John "Zip" Smith
Age: 21
Gender: Male
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 145 lbs.
Distinguishing Marks: Cocky grin, spiky blond hair.
Zip was born on Pratax, a moon of a gas giant in the Tonin System. His father was a worker at a manufacturing facility on the moon, a pilot of a transport that ferried supplies from orbiting freighters. His mother, Wendy Smith, a.k.a. Wingnut Wendy, was a mechanic at the facility.
The family had scraped and saved to be able to afford a two week vacation to a popular resort on planet Zernon in the Andromeda galaxy. However, tragedy ensued on the outbound flight. The liner was knocked out of the trans-galactic wormhole by a large asteroid that had entered the phenomena. Zip's father was killed immediately, as he was in the section impacted by the asteroid. Wendy was severely injured by being thrown from the impact. Zip, who was asleep in their cabin, was one of the few passengers not injured. The next two hours were traumatic to Zip, as the ship was on emergency power, and he could not find his parents. He was not united with his mother until several hours later at the Space Emergency Center. Due to this experience, Zip does not like when there are mechanical issues on board.
As his mother recovered, and then started skipping around the galaxy with odd jobs. He learned to pilot by cajoling lessons from pilots he met at the odd jobs, and got into racing when he was thirteen. Zip was always a precocious daredevil, but became much more extreme after the accident as a coping mechanism. When his mother joined the Motley Crew, Zip wormed his way into membership with the crew. Although Zip talks a big game... he backs it up almost all the time. His lack of formal training in many areas leads him to be a very instinctive, and impetuous character.
