earned my loyalty and where I plan to work until I decide to retire. That is basically the end of my story at the momet. I hope you enjoyed it, and I will do my best to keep you posted if anything new and excitings happens or anything changes.

Please feel free to message me and say hello if you see me around. Have a great day and enjoy yourselves.

Thank you so much for reading my biography,
Captain Stephen Shuford of the DSE)Sky.Train, Enterprise Luxury Liner DSE)Globemaster, Renzo Luxury Liner

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