Ricco was born on the Republic planet of Fresia in the core, he was not originally called Ricco his birth name was Dalon Fortanna Jr. He was born to Dalon Fortanna and Chell Fortanna twenty seven years ago in the Coromon Medical centre. Dalon was a test pilot for the Incom Corporation whilst Chell was a droid technician. The two married five years previously and had been trying for a child for the last four years. They had nearly given up then Chell fell pregnant with Ricco. His birth was something greatly celebrated by both his parents. Ricco’s birth was a simple and basic no dramatic experiences and no massive difficulties something both Dalon and Chell both appreciated.
Ricco’s early years where nothing special, he grew up like any ordinary child on Fresia. His mother would leave her job as a technician for the first five years of Ricco’s life to make sure that he was given a proper upbringing. Chell would take him to the wild life parks across the planet and even to the famous Afterburner Arches. There times at the Zoo’s where never very good as Ricco seemed to find everything there extremely scary and cried a lot, apart from the small tank of fish outside one exhibit which he spent nearly an hour staring at whilst his mother ate lunch. This story was usually told to his friends later in life to embarrass him a lot.
When Ricco reached the age of five he was enrolled by his parents to the south Coromon Island’s primary school. Here he would learn the basic literacy, maths and science skills that everyone needed to exceed in life. Chell returned to work in a part time spot allowing her to pick and drop off Ricco from school. Ricco advanced through the various years of school at the Average pace of the class, blending in with the majority of the group. Ricco wasn’t shy and easily made friends with the rest of the class allowing to be evolved in a lot of the mischief deeds that the class got up to. As the first six years in school passes by Ricco showed his talents in both Maths and science, showing that he had the knowledge of it all. But not the motivation to write it all down, which resulted in him, getting lower grades than he should have. A passion for both Music and sports began to manifest as his fifth year came to an end and would continue on throughout his life.
After he finished his first school Ricco and the rest of his class was treated to a three week extra long summer. During this time Ricco’s father Dalon test piloted the Z-95 Headhunter star fighter. The show which is father put on placed an image inside Ricco’s head which would drive him on for the rest of his life. Ricco’s summer was full of mischief as he and his school friends continued to meet up throughout the summer causing terror to run across the streets of the small island village.
Once the summer came to an end Ricco and most of his old school friends moved to the newly constructed South Coromon High School. They were also joined by a lot of new students they had never seen before, there year consisted of three classes where as there had only been one in the old school. But the Ricco was not fazed by all the new faces and was one of the first to get out and make new friends there. The group from the old school still kept together for the first year or so, slowly new people were added in as other left to find new friends. Ricco’s talent in both Maths and Science continued to grow and his lack of motivation lead him to normally end up doing the least amount of work possible. Though he absorbed it all in allowing him to still get high marks in exams when he put his mind into it.
His compassion for music and sports grew and grew throughout the early years of the new school. Ricco tried out for the school Shockball team at first falling because he was distracted by a girl walking pass shouting his name. But after another try he did get in and soon became a regular first team player seeing action in about 90% of the matches for the first two years. His compassion for music grew as well and it soon became a massive part of his life, he was now nearly always seen with music playing sometimes giving him a variety of nicknames involving music.
In his third year at school whilst playing a Shockball match derby with a rival team, Ricco tore the ligaments in his knee. After being taken off in a stretcher Ricco received surgery on the knee a week later, he was only given small amounts of bacta because of his young age. He was forced to sit on the sidelines for the rest of the season, something which put a massive dampener on his sprit. After a month though his sprits where raised by something knew which had came into his life, a girlfriend. Pandora Adalia, a girl who had actually been at school with Ricco from his first year. But neither had really taken interest in each other, but after his accident she seemed to notice him and form attraction between the two. After about a three weeks of talking Ricco asked her to go out with him and it soon became formal.
As the months went pass Ricco began to start training, with the team doing light exercises. Though his leg was still weak he continued to strengthen his upper body increasing his shoulder width and sheer bulk on his top half to a size he had never reached before. His team mates now referring him as the nick name ‘Fort’ because of his sheer size increase and of course his surname. As another few weeks went pass he continued his training eventually being able to take part in full training sessions. During this time he also concentrated on his studies making sure that his dream would come true, he needed high marks in both science and maths to allow him to go to the operate college. As his third year came to a close nothing extremely interesting had happened, no tragic deaths or disasters which were averted by his own hand just a knee injury and a Girlfriend.
As the final two years went pass everything went smoothly, he rejoined the Shockball team and played for most of the following two seasons. His relationship with his girlfriend grew deeper and stronger and his grades continued to average out. His compassion for music continued on sometimes annoying Pandora because he would use it as a way to blank out her whining. Which his friends always found amusing, most of the time making Pandora storm off in a strop which Ricco would then have to make up for later on. At the end of his fifth year in high school he took his final exams which would decide if his dream would be one step closer. When the results came in the nearly deafened his mother when shouted for joy after reading his score card. He had the grades he needed to join the Incom Corporation pilot scheme the same one his father had joined when he was his age.
At the age of sixteen Ricco formally changed his name to Ricco Fortanna before entering his registration form to the school. The next three weeks where some of the most anxious in his life, finally he was given the good news by his mum when he was out one day and another loud shout was heard all around the village. During the summer Ricco was offered a place by a number of colleges to play Shockball for them but in his mind those days were over, it was the time for his dream. The long summer he was given was full of excitement, nearly every day he was outside playing ruff shock ball on the open fields or out on a date with Pandora. A summer he would never forget because of all these things.
When the summer came to an end Ricco formally joined the Incom Pilot scheme, here he would learn all the basics of piloting ships along with the hard ones as well. He was taught all the skills needed to eject and land safely, also the skills he would need if he ever landed in a forest area full of wild animals. His studies would also continue as he was taught some of the mathematical equations which needed to be done in flight, to adjust all the percentages of fuel and air they would need during the flight. The course ran over a period of four years, at the end of each one a theory and practical test would be taken to make sure they had progressed enough to keep their place in the scheme.
His personal life had little change during this time; he may have become a more distant to a few older friends but none who he didn’t gain back in new friends from Incom. He continued to date Pandora the relationship was now strong enough they could stand through anything together all the cheating talks and the mood swings had disappeared and it was truly just love. Something a lot of his friends thought was pretty lame, he continued to play Shockball with his friends normally coming back home with something hurting because of a rough tackle.
After his four years at Incom training scheme, he finally graduated and was given a full time job as a test pilot at the main facility in the capital. He would never reach the capital though as a few days after he was to be set up to take the fall for something completely out of his control. Walking home from Pandora’s Ricco became caught up in a chase with some old mates, against his better judgement he followed them to an abandoned building on the outskirts of the town. What Ricco didn’t know and wouldn’t find out until later was that the house was full of illegal Ryll and that police forces where coming to the building right now. As the sirens got closer Ricco was confused until he stumbled over a stoned seventeen year old girl. Figuring out right then where he was he panicked and ran for the front door, but was met with cuffs.
A month later Ricco was sentenced to three years in prison for possession of Illegal Ryll in large quantities. His defence lawyer could not prove him innocent as when he stumbled over the teenage girl he had coated his hands in the substance and was slightly high due to the amount of Ryll in the air. Ricco was transported to a prison on the other side of the planet far away from his friends and family so visits became a rare occasion.
Ricco was partnered up with an Ex-bounty hunter named Kale Dartnell, they were both distant at first as his anger about the set up controlled most of his emotions. This lead to a confrontation with a group which had formed up in prison after a short confrontation of words between Ricco and a pair of men, a fight broke out which at first went ok for him before the rest of the gang joined in the fight. Kale then stepped in to break away the group after breaking one of the men’s arms. Guards soon arrived and took Ricco to the medical wing and placed three of the five men in isolation.
After being patched up by the doctor Ricco returned to his cell and was met by Kale who then explained why he helped him, Ricco replied with a thank you and the two began to talk about why there were in Prison. After a few weeks the two became close and spent a lot of time together in prison talking about whatever came into their head. By this time the three men were out of isolation and keeping a watchful eye on Ricco and Kale. After another close confrontation which was broken up by local guards Kale offered his help against the group in the form of teaching Ricco some skills he would need to defend himself in the future.
The five years Ricco spent in Prison where of routine, like chores making most men give up the will to live long before their time was up. Ricco had a few confrontations with the group of thugs but after Kale and Ricco soundly beat them one time. The confrontations became few and far between which please him as he no longer needed to watch constantly over his shoulder.
As he left the prison he found himself alone in the galaxy, his family had all but abandoned him and Pandora had already moved on with someone else. He could no longer join up with Incom due to his now criminal record. Using a contact that Kale had given him in prison he located an old friend of the bounty hunter, with Ricco only mentioning his name he was brought inside and given some food. Inside he met a family of four the man of the house was called Calen Dartnell, an ex-bounty hunter who became domesticated after he met his wife. He ran a small weapon repair store using the skills he learnt in his old profession to good use. He also once in a while would go bond collecting with another of Kale’s old contacts when there was a lot of cash involved.
Ricco was put up with the Dartnell’s and Calen employed him in the shop, as more of a manual labour at first until he learnt a lot bit more about fixing things. The following few months went easy for Ricco and his life began to return to normal after the harsh yet plain lifestyle inside a prison. His days became routine like before but filled with more excitement and he began to enjoy the company of Calen’s two young kids. After the work day was over Calen taught him more of the skills he would need to keep up with the more increasing demand of work at the shop. Ricco seemed to pick up quickly what Calen was doing and could repeat his results soon after he had first be shown but normally after a day or two he had to be shown again. Though after the second time he normally remembered what to do.
After about nine months Ricco became more and more adapt at fixing some of the problems which the average customer came in with, but he normally called Callen in just encase when he had finished the work. His face became more situated in the shop instead of just that random employee and he had a few of his own customers who actually asked for him which always brought a smile across his face. The time after work which consisted of Callen teaching him about how to fix the weapons was changing into him using the weapons, Ricco was always curious about some of the weapons which found their way into the shop so after some goading Callen showed him some of his old bounty hunter skills.
A year went by and Ricco’s life became simpler and more routine something he accepted with grace and open arms sometimes it was great to just live a normal life with no hassles. During the time he continued his tutorage under Callen in both fixing and using the weapons which came into the shop, Ricco became adapt in the use of the average weapons which came into the shop as he frequently got to test fire them a few times before he would give them back to their owner. His life wasn’t cluttered up by large relationships but he did experience a few flings with women who he either met in the shop or out on the streets around it. Ricco became close to Callen’s family as well becoming the new big brother to the two kids making sure they didn’t get into any trouble if Callen had taken his wife out for a romantic night.
As time went further on Ricco became more fascinated with weapons of all kinds, he would often visit a sword shop which was situated down the street from Callen’s. He spent a lot of time here when the shop was either closed or had no real business. The owner also crafted blades himself and over the coming two years began to show and teach Callen how to handle and create blades. Ricco continued to work at Callen’s shop for the following two years, spending most of his time either there or down at the sword shop. Callen’s family became Ricco’s over the time he spent their becoming the big brother of the children.
It had been three years since Ricco left prison and he and Callen often visited Kale. During their visits Kale and Callen would fascinate Ricco with stories of their old adventures across the galaxy and descriptions of the beautiful women would always excite him. Usually that night he couldn’t sleep thinking about what was out there as he had never been off the planet it was daunting thinking about how large the galaxy was and whole small he was.
On his twenty seventh birthday, Ricco was presented with a variety of gifts from everyone he knew. From the swords smith he was given two new vibroblades to add to his the ones he had previously brought from him over the course of the past two years. Callen handed him a brand new Westar-34 and a DC-15s blaster. The Westar was Callen's own weapon which was orginally given to him by Kale when he was imprisoned a years ago, so it was now passed on again to Ricco. Though the biggest surprise was what Callen’s family had got together to by him a ticket off the planet to Nar Shaddarr, with the ticket was a piece of paper with a name written on it. Callen explained it was from Kale and the name on the paper was an old friend who owed both Kale and Callen a favour from way back and it was time to pay up. Callen’s family took him to the spaceport at the capital and saw him off at the front exit. As he moved to the counter to check in, he informed the women behind the desk that his name as Ricco Dartnell.
After leaving the ground of Fresia behind him Ricco boarded a shuttle towards Nar Shadarr where his life would take a different turn, a turn more sinister and unforgiving that he ever thought was to come to pass. Ricco however was given one last piece of innocence in his life, one little part to play as an untainted soul. On the shuttle he was met by a beautiful girl, who he would eventually learn to be called by the name of Syra Voru. He spent a loving few minutes which seemed like hours with the girl, her eyes so big loving and sincere that they still drift in his dreams today. Though this meeting was cut short by her depart though Ricco said if not to her but or himself that they would meet again in the future on some random ship in some random system. Well He Hoped.
Following the rest of the shuttle ride Ricco landed on the planet of Nar Shadaar, here he would meet his first new test in the galaxy. On the planet in a small unknown room in the back of a bar Ricco met with the Black Sun Assassin Flare Storm. After heated debates, discussions or whatever it was to be called Ricco was told to come to a place in the following days to become a whole new man in a forgotten and forbidden trade. Within the next week Ricco had left the surface of Nar Shadaar for an unknown location where unknown transport lay floating the midst of space. Here Ricco met the Vigo Emala who after a brief introduction and little chat lay down the guidelines of Ricco’s new employment as a member of the criminal syndicate known only as the Black Sun.
Over the next few weeks Ricco was pushed back and forth over the galaxy running task after task for his Vigo Emala and handler Flare. Though with the reckless job came perks such as a lovely little pay packet at the end of every job and the inclusion of a very random Pilot by the name of Mercus Dirhim. This man was loyal to both the Black Sun and to Ricco and within only a few days the two seemed to mesh into a quite effect duo. One doing the work on the ground the other in the air, sometimes the two clashed over the most stupid of things but this was only a sign of how much difference there was in the two’s job inside this organisation. After a successful kill of a long ill friend of the black sun Ricco was separated from his pilot due to him being confined by other duties in the business of Black Sun piloting. This forced Ricco to make his own way back to the HQ and Flare, this put him in the path of an old acquaintance but with a big new friend and big new plans. This Acquaintance was the known outlaw Astrade Tur'esta and this job was Wings
