Vsmit: The Early Years (IC)

I graduated from the Pator Tech School at the end of YC 111, but my story does not begin there.  I was born and raised on the planet designated as Leurtmar VI, a temperate planet in the Metropolis region of Minmatar space.  My upbringing was the same as any other Brutor: strict but kind.  There was one major difference between myself and the other children, though.  I was blind.  Not simply that my optic nerves had become detached, but my eyes did not have lenses, the iris and cornea were milky white, as though my eyes had rolled back and the pupils were not visible.  While this "handicap" meant that I could not interact with things the way a normal child could, I was always at or near the top of my class.  I also discovered an amazing proficiency with both spatial reasoning and spatial memory, in some cases better than that of the instructor.  Soon, I was walking as though I wasn't blind, with no assistance other than what my ears and brain afforded me.  Blindness was no longer a hinderance, merely a conversation point.

After I completed my requisite education planetside, I applied to the Pator Technology School as an engineering student.  When I was accepted, I was offered an implant that allowed me to control a pair of tiny camera drones to act as my eyes, and my world simply exploded outward.  Suddenly I was actually seeing things, instead of conceptualizing them.  I mean, I knew what a chair was, I knew the basic shape, but I had no idea that they could be so intricate, the craftsmanship so delicate.  While my world expanded exponentially, my mental capacities also grew.  The functionality of the drones allowed me to see the dimensions of objects in real-time, depending on what I was focusing on.  Let me tell you, I was everybody's friend when someone needed to move from one dormitory to another.  Making sure stuff could fit through a door was my specialty.

5 years later, I graduated from the Tech School with honors, and was asked to take part in the prestigious Capsuleer program that they offered.  As an engineering student, I had learned how the ships worked, but flying them was a completely different matter...