Richard Sykes

Richard Marion Sykes
Richard Sykes, c.818 AS.
Profile
Origin	Liberty
Occupation	Wandering freelancer and independent contractor
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Temporary Autonomous Zoners
Previous Employment	Colwell Trucking, Inc., Liberty Navy (Houston Voluntary Militia)
Rank	Acolyte
Status	Active (818 A.S.)
Born	August 31st, 771 A.S., Three Peaks, Planet Houston, Texas System (Age 46)
Died	Too stubborn/stupid/ruggedly handsome to die

Richard M. (Marion) Sykes (call him "Mary" and he'll gut you) is a 'retired' veteran of the Nomad War and sometime freelancer. Now he's a member of the Temporary Autonomous Zoners, and proud of it.

Biography

Early Life

Richard was born in one of the many small towns on Houston, a tiny place called Three Peaks with a population that never breached three hundred. His mother was a local waitress, but he never knew his father - Three Peaks was just off one of the main thoroughfares for planetary commerce on Houston, and as such was a rather infamous "watering-hole" where truckers could stop and experience certain 'pleasures' before having to move on again.

From an early age, Sykes had to work to support himself, his mother mostly just ignoring his existance and supporting her own life. Rick was bitter for a long time, but then slowly came to understand the reasons for this. His mother was out for survival much like himself, and so he should probably do the same.

This philosophy on life led Richard to be a rather dour, withdrawn youth, hardened to the world at an age when most children were still in grade school. He never had any formal education and, as a consequence, remains partially illiterate. He worked many early jobs, eventually settling down in the same vein of work as his father - in the supply transportation industry.

He worked for Colwell Trucking, Incorporated; a tiny transport firm headquartered in Three Peaks. Although at first he could not drive and had to mark his work contract with a diagonal slash, being unable to spell his own name, Richard was a hard worker despite the back-breaking conditions he moved under - he was much younger than the other workers, and his job had him moving heavy boxes by hand to the trucks that would then move the goods to faraway places. He gained driving practice by operating the stockyard's forklift (despite having no licensing) and showed a natural affinity for piloting from an early age. A sub-owner of the company noticed Rick's skill and went to great lengths to procure a transporter's license for the young man, which came with a promotion to truck driver and a hefty raise. Rick was eighteen by this point, and was living on the streets. He saw the sleeping compartments of the transport trucks as a significant improvement to spending the night under a store awning.

The young man, strong from his labor and proud from the lessons it had taught him, took off on the long, arid roads of Planet Houston, where he would spend eleven years serving Colwell Trucking before a certain event would lead him into the cockpit of a completely different vehicle: a Patriot.

In 800 AS, Richard M. Sykes was conscripted into the Liberty Navy as a light fighter pilot during the Nomad War.

Mid-Life

Nomad War

Richard, at right, in his Houston Voluntary Militia uniform, undergoing limited ground-fighting training.

Richard was pressed into the service of the Liberty Navy shortly after the destruction of the RNC Donau, when trouble was expected from all parties involved. Having no experience in spaceflight and even less in space combat, Richard was nonetheless commissioned as an Ensign and attached to the "Houston Volunteer Militia", a so-called 'meatshield brigade' of ship pilots with limited flight experience, given outdated vessels and equipment and tasked with locking down the borders of the only system that directly connected to Rheinland.

In the year of chaos and fire that followed, which later became known as the "Nomad War", Richard fought in a total of thirty-seven engagements on the Liberty border, scoring eight confirmed fighter kills in several hopelessly under-equipped Arrows (he had at least five shot out from under him during the war) before being relegated to defense of the Alaska gate. It was here where the Houston Voluntary Militia would begin experiencing sudden "changes" in mindset and physiology - in reality, each pilot was being infected with a Nomad incubus, with Sykes last on the list.

The day that Richard was slated to be infected and turned into a husk operated by a little blue monster, the Order attacked Alaska. In the chaos, Richard stole his Arrow and defected to the Order for the rest of the War, which would not last much longer.

In the end, Richard returned to Liberty space with a final total of fifteen kills - eight Rheinland vessels, five infested Libertonians and two Nomad fighters.

Post-War

Richard returned to a Houston torn by war but still flying the flag of Liberty with its signature fervent devotion. The pilot gave up his wings and returned to trucking, helping the economy of the planet to return to normal.

But something bugged the pilot. Despite his disillusionment with House politics and infighting, Richard thirsted for space. When he floated out there amongst the sprawling darkness in his Arrow, Sykes often wondered just what could be waiting out there, light years beyond his reach. Eventually this wanderlust, this need to explore, grew too great for him to bear, and he tendered his resignation from Colwell Trucking, Inc. From there, he bought his first fighter, a CSV, and hit the trade lanes.

Present Day

For a time, Richard flew as a freelancer under his own colors. He met several interesting types in his travels, and quickly came to sympathize with Bretonia's plight against the Kusari (although he remained neutral in the Liberty's fighting with Rheinland). He led a brief sedition campaign against Kusari, aiding the Blood Dragons and Golden Chrysanthemums in their fight before retiring from that. However, the Kusari State Police and Navy both remain hostile to him even to this day.

Presently, Rick has fallen in with the Temporary Autonomous Zoners, following a personal spiritual epiphany.