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| Callsign: |
Bear  |
| ComNet Rank: |
ComNet Member
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| Avatar: |
No avatar selected
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| Division(s): |
VE - Engineering Corps
VE - Imperial Navy
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| Gender: |
Unknown
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| Species: |
Human
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| Birthday: |
January 1
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| Date Joined: |
April 28, 2001
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| Last Active: |
July 13, 2014 at
11:55:52 PM
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| Number of Posts: |
947 |
| ID Line: |
ADJ:NCC/CAP Aaron 'Bear' Le'pue/Raptor/mSSD Atrus/VEN/VE (=A=) (=SA=) (=FOCE=) (=JCPA=) [BRC] [BRC] [NDM] [LSM] [LoC] |
| Biography: |
Biography of Captain Bear
Last updated: 8th March 2002
BASIC INFO:
Name: Aaron Le'pue
Callsign: Bear
Age: 32
Height: 5"9'
Weight: 150 lbs
Hair Color: Dark brown
Eye Color: Dark brown
Reason for joining the Empire: Lost a game of blackjack - last resort to make something of myself.
Place of Birth: Cepany, Sian System
INFO:
I am Captain Aaron Le'pue of the Vast Empire Navy. My callsign and nickname, so called because of my strange habit of not shaving for days on end, is Bear. I am 32 years old, and my length of service in the Vast Empire is just reaching 7 years. I am of a medium height and build, weighing 150 pounds and being 5"9' tall. My short hair is dark brown, and this colour is enhanced by the wax I use to slick it back, matching the colour of my eyes. My skin, on the other hand, is pale and white.
SERVICE HISTORY:
Joined:
October 2000
Promotions:
To Captain November 2000
To 2nd Lieutenant December 2000 (Resignation; Honorary Rank)
To 1st Lieutenant October 2001
To Lieutenant Commander November 2001
To Captain April 2002
Medals:
Bronze Recruitment Commendation November 2000
Navy Defense Medal September 2001
Long Service Medal October 2001
Bronze Recruitment Commendation November 2001
Letter of Commendation April 2002
Certificates & TO
Aviators - RA Destroyer October 2000
Senior Aviators - LCM Bear December 2001
Junior Combat Pilots Award - LCM Bear December 2001
Positions
Steel Squadron Flight Member October 2000 - November 2000
Starfighter Corps Commander November 2000 - December 2000
Viper Squadron Flight Member December 2000 - March 2001
Kaph Squadron Commander March 2001 - October 2001
Wing 1 Commander October 2001 - December 2001
Navy Training Officer December 2001 - February 2001
Vast Empire Assistant Ambassador February 2001 - March 2002
VEN Training Squadron Commander March 2002 - Present Day
SHORT HISTORY:
When I was 25, I joined the Vast Empire. After a few drinks in a bar on my home planet of Cepany, in the Rheagent System, I was challenged to a game of blackjack with an old Imperial Army veteran. After several hundred rounds, lasting well into the early hours of the morning, I had lost all my money, all of my personal possessions and, most importantly, my honour. After wondering around aimlessly for several days, I joined the Vast Empire, hoping to become a soldier. By accident, I was placed in the Navy, and became a pilot.
LONG HISTORY:
I was born into a small family living by the oceans on Cepany. My father, also Aaron, was a mineral mine contractor, and owned several mines on the planet. However, we were not rich, as the money we did make was spent on hugely expensive food. We lived in a small house in a town by the ocean, with a few other middle class families, with children my age. I have seen pictures of the small town, and it seems quite pretty. Plants were imported from all over the system, and planted around it, making an amazing ecosystem housing many species of birds and animals.
However, when I was four years old, a flood ruined the town, and the surrounding countryside, and just a few survivors got out alive, by clinging to the tops of the houses until help arrived. My mother held me up above the water as she drowned, allowing the rescuers to pull me to safety. My father and two sisters also perished in the flood. This is all I know from this part of my life - My older brother, Jax, told me about it when I was older. He had survived the floods too, as he had been out of the town, working in the mines at the time.
From the flood to about my eighth birthday, I was looked after by Jax. It was a total turn around to the middle class area my family had lived in before. Suddenly, we were living in an old barracks which served as the living quarters for the manager of one of my fathers old mines - now Jax's. It was crowded with other workers, many of whom were starving as the mines were going bankrupt, and had lost their homes. My brother managed to smuggle in Army ration packs from the nearby Army barracks, which kept me and him alive.
By day, I would catch the rats which infested the run down barracks. I set up traps to catch them, and used to roast them over an open fire outside to supplement my diet. The meat put fat on my bones, and started to turn me into a fit young boy. In these few years I learnt an amazing number of skills, ranging from field craft to hand to hand combat to literature. I met an elderly poor man who taught me basic reading and writing, and, even at that young age, I learnt about tactics in close quarter fighting. He taught me to fence with wooden sticks, a quality which would come in handy a couple of years later..
When I was ten, the mining business went completely bust. A famine spread across Cepany, killing over a third of the population, bringing it down to just 9.4 million. The rivers dried up, and the food imports became smaller and smaller and smaller. My brother was one of those who died, although he died in a raid on the Army barracks to steal the food they had been stockpiling. I was told how he died by the old man, whom I had started to call Father. He told me that my brother had been killed by a starving man who shot him when he refused to give the man some of his stolen food. I knew I had lost all of my family, and this old man was the closest I had.
He told me to go to the big city, where I did odd jobs and stole what food there was. I cleaned the boots of the Imperial Officers, of which there were suddenly a huge number of, and spent my days dreaming. I dreamt of becoming a rich officer like the ones which kicked me out of the way.. Lieutenant Le'pue. I liked the idea.
I met several children my age at this time, and I lived with them in the ruins of a mining corporation building. The entire city was in a disgusting state of repair, and by those standards, our building was one of the best. There were about ten of us, who went out by day to steal and make money, and came back by night to light fires and sleep. We formed deep friendships, and taught each other what knowledge we could - essentially, it was like school. I became the unelected leader of the "household", because of my intelligence and my fighting skills. I could bring in a couple of credits a day, compared to everyone else getting half a credit. Still, I continued to dream of bigger and better things..
My incessant dreaming went on well into my teenage years. I was 15 when, after an incredible 5 years, the famine was officially declared over. I saw no evidence of it, until I found myself as a junior crew member on a freighter importing food into the planet. Suddenly, I became richer beyond my wildest dreams; I went from earning a couple of credits a day on the streets to 9 credits a day on the ship! I was also given rations and a warm bed to sleep on - it was terribly cramped, but compared to the streets, it was heaven. I did not get on too well with the other men on the ship. We were all tough, having lived on the streets and survived through the Cepany famine. I was one of the few who could read and write, which must have made me seem very upper class and alien to them. However, I worked hard to do as well as them, and enjoyed my work. The ship transported food from a variety of different places, and we took on new passengers almost everywhere, to hitch a lift. The ship was the focus of many short romances, although not particularly involving myself, and was nicknamed "The Love bug" by the crew and even, it was rumoured, the Captain.
After rising through the ranks of the merchant Navy, I became a Lieutenant. I was ecstatic! I was posted to a ship transporting food from Tadath in the Sian System to Cepany, and became the Executive Officer. My pay rocketed to 17.5 credits per day, and, when I was twenty three years old, I bought my first officers sword, for 70 credits. It was a rusty thing, which couldn't have sliced through warm butter, but I was proud. The ship, the "Foodstuff Importer No. 667/382.AAj" had a less than impressive name, but was amazing. It was one of the fastest ships in the Merchant Fleet at the time, and I began to dream of commanding my own fleet.
About that time, I met a young women - my first love. I was twenty three years old, and she was twenty. Her name was Seyola, and she had also come from Cepany. She was now a Petty Officer on the "Foodstuff Importer No. 667/382.AAj", and we quickly became an item.
We spent many months together on the ship. It was a happy time for me, as I was crazy about her, and she was about me. It was not to be, however, because on my 24th birthday she died of an unknown disease in my arms. She had been ill for many weeks, and the doctors had tried everything they could to find out what was wrong; but to no avail.
Her last words were, quite simply, "I love you". It was the first time anyone had ever said that to me. I had a strange feeling it would also be the last.
I left the ship shortly after. I was totally devastated. I turned from a respectable, well-meaning junior Officer with lots of potential, to a gutter rat. I became a heavy drinker, and made my money by gambling. I played poker and blackjack very well, and became quite a hustler in the bars of Cepany's capital city.
It was on one fateful night, however, that I met my match. A tired-looking, elderly Imperial Army veteran, wearing the insignia of a First Sergeant, challenged me to a game. I can remember our conversation as if it was yesterday..
"What’s your game, Lieutenant?"
"Blackjack.. Poker.." I replied, downing a strong liquor.
"I play Blackjack. 15 stick?"
I grinned at him. I knew he would be a hustler if he was stupid enough to ask for 15 stick; hustlers pretended to be new to the game so they could win.
"I do 16, Sergeant."
"16 it is."
We played into the night. We bought bottles of liquor, and watched the level of alcohol fall and fall and fall. Our own drunkenness rose, until we were laughing heartily at each other. Neither of us was winning, and I still had about the same number of credits as when I had started.
Eventually though, he began to win. It was obviously his tactic to get my drunk, and then win all my money. If it didn't work, he could always just bonk me on the head and take it.. even I had done that method once or twice.
I did not go down without a fight. My 500 or so credits turned into 200, then up into 700, then down again. It was the hardest night of my life; My eyes struggling to stay open; My mind struggling to stay focused.
The Sergeant won. He bet 300 credits on his first card.. I did the same, not going to be outdone. The barman dealt him his second card; He bought for 300. The barman dealt mine; I twisted. I looked at my cards.. I had a King and an Ace. Royal Pontoon. I hadn't noticed.. and I had twisted.
I wandered around for several days afterwards, begging for money to buy some food. I drank heavily with what money I did have, and ran up debts very quickly. After some small hustling, a punter beat me half to death in an alleyway. I threw up all my alcohol and supper, and lay in the gutter all night.
The next day, bruised and bleeding, I crawled along to the Vast Empire Recruitment Officer. I stepped forward, and announced myself as Lieutenant Aaron Le'pue of the Imperial Merchant Navy. I asked to be a soldier. He put me down as a pilot.
Finally, I joined the Vast Empire Navy. In my first few months, I had risen up to become a Captain, in light of my experience in the Merchant Navy. However, after several months of that, I resigned, and was given command of a squadron; It was not the Fleet I had dreamed of, but it was a start.
I became 2nd Lieutenant Bear of the Vast Empire Navy. I commanded Kaph Squadron, and became a far more respected officer than I had ever been.
At the age of 29, I became Lieutenant Commander Bear, Vast Empire Navy Training Officer. I trained new pilots to fly and to shoot, and was immensely proud when they passed their training and went on to become officers, like myself. I flew a TIE Defender, and participated in a few battles with the rest of the Fleet, until I was 31. Then, I retired from my position in the Navy and got a well-paid desk job in the Vast Empire High Command, as the Ambassadorial Assistant.
Along with my Superior, Rear Admiral Trigit, I fly across the galaxy in the Ambassadorial Shuttle, attending meetings, functions and ceremonies, in different planets, systems and Empire's. I greatly enjoy my work, as it gives me the chance to put my feet up at some points, but also to meet new people from all over the known universe. I have met lots of friends this way, and although many of them come from rich, upper class families, and have got their success through hereditary titles, I get along with them.
I am very proud of where I have got to, and what I have become. I feel I have made something out of myself, against all the odds, and can only be proud of that. Although I do have my disagreements with people above (and below) me, I am always ready for a drink, a good joke.. and a game of Blackjack, of course!
And that is where I am now. Happy? Definitely.
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| Signature: |
FM/CAP Bear/Kaph 1-2/Phoenix Wing/m-SSD Atrus/VE/VEN/(=A=)(=SA=)(=MA=)(=JCPA=)(=SCPA=) [NDM] [LSM] [BRC]
Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad. |
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