Bio

Dirk was born on Karin, in the Five Sisters sub-sector of the Spinward Marches sector. From an early age he realised that he wanted to pilot starships and travel the galaxy. Therefore he applied for Naval Flight School in the nearby Imperium, as offering the greatest possibility of travel. Despite breezing through the entrance exams, largely due to his reaction scores, Dirk struggled with the academic side, despite his bright mind. He did pass out however, albeit in the lower half of his class. During his four years at college, Dirk learnt to pilot a shuttle, operate sensors, plot a course, target the ships weapons, and fix a few simple breakages. He was also instructed in small arms/

Dirk is commissioned into the Imperial Navy as an Ensign and is assigned to a destroyer. During a border incident resulting in combat, Dirk was awarded a citation for Meritorious Performance of Duties, and promotion to 2nd Lieutenant for leading a successful boarding action (putting into practice his training in Zero-G).

Dirk was transferred from the destroyer to an Assault Cruiser, as assault shuttle pilot due to his skill at flying shuttles and his experience in boarding actions. During a special mission (for which Dirk volunteered) to extract some cut off marines, Dirk was seriously injured in his arm. Despite this, crawling from the wreckage of his shuttle, he managed to lead the remaining marines to the second shuttles landing zone. The second, heavily overladen shuttle, managed to return to the assault cruiser. However, due to his injury, Dirk’s reactions when flying a shuttle were never quite the same. Dirk was promoted to Lieutenant and assigned to a frontier cruiser.

Dirk’s new captain was respected through the service as one who gets the best out his officers. Consequently Dirk was given time and opportunity to recover from his injury and learn the intricacies involved in commanding a capital ship. Dirk was encouraged to refine his skills as an assault shuttle pilot, particularly with regard to covert insertions.

Dirk chose to continue serving on the frontier cruiser, following his promotion to Lieutenant Commander. He joined the ships tactical centre learning to manoeuvre and control warships on both a strategic (astrogation) and tactical (comms) level.

Dirk was promoted to Commander and placed in command of a Corvette. Unfortunately, during a border clash as part of the 334th Frontier fleet, the Corvette suffered catastrophic damage and Dirk was severly injured trying to stabilise the power plant, when it blew. Dirk was sent for corrective surgery and rehabilitation to the Imperial Navy hospital, before being medically discharged.

Dirk was discharged with a Medical bill of of 8,750 Cr (after the Navy picked up 75% of the bill). Dirk was presented with the two surviving ships boats from his destroyer (a 30 ton ships boat and a 40 ton pinnace), in recognition of his success in stabilising the power plant long enough for a successful evacuation. Dirk has 46,000 Cr in the bank, dropping to 37,250 Cr following the repayment of his medical bills.

Pulling in some favours, Dirk arranged for the Navy to ship his small craft to Adabicci, where he set himself up in business for cargo transfers and a the occasional charter around the local system. Having established the business, found a couple of reliable pilots, and negotiated a few contracts which covered the bills, Dirk decided it was time to visit his sister on Karin, who had been running their parents farm since their death.