Chuck Strider

Background:
Chuck Strider was born in 1090 on Pequod (Lishun 1640). It's a lightly inhabited world (5,000) and it doesn't take long before you get to know everyone. Chuck generally likes people and he enjoys meeting them. As a teen, he used to hang out at the starport and greet people as they arrived. He joined the scouts in hopes of traveling to distant worlds and meeting new people, or even aliens. It didn't matter, so long as they weren't the stuffy sort. If they were willing to sit down and have a pint (or two) then they were just fine by him.

Chuck's first two terms were great. It was everything he could hope for. He traveled all over the place and met all sorts of people. He chiefly worked as a mechanic, repairing vehicles here and there and as a surveyor. Then he met a woman named Rosalita Espinosa. Rosalita was a doctor. Their paths crossed when Chuck repaired her broken down ambulance. Chuck fell pretty hard for her. Though he did his best to be charming, she didn't say yes. But she didn't say no either.

Chuck applied himself to studying anatomy and medicine. He figured he'd have a better chance of crossing paths with Rosalita if he was a nurse or a medic. He soon discovered that people weren't all that different from vehicles; they were just more fragile. If one took a step back and abstracted the two, there were enough similarities that one could equate the two. It was this ability to apply his mechanical aptitude to his medical education that enabled Chuck to make quite a bit of progress. When Rosalita saw Chuck working at a field hospital helping to repair people instead of cars, she was quite impressed.

Then that jerk Dulinor had to go and kill the emperor.

Chuck was called away to engage in more militaristic activities. His skills as a soldier were sharpened and he was soon enlisted in battle. Later on he was permitted to work as a battlefield medic. He quickly grew disillusioned with his occupation. He had signed up with the scouts to meet people, not kill them. When his term was up, Chuck resigned.

Chuck returned to field hospital where he last saw Rosalita only to discover she'd been transferred. Now that he was civilian, her whereabouts were confidential. Saddened, Chuck moved on.

He found an ad for a ship that was looking to have several positions filled. He applied for two: medic and mechanic. That ship was the Miishakaal. The captain seemed impressed by his ability to see the similarity between people and machines and thought that he'd be a good fit for the crew.

Chuck is once again meeting new people and he's alot happier. But he'll be alot happier if he finds Rosalita again someday.