„West Point .. here we are.“ Jim sighed as he stepped of the transport and onto the station. The Navy, his last resort – no way life could take him down any further. Jim's eyes sweeped the arrival hall. „Hey, dandy!“ he shouted to a young ensign in uniform, all polished and cleaned up. „Where do I sign up?“. „Uh, over there.“ the ensign replied and pointed over to a row of counters, startled by the casual behaviour, and then dismissed the tall, red-haired Libertonian with an annoyed grunt. Not spending any more thoughts on him, Jim stepped to the counter with what he considered to be the shortest line. Hours passed until he finally got to see the woman behind the desk. She seemed to be in her early thirties, brunette, shoulder-long hair. „Good ..“ he hestiated a bit. „.. Evening, I suppose, Miss. Is this the place to sign up for shooting Rheinlanders?“„If by that you mean 'Is this the place to pledge yourself to the service of the Liberty Navy, you are right, Mister ..“ - „.. Corey. Jim Corey, or just Jim. I suppose you will load up my record now? Don't pay attention to those lousy Interspace notes in there, those suits wouldn't know a good pilot if one kicked them in the butt – which I didn't do, of course.“ - „We'll see about that. Please fill out this form in the meantime.“ The woman briefly smiled at him before typing his name into her neural net link.
. . . C O R E Y, J I M . . .
. . . scanning files for related reports and records . . .
. . . filtering . . .
. . . loading Records . . .
. . . available Records (arranged by priority):
- Planet Manhattan: Registration office: Corey, James
- LPI record on James Corey
- Interspace Commerce Application Form: Corey, James
- Interspace Commerce Record on Corey, James
- LSF record on James Corey
N A M E: Corey, James
A G E: 27
B I R T H P L A C E: Planet Manhattan
C U R R E N T D O M I C I L E: Planet Manhatten, Sectior 12 (UTC +1)
G E N D E R: Male
H E I G H T (according to last physical examination): 5ft 11in
W E I G H T (according to last physical examination): 176lbs
R E L A T I V E S: Corey, Charles, LNLt. (father, deceased); Corey, Ellen (mother, born Brighton); Corey, Arthur (brother)
K N O W N S–KYP3 P R O F I L E: Estiroth
. . . closing file: Planet Manhattan: Registration office . . .
. . . loading file: LPI record on James Corey . . .
. . . filtering for relevant new data . . .
. . . opening file: LPI record on James Corey:
Report on the Crowley-Bar incident, May 16th , 812, by Officer Brown, J.: It was the evening of May the 16th . Officer Mendez and I were on patrol in Sector 8, when we passed Crowley-Bar, a local tavern which usually serves Synthale. It is not the best place to hang around – a lot of shady characters. We heard screams, and went inside to see what's happening. When we entered the bar, severel bystanders snuck out, so we had free vision on the scene: there were two men in a fight, James Corey and Dwaine Gibbs, both later arrested. They were so intertwined in their beatings that it was hard to differ one from the other. Officer Mendez and I attempted to part the combatants, but it wasn't easy. Before we could end the fighting though, Dwaine Gibbs drew a knife and stabbed James Corey in the gut. Didn't look pretty. After that, Gibbs did not resist arrest any further. We immediately called an ambulance, and then took Gibbs in for questioning. It appeared the men had a fight about whose mother was the greater whore. They both got drunk and the fight got out of hand. We'll let the lawyers handle the rest.
Addendum: May 18th, 812, by Officer Brown, J.: We checked back with the clinic. James Corey is stable. We brought a screen and a holocam to shoot a picture for his file. He's got a scar on his abdomen now, will probably never heal – useful for identification purposes.
End of: Report on the Crowley-Bar incident, may 16th, 812, by Officer Brown, J.
Interview on the Sector 8 shoot-out, July 23rd, 815; Interviewing Officer: Gordon, T.: Gordon, T.: Are you aware of and agree to the audio-documentation of this interview?
Corey, J.: I am, and I do.
Gordon, T.: This is Officer Thomas Gordon, interviewing James Corey on the Sector 8 shoot-out, is that correct?
Corey, J.: Correct.
Gordon, T.: Mr. Corey was present at Union Square as a wittness when the shooting began, is that correct?
Corey, J.: *sighs* You know it is.
Gordon, T.: Please, Mr. Corey, tell me what happened.
Corey, J.: My father was home, on shore leave. My mother always celebrates those days, and she wanted to cook some real food not some Synth Paste junk. So she sent my father and me to the food store on Union Square. There was no sign of trouble yet. We picked up what we needed, and then were ready to pay. When we were standing at the checkout, I remembered that we forgot the mustard, so I went to the back of the shop to get it. That's when some thugs, Rogues probably, entered the shop. They made it quite clear that they intended to rob the shop and everyone in it. They had guns, and everything. My father tried to talk to them, to defuse the situation, but that just made them more aggressive. To make things worse, they appeared to have been followed by Xenos or some other vigilantes, and they just started shooting. I got down in time, but my father and the clerk were standing right in the middle of it. I really can't remember anything past that, until the police came.
Gordon, T.: Thanks, Mr. Corey. I know, this must be hard for you.
Corey, J.: I don't need your charity, officer. Can I go now?
Gordon, T.: Yes, Mr. Corey. Stop recording.
End of: Interview on the Sector 8 shoot-out, July 23rd, 815; Interviewing Officer: Gordon, T.
. . .closing file: LPI record on James Corey . . .
. . . loading file: Interspace Commerce Application Form: Corey, James . . .
. . . filtering for relevant new data . . .
. . . opening file: Interspace Commerce Application Form: Corey, James:
„June 14th, 811
Hey Stuart,
As an attachment to this mail, I send you the app form of Jim. We talked about this, do you remember? How he wanted to earn his living by flying an escort for IS transports? In all these years of our friendship, I've never asked you for anything, but I really need you to do me this favor.
Thanks. Charles“
Application Form:
Name: Corey, James
Age: 19
Current domicile: Planet Manhattan, Sector 8
Qualifications: May 811, graduation from Sector 8 Public High School; years of experience flying Starfliers; Escorting independent trader Corey, Arthur on at least two trade runs; Can speak Bretonian accent (Dublin to be precise);
Why do you want to work for Interspace Commerce?
Flying a starship has been my most considerable talent ever. I would love to combine my most favourite thing to do with my job. This would be the perfect opportunity.
. . . closing file: Interspace Commerce Application Form: Corey, James . . .
. . . loading file: Interspace Commerce Record on Corey, James . . .
September, 811: Joined the Interspace Commerce. Got assigned as recruit to Captain Stuart Parker, Escort in Manhattan system.
May – June 812: Vacation due to medical reasons.
October, 812: Promoted to Rookie. Assigned as an escort to the Newark – New Tokyo trade route.
March 815: Promoted to Captain.
July. 815 – November 818: Under psychologgical observation. (See psychological evaluation)
November 818: Left Interspace Commerce.
. . . transferring to: Interspace Commerce: Corey, James, psychological evaluation . . .
. . . loading file . . .
. . . opening file: Interspace Commerce: Corey, James, psychological evaluation, by Richard, M. PhD and Peters, H. PhD:
September 15th, 811: James Corey seems to be very normal for someone of his age. He is psychological stable and had a good childhood. His motivation to fly for Interspace should provide a solid base for his success.
July 25th, 815: I talked to James about the death of his father, two days ago. He's shaken, naturally. I think, deeply he blames himself for the death of his father, a common reaction. That is not true, of course – we will have to work on this in several sessions to make him realize that it was not at all his fault.
December, 14th, 815: I .. I can't continue this record any longer. James and I are now closer than before, and I see him as something more than a friend. His recent actions have made me realize that. I'm handing the psychological record of Courey, James over to Dr. Harold Peters.
March 13th, 816: Well, when Dr. Martha Richard handed me over James Corey as a patient, I didn't know what to expect. Mr. Corey has acted unbelievable irresponsible in the last few weeks. It may be a phase caused by the death of his father, but if it continues, IS must be ready to take serious steps in response to this.
November 7th, 818: It has started again. Mr Corey is endangering himself, his wingmen and the transports by acting absolutely irresponsible. Last week, he ordered his fighters into the Silverton Asteroid field to pursue some Xenos, leaving an unarmed transport behind, even though it is widely known that the Xenos hide a base somewhere in the field. My recommendation is to relieve Mr Corey of his duties, and to find out what is causing these outbreaks, before putting him into a Startracker again.
November 9th, 818: IS followed my recommendation to suspend Mr Corey for a while. Unfortunately, he didn't take it so well, and left the corporation.
This is the last entry in his psychological record.
End of file: Interspace Commerce Record on Corey, James
. . . closing file: Interspace Commerce Record on Corey, James . . .
. . . loading file: LSF record on James Corey . . . . . . A C C E S S D E N I E D; classified information . . .
„Well, Mister Corey …“ the brunette said. „... you've got quite a file there.“ She smiled vaguely and awaited his response. „Well, as I said, don't pay any attention to those Interspace suits. They have no idea what good pilots like me are made of. And the Navy can always use good and experienced pilots, isn't that true?“ - „Well, yes, sure, but ...“ - „Look, just be an angel and forward this to the person who decides who gets in and who doesn't, yeah?“ - „Well, Mister Corey, why do you want to join anyways?“ - „I'm looking for a job. The Navy is looking for pilots. It's as easy as that. I hear it's good money, and I'd much rather serve Liberty than anyone else.“ - „Well, I'll show this to my superiors, but no promises.“ the woman said, shutting down the neural net comlink. „That's more than I had expeceted. It really is.“