Editing The Spinward Blues (section)

=== Lieutenant Rickard (Drifter) ===
'''Sublieutenant Traveller Rickard Rand-Vilaal / Karin / Humani / M / 34 / 8798B6 / Astrogator, Boarding Combat, Liaison / MCUF (Bar), MCG (Bar), TAS'''

''Skills:'' Liaison-3, Recruiting-1, Carousing-1, Gambling-1, Bribery-1, Navigation-3, Computer-1, Vacc Suit-1, Zero-G-1, Admin-1, Blade Combat-1 (Light Blades), Gun Combat-2 (Lasers-1, Handguns-1)

''Notable Possessions:'' Cr5,000 in savings, one low passage ticket. Spiffy dress uniform and a few phone numbers. 

''Background:'' Rickard was born on Karin, in Five Sisters, a world divided and under Imperial Law. Formerly a balkanized world with a weak central union—the result of different colonizing groups landing on each of the five continents—politics and ideology meant a lot on Karin. When the two largest nations began a war that threatened to go global, the faltering Union requested Imperial intervention. Since then, forty-two years ago, the Imperium has been "peacekeeping" for the Union. Today's politics swings between pro-Imperial Unionists and anti-Imperial Nationalists. 

Rickard grew up in and around the starport, his father a retired Marine officer, his mother a politician for the Vilani-settled nation of Likuurgin. His early life made him a pro-Union political activist, and he became a capable speaker and organizer. His vision of the Imperium as a grand unifying force made him determined to serve and make a difference and so (to his father's pride and disappointment) he enlisted in the Navy. 

The Navy became his life. For his first tour, he was locally based, and kept up ties with family and friends, but the next twelve years would take him away from the subsector, into long range patrols. 

Early on, he had been a popular petty officer, with a knack of sorting out problems so that everyone got some of what they wanted. This was noted; promotions followed. 

It came as a terrible shock when he received news of his parents' deaths in a bombing incident. To block his grief with distance, he signed up for a double stretch, and has never returned to his homeworld. 

He became a solid Navy Man, his natural ease with different people and situations translating into a lot of liaison work—including a tour with the Marines, trained as a Navy specialist for deep space boarding actions. The Navy tagged him for officer school after a strike mission on Vargr raiders, and he emerged into the teeth of the Fifth Frontier War.

After the battles of the Sword Worlds, Rick was worn out. To his mind, he'd seen enough, done enough to pay back the Imperium. The toll showed on him—he'd burned muscle over the years, and only a solid regimen of exercises had kept his health from deteriorating. He bummed around for his last year, avoiding doing anything as much as possible, and resigned his active commission on his 34th birthday. He stayed on for a final hitch extension because they couldn't replace him, and he didn't argue—he wanted time to think. 

Those he'd served with before have noticed how withdrawn and contemplative he's become in these past months. Truth be told, the thought of leaving the Navy scares the hell out of him, even though he knows it's time… he's always ''belonged'' to something, and going out alone freaks him out a little.

So when his ship got brought into these events, he knew he had to do ''something.'' Especially when it was his astrogation calculations which caused the misJump. (Intellectually, he understands that the Jump was an unpredictable gamble, but personally he feels guilty.) And so he's found himself outside the ship, among mad women and nobleman…  

Old link is old: [[Rickard_Rand-Vilaal]]