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Full Version: Damien Gasteuil, Gallic Refugee
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Born on Planet Orléans in 719 AGS, Damien Gasteuil was raised in a poor farm of the rural gallic colony. With his older brother and younger sister he tries to help his parents with the hard work in the fields. Years passed and the minor exploitation was struggling with the harsh conditions imposed by the authorities on behalf of the war against the Houses of Sirius. When news of the capture of two new systems for the glory of the crown came to them they were desperate for money. Luckily for them, the crown needed new colonists to inhabit the newly acquired and renamed planet Bordeaux and was willing to provide a fresh start for anybody who volunteered. Jumping on this opportunity, the Gasteuil family was in the first group of colonist settling on the former Gaia.

During the journey to Bordeaux, Damien met a young man from New Paris. His name was Thibault and the two became quickly friends. They were like two faces of a coin. Thibault was braver, bolder and never knew when to shut his mouth. Beside him Damien looked even more insecure but the two were kind-hearted, full of hopes concerning the new life offered to them and were often seen sharing their dreams while watching the starry skies. They comitted all their strength and all their heart to this new colony and did more than their share of the work.

But not so long after their arrival, the tide of war turned and the monarchy was in ruin. Every day, more and more noble men and ladies landed on the planet and they were soon to be followed by their most devoted loyalists. Nobles being nobles the lower class workers and farmers were put at work and encouraged to show a blind zeal to serve their masters and make the royal domain great again. But were they still workers or mere slaves ?

Thibault overheard some pilots of the former royal navy speaking of a jump hole leading straight into enemy territory and the need of watching it carrefully if they were to barricade themselves in Aquitaine for a while. The young man, impetuous as he was, rushed to his friend and convinced him to take their chance and flee the planet while they still could. Reluctant to leaving here his family and scared about being caught Damien tried to dissuade his friend but failed. He was too stubborn to understand and as he didn't has any family left he thought he had nothing to loose. Unable to let his friend go, alone against the whole universe, Damien made his decison. Leaving without a word in the cover of the night, the two young men took advantage of the state of the in-building colony to make something nobody was expecting. They lured two drunken pilots and knocked them down silently then proceed to leave the planet. With simulation video games for only reference, piloting the spaceships was no easy task but they miraculously, and mostly because of autopilot routines, managed to exit the atmosphere. Following coordinate of a jump hole stored in the date base of Thibault ship they were soon out of Aquitaine. But it was not the same jump hole the man heard about and they weren't in the heart of the former Bretonnian territory but instead in the Dublin system. With no idea were they where, where to go or what to do they fly randomnly between the rocks and ended in front of an old Battleship : The Hood.

Having no better idea and nowhere to go to begin with, they docked in. But the bruisers of the IMG wern't known for their kindness. Many of them did lose friends or family members in the war against Gallia and some even lose their homes when Leeds was bombarded. The two young refugees soon ran for their lives to their stolen spacecrafts. If Damien was lucky enough to made out of the Hood alive, his friend did not.

Alone, without food or money and with a fighter he wasn't even able to fly correctly, Damien felt lost. For the first time in his life, nobody was here to tell him what to do or where to go. He left his family to lose his only friend and has no other choice now but to try to survive in an unknown part of space where he was the enemy, even if the war was over. Alone in his metal coffin, drifting in space without purpose, he cried.
People often say "Life is a jerk" and in most the time it's true. But, from time to time, a miracle happens when you need it the most, and Damien never needed it more than this day.

As he was floating around, desperate, in Dublin his scanner detected another ship. It was a junker heading to the gold field. As Damien contacted him and begged him for some food the man replied he didn't have any but would gladly give him some spare gold wich Damien could sell to buy some food or whatever he wanted. While the BMM miner paid by the Junker to fill his cargo was doing his work, Damien was listening to advices given by this friendly man to him while profusely thanking him. The man told him to fly to Rheinland where people should have less hate toward the Gallics and where he would have a good price for the little gold he would have. When the miner did finish his job the Junker realised how little Damien's cargo was and decided to give him some money to help him a little more. Excited and grateful, Damien thanked him again and again but was speechless when he saw hat amount did the man gave him. Fifteen million... the young man did never saw this much money in his entire life. While crying from relief and gratefulness he promised to do whatever the man would ask of him if they were to cross path again. Knowing he would never be able to pay his debt, Damien flyed away to Rheinland, even if he didn't know where it was. Now he had a goal : start his life anew and earn enough money to be able to reimburse his savior. But, as he was leaving Dublin he remembered a thing : he dind't even ask the man his name !
After selling his newly given gold on New Berlin, Damien wandered in Rheinland space. Since he was told by his junker benefactor that people here should be more friendly toward Gallics than in Bretonnia, he figured out he would be wiser to stay here for a while. His radmon flight were an opportunity to know the place better and to, maybe, have a clue about what he could do to earn enough money to pay back his debt the fastest way. Luck was also on his side this day as he met a freelancer hauling beer to Nuremberg. Asking the man if he knows where Damien could find some kind of job around here, the trader suggested he wern't against some kind of escort if only Damien would have a proper spacecraft with more adequat equipement. After Damien admitted he was a total new comer on this kind of things the man give him plenty of advice and 8 million credit to buy a Rheinland Transport who would make him a decent fit in any convoy.

When he was ready and after having thank the man for his kindness, his time and his money they were on the way to New London with a shipment of some kind of alloy. The trader wasn't of the chatty kind but provide the improvised freelancer with tactics and tricks to use in cas of a pirate attack. The man seemed happy to have even a debatable escort arguing it could dissuade some potential attackers and he said it was far more easy to outmaneuver a single pirate ship with two transports rather than alone. Flying with such an experienced pilot was reassuring and the trip to New London went quite peacefully. When Damien asked if the metal they were hauling was due to help to the after-war rebuilding his guide discouraged him to ask this kind of question when taking a job because it could cost him, in certain cases, to be too curious. Despite this answer the new pilot convinced himself he was helping to undo the bad caused by his countrymen.

In order to not wasting their trip back to Rheinland, they made a detour to Dublin. The plan was to charge some gold at a BMM station and take it back with them. Coming back there wasn't a relief from Bastien because it was giving him unneeded flashback from not long ago but he kept his mouth shut and they were soon out of Bretonnian space. Just in front of the Stuttgart jump gate they were stop by a Red Hessian who was asking them a fee to go through. His new friend handled the discussion with such calm and confidence than Damien stood in awe before him. He refuses to pay a thing and they escaped through the gate. According to him, the Hessian was wise enough to not give them chase knowing he was outnumbered. On his side, Damien was mostly happy he didn't have to fight anybody and was trying to calm himself down. They part ways on New Berlin, after selling their gold. Damien gave his tutor 10 million back, nearly all he earned with both the trip, to pay him back and to thank him for his advice, his time and for giving him a way to make a living here.

After such a stressful encounter, Damien headed to a bar near the landing platform, he needed to relax and have a beer... or two.
The following day, Damien tried to do the same trip alone with the contacts his mentor gave him. Even before he exited Rheinland territory he was intercepted by two unioneers pilot. Believing his last hour had come, as he would have no chance to escape two pirate fighters, he shiveringly answered the questions they asked him. When he told them his shipment was to help the reconstruction effort in New London they were less prone to murder him. He didn't really understood why but the pirates seemed to hold in great esteem people who tried to help the poorest. After some more talking they agreed to let him go if he send them a message when he will be in New London.

Damien faced no more trouble on the way but he was still shivering when he delivered his cargo in a station orbiting around New London. Better understanding the risks he took while traveling in space, he decided to try to contact the junkers in hope he could find the man who saved his life some days ago. A dead man cannot pay his debts, so while he was still alive he should differ it no more.