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This philosophy on life led Richard to be a rather dour, withdrawn youth, hardened to the world at an age when most children were still in grade school.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.