Dirk Danger

[puppytaste]

Family Profile and Childhood

Little is known about Dirk's early life on Houston. Dirk is the orphaned son of a phosphorus miner, and an immigrant from the Zoner planet Erie in the Pennsylvania system. He has one younger brother (Known as Rick Ranger) who even less is known about, although the Liberty Security Force believe him to be an Xeno terrorist. Dirks father was killed in 789 A.S. In a tragic mining accident, being crushed under a heavy ore loader. His mother, desperate to make a new life for herself and her son, became a science officer on-board a freighter hauling consumer goods to Britonia, leaving her son in the care of her husbands friends back on Houston. She was later killed in 799 A.S. When Bounty Hunters detected a small amount of synthetic marijuana on board and destroyed the ship due to a garbled communication from the captain, leading the Hunters to believe the ship was engaged in piracy. Although Dirk was duly compensated for the 'accident' he never forgave the Bounty Hunter Guild for the incident.

Early Adulthood and The Liberty Navy

Left without parents, young Dirk fell into the dark Houston underground. He was fined and remanded on several occasions for crimes varying from petty theft to the attempted hijacking of a Starflyer from a unsuspecting freelancer. At age 16 he was arrested for assaulting a security officer at the Houston star-port (from which he had been banned from entering due to his prior charges). When he was brought before a Liberty Magistrate, Dirk was given two options, enrol in the Houston branch of the Liberty Naval Academy or go to work the same phosphorus mine that his father died in as a prisoner worker. It was an obvious choice to Dirk, who would have gave his left arm to get off his dead end home world. He scored better than average marks in most areas, most notably in transport combat evasion tactics. After 2 years in the academy he was placed in a local patrol squadron who's main task was harassing the local Junkers in the area.



Disillusionment with the military

After serving 15 years in the patrol squadron, then 1st Lt. Danger was desperate to ascend form his mundane duties as a patrol pilot. Their were many openings available for gunboat commanders due to the increasing conflicts with Rhineland, The Outcasts and various pirate groups. Many in the Navy considered these to be flying coffins and preferred to stay safe in their quick and agile snubs, but Dirk had never been one to fold in the face of danger. He was promoted to the rank of Lt. Commander and placed in the executive chair of the LNS-Hespurus. He quickly found out just what the other pilots were talking about with their 'flying coffin' jokes. He found himself on several occasions left to fend off superior forces (largely Liberty Rouge and Outcast Destroyer groups) and nearly lost his life in one engagement in the New York system to the hands of two Rouge Destroyers, which saw the destruction of his gunboat and the death of most of his crew. Dirk applied several times for commission of a larger ship, which were all summarily denied. Naval Command wanted to see him back in patrol squadron or on another gunboat. On a shore leave to planet Los Angeles, Dirk was approached by an individual claiming to be a friend of his deceased father. He claimed to work for the Lane Hackers, and for the price of 100,000 credits, could access his 'official military' dossier. It was pretty much as he expected until he got to the more recent entry’s regarding his requests to be posted on a larger vessel. One entry in particular read as follows...

“Dirk Danger cannot be trusted with command of anything larger that a gunboat. It is believed that at least his mother (and likely father and brother) were or currently are involved in pirate activities. It's a well known fact that these groups tend to have strong ties within families. Therefore I am strongly opposed to allowing Dirk access to our most sensitive equipment and intelligence...”

Upon discovery of this, Dirk promptly resigned his commission and vowed to never enter the core Liberty systems again.

Life after the military

Dirk took what credits he had and started doing the one thing he had always enjoyed, gambling. Especially the old Earth game 'poker'. He made his way from the local scrub games in the outskirts of Liberty all the way to the 'Sirius Poker Championships' on the Hogosha Golden Dragon Casino in Tottori. He placed an outstanding 1st place, winning a 100 million credit prize. Dirk then travelled to the Barrier Gate station in Coronado, and bought his first ship as a civilian, a used Firefly class transport that he christened FL-Straight.Flush, after the hand that won him his fortune. He set out to the Alberta system, drawn to the lucrative Platinum ore industry. Using the skills learned in the navy he was able to evade the frequent pirate and Lane Hacker raids in the area and amass even more wealth beyond his wildest dreams. But simple credits were not enough to satisfy Dirk, and he soon found himself wanting more. He promoted his executive officer to command his ore transport and left to find new adventure elsewhere in Sirius. He sought out the largest craft allowed to a normal civilian and soon found himself commanding yet another gunboat, this time a Kusari Explorer with the monicker 'Danger.Pay'. Remembering some intelligence reports from his LNS days, he set out for what he believed to be the ultimate in adventures. He set course for Omicron Delta, and never looked back.

The Omicrons and the Nomads

Dirk then arrived in Omicron Delta, a system thick with activity of all kinds. Corsairs, Bounty Hunters, Zoners and the mysterious Order, not to mention the aggressive alien species known as the Nomads. He quickly learned the true nature of the aliens, the complete destruction of all humans in Sirius. Realizing that he could make a difference in the conflict, he fought many battles with the race. He made a good name for himself and even a little profit smuggling the remains back to the Alberta system in spite of the 'military directives' of the local Bounty Hunters to drop his cargo. Although he had a good reason to return the Hunters fire on every occasion they found him in possession of the 'illegal' remains, he is noted as never to have killed a single Bounty Hunter. But his greatest accolade was in the defence of Freeport 11 from a swarm of 'Nammu' and smaller 'Assassin' type creatures. This gained the then Freelancer the respect of the Zoners, who Dirk had always admired. His mother was a Zoner and he always had regard for they way they could influence the houses without the use of violence. Dirk was contacted by Zoner officials and was offered a place in the Zoner fleet, the command of a new Fearless destroyer. As a extra consideration he would even be allowed to give it her name. Dirk jumped on the opportunity to finally do some real good in the universe. He flew to the Omicron-74 system, where he was greeted by a vanguard of Zoner ships. Most were pilots, or the family of pilots of the countless individuals he had saved in his brief time in the Omicrons. Dirk had never felt more at home then he felt at that moment. He knew then what his life could mean to the human race. After being paraded into the Livadia shipyards it was time to get to real business. He chose the name 'Vagabond' for his ship and set out into deeper territory with his new ship, with the mandate to not only help Zoners and their allies, but everyone caught at the mercy of the Nomad threat.



Omicron Zeta and the Phoenix Zoners

Dirks first goal was to try and determine exactly for himself where the aliens were coming from. He soon found the well guarded jumphole into Omicron Iota, a main hub of Nomad activity. Knowing that one mere destroyer couldn’t venture into such a dangerous area alone he set out to find other Zoner ships who shared his goals. It wasn’t long before he was contacted by the legendary Christian Burton, a high ranking Zoner official from the days of the 'Omicroners'. He had started a new group of elite Zoner officers and pilots and asked Dirk if he would like to sign on. Dirk agreed to the offer, and it turned into more than even he could imagine. He moved the FL-Straight.Flush to the system, reissuing it with the official Phoenix insignia. Christian rewarded Dirks efforts within Phoenix in ways the Liberty Navy could never have afforded him. From commanding a single destroyer, Dirk now commands a small task force. The (\^/)Vagabond is still around, but Dirk is most likely seen in the bigger brother of the now decommissioned FL-Straight.Flush, the venerable (\^/)Royal.Flush (Zoner Whale). Other ships in the group are the (\^/)Hephaestus (Aqulion Carrier), (\^/)Defiant (Conference Gunboat), (\^/)Demeter (Borderworld Med. Transport), (\^/)Erebus (A re-purposed Armoured Transport for mid-range cloaked reconnaissance) and his two personal fighters, a heavily armored Spatial and an Onuris light fighter, a gift from his Order allies. He is also engaged in a top secret project to fashion an advanced Zoner whale more well suited to the ever changing face of the Omicrons.

Dirk has come along way from his early years as a petty thug and gambler, and can always be called upon in the defense of all humans of any group or cast. He is always ready to reason with the alien Nomads, but always with his finger on the weapon safety switch.

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