Quick-ish Character Back Story:
Out of the farm. into the Jungle.
Rovann Balthus was the sole son of of war-veteran-turned-farmer-due-to-injury. He grew up in a small agri world called Arbordale which was a boring planet out in the sticks of the galaxy even though it was under the Federation. At the age of 15 his father (he never knew his mother. his dad told him she was a prostitute he dallied with in his younger years and who left Rovann to him) left the family farm to him and went off ''somewhere''... the message left behind by his dad was equally cryptic to his whereabouts only mentioning that a ''business associate'' will come to ''make business''.
...since the farm is yours now and you're the man of the house (much as it is) I guess it's safe to leave the affairs of the land to you...and I leave ''Beth'' in your hands. take good care of her as I did...I'm proud of you son...don't look for me...
Rovann replayed the holovid message over and over again making sure it was not bugged. He was not surprised that his dad would leave and him abandon him suddenly on his own--he expected it--but was surprised instead to hear him say that he was proud of him. He called him
son. After getting treated almost like a slave than an offspring, it's too little too late for that. Two weeks later, some suits from the Federation calling themselves the Phoenix Consortium showed up on the farm's doorstep.
After some confusion was ironed out (involving him talking to Beth in less than sanctimonious ways) the suits made known to Rovann that his good ol' daddy have borrowed a crap-ton of money from the consortium and they were there to collect.
That son of a Tvorian concubine, Rovann thought ''fondly'' of his father. The house, the land and the whole farm however isn't enough to pay for the debt. Before the other suit was to ''liquidate liabilities'' by pointing a weird looking handgun to Rovann's head the other guy (blonde. smiling like he took a crap secretly on someone's coffee) noticed him still handling Beth.
''The consortium however will accept payment in manpower what with the Federation still looking for good soldiers. I see you are quite...close with that SLR-15. If you show me what you can do with it then I think we can find an alternate way for you to pay your dad's debt. Savvy?''
Rovann didn't know what 'savvy' means but he's up for anything if it means keeping his head intact. He likes his head. Blondie showed him a golden Fed coin only two inches in diameter. he told him that if Rovann could hit the coin as the suit threw it then he would be signed up to an ''auxiliary company'' to help pay his debt. The blonde man then threw the coin hard and fast. To any normal person hitting, a small object with a laser rifle is an exercise in the impossible unless you have cyberware implants. But for a normal unaugmented teenage boy? Rovann eased Beth on his shoulders and took aim. It's like shooting jump-worms, skid-fish or dash flies. He noticed the flash of the coin and with only a foot of free air from the ground, he pulled the trigger.
A resounding *PING* was heard across the farm.
Three years later he was in a space station called New Wyoming with a couple of other mercenaries. The jobs were starting to slow down and the group was just spending a down time in the station's canteen. Looking back to the past couple of years, Rovann wondered how he survived the arduous training and near-death experiences he had accumulated serving under the Consortium. Good thing he knows how to shoot. that's the only thing he was ever thankful for his dad. The mercenary grimaced at the memory and stabbed the watery potatoes with his fork.
SSDD.Same Sh&!. Different Day.
Last edited July 20, 2021 4:55 pm
