Erik Snabb

Erik Snabb is a terran pilot.

Early Life
As a child, Snabb lost his house to a termite infestation. They called in an exterminator, but he told them it was too far gone, and it had to be demolished.

Of Wraiths and Wives
"I went over your military records before you got the call. Your old commander said you were the best damn pilot he's ever seen. Racked up the most kills in your unit."

- Major Stortand Varg

Snabb piloted a wraith for a year during a tour of duty as part of the Dominion Marine Corps. He loved every minute of it, the piloting of the craft coming naturally. He saw it as an obligation to use his skills to protect the citizenry of the Terran Dominion. He possessed the highest number of kills in his unit, and earned high praise from his commanding officer. During the tour he met Kyrie, and fell in love. Much as he adored flying, he couldn't stomach leaving her behind, and each time he left for the field was a point of grief for her. He decided to resign, a move his superiors weren't happy with. They pointed out the investment that had been made to train him as a pilot, and that he needed to spend the rest of his life repaying that. While he sympathized with their point of view, Kyrie had become pregnant. As soon as his tour was finished, the two were married, and as a wedding gift, he mustered out. The newly weds and their new daughter caught an interplanetary transport to Braxis.

Due to the planet's distance from the rest of the Dominion, Snabb hoped that he wouldn't fall to the temptation to re-enlist. UNN didn't make it easy, but he always managed to resist the urge. Instead, he found work as a pilot for transports, flying over Braxis's wastes, hauling goods from one settlement to another and ore from mines to refineries. He also sometimes operated a walker in the unloading process. It paid well, but kept him away from his family for extended periods of time, and that time gave him time to think, such as leaving the planet. Kyrie put her foot down on the matter, but Snabb still felt restless.

Snabb quit his job as a pilot and became a truck driver instead. He rose through his employers' organization, and his bosses kept him close to home, sending him on short runs so he could spend time with his family.

Lost Vikings
During the Second Great War, the zerg invaded Braxis for its ore deposits. Snabb headed for home, listening to UNN reports as he did so. He knew that the planet was lost, and that even if the Dominion sent reinforcements, the settlements would be destroyed in the process. Arriving home, his daughter greeted him tearfully. He knew that they had to leave, and hope that when the conflict was over, there would be something to come back to. As they packed, an evacuation order for all non-essential personnel came. The local recruiter told Snabb that the military had concocted a plan to slow down the zerg. With luck, it would hold them off until most of the people on the planet had a chance to escape. But the Dominion needed more combat-ready pilots to help implement the, and it needed them immediately. Kyrie told him to go and help, and that they'd wait for him. Kissing them goodbye, Snabb went to join the recruiter.

An armorer informed Snabb that he'd be flying a viking under Major Stortand Varg. He asked whether it was possible to fly a wraith instead, but they had all been assigned to help the evacuation. Hours later, Snabb found himself piloting a viking with veteran pilots, heading towards the Grendel Mountains, where the zerg invasion force had landed. It had been three years since he'd flown a fighter, and hopes that muscle memory would take over were unfulfilled, as he found the viking difficult to handle. That, and he'd barely had any time to train in its use (only training in a simulator). He felt out of place among the veteran pilots, and that it was revealed that he was filling in for a deceased pilot didn't help his confidence. Varg gave him a confidence boost when he mentioned that he had gone over his combat record.

The vikings headed for the LZ, and transformed into assault mode, landing in the snow. Snabb was just as unsteady in this mode as he'd been in flight. As per the plan given from Dominion Command, they were to engage the zerg and draw them away from the settlements until Command gave them the order to pull out, or, as Varg put it, until Command turned tail themselves. Trudging through the snow, the unit encountered some drones and overlords. Varg ordered a ground assault&mdash;when ground troops arrived, they'd enter air mode. Snabb bemoaned the viking's inability to attack ground units from the air, but was told to suck it up. The vikings marched forward and used their gatling cannons, tearing into the zerg. The zerg retreated into tunnels in a ridge, and Snabb persued. However, his gunfire caused the ridge wall to collapse. The resulting avalanche swept his viking away. The other vikings were caught up as well.

Snabb saw the bright side to the situation, in that the avalanche would have taken out the zerg. Varg pointed out that the zerg were burrowers, and that provided the avalanche didn't crush them, they'd have no problem getting out of it. Snabb tried to escape, but the viking couldn't move. Worse, he could hear over the radio as one of the pilots was killed in her cockpit by the zerg. Disabling his viking's auto-circuit, he used its VTOL jets, melting the snow and breaking free. Now airborne, Snabb set about trying to free the other pilots. However, a flight of mutalisks were making their way towards him. To make matters worse, the zerg overran Varg as well. On the plus side, Olaf was able to get his viking free. Snabb fired his Lanzer torpedoes, taking out a mutalisk. They agreed to draw off the mutalisks long enough for Baleog to get free. Their ploy worked, and Baleog got his viking clear of the snow. Within minutes, the three surviving vikings had entered flight formation. They flew for home.

Trivia
Snabb appears in the Lost Vikings short story, which features callbacks to Blizzard's legacy game, The Lost Vikings. Snabb is likely named after Erik the Swift, one of the protagonists of said game.