| This character created by Sean L.
Nigel: Freighter pilot and sometime smuggler (former
EF combat pilot)
Parents have an okay relationship. Their respective jobs keep them apart so their relationship has actually improved over the last five years. They actually look forward to seeing eachother for the weekends now. -Early childhood
Though both his parents were a little jealous of the attention Nigel gave Uncle Boston, that soon disappeared as Nigel began to go and visit them at their jobs, helping his mom monitor crop beds and handing tools to his father while he was fixing “Da’ Dome’s” systems. Uncle Boston had spoken to Nigel at great lengths about being diplomatic regarding his parents, so Nigel decided that he would alternate one day a month to visit his mom and the next his dad. He would go up with Boston any chance he could, though. Nigel saw in Boston an almost heroic figure in that Boston always had tales of adventure and space pirates, or tales of the Dilgar war, to while away the time between docking, loading and docking again. Occasionally, as Nigel got alittle older and began asking about girls, Boston would tell young Nigel about his romantic exploits; some of them seemed far-fetched, but others had such a ring of truth to them, that Nigel was never sure, but he thought they were great, intending to immitate them when he could. -Development (early teens to late teens) One day during late spring, at the age of 13, Nigel was helping his father down in the access tunnels. He walked ahead of his father who had stopped to consult a map as this was an area not regularly visited. Nigel took a step around the corner of the T-Junction, as he recognized some of the pipes that they had been working on and he headed towards a system box just a few paces away. He took one more step and crashed through a weakened floor plate which tilted him up and dropped him into another tunnel, resettling itself back over him. His fall was broken by soft squishy crackly things. He fumbled for his torch, as he heard his father calling for him. Nigel hit the locator beacon on his belt as his father had taught him to do and in an instant the plate in question was being shifted. Nigel’s voice stopped in a squeak as he saw what was around him. He had landed in a nest of Mars-Green Spiders. Normally the sight of one or even two barely causes a blink, but as Nigel swept his torch around, he realized that there must’ve been hundreds of the ant-like scavengers (the creatures were an unexpected import from many years ago that thrived in the undergrounds workings of the dome). Hissing at him from 10 paces away, in the center of a huge web that covered the entire circumference of the tunnel, was the biggest M-Green Spider anyone reliable had ever seen. Nigel screamed. He had dozens of the little ones crawling all over him, but he could barely move a muscle. His torch had blinded the creature sufficiently that it had leapt right past him, having gotten tangled up in it’s other nest 5 paces past Nigel (Nigel could not see this of course as he was too paralyzed w/ fear to move).Light in large quantities flooded down on him suddenly and he felt a large hand grasp him by the collar and haul him up. As he went up he saw the Queen spider go whipping past him between his feet. This caused his phobia of spiders. At the med center he was found to have had almost a dozen bites on him, but the medi’s had treated him with anti-inflametories nipping any problem in the bud. For several weeks he planned his revenge. Stealing his fathers access keys and a tool-kit, he and several friends went down into the access tunnels with the intent of torching the nest. After burning a bunch of them, the tunnel’s anti-fire systems kicked in because of the unnatural heat. As he and his friends ran for it back towards the exit they realized that the remaining M-Green Spiders were charging at them, many of the larger ones, almost the size of a human’s fist, burning and setting refuse and debris on fire as they went. Two of his friends made it out of the hatch as the door sealed itself, but Nigel and his other friend Joel were trapped. Just as the queen and her soldiers rounded the bend, half of them soaked, the other half burning, the hatch slid open and they were pulled to safety by their friends. “Close the fuckin’ door!!!” cried Nigel as he was pulled clear and sounds of pounding could be heard against it as it slammed shut. A week later exterminators along with two entomologists went in and cleared out the nests. Though the thought of a spider terrified Nigel, he took great amounts of pleasure and glee at the thought of the little buggers being blown away. Nigel went into High school and began studying courses that would help him complete his pilots license, courses like math, astro-physics, astronomy. He also studied gymnastics and joined the debating team, thus putting a fine tuning to his diplomacy skills. He was a good student. -Adulthood After High school, at age 18 he joined Earth Force, becoming a fighter pilot, and fighting during the Earth-Minbari war. It was at this time that he got the nick-name Ace, as he was able to rack up the kills against Mimbari-fighters in the few engagements in had. He quickly rose through the ranks having in two years a very distinguished career and becoming a Lt Commander just prior to the Battle-of-the-Line. He learned many skills in the military and his first C.O., Wing-Cmdr. Jeffrey Sinclair, often remarked that “If we survive this war, I’m sure you’ll have command of a ship of your own.” Nigel commanded the 357th Tactical Strike Wing fighter group, The Black Tigers, and along with one other of his own squadron, was one of less than 200 to survive the day. His Uncle Boston was killed aboard the Agamemnon when it was hit by the Black Star earlier in the War. With the war over, Nigel had other thoughts about his future and decided to pursue those first instead of following through on a military career. He assumed, correctly, that if he came back he’d be welcome and able to continue on. To be safe he remained on the active reserves list. He was discharged on Sept, 2248, age 22, and since he was a hero of the Line, he was able to fast track an application into Mars University. For two years he studied his sciences and maths and fine tuned his other skills. Late in his second year, just prior to exams, he met a girl named Helen, a History major, who was dazzled by his good looks and heroic war record (Read: that he survived). She was a pretty blond girl with grey-green eyes and a great figure. The added bonus was that she was an intelligent lady with a wonderful personality. Nigel was in love with Helen and Helen, after they spent their first summer Holiday together felt the same towards him. They would get married at the end of Nigel’s 4th year so that he could support her while she went on to get her Masters in Political Science. One of Nigel’s favourite exploits while at University was to climb the 6-storey dorm building and sneak into Helen’s small apartment. This feat coupled with the fact that he always had either some wine and/or some flowers was such a romantic notion to her that she could never look at another guy again. At one point she ask him“Why don’t you use the lift?” to which he replied, “That would be very boring!” She of course laughed atthe outlandishness of the reply. Towards the end of third year, in 2251, the first unrest, which lead to the Mars food riots in 2253, began, and the University was a hot bed of anti-Earth sentiments. Earth Force Troops stormed the campus, killing dozens of students, teachers and civilians that day. One of the victims was Helen. Right before Nigel’s eyes. He saw her blown out of a window from a common room on the third floor of the dorm by an Earth Force trooper. In his Captains uniform he later managed to find the trooper in question. Their was no passion in him, after he got the drop on the trooper, and he calmly explained who the trooper had killed and what that had done to himself, and how he was going to kill the trooper. But as he pulled back on the trigger, anger that had been held in check for over a week came flooding to the fore. He had intended to re-enact the whole scene of Helen’s death, as he had wanted the trooper to know exactly how Helen felt, but Nigel’s anger got the better of him, and after cutting the trooper’s bonds, giving the man a fair chance, Nigel beat the bastard to death. Peace and order had been restored on Mars for awhile, but for Nigel his world was shattered. All he could do was drink, trying to wash away the image of Helen’s body falling then, dying at the base of the building where they had shared so much. A year later, he managed to graduate, but Nigel suspected he was given his B.A. Sc because of his War Record and not because he had managed to attend barely half his classes. After getting his degree, he rejoined the military in mid 2252. Nigel’s only success was in his first mission, when he took command of a cruiser force that was dedicated to stamping out slavery. The biggest threat was Mal Di’Dean, a slaver out in the fringes. He attacked colonies and ships of any race and sold the victims to whoever had the money. Nigel, when the call came in to lead the EA fleet, managed to clean himself up. And for awhile, his drinking subsided drastically as his fleet launched. Two weeks out in the fringes, Nigel’s Psi-Corps operative branch, lead by a Mr. Bester, got a lead. Two days later the EA fleet jumped out of hyperspace over a colony world far past Narn space and were able to destroy all of Mal Di’Dean’s operations, but Mal Di’Dean and a few of his henchmen managed to escape. That was in late 2252. One of the Joint Chiefs, who had been following Nigel's career since the Battle of The Line, was greatly relieved by all of these turns of good fortune and he figured that Nigel would lead the show-boat fleet ably for a the next year or two (Nigel would latter learn that the two other prospective Fleet-Captains wanted nothing to do with the propaganda mission). Two and half months later, at the end of 2252, Nigel was retired by the military. Charges of 'Dereliction of duty' and 'Reckless Endangerment' were dropped, in deference to his war record, but Nigel knew that was the end of his special treatment. He had pushed the boundaries just so far and the military could no longer turn a blind eye to his drinking. He was taken off active reserve status as well, but was given a honourable discharge so that he could draw monthly benefits as a vet. For three months after, he lived at his parent's home. Though he wasn’t a problem to his parents, they hardly knew what, if anything, they could do for him and he spent a lot of time watching vids. And drinking. One night of soul-searching, when he had run out of booze but was too bagged to get more, he realized that Helen would be really pissed off at him if he just lived his life like this. He vowed that he would get on with his life some how. Shortly thereafter, with the help of counseling, he managed to get his drinking under control. Through a former military friend, he was able to work for a large freighter company and began hauling to the colonies for a living. It was during this period in late 2253 that he was approached by an acquaintance from his university days who knew what had happened to him during the food riots. He told Nigel that there were many ways to get revenge, because it wasn’t just that trooper who had killed Helen, but the system. That’s all it took for Nigel to start smuggling. For the last few years, he’s been enjoying himself, and his drinking has gone down to merely steadily as opposed to excessively. Nigel gets off on the adrenaline
of an illegal haul(seems to almost have a Death Wish in this regard, for
although he doesn’t make illegal runs often, when he does, the stakes are
awfully high). He still drinks regularly and he has taken up gambling again,
which he picked up in the military. It was through gambling that he won
his own ship. He got some old military buddies together and they made a
good crew. He mostly hangs out with lowlifes and criminal types now, though,
beyond his crew. His parents are alive and they exchange Christmas and
birthday cards. When not on a haul of any kind Nigel is content to just
go with the flow. In late August of 2256, on his last run with a hold full
of illegal weapons and legititmate supplies, his crew and ship were wiped
out by League forces on the planet Tighron. He barely got away with his
life. Fleeing with Della and Za’Tark into the small town they crashed near,
they soon found themselves in the company of a Minbari, named Talon. The
foursome soon fled off-world to the Markab system.
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