Max grew up in a family with deep roots in the galactic racing community. These races are designed to take their pilots through dangerous areas of space in a contest of quick reflexes and space flying knowledge.

 

Max would have been a fourth generation flyer, but disaster struck when his father’s ship was destroyed during a particularly dangerous turn close to an unstable sun. Normally, the pods the pilots are in provide more than adequate protection from just about anything. But in this instance his ship and another racer’s collided, and the resulting explosion shot the rescue pod towards the sun as if it had been shot out of a canon. Only one rescue ship was present, and it saved the other pilot first By the time they went after Max’s dad, he had drifted too close to the coronal ejections from the sun, and the rescue pilot decided it was too risky. Later, the courts decided that he could have been rescued and was not too close, but by then it was obviously too late. The settlement from the racing commision meant that Max would never have to work again. The family, sickened by the ruling as much as the accident, took a break from racing. Max, already a pilot but still too young to start racing, vowed never to take up the family tradition.

 

But flying had been a way of life for Max, and the loss of the racing future only meant he had to change his focus. Max joined the military and became a fighter pilot. His natural skills allowed him to excel way beyond his peers. But his lack of discipline earned him as many reprimands as his flying did for awards.

 

While in the military, Max’s primary duty was support for one of the main assault units. These units consisted of soldiers that were highly trained and specialized in first strike scenarios, as well as intrusion and extraction procedures. Their team was made up of a lone transport vehicle and a fighter escort. This kept the teams small and nimble for situational adjustments. It also meant they were always outnumbered and outgunned on almost every mission. Some of these units were "enhanced" with bio-engineered equipment. Although Max had none of these cybernetic implants, he had no problem working with people that did.

 

Max’s specialty was lone aerial fighter support for these units. His role changed from air to surface attacks, air-to-air defense, and ground to air target if the ground forces needed a distraction while they ran for the transport vehicle. During this assignment, he met Kahana "Myr" Myrbakken . Because of his role as air support, Kahana got to know Max fairly well. It would be Kahana that was responsible for giving Max his orders on these missions as told to him by the squad leader, and making the calls to max when he was needed.

 

Although their jobs were completely different, and Max was a physical pansy compared to kahana, they got along well and tended to hang out when missions were over. With Kahana harassing Max about never giving enough support and Max telling Kahana that he and his men needed to learn to stay out of trouble.

 

The team disbanded when the leader of the assault team became unstable and killed all the members buy Kahana and Max (who was fortunately in the air). Kahana took an "early out" and quit the military, and to Max it was as if all that made the military worthwhile had left with him. Max began work with a new unit, but the leader was a no-nonsense leader who did everything ‘by the book.’ While the team disliked their new leader, Max detested him. As soon as his enlistment ended, much to the shock of the military that had invested a lot of time and money into him, Max left the service.

 

Uncertain of his future, Max contacted his old military cohort, to see what Kahana had been up to in the months between separations. Kahana said he had taken a sweet job protecting a deep space freighter, and inquired if Max would be interested. When Max was done laughing, he politely declined.

 

Still, the idea had merit. Max got together with his grandfather, and they talked about what it would take to acquire a fighter style ship. Military additions to racing ships were commonplace on the racing circuit, and it was not uncommon to have a veritable graveyard of military grade ships to salvage for shielding and electronics. The only things off limits were weapons. In just a few days, Max’s grandfather was able to procure enough parts to make a fully functional military fighter. When Max asked the cost, his grandfather just smiled and said, “Your safety is more important than money. Money is something we have in plenty, but there is only one Max.” Even so, Max used much of the court settlement that had never been spent, and paid most of the ships costs. This left him with little money, but he had a ship that was his own. He conferred with his grandfather about all this, and the whole family met to discuss Max's possible future.

 

Other heartwarming things were said after that, but who wants to hear those things.

 

Shortly after this had happened, Max received another communication from Kahana. Pirates had hit the freighter during their last job. Although they had gotten away, it was enough that the owner wasn’t going to do any more jobs without a fighter escort.

 

Max told his friend about the new ship he had just purchased, and asked for the owners contact information.

The owner turned out to be an old pilot himself, and Max was impressed with his resume. They worked out a reasonable signing bonus, and told the owner that he would meet up with them once acquired the weapons needed for providing security. Now that he had a job, it was fairly easy to obtain the needed weapons. These though, he had to pay for himself. He was only able to get the laser canons, but they would have to do. His money was completely gone at this point, and any nest egg he would have had stashed was gone.

 

Max named his ship "Horus" after the Egyptian god of war. Horus was also the god of protection, and he thought the double meaning would work well in his new job.

 

Over the next couple of years working with the freighter, Max spent his extra funds buying upgrades for his fighter. It turned out the captain had a very competent technician named Voss that could fix just about anything. And on top of that, any pirate that made the mistake of attacking was signing his ship up for donor status; as any parts on the pirate vessel that were upgrades were immediately taken (upon defeating the pirate of course). Voss seemed very good at salvaging anything of use from the destroyed pirates, and it didn't take long for Max to pick up some added missles to help defend the captains Freighter.

 

Max was happy with the way things were going, and hoped his new job as a protector would last a very long time.