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Dane Summers
| Dane Summers | |
 | |
| Profile | |
| Origin |  Liberty |
| Occupation | Smuggler, Independent Trader, Space Explorer |
| Affiliation | Zoners |
| Born | 15th June 796 A.S. Planet Los Angeles |
Dane Summers, (born June 15th, 796 A.S.) is an independent trader, smuggler, criminal, space explorer, shameless flirt, hopeless romantic, self-taught guitarist, hauler of goods for anyone with credits, eternal enemy of the Kusari Navy (though they don't know or care), and terror to the Nomads (but not really). A man with a heart only for the untamed frontier of space, and always in search of a good nights sleep.
History
Dane is the middle child of a family born to the calling of being Ageira Execs - including his father, and mother. It should be as no surprise that theres always a black sheep in every perfect family. Dane fulfills that role perfectly.
Living with the wealth such a family generated, and having no interest in following the family business, he grew up lazy and spoiled. From early on, he displayed no interests other then friends, music, and fun. Schoolwork suffered, and in high-school, he finally dropped out. When kicked out of his fathers house for leaving school, he stayed with a buddy, and even worked a small job at a local restaurant. But it wasn't until money got scarce that he made the biggest decision of his life - he joined the navy.
Hoping to gain some sign up money, and use it to stay happy & unemployed for as long as it could last, he jumped into the navy life with both feet. Fortunately for him, he showed and aptitude for being a mechanic, and nothing else. One officer even said that the thought of Liberty being defended by such a goldbricking loser would keep him up at night, so for his health, and everyone else, its a kindness such a person will never see the front-line. But what began as hell on the ground during training quickly became heaven in space. As the one thing he'd been searching for all his life, he had found.
A little history: Dane is cursed with a chronic, some would say terminal, case of insomnia - even as a kid, he found sleep elusive at the best of times, and only with sleeping pills (as a kid) and alcohol (not much later) could it be overcome, if even for a couple hours. Doctors could only prescribe more meds, but they rarely worked, and only in large doses - the after effects of those meds was worse, zombie-state grogginess and other fun things. But the insomnia was something he had just learned to live with, figuring it as his own little quirk. However, In space, aboard the Battleship Yukon, he found his first untroubled sleep ever. He missed reveille, got a five star chewing-out, and didn't even notice - he had found that most illusive and sought after of creatures - a good nights sleep. It was something about space, or engines, or the vibrations and humming. Whatever it was, it just all clicked together and produced an inescapable cocktail of sleep inducing qualities. So much so that the insomnia has flip-flopped into a very mild narcolepsy - On board ship, in a comfy chair, Dane will nod off without noticing.
In the end, it cemented his future in space. He kissed the ground goodbye and never even looked back.
Navy life was short and uneventful - but it taught him skills, gave him a nice sign up bonus plus back pay, enough to purchase his first starship once the walking papers were signed. He went from the discharge base, to a used starship dealer, all in one cab ride.
His first ship was bought used - an old, well worn, Rhino Light Freighter. It reeked of body oder, was rusted in too many places to count, had hull integrity issues around the cargo hold, the engines sometimes didn't answer the helm, and the throttle\control yoke's tended to get jammed. It was a heap, but Dane loved everything about it. The horrible creaking of metal whenever it broke atmo', the pilots seat that didn't recline, with its cracked and faded vinyl, still shedding stuffing. Even the horrible feedback screech from the comm equipment when a stripped wire got a little too close to something it shouldn't. He wanted to name it Heaven, but with ship registries being so much, he just affixed his name to the IFF, and figured heaven was a good enough name in his head.
After that, he made small bits of cash hauling goods around Liberty. Two hundred thousand credits from a full hold turned into a couple grand or so. Enough to refill the consumables on the Rhino, and grab a bite to eat, before heading out again. It was in that Rhino, hauling up Optronics For DSE to their Gate Construction Site up in Okinawa that he had his first encounter with Pirates.
Moving on down through Galileo, on his return to Liberty space, he ran into two fighter ships flashing Blood Dragon IFF's - a brief but tense conversation later, Dane was minus his pants, but had a great story to tell. Other experiences were not so great, and he's had more then a couple times having to pay out the nose in repair and towing costs when some Pirates decide to killshot his engines, and crack open his hold.
Greater returns on his hauling, with the added pirate menace and the occasional space hazard, has put Dane through several more ships. He briefly flew a Mammoth named "Red Ashley" on several cross-house runs, before that ship was sold off as collateral on a loan. After that was a Grizzly called "Starlight Nightlight" to run Plutonium for the GMG out under the nose of the Kusari Police and Military. That ship lasted barely two weeks before some Liberty Rogues cracked it in half for that Plutonium.
Deeply in debt, and with a little help from a friend, Dane was finally united with the ship that would be his home from now till kingdom come. A Border Worlds Transport he named "The 101 Express"
Personality
The only thing Dane wants from life is a good night sleep. He makes runs with the autopilot on, lounging back in his comfy leather chair, strumming an acoustic guitar, maybe indulging a little Synthetic Marijuana if he's got some, and falling asleep with the stars as his nightlight, and the humming of his engines as a lullaby. The lovely sound of cruise engines sing him to sleep, and the beeping of ship contacts another new mystery in life - will they be friendly? Or unfriendly? On the Comm's, he's a nice guy, except when he's mad. He's cussed out the Liberty Navy on multiple occasions for simply sitting back and letting Liberty Space become a playground for Pirates. He was even fined three hundred thousand credits by the navy for his colorful appraisal of their anti-pirate efforts.
These days, he's changed somewhat. getting lost in the Omicrons, and fighting off waves of Nomad's has made him a little eccentric - convinced a captured Nomad Brain named "Laurence" (he named it) was, and still is engineering his doom, despite having flushed it out the airlock.
Making the jump from an honest (if poor) Trader to a Smuggler has also changed his outlook on Sirius greatly - He spent a lot of time with the Corsairs and Zoners (the kooky ones who share mind-altering space vista's with Nomads at gunpoint) - enough time to empathize with their causes. He also blew a great deal of money on a keg party with some Molly's, and got a broken jaw after an accident playing darts stoned-drunk.
Current Business
Dane, and his ship "The 101 Express" have said goodbye to House Trade Laws, giving up Honest Trading. Possibly for good. His ability to haul Synth-Paste for DSE fell through after an embargo between Liberty and Kusari - and hauling Plutonium fizzled after being nearly murdered by the Kusari Navy. With barely any money made hauling, he decided the only way to make an honest buck was dishonestly. He found that out hauling Gold to Rheinland, and then joining his best friend Lyle Seaver of the "Highland Star" running military goods from Planet Nuremberg to the Battleship Macduff - THROUGH Kusari Space. The profit made from those runs was eye-opening, to say the least. Since then, "The 101 Express" runs illegal arms and counterfeit software - with the occasional synth-marijuana haul, or military vehicle run. Dane has found the counter-culture of unlawful life somewhat thrilling, and enjoys the excitement of going "dark side"
Trailblazing through the Omicron's, he got lost going through jump hole to jump hole - in truth, he fell asleep at the conn, while the ship found its way into Omicron Kappa. With sensor screen alarms going off from imminent contact, and red-bleary-eyed terror was the reaction with Dane's first ever encounter with Nomads. "The 101 Express" took heavy fire, and with one engine a black pit, and the other two straining to pick up the slack, Dane was forced to flee ever further into Nomad space. This time, after another jump hole ride, he found himself in Omicron Delta, with several stations abound for him to talk at. With the ship barely holding together, he frantically crawled his way into the protective canopy of defense fire from Yaren Base.
The "The 101 Express" was in bad shape, and with some minor repairs, Dane attempted to flee. Over the next two weeks, the ship was slagged by swarms of elegant Nomad ships. Still alive, and trapped aboard the station, he spent the time with the crazy Corsairs and Zoners who called the place home. They rebuilt his ship, for a fee, and didn't get it quite like it was. She's now full of mismatched hull plates, Corsair\Zoner graffiti, and a big splash of freeze dried nomad blood from ramming a large Nomad entity the size of a bloated gunboat.
So, with a pineal amulet around his neck, a pocket full of synth-weed, a guitar in hand, and a hold full of black market arms, he flies steadily on through Sirius, peacefully asleep at the conn.
"Current" Current Business
Becoming even better at smuggling, Dane strengthened his relationship with the Zoners of Omicron 74 through a daring multi-part supply run - three thousand six hundred cargo palettes of Oxygen, Water, Food Rations, Fertilizers, and Consumer Goods - along with a 1000 cargo palettes of Gallian Wine - through the Omega's, which for Dane, had become hostile territory after being declared Kill-On-Sight by the Black Sails. Not only did he pull it off, out from under the noses of the Corsairs, but also breaking the Liberty\Rheinland embargo. In the end, he only asked for gratitude, but was paid none the less - Dane took the money, and donated it to a freeport charity.
In the recent months, Dane has quietly left behind Sirius, Liberty, and its Politics, embracing space further and further with each passing day. With the realization that he was evicted from his apartment, for having missed rent three months in a row and not noticing, he knew his life needed a change. Each passing day the smuggling and money didn't seem to give his life any real purpose. Every day seemed to reinforce a growing sense of stagnation - of standing still, needing to move forward, and not being able too.
The change finally came about in the death of close friend. After having been shot up more time's then one could count, The 101 Express was hurting. micro fractures had formed from rushed repair jobs and too much damage too quickly. In the end, she broke up in Kepler near the Ames Research Station. Just prior to this, Dane had finally made the decision to give up everything that was holding him back. His family, Liberty, Politics, Smuggling and Crime, all of it. All he ever wanted was to be in space, to never give it up. With his beloved ship dead, Dane took it as a sign to move on. He joined the Zoners, made a sector wide broadcast telling them all his story, playing his guitar, and embracing the peace in the freedom he'd finally found.
Now, at the helm of The Endless Summer, a Zoner heavy space exploration vessel, Dane has found the peace in his life he had never known before. Everything perfect, right where it belongs, and he's never slept so good as he does underneath the naked stars.
