Kenneth Western. Born to a middle-class family on New London, year 790 A.S., only child.
Son of an equipment dealer, Kenneth's path was somewhat set from an early age. He grew up in the family establishment, learning the trade and how it all fit together. Eventually, when he was old enough, he began an apprenticeship under his father to equip himself with the necessary skills to one day succeed the old man. He worked happily for a couple of years before the thought of leaving home ever really crossed his mind.
It was upon his 19th birthday that intrigue gained any foothold. Kenneth's father presented him with a recently cleaned though still dilapidated old civillian ship to call his own. Of course, the boy immediately fell in love with it.
Little by little, Kenneth saved his meagre wages and upgraded his bucket-'o'-bolts part by part, plate by plate. Naturally, it began to take up more and more of his free time, to the point where he would infreqeuntly miss family gatherings and sometimes evening meals. His father, Geoffrey, by now could see that he might be running the dealership for a little while longer than he might have planned...
Finally, during the summer of his 20th birthday, Kenneth was late to his shift in the dealership for the first time.
However, to his surprise, his father was ready and waiting for him. Geoffrey then procured two items and handed them to his son: a Sirius credit card worth 10,000SC, and a letter explaining Kenneth acceptance to a position at a local courier firm.
Kenneth was overjoyed to have received such a blessing from his father to finally make his own way in space with his beloved ship, even if it was a bit faulty. Within the next couple of weeks, the boy had said his goodbyes and started his work ferrying messages and packages around Bretonia space.
In case you've never had the pleasure, the life of a courier isn't exactly a barrel of laughs. The novelty of being an independent, free-flying errand-runner wore off before too long and Kenneth found himself thirteen months into a two-year contact and wanted so much more for himself. Not to mention the incident where, on a routine package-run, Kenneth and his wingman were set upon by wing of Lane Hackers, who barely let them escape with their longjohns clean.
At this point, Kenneth realised that he was by no means safe anywhere in Liberty space- not entirely. There would always be those who sneak through the grid.
Thus, upon his contract's end, Kenneth took his slightly more substantial savings and bought himself a new ship. The rust bucket had served him well, but if he wanted to take himself seriously in his voyage around space, he needed to be flying something that wouldn't disintegrate at the drop of a hat.
The new ship was good. It was shiny, angular, and came with off-the-line equipment, including a brand-spanking new pair of Liberty laser weapons. It was just what Ken needed to start building himself a decent freelance combat rep.
And so he did. For many years, Western sailed around the Sirius systems, looking for various jobs here and there- some safe, some risky; some haulage, some gunnage. But all good pay. Somewhere down the line, he frequented the system of New York, Liberty, taking on more and more missions for parties under authority of the Liberty Security Force and the Navy Guard.
Ken came to grow very fond of New York, treated it as his second home amongst the stars. But the serenity didn't last.
One day, returning to his accomodation on Newark Station, Kenneth jumped back into the New York system to find an Ageira transport under heavy fire from a group of hostile ships. They were after the cargo, no surprises.
Powerless, having arrived too late to be of any use to the situation, Western watched helplessly as the wing of Lane Hackers tore the transport to shreds and made off with the precious cargo. Incoming police persued, though he never found out the outcome.
It was in that moment that Kenneth decided to apply to the Liberty Navy. His reasoning was that, if there had been but one more member of the authorities present in New York on that day, maybe the transport could have been saved. He wanted to be that one man, to help stop the countless attacks from hostile forces claiming the lives of so many in and around the House of Liberty.
He wanted to make a difference.
//ENTRY ENDS
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