Matt Myers snapped awake with a jolt. He was in a large room filled with students; the LPI academy. The man yelling his name was the teacher at the front, who had been off on another one of his long, boring lectures again. Matt couldnt help but sleep. Matt Myers was a large man, even at the young age of 20, and he wasnt the brightest fellow. Thats to say that he didnt have book-smarts. He braced himself for what he knew was coming.
Since Mr. Myers finds this class so interesting, the teacher said, perhaps hed like to tell the class what I just said?
All Matt could do was smile and pull out the sound recorder he had hidden behind a stack of books on the table. Pressing the rewind button, he played back everything the teacher had just said. It was pretty clear the teacher was none too happy. Thus was the way of Matts stay in the Academy. One time, he had set up a video camera in the teachers podium, and pulled it out when the same thing happened. Quoting him, he had once said Its easier to cheat my way through here than it was to cheat my way through high school.
What Matt lacked in smarts, he more than made up for with a quick wit, and lots of charisma, and chutzpah. He also had long-time friend Barney Calhoun, who was extremely serious. He was also cool in the way that he let Matt copy all his answers and notes.
So, how did someone like Matt come to be Deputy Chief of the Liberty Police? Well now, that is an interesting story. The Liberty Police were having some rough times. Crime was on the rise, ineffective bureaucracy, terrible leadership, lackluster officers, that sort of thing. The Chief of Police, John Baxter, knew something had to be done. Quickly and with unerring precision, he ordered a cup of coffee from his secretary. Then he got down to business.
It was hard and grueling work. First, he realized the budget needed some revamping. He considered the options: cut back on ships, guns, prisons, or donuts and coffee. He chose the first two. Every police officer applauded his decision. Second, he realized they needed some more money. So he called up Sunbucks, everyone’s favorite eatery, and asked if they’d like to be shareholders in Liberty Police, Inc. They jumped at the thought of having LPI shares, as this would put them in even more control over them. Third, John realized that the ranking system was primitive. There was him and everyone else. That’s it.
So he appointed two Deputy Chiefs, one of which was Matt Myers. Why him? Because he was a people person. He knew, unlike his scholarly compatriots, how to handle situations that were difficult. Such as, he knew how to get people who were stuck in their cockpits out of there.