Desmond Gray - How he came to be.

[Desmond Gray]

"Hey you kid's can't be up here on this level! Authorized personnel only!" the man yelled at Desmond and his friends as they played tag and hide-and-seek in the hall. "Go back to level 4 where you should be!" he was tall, kind of overweight but that must of been from all the junk food he ate. No hair but a beard that was as black as space itself and green eyes that seemed to be able to pierce even the toughest of criminals and soldiers.

Desmond being only 7 years old just looks at the man, "Calm down old man we're just having fun."

"This is Freeport 7, not Funport for kids. Get to level 4 before I tell your father.... Again."

"Fine..." Desmond says as he lets out a sigh. The only thing he was scared of was his father. He looks at his friends, "Come on guys, let's listen to him. We don't want him having a heart attack... Again." The man looked at disbelief at Desmond and right before he was going to say something the kids run off around the corner.

"I swear if it's not another heart attack that kills me it'll be these damned kids... Why they let kids on this Freeport is beyond me."

Desmond and his friends go back down to level 4 and continue their game for a little while longer before he hears a familiar voice call his name, "Desmond! Time to eat, come on your food is getting cold!" Desmond turns around and sees his father, John, standing in the corridor motioning him to come on, "Aww, 5 more minutes? Please!" His father smiles and says, "No because 5 will turn into 30, now lets go." Desmond looks at his friends, "Bye guys, I'll see you later." then takes off towards his Dad. As they walk down the hallway Desmond's Father asks, "Have fun today kiddo?" Desmond looked up at his Dad who stood well over 6 feet tall, short dark hair, muscular and a short goatee that he kept well trimmed.

"I guess so..." Desmond says softly as he looks back down at the floor beneath him. His father took notice of his sudden change of mood, "You ok Des?"

No response.

"You miss your mother don't you?" Every time... Every time he seemed to know when he was thinking about his mother who had died in a mining operation not even a year before. "Yeah." They both stopped and his father kneels down and looks him in the eyes, "Son... I know you miss her, I do too but, you gotta look at it like this - she's not gone, she's still here in spirit."

"It's just not the same anymore... I really miss her." Desmond says still looking down. His father embraced him tightly and said, "Things happen son. Just know that I love you." "I love you too Dad."

His father lets go and stands up, "Now let's go eat our -" he got interrupted by the alarms of the station. A clearly scared voice came over the intercom "We are under attack by unknown ships! Everybody to battle stations, the rest of you get to the escape pods!" His father looks at Desmond and for the first time Desmond saw fear in his father's eyes.

"Quick Desmond! Follow me to the escape pods, we don't have much time!" the escape pods were on level 3, they'd have to take the stairs due to the elevator being a death wish because of how slow they were. They run as fast as they can to the stairs, the station shakes as the attack continues sending Desmond on his face, "Dad!!" Desmond yelled. His father looks back and runs to pick him up and carries him down the last flight of stairs.

The person over the intercom yells, "Shields down, repeat, shields down!" and at about that time the reach the pods. Only one left with about 6 people in it, escape pods were only built to hold 7. His father takes note of the last seat left and pushes Desmond in the escape pod and closes the hatch, "Dad! DAD! NOOO!" He saw his father lip the words "I love you" through the window before he pressed the launch button shooting the pod through space. The force of the sudden jolt sent Desmond on his back, and still looking through the window only to see the station he had been playing on not 30 minutes before, explode into a million pieces of twisted metal and steel. He catches a glimpse of some strange blueish craft and in the blink of an eye - it was gone.

His mind raced with what happened. He still couldn't process what had happened... First his mother and now his father, both within a year. He sits in the empty chair in the pod not bothering to strap in but instead to cry like he's never cried before. The other crew members try to calm him down but it's clear to them that he didn't want to be bothered due to him just seeing his father be incinerated by an unknown force.

After 3 hours of coasting through space the pod is eventually picked up and taken to planet Manhattan in the New York system. There he was put into foster care until he reached 18 years old. While in foster care he learned to work on ships, build ships, computers, weapons, all sorts of different stuff. He didn't do it to get his mind off things, he did it to get revenge on the now known Nomads that took his father's life 11 years before.

Time goes on and it's now 20 years since his father has died. Knowing who had killed him back on Freeport 7, he builds his own ship and built in computer. He names the computer John, after his father. The AI John helps him with basically everything that has to do with his ship, from scanners to space combat and even some tricks to evade anybody who may be shooting at him.

"Sir, you're still a bit rusty. Your hit score is only 8/10, to take on this advanced race you must have perfect accuracy. Are you sure you REALLY want to take on the Nomads?" John said through his speaker on the control panel. Desmond had just had his 150th space combat practice. He was still a bit rusty but he was determined to get this done. He wanted revenge.
"John, I've been wanting this more than anything for 20 years... I think I'm ready." He says firmly. "Set a course for Omicron Iota. It's time John."
"But sir I -" Desmond cuts him off mid-sentence, "Look John, I know you're a bit scared, worried or whatever you computers feel but I said it's time. Set the course."
"As you wish sir. Course set for Omicron Iota, would you like me to keep scanning through systems for possible threats?" Desmond looks down at his control panel and flips a switch to engage the cruise engines, "Please do. I'd rather not get shot down by some pirates before I get there. Is the bomb in the cargo hold ready?"
John hesitates before saying, "Yes it's ready sir. Just say the word and I'll jettison it."
Desmond smiles as he takes his ship off autopilot and heads towards Omicron Iota to take revenge on the Nomads for what they put him through 20 years before.