Cado Smith
Cado Smith was a well-respected Harpy pilot and is the ace of aces of the Kamian Succession Wars.
Early Life
Cado was born in A.Y. 6408 in a GS Town, where both of his parents worked for the Gudersnipe Foundation. Though civilians, both were actively and heavily involved in the war effort. Young Cado showed promise early on, demonstrating keen hand-eye coordination and an uncanny aim. The earliest footage of him shows a routine preformed for a school talent show at the age of six, in which he popped balloons using darts and a mirror.
As a youth he was heavily involved in various sporting pursuits. Being a GS Town these were primarily track and field, and while he was certainly a physically fit and able athlete, he did not find much excitement in these activities. Archery seemed the most obvious draw, but he lacked the patience for it.
In his teen years, Cado developed a great fondness for video games, and dropped most of his extracurricular pursuits. While he performed passably in school, his parents began to worry about a lack of discipline, and enrolled him in pre-academy. When asked about it later, Cado said the decision was an amicable one, and that he was excited to go.
The specific pre-academy in question was close enough for Cado to attend without having to live on campus, allowing him to maintain his old friendships, but consuming a great deal of his free time. Like most young boys, he had always been a military enthusiest, and greatly enjoyed close-order drill. In his memoir, he said the only thing he really regretted was that he went to an all-boys school and got so busy 'playing soldier' that he never had time for romance.
While pre-academies did exist specifically to feed into proper Crimson Blade academies, Cado had not initially intended to join up. However, he showed great aptitude, and at 16 was offered the chance to begin flight-training. He relished the idea, as simulators of such things were his favorite game, and did extremely well in the program.
At 18, he was sent to an advanced program to train as a Harpy pilot. His parents, who had been eager to keep him away from the fighting, were mortified, but Cado was excited about the program.
Flight Training
Cado's preternatural abilities served him well, especially his excellent sense of spatial awareness. In the simulators he was notorious for completing the entire pre-flight routine blindfolded, using only touch and careful listening. He could still complete the program faster than anyone else, and quickly rose to the top of his class.
Like most Harpy pilots, Cado was not well-known for discipline, but his instructors liked him anyway. He had a reputation for owning up to his transgressions, and that earned him their respect. Being seasoned pilots themselves, they could easily see his potential, and it is important to note that he never commited a serious infraction while on duty.
Flight Career
In A.Y. 428, at the age of 20, Cado was sent on his first deployment, and saw action within two weeks of graduation. He scored his first kill against a Kamian starfighter in his very first engagement, and made ace-in-a-day on his second. He was an uncannily precise pilot, and proved also to have a remarkable ability to handle his spacecraft.
Over the next twenty-two years, Cado scored a record-setting 12,012 confirmed kills, over two thousand more than any other pilot on record. Part of this is owed to his station as a Crimson Blade Elite, being by nature a front-line unit, he was exposed to considerable combat. His wing averaged at least five sorties per week, and Cado made an average of 2.1 kills per sortie.
In his spare time, he gained notireity on the sublight racing circuit. While officially an amatuer, he was able to compete at the professional level when allowed, and was known in racing circles as "the mercenary". Since he was not a full-time racer and often had little notice, he was popularly hired by various teams as a ringer, since he was so good he could practically guarantee a win.
Later Life
At the age of 42, Cado retired from the Crimson Blade as a decorated war hero. There had been talk of going full-time as a racer or even being given charge of a racing team; he could also have continued on in the Blade as a flight instructor or joined the command program, but as Cado put it he had 'had enough' of war. Most biographers speculate that he was suffering from severe burnout, but close friends and family do not note any difficulties with his demenor. He was tired, yes, but who wouldn't be after flying 5-7 missions a week for 22 straight years?
In his memoirs, Cado admitted that the decision had more to do with his age. he was 'loosing his edge', and no longer able to fly with the precision and capability that had made him famous. He could have kept on piloting and still done well, but as he had reached a stage whereby he could no longer improve, he didn't relish the idea of struggling to maintain and slowly loosing his edge.
Moreover, he did not wish to continue with the Crimson Blade. While an elite member of their fighter corpse, he had never gone past the rank of Captain, and didn't desire to continue on with a career in the military.
Attempted Retirement
With his full pension and additional stipends based on some of the commendations he had received, Cado was provided with a generous income
