Born out of wedlock after an illicit relationship between a high ranking officer and a junior cadet in the military settlement of Nixon Relay, James Redman (not his real name) was immediately sent off world. He never saw his parents again. Despite the protocols banning these relationships the two people concerned had vigorously pursued their love interest and carefully concealed its product. But, at the age of six months, discovered and betrayed by a member of the minor faction that calls itself the Black Fingernail, James was given a military designation and shipped as a "crew member" to a brutal military scholam in the bowels of Arthur Orbital. This was where all the local honourless children ended up. The only advantage of this situation was that their schooling and their training was not supervised or managed by the Black Fingernail. Driven by the force of independent militia armies across the whole system and several of the neighbouring systems too, the honourless were raised for the military. A crop of indiscretions. To be used up in the pursuit of military goals. Even the Black Fingernail respected that and possibly benefitted as they were rumoured to lay claim to the wash outs and the failures. Well, James didn't wash out. On the contrary he flourished. Bruised, battered and often beaten, he flourished. The light didn't go out in his grey eyes and his head didn't hang, at least not in public. He trained, learned and completed the flight simulators and then, at night, he fought and brawled for his place in the pecking order. In the end, respected and perhaps a little feared, the older students began to leave him alone and he carved a space for himself in the leadership of the scholam. He graduated close to the top of his class in tank-combat and while not the best pilot, he could certainly manhandle the biggest ships. Well known for his sense of dimension that made the ship an extension of himself he was an unpleasant opponent in all forms of simulation and when he finally graduated to patrol manoeuvres and squadron work he proved a very valuable team member. At the age of 21, a fresh graduate from the Scholam and granted compulsory citizenship of the Independent Alliance he was offered as a fresh recruit to the local militia in the neighbouring star systems to Yin Yin. James served with distinction in these spheres and held several squad, wing and force records for kills. Successful hunts with the heavier ship squadrons brought him to the attention of some of the robber barons in the Black Fingernail and he was offered a position in their organisation. When he refused he was driven from the system. But, deep down, he still harbours hatred for the people who drove him to the lonely life that has characterised much of his lived on-planet time. Ironically, the enforced hardships have made him an excellent deep space pilot, but the wounds somehow still remain raw.