Able Spacer Jeffrey Harkness

Jeffrey Harkness, age 30:

UPP 7A6CD4

5,000 credits, Travellers' Aid

Decorations

Air/Raft-1, Bribery-1, Forgery-2, Carousing-1, Computer-2, Creative Cussing-5, Electronics-2, Engineering-3, Gravitics-2, Mechanical-2, Underworld Market*-1, Vacuum Suit-1

• Underworld Market is a combination of Streetwise and Trader that allow you to apply the benefits of either skill when doing business with shady elements.

Appearance: Jeffrey Harkness is medium height - 180 cm (~5'11"), with a thin build(150 pounds). His face is narrow, with a thin nose, but not quite chinless. His facial hair foliacles have been surgically removed and his teeth have been straightened. His eyes and hair are black. His hair is thin and on the fragile side. His skin is pale, with the natural ruddy undertones warring with the unhealthy-looking gray that is a legacy of his prenatal neglect. His hands are long, thin, and clever.

He has not bothered to maintain military posture since getting busted the first time. When he is relaxed, he twitches every so often (again, prenatal damage).

Jeffrey has a cynical outlook on life. He knows that there are very few innocents, even, or perhaps especially, among the helpless, and that so damn few choose grace over greed. His philosophy is thus simplified: The wise man makes as few enemies as possible, but the only good enemy is a dead one.

History: Jeffrey was dropped off at a perpetually under-funded charity orphanage as a newborn. His only clues to his mother's identity are his childhood health problems and his mild speech impediment, both caused by prenatal damage due to the abuse of a common local drug. (This impediment forms the core of the dialect of the lowest social ladder of his homeworld - he has worked hard to minimize the accent but reverts when depressed or very stressed out.)

Seeking to escape through Imperial service, Jeffrey sought out extra education and spent long hours performing physical therapy to strengthen his body and steady his hands.

18: At the age of 18, instead of seeking a scholarship and early officer rank, he joined the Imperial Navy. Aptitude tests suggested that he would make a good engineer. At his specialty school, he learned Engineering-1 and Vacuum Suit-1, and was sworn in as a Spacehand Recruit.

19: Assigned to the Stalking Prowler, a cruiser going pirate hunting. Received the Meritorious Conduct Under Fire award and a promotion to Spacehand Apprentice for performing delicate EVA repair work during battle. Picked up Mechanical-1 from his Petty Officer boss's mentoring efforts.

20: Sent off to Engineering School for 2 years with an eye towards OCS. Picks up Gravitics-1, Electronics-1, Engineering-2.

21: Second year of Engineering School. Gravitics-2, Electronics-2.

22: Reenlists, hoping for OSC. Instead, assigned to cross-train in the Technical branch, where he picks up Computer-1.

23: OCS application delayed once more. Sent out on 2-year patrol onboard the Frigate Sniper. In the first year, he is promoted to Able Spacehand and learns how to tie one on during shore leave, gaining Carousing-1.

24: Patrol continues. Promoted to Petty Officer Third Class. Finds out about securing resupply while far from base, learning Forgery-1. Is injured towards the end of deployment when a pirate ship mistakes the Sniper for a local militia ship.

25: Application to OCS accepted. Then "delayed", as an individual with a noble patron had to be squeezed in at the last minute. Learned Creative Cussing-3. Application to Engineering school likewise turned down. Stuck on Shore Duty. Introduced by a friend to the local black market, learns Bribery-1. Promoted to Petty Officer Second Class.

26: Reenlists, but transfers to Technical branch. Snapped up for a task force heading into battle. Survives by the skin of his teeth and is awarded the Starburst For Extreme Heroism when he successfully stops a damaged reactor from exploding and jury-rigs it to keep working, allowing his battleship, the Terrible, to continue fighting. Promoted to Petty Officer First Class. Later in the year, it turns out he's been using his hero status to run a significant smuggling operation, learning Underworld Market-1. Busted down to Able Spacehand, learning Cussing-4.

27: Sent to Engineering School once more. Picks up Engineering-3, Mechanical-2.

28: Sent into battle once more, onboard the Fearless. Picks up a Purple Heart, Petty Officer Third Class, and Computer-2.

29: Shore Duty assignment. Nothing new to officially learn, but some interesting adventuring regarding his smuggling activities provide a hands-on experience with civilian gravcraft, giving him Air/Raft-1. Promoted to Petty Officer Second Class.

30: Assigned to help keep an old military transport running as it brings POWs home. This necessitates more and better creative accounting, resulting in Forgery-2. Alas, Jeffrey was caught while performing actions below and well beyond the call of duty. Summarily busted to Able Spacehand and confined to the brig pending courtmartial and dishonerable discharge. Cussing-5. However, so many POWs were brought on board that they had to remove the brig to help hold them all. Jeffrey is now confined to the civilian cargo hold. Usually. He's one of only 2 people on board who can diagnose and reverse a cascading systems failure, and the other, a Chief Petty Officer Vargr named Glavd, is far busier than Jeffreys.