Ronin

Name: Austin Marcellus Ronin
Goes by: Rem, only Alex calls him Austin
Gender: Male
Age: Thirty-Five
Occupation: Founder and Captain of the IAS Windrunner
Sexual Preference: Straight
Status: Single
Hair: Brown, to his shoulders, beard
Eyes: Brown
Skin: Tanned
Height & Weight: 6'3", 210 pounds
Clothing: Whatever is comfortable, very practical
Traits: Natural-born leader, fighting spirit, anti-government, honorable thief, protective
Likes: His Independent Air Ship(The Windrunner), his crew aboard the IAS Windrunner, freedom, a good fight, a good and easy job, getting paid, a good joke, guns
Dislikes: The Alliance, being questioned or talked over, being proven wrong, anyone who tries to hurt him or his own

Austin was born on the terraformed moon called Ganymede. It was the largest and only inhabitable of the four moons that circled the planet Nebera, which was also uninhabitable. Nebra and Ganymede circled the sun called Kepri, which was considered the border of the Alliance’s core territory. Austin’s father was a mechanic and his mother owned a spare parts shop. They had four children, all named after cities from Earth-that-was… Austin, London(who died at the age of twelve to venomous snake-bite), Rome(who died of illness in infancy), and Alexandria.

They made a decent living on Ganymede, enough to send their children to school. Austin learned all about Earth-that-was, and how there was a mass exodus of it because the planet was becoming uninhabitable due to over-population. That was how the Alliance came to be, they founded a new civilization in a new star system. At first they weren’t the only civilization in that star system however, and Austin learned all about the great battle between the Alliance and the Horde(who were vile cannibals and threatened the Alliance’s way of life).

Austin didn’t much care for the Alliance. The text books painted them to be heroes, but everyone on the border planets wondered why such heroes would leave folk on the border to scrounge up whatever living they could while they took and hoarded all the resources and technology for themselves? There were many planets who had folk that were starving, planets riddled with disease, planets run by mob bosses. Where was the Alliance? Helping themselves, building up their core planets, and getting rich off the rest of the galaxy.

Austin’s father, who was respected among their community and was also part of the Ganymede council, was part of a large group of people who were in talks with the Alliance to try to remedy this situation. He’d often come home frustrated, and talk at the dinner table of how their talks didn’t seem to ever pan out. After years and years of unsatisfactory talks, the border planets seceded from the Alliance and gathered support of other planets on the rim. Their aim was to start their own alliance, without the interference of the core planets. The Alliance, however, could not accept this loss of face and so a war began between the Alliance and the new faction called the Independents.

Austin was twenty-five, and working as a ranch-hand on his friend's father's ranch when this happened. He immediately signed up with the fighting force. Why couldn't they live their lives in peace on their own planets and in their own colonies without the Alliance coming to take their due? Why take from the poor to supply to the wealthy? None of it seemed right to him, and it was time to stand up and fight against such injustices and claim independence from the Alliance!

Though he only received about a year of training, he was passionate and a quick learner. The Independent Rebellion clashed against the Alliance in a five year war. During these five gruesome and bloody years Austin, who was referred to as Ronin, lost many friends, and soon found himself as a sergeant of a brigade. Jasper Alloway became a great friend and support during Ronin's command, for despite his young age, he was a brilliant strategist. Jasper was by his side for the last two years, surviving many dangerous conflicts with Ronin.

Ronin, along with Jasper, stood with fifteen other brigades in what was considered by many to be the final, decisive, battle in the war. The battle was a long and bloody eight weeks, and while not the final battle of the war, was generally considered the end of the war for the Independents, who had lost almost everything. Ronin had always said that if the commanders had listened to Jasper's advice, they might have won that battle, even against the superior numbers and technology of the Alliance. In the end, so many sergeants died that Ronin found himself leading over 8000 men.

When all but two commanders had been killed(and about 50% of the troops) the Independent High Command officially surrendered to the Alliance. For the next two weeks Ronin and his comrades suffered the Alliance while the surrender was being organized. During this time, many more men died, due to starvation, or injuries and lack of medical support after the battle.

Ronin, joined by Jasper, returned to his home after that to find that while he was gone his father had been targeted by the Alliance, for he was supplying the Independents with ships for the war. He had been gunned down in his own shop for a hefty reward. Alex, who had been learning from her father, luckily had not been there at the time. Soon after, their mother died of illness, leaving the spare parts shop to Alex to manage as well.

“You think you can get this thing flying, Alex?” Ronin asked his little sister about an an old, broken and not flight-worthy space ship that had been sitting in his father’s shop ever since he was a kid… one of his father’s many ‘projects’ that he acquired with good intent but never had the follow-through to finish. Jasper only raised a brow at the beater, knowing exactly what was going through Ronin's mind. He raised his concerns about it, but Ronin refused to listen.

“How are we going to fly it?” Jasper protested. “I don’t know how to pilot, and I know you don’t.”

“We’ll find someone who does!” Ronin cheerfully replied, refusing to let his friend’s pessimism get him down.

While Alex worked on fixing the ship up, Ronin went to pubs and bars and put out word he was looking for a pilot. That’s when he found Gabriel, the estranged son of an Alliance general. At first Gabriel seemed intent to drown his sorrows in alcohol until it would kill him. But with a charismatic speech about his hatred for the Alliance, and wanting to live a life free from their oppression, Ronin got Gabriel aboard as their pilot.

The four began their new life aboard the IAS Windrunner, taking any jobs they could - no job was too big, too small, or too illegal, as long as it kept his crew together and his ship flying.

Part 1

Part 2