Penelope "Kiltrathi" Liefs

[Kiltrathi]

Greetings reader, I am Commander Penelope "Kiltrathi" Liefs. Let me just inform you on who I am.

As a young girl I saw my uncle fly Vipers for Lave’s local defence force. Every time I had the chance I went to see his ship blast off from Lave station into the black of space then eagerly waiting for him to return. Although he might not always have told me the truth about what happened out there, he told me more than enough for me to want nothing else than to fly in a spaceship amongst the stars.

As my uncle grew older he eventually retired from the police force and bought a used Sidewinder and started his own business. I saw less and less of him or his ship. Even then I kept my face glued to the portals of the station and watch the ships enter and leave, quietly hoping to spot my uncle, praying for him to offer me a ride.

When my parents decided to leave Lave Station for Zaonce, my dad was offered a job as marketeer, I feared I’d never be able to fly amongst the stars, I dreaded the move to such a tedious place, unfortunately it was even worse than I’d imagined. I hated the parties, I hated the people who went nuts at the Perpetual Party high as a god on Chateau d’If. All I wanted was to see my uncle and his Sidewinder dart through the space station to find it’s landing platform. I wanted to listen to his tales and dream away in my own ship, experience those tales myself.

As it happens to most people, life chose a very different path for me. Upon leaving school I got a job as a marketer, just like my dad. I even got married and had a son. As dreams do when they are no longer viable, I forgot about it. I made myself forget about it.

I saw my uncle only once since the move to Zaonce, we hardly talked, he just complained about the competition and brutality of these new young pilots, “They just shoot anyone, because they can. The whole universe looks like it’s gone loopy.” Looking back I think that was the day he gave up on his business. Our lives, my husband, son and I, just went on. Going to work, growing older, the run-of-the-mill life span of any human these days.

The twist came just days after my 42nd birthday, I received news that my uncle had passed away in some far flung system I’d never even heard of. I was stunned to find there was a personalized message waiting for me, for a small fee the local authorities at LHS 3447 would sign over my uncle’s Sidewinder to me. I had a look on the galactic map to see where on Lave he’d ended up and decided to follow in my uncle’s footsteps. I realize that I made a decision people will judge me on, but I left nonetheless. My son had his own life and I had long since lost interest in both my marketing job and even my husband. My dream of flying to the stars had reared its head with a ferocious passion. I wanted to fly a spaceship into a station and make a little girl dream of flying one, just like my uncle did to me. I wanted to see what was out there, I wanted to be free.

I managed to get a ride on an Orca transporter to Dalton Gateway, to find my uncle’s Sidewinder waiting for me.

*to the observant reader, I created a female commander so it makes only sense to write this as such. In reality I am not a woman, nor flying a spaceship to the stars faster than the speed of light.

[Flip]

Very nice intro!

[Emanon]

Welcome commander! Glad to meet you.

[Kiltrathi]

It’s all pretty vague now, recalling memories of events long ago is a tricky business. The very first flight was the best day of my life. I really shouldn’t make these claims, they’re never true. I could just lie and claim that I knew exactly what I was doing, but my parents told me not to lie, so the truth is I had great trouble figuring out how to get the machine going. I had nobody there to help me, I did find some sort of automated instructor and it did help. I must have taken off as I’m still flying across the galaxy, I must have made some credits as I’m no longer flying my uncle’s sidewinder. If I hadn’t gone back to LHS 3447 I probably wouldn’t even have remembered the station’s name or its orbit distance from the main star.

I do remember feeling totally lost with my newfound freedom. I had my own ship, although I found out that most of it was useless and I had to do with replacements. With little to no credits to my name I had to borrow them. I was at rock bottom, my dream of flying the stars had turned into flying an old space ship fitted with loaned parts and no idea how to pay these loans off or even make a living doing anything.

“Buy low, sell high” marketing talk I knew all too well. That had to even apply to a ship that had space to haul a few tons of anything. Once I figured out how to talk to the different station interfaces I had at least the option of making money by trading. Problem was I had no clue what people wanted to sell for a decent price or what a decent price would be like, I just bought the cargo I thought was appropriate and requested take-off.

I am uncertain how I discovered my first trade-run, it couldn’t have been far away from the station I had acquired my Sidewinder, I was ferrying goods, I was self-sufficient, even if at first it was briefly as I quickly found out that I wasn’t the only one trading as my profits plummeted to a level where I was actually running at a loss. Trading was such hard work for me at this stage, too little acumen for the job. I had seen the warrant messages at the stations, some of those offered more credits than I had seen in my life. Just for one confirmed kill. A kill. I had to shoot and kill another human because they’d done something wrong, who knew what that’d been, they’re always very vague about their reasons. I just couldn’t see myself shooting other people, so I kept trading for a measly profit margin.

Edit: I'll continue this rambling on the fan fiction board, this has no real bearing to an introduction... This last post and the original introduction have also been posted there.

[TorTorden]

Welcome.

1 part introduction 2 parts fan fiction.
Loving it, keep them coming if you please