Eventually, in his teens, he found work at a beach casino in Tama where he learned to be a card shark of a dealer. Silent and unsmiling, he didn't get tossed many chips at the end of the game - but that was fine, because he got a decent bonus from the management. His ability to build up the tension for a big game, stack the deck exactly so, and make the finale an explosive one was pure theatrics.
He gave up that job after one close brush with death during a massive tournament that the casino was hosting. After being accused of cheating by a dangerous player from Nippon, the casino washed their hands of him, throwing him under the truck instead of taking the blame itself. A pair of thugs from crime syndicate that the accuser belonged to chased Pallas down and was just about ready to beat the life out of him.
He doesn't remember what all happened that night, but he does remember waking up some time later in the hotel room of a Colonial Fleet officer, one of those who had saved him. It was then that he decided two things: 1) He was getting the hell off of Aquaria, and 2) He was going to join the Fleet.
Then being at the age of 21, Pallas managed to secure a nomination from a local Colonial official who knew him from the casino and applied to the Fleet Academy. His academic record and background weren't exactly sterling by any standard, but he managed to fish out some letters and references through people he knew in the casino and from higher clients that his mother and her friends serviced. Through some miracle, he was accepted into the Fleet Academy.
To say that he struggled would be an understatement. His performance was pretty miserable, and he almost always placed in the bottom third of every class. It probably didn't help that he chose a major of Astrophysics. He got through it, but not easily. Immediately after graudation, he applied for Flight School. The first time, he was turned down - the pool was too competitive and he didn't merit. The second time, he merited but failed to pass the rigorous physical standard. But third time's a charm, they say, and he finally made it in.
After four years in Fleet Academy, he served three years as an Intelligence Officer while he waited to get into Flight School. Following that, he was in Flight School for two years while he trained to be a Viper Pilot. So all told, he was 31 years old before he flew a Viper "for real".
Present day, thirteen years later, he has advanced exactly two ranks - from Ensign to Lieutenant. And everyone knows that's a guaranteed rank. He has been denied for promotion five times - and he's even stopped appealing the decision. Fed up with the system, he had just made his decision to release when the holocaust hit. His date was set for three weeks after the big party at Anchorage.
