Nikos Markell awoke with a start as he was pulled from his hibernation pod by a couple tall, roughly dressed men, one human and one species he didn't recognize. Nikos rubbed the sleep out of his four eyes and looked tiredly at the pair.
"Is it time already?" he asked, "Can't I get five more minutes?"
With a bit of a push, the men showed Nikos they wouldn't wait. They led him down the well-worn passageways of the starship careful to avoid any portholes. As they would approach, any screen displaying data on their surroundings shut down.
"Do I get a hint or anything?" Nikos asked jokingly of the men.
He received only a stern look as a reply. It seemed to Nikos that they weren't in a joking mood. They continued down the hallways to the ship's hangar. Once inside, they approached a small solar sailship, outdated and not suitable for combat, but still a favorite of the Free Nomads, Nikos's people. The door of the ship opened and out came a blue-skinned woman in ornate ceremonial garb, the blue and white patterning of which was reminiscent of the clothes worn by the men guiding Nikos. Both the men and Nikos knelt and bowed low before her. She gave a slight bow before standing back up straight.
"Nikos Markell, the time has come for your pilgrimage," The woman said, "I have found this ship suitable for the task. Are you prepared?"
"I believe I am," replied Nikos.
"You believe you are, or you are?" Questioned the woman.
"I am," corrected Nikos.
"Better," stated the woman, "Prepare yourself to undertake the journey."
Nikos stepped inside the small yet long-range ship and began to don a pilot's suit in the same blue and white colors of the others around him. He thought about what he was about to do: The Great Pilgrimage, the final test of any Free Nomad navigator. He had trained from a very young age, about seven galactic standard years, to become a navigator. He was taught how to pilot ships both large and small as well as how to read star charts and use them to navigate the galaxy. Since his training began, he had been taught to memorize the charts and the relative positions of all the major stars in the galaxy. If he was truly ready to be a navigator, he would be able to find his way anywhere without needing a computer or database, and that was what The Great Pilgrimage tested. Potential navigators were brought to an unknown location, dropped alone in a small ship with no functional nav computer, and told to find their way back to the Trail's Beginning, the world the first Free Nomads originated from.
When Nikos finished putting on his suit and sat down in the pilot's chair, the door snapped shut behind him and the ship's engine hummed to life. Nikos was startled as he hadn't touched any of the controls, but calmed quickly when he noticed an indicator screen displayed the message "Remote Pilot Active". He relaxed his grip on the steering implements and sat back in his chair.
"May the stars light your path," said the voice of the woman through the ship's comm system, "and lead you home."
Nikos watched as the hangar doors opened to the cold expanse of space, a semi-permeable force-field still holding in the air. The ship lifted off the floor and exited the hangar.
As it left, Nikos was already attempting to study the stars, but something happened that Nikos did not expect. The ship suddenly began spinning and lurching in random directions. The movement of the ship was extremely disorienting, and Nikos was beginning to get motion sick. His normally pale-yellow skin was turning a sickly shade of green as he attempted to hold in his vomit. As he stared out the window, the stars became elongated streaks of light.
After what felt like several minutes, the indicator screen marked a shift back to manual control and the ship stabilized, the stars outside once again becoming mere points of light. There was however, one streak which remained: the bright ion trail indicative of a recent hyperspace jump. Nikos checked his scanners to confirm what he thought, and he was right: the ship he came here on had left, he was alone.
Nikos was still reeling from the spinning, trying to gather his wits about him. He realized that must have been a part of the test he wasn't warned about, another tactic to render him unable to decipher which direction he had come from. As his head was finally clearing, the ion trail left by the ship had faded. Nikos could no longer see it, and his ship wasn't equipped with the right sensors to find more faint trails, so he had to rely on the stars to guide him.
Nikos activated the camera attached to the ship's hull and used it to capture images of all the area around him. The ship's computer took all the images and stitched them together to form a chart of the starfield around him. Nikos got up from the pilot's chair and walked to the holotable, setting it to display the newly crafted chart. Drawing on all the training he'd received over the course of his young life, Nikos recalled all the star charts he could remember until he came up with some very close to the one he was seeing. If he was correct, the star closest to him was Sol, the star around which orbits Terra Prime, the capitol world of the Terran Empire and original homeworld of the humans.
"If Sol is that way, that would mean that one is Rigel, and that one is Polaris," muttered Nikos to himself as he worked out the proper direction, "And if that's the case, that would place the Trail's Beginning over here." Nikos pointed at one particular star on the chart. He calculated the proper heading to travel toward that star and set the ship in that direction.
Nikos pressed a button and a compartment on the front of the ship opened. Out from the opening emerged a metallic object which appeared almost clothlike as it unfurled: the ship's solar sail. The undulating material, tethered to the ship by heavy cables, pulled itself taught and the ship began its movement. Nikos checked the gauges on the panel in front of him, looking for the jump drive power. It was empty and very slowly climbing.
"Looks like it's gonna be while," Nikos said to himself, noting how slowly the jump drive was charging. He sat back and allowed the sail to pull the ship toward his destination, thinking how easily he was completing the test. Nikos fantasized for a good long while about what would happen when he finished the test. He fantasized about the ceremony that would be held for him when he arrived at the Trail's Beginning. He pictured the elders waiting for him to arrive, the crowds cheering for him as he approached, the ceremonial wreath they would place around his neck, congratulating him. He thought about his life after training, when he would be a full-fledged navigator, a privileged position within Free Nomad society. He'd serve a term under the captain-father of a different crew-clan before he would be able to start his own crew-clan with himself at the helm leading the family. Thanks to his leadership, his people would have a whole fleet of ships, they would be able to take on any job, they would never go hungry and never want for anything, not like he had in his old crew-clan.
Nikos had been born into one of the smaller families. They scraped by, but just barely. When he took the aptitude test and found out he had the capacity to become a navigator, his parents were ecstatic. They were sad when they sent him away for training of course, but happy knowing he had a chance at a better life. That was the last time he'd seen them. Nikos was greatly looking forward to the reunion.
Nikos continued to daydream about his past and potential future for a couple hours while the solar sail charged the jump drive. This daydreaming was not to last as Nikos had a rather rude awakening.
The ship suddenly shook from a sizable impact, jarring Nikos back to reality. Snapping out of his dreams he checked all the instruments to find the source of the disturbance. He saw a nearby ship on the radar, much larger than his own, and considerably better armed. Realizing the jolt he felt must have been a warning shot from the larger ship, Nikos retracted the solar sail to prevent it from being damaged by any further impacts. The indicator screen beeped, stating he was being hailed. Nikos wanted to jump away trying to run, but the gauge said the jump drive wasn't fully charged yet and trying to jump on partial charge was risky. Nikos decided not to risk his ship and pushed a button on the console to answer the hail. The screen was taken up by the image of a rough-looking Parkanian, an alien species that is big, strong, and covered in dense fur.
"This is Jarrick Fahr, captain of the Dread Nova," the man on the screen said, "Your ship is now under my control. If you value your life, do not resist."
The screen went black, and the ship lurched as it was grabbed by the pirates' tractor beam. Nikos was terrified. While he had never encountered pirates himself, he had heard all sorts of horror stories about pirates growing up. He heard of pirates stripping ships for parts and leaving the hapless crews to freeze to death or starve in space. He heard of pirates taking the crews and selling them as slaves on the less civilized worlds. He'd even heard of insane cannibalistic pirates who would eat whoever they caught, though he was never sure if he believed those stories.
Whatever the case, he knew being captured by pirates was bad news, and all he could do was wait helplessly as the invisible force of the tractor beam pulled his ship into the hangar of the pirate vessel. The solar sailor was dropped roughly onto the metal floor of the hangar as the tractor beam released, nearly jostling Nikos out of his seat. A loud banging issued from the ship's doors and a deep, raspy voice followed.
"Open up or we'll open it for you!" stated the voice angrily.
Nikos complied and pressed the button to open the door. Once the door slid open, three pirates armed with wicked-looking knives and worn blaster rifles entered the small cabin. They rifled through his supply bins before dumping them out. Clothing, dry rations, and water packs spilled across the floor, nothing a pirate may be looking to steal. The pirates seemed puzzled and irritated that he appeared to have nothing really worth stealing on board.
"What's the deal with this tub?" a short, four-armed pirate asked, "It's a fancy ship, why hasn't he got anything?"
A large pirate with reptilian features studied Nikos for a moment before replying "I think I know what this is, yeah, this fellow's one o' them Free Nomads methinks. They gotta do a sort a' quest when they grow up. Is that what you're on then, your quest?"
Nikos nodded in response. "Well then, that's different. He don't got nothin'," the pirate continued, "What say we take 'im to the cap'n and see what he thinks?"
"I think that's a great idea, see what the captain thinks," chuckled the raspy-voiced pirate.
Nikos was led to the bridge, careful to keep his eyes down so he can avoid seeing any screens that might show him clues to his location. The captain turned his attention toward Nikos and the pirates with him when they entered the room.
"What is the meaning of this?" captain Fahr bellowed, "Why is the prisoner on the bridge?"
"Apologies cap'n," the large pirate said, "'e's one a' them Free Nomads on that quest they go on and we was wonderin' what ta do with 'im. He ain't got nothin' worth takin' on 'is ship!"
The captain looked at Nikos whose eyes were glued to the floor. "Is this true? You truly have nothing of value?"
"It is, sir," Nikos answered while still staring at the floor, "I have only the supplies needed to get to the Trail's Beginning."
"Look at me when speaking, nomad," the captain demanded.
"I cannot," Nikos explained, "Your bridge is full of navigational screens. If I see where I am, it will invalidate my test and I will fail."
The captain turned to the bridge crew "Get those screens off so I can have a proper conversation with our guest here!" he shouted.
The crew complied and turned off the navigational screens. The captain turned back to Nikos "Now where were we? Oh yes, you have nothing of value."
"It's true," Nikos said now looking up, "I really don't have anything to take, so if you'll just let me go..."
"Now just wait a minute, nomad," the captain interrupted, "You can't really expect us to just let you go after going to the trouble of capturing your ship."
"I can't?" Nikos replied questioningly, terrified these men were going to sell him to make up for his lack of valuable possessions.
"Tell you what," the captain began, "You've caught me in a good mood. That ship of yours could fetch a pretty penny so here's what's going to happen: we're a little low on supplies so we'll stop at the nearest freeport, resupply, drop you there, and sell your ship."
"You can't! It's all I have!" objected Nikos.
Captain Fahr's face changed to a much more serious expression as he said "You don't even have that anymore. We're done here. Take him away."
The pirates who brought Nikos in grabbed him and dragged him off the bridge. They brought him deep into the ship as he struggled against their grip to no avail. He was brought into a dimly lit room with four chambers blocked by metal bars and doors with heavy locks: the brig.
The air in the brig was stale, like the ventilation system had broken a while ago and no one could be bothered to fix it. Nikos guessed the pirates didn't care much for the comfort of their prisoners. The light was barely enough for Nikos to see, but he was just able to make out the shape of a humanoid body lying sprawled on the disused mattress in the corner. He turned around and gripped the bars, his face panicked.
"You're gonna leave me in here with a corpse?" He asked the guards who were already halfway to the exit.
"Hey!" shouted the corpse, apparently not as dead as it looks, raising a hand "I'm not dead yet!"
The guards left the brig and the not-corpse sat up and eyed Nikos. Upon inspection, the being was a human and not dead, just dirty and very thin. She looked like she'd been here a while. She extended her hand and introduced herself.
"The name's Naomi Jones," she said.
"Nikos Markell," Nikos replied, shaking her outstretched hand.
"So what's your deal then?" Naomi asked, "They selling you or holding you for ransom?"
"Neither," Nikos replied uneasily, "They're taking my ship and leaving me at the next port."
Naomi chuckled dryly "Yeah, that's what the captain always says, you'll be left there alright, but not alone. As we speak he's probably finding a buyer for you. He just told you that to make sure you don't try anything."
Nikos looked down, realizing his fate. "So I guess you're in the same boat."
"Yeah," Naomi said, "Captain doesn't take kindly to mutineers."
Nikos backed up in fear, he was locked up not just with a pirate, but a mutineer at that. He then became confused, in most cases, mutineers get executed, especially on pirate ships. Naomi noticed his tense posture.
"Relax," Naomi said, gesturing to her emaciated form "Even if I wanted to hurt you I'm in no shape to do anything."
Nikos relaxed a little and began questioning the pirate.
"Why..." Naomi cut him off.
"You wanna know what I did and why I'm still alive," Naomi stated.
Nikos nodded his head.
"Okay, here goes," Naomi began, "I was a gunner for the Terran Imperial Navy before I got tired of the low pay and turned pirate. Five years I've been on this crew, five years gunnin' down lawmen's ships. A couple weeks back I decided the pirate's life just isn't for me and wanted out, wanted to go straight. But you see the captain, he doesn't like when folks leave his crew, thinks they'll rat him out. The only way to get out alive was to stage a mutiny. I tried to raise one, but the others wouldn't have it. They told the captain, and I got thrown in here."
Nikos was still confused, "Why didn't he kill you? Most pirates execute mutineers."
"Well, the captain has a strict policy, you see, never kill what you can sell." She replied, "But that doesn't matter now, now you're here."
"What do you mean?" Nikos asked.
"I mean, alone I stood no chance of escape, but with another person, one who has a ship, maybe I could get out of this," Naomi explained.
"So, what's the plan?"
"Don't know yet," Naomi smiled, "But the way I see it, two can escape easier than one."
The pair sat on the dingy mattress and thought. Tales of daring escapes that Nikos had grown up on came to mind, but it seemed like none of those plans could really be pulled off here. Nikos thought about trying to break the door down, but he didn't think he or Naomi really had the strength for that. He thought of filing away the bars, but that would probably take more time than he could spare and besides, he didn't see anything he could use as a file. The door was only shut by a simple padlock so Nikos thought about picking the lock, thinking the disused mattress in the corner could be an ample source of stiff wires to attempt it. But unfortunately, lockpicking is a skill sorely missing from the navigator curriculum, so Nikos did not know how to pick the lock. He thought maybe a pirate might know how though.
Nikos turned to Naomi and asked, "Do you know how to pick locks?"
"Do you think I'd be in here if I did?" she replied flatly.
Nikos sighed, "Looks like we've gotta wait until they let us out to escape then."
"Okay," Naomi said with forced enthusiasm, "That means we've got some time to think, we're days from the nearest port. I think we're near..."
"Don't tell me where we are!" Nikos interjected, "I can't find out."
Naomi was puzzled for a moment, staring at Nikos's outfit before she realized. "Oh you're a Free Nomad! You must be taking your big trip then, heck of a test run."
"Yeah," Nikos said, calming down, "So please just don't say where we are."
"But shouldn't you know exactly where we are anyway?" Naomi asked.
"Yes, but I can't ever get confirmation," Nikos explained, "If I ever see or hear anything that confirms my location, the test becomes invalid and I have to wait five years to take the test again."
Resigning himself to waiting, Nikos laid down on the old mattress. It was lumpy, had a couple springs poking through the top, and smelled like it hadn't been washed since someone last died on it, but it was certainly more comfortable than the cold metal floor. He figured it would probably be a few days until they reached the nearest freeport, so he decided to rest as he came up with a plan of escape.
The next few days went by slowly. In the dim light of the cell without so much as a clock, it was hard for Nikos to tell exactly how much time had passed. He told time by his own circadian rhythm and the occasional water and ration packs they brought him and Naomi. The water tasted like plastic and the rations were stale and tasteless, but they kept them from thirst and starvation. The pair spent their days planning how they were going to escape. They argued frequently, Naomi's bold plans tending toward the unrealistic and Nikos's more careful ones tending to be too slow moving.
The guards had just dropped the pair's food and water for the day at the door and turned around to walk away when they heard the commotion.
"I saw that!" Naomi shouted, "You're trying to take my food!"
"I am not!" shouted Nikos in response.
"Are you calling me a liar?" replied Naomi.
"I'm not saying anything that isn't true," said Nikos spitefully.
"That's it!" screamed Naomi. She shoved Nikos against the wall and the pair struggled and fought. The guards ran back to the cell and screamed at the brawling pair to keep it down. Naomi and Nikos continued to fight until Naomi slammed Nikos against the one light in the cell and shattered the glass around it.
The guards opened the door, ran inside, and pulled the fighting pair apart. They took away the rations for the day as a punishment and took Naomi over to a different cell. What the guards didn't notice was the rather large shard of glass Nikos had hidden behind his back.
The time came that they were about to dock at the freeport, and the short pirate and the reptilian pirate came to take Nikos and Naomi to the hangar to be dropped off once they docked. Nikos carefully palmed his glass shard making sure to keep it out of sight from the pirates. The captain and a few other pirates were in the hangar waiting for them. Nikos approached the captain and spoke to him.
"So there is no way I can convince you to let me keep my ship?" Nikos asked.
"I'm afraid not," replied Captain Fahr, "In fact, you're quite lucky I'm letting you keep your life, especially after you defaced my brig."
"In that case..." Nikos trailed off and quickly whirled around, grabbing the short pirate and holding the tip of the glass shard to his neck. The pirates quickly drew their weapons and aimed at Nikos.
"Nobody do anything or this guy gets it!" Nikos shouted, attempting to act intimidating. He backed his way slowly toward the door of his ship. He punched in the code to open the door and it slowly slid open. Naomi slipped from the grasp of the guard behind her and ran into the ship.
"Ensign Grabes," said the captain
"Yes captain," replied the short pirate being held hostage.
"You have served me well through the years."
"Thank you, captain."
"But you've slipped up."
"I understand captain." Stated the pirate, knowing what was about to happen.
The captain fired his blaster at the hostage, leaving a burning hole in his chest, depriving Nikos of all bargaining power. Nikos tossed the corpse at the captain and ran into the ship as blaster fire hailed around him. As the door was closing, he activated the thrusters. Blaster bolts pelted the outside of the ship as he left the hangar. He checked the status of the jump drive, still not fully charged, just how he'd left it. The ship jolted to a stop as it was once again caught in the tractor beam. He could use the jump drive to pull away from the tractor beam, but he didn't have time to charge the jump drive fully or calculate a proper destination. Blindly jumping risked colliding with stars or planets and attempting a hyperspace jump without full charge risked an unstable jump which could tear the ship apart. But at the same time after this stunt he just pulled, he would certainly be killed, or worse, if recaptured by the pirates. He would have to risk it.
Nikos pushed forward the switch to activate the jump drive, the indicator screen lighting up with warnings of insufficient charge. He groaned at the automatic safeguards before pulling the emergency lever to turn the safeguards off and off his ship went, faster than light, breaking free of the pirates and leaving them behind.
The jump was rough, not the smooth yet powerful acceleration normally felt, but bumpy and turbulent, the ship shaking wildly as it traveled through hyperspace. Sparks flew from the various electronics on the control panel and smoke issued from any gaps. The indicator screen was a bright flashing red, blaring alarms warning of several system malfunctions. When it seemed like the ship couldn't take any more, Nikos pulled the switch back to turn off the jump drive.
As the ship slowed to a jarring halt, Nikos was once again extremely nauseous from the bumpy ride and the smoke that was now filling the cabin did not help. He turned up the air purifiers to maximum power, hoping they were still functional and staggered to the compartment housing the fire extinguisher. Grabbing the fire extinguisher, Nikos opened the jump drive access panel and saw it was currently on fire. He sprayed the fire-retardant powder onto the drive and the flames subsided. He had gotten lucky, he hadn't come too close to any stars or planets and the ship wasn't completely destroyed by the unstable jump, but now he had new problems. He was now in the middle of empty space and his jump drive was destroyed.
"Well I'm no expert, but I'd say that doesn't look good," stated Naomi.
"It's not," Nikos replied, "The thing looks completely shot, I think we might need to replace it."
Naomi approached the window at the front of the ship. "Where are we?" she asked.
"I don't know," Nikos replied, "Let me get my bearings."
Nikos once again compiled a chart of the stars surrounding him and mentally checked it against his memorized database.
"Crap!" Nikos exclaimed, "If we're where I think we are, we're out of luck. This place is nowhere near any trade routes or outposts"
He looked back to the jump drive and thought about his training, maybe he could try to repair it. The navigators had some basic training on ship maintenance, but that was not going to be enough to repair the drive. By the looks of things, the drive needed some replacement parts anyway. Nikos weighed his other options. The solar sail could pull the ship far and fast, but only at sub-light speeds, too slow to make it to an inhabited world within Nikos's lifetime. He might attempt to repair the drive, but in its current state with the few tools Nikos had, that risks destabilizing it which could destroy the ship and kill him. His only real choice was to attempt to call for help.
As he was setting up the beacon, Naomi grabbed his shoulder.
"What are you doing?" Naomi asked him.
"Setting up a distress beacon," Nikos replied.
"Really, because it looks like your tryin' to get us killed," stated Naomi
"What do you mean?" Nikos asked.
"I mean out in wild space, away from any trade routes or even Bounty Guild stations a distress beacon is a death sentence," Naomi explained, "A lone ship in danger is exactly the kind of easy mark pirates will swarm to."
Nikos reconsidered his actions. "So, what would you suggest?"
"Just hand it over," she said. Naomi fiddled with some wires on the distress beacon and typed some code into the console. The beacon lit up and began transmitting.
"What did you just do?" Nikos asked.
"An old pirate trick we used to lure in merchant ships, I recoded your ship's beacon to transmit a trade station signal," Naomi told him, "Merchant ships are drawn to them and pirates find them hard to take down so they avoid them."
The pair waited for days with no ships detected nearby. They placed the gear the pirates had strewn about the cabin back in its proper place. They began rationing what little food Nikos had brought, now realizing it may have to last longer than intended and feed an extra person. They took turns sleeping with one watching the comms.
Nikos was asleep when they finally were contacted. He heard chatter from the comms as Naomi messed with the controls. As he was finally fully conscious, Naomi was looking at him, beaming.
"We've got someone nearby, boosting the signal to try to make contact," She told him.
She pressed a few more keys and the message suddenly came through clearly.
"Calling trade station, this is the Serax Corp cargo vessel Punctuality," said the voice, "We are at the source of your signal, but can't pick you up on our scanners. Please respond."
"Apologies for the deception, Punctuality," replied Nikos, "This is Free Nomad pilgrim Nikos Markell. My ship's jump drive was damaged escaping from pirates and needed to put out a call which wouldn't attract more pirates."
"Understood, pilgrim. We're opening the hangar doors, follow the signal inside."
The larger ship moved alongside the solar sailor and opened its hangar. Nikos detected the guide signal and followed it inside, landing much more gently than it had inside the pirates' hangar. A Serax Corporation officer was there to greet Nikos and Naomi as they stepped off the ship. She was a Trillikari if Nikos was discerning correctly, a people known as direct and merciless, two traits the Serax Corporation appreciated in its management. She did not look happy with them.
"Welcome aboard, pilgrim," she said flatly.
"Glad you came by, I thought we were goners," Nikos responded gratefully, extending his hand for the officer to shake which the officer ignored.
"Let's get straight to business," She began, "We can offer you repairs for your damaged drive as well as room and board for duration of the repairs."
"Thank you so much," Nikos began before being interrupted by the officer.
"This is not charity," The officer interjected, "We are a business here, we expect payment for services rendered."
"Typical," Naomi muttered under her breath.
"I'm sorry, but I cannot pay, I have very little," Nikos claimed.
"If you cannot pay, then we cannot help," replied the officer, waving off the mechanics which had started to head to the ship.
"Hey! You have to help us," Naomi shouted "Under article thirty-four section two of the Galactic Charter, it is illegal to not help a distressed, non-criminal vessel when able to do so!"
"It is also a crime to falsify one's signal beacon," retorted the officer coolly, "So I believe that makes you a criminal vessel, meaning I am not obligated to help."
Nikos and Naomi felt defeated, he had hoped he could get them to help out of charity and Naomi hoped to force them with legality, but it was now clear neither of those options were going to work. They would have to bargain with these people.
"Look, we don't have any material goods to pay you with," Nikos stated, "But I am rather handy, and my friend here is an experienced gunner. Are there any services we could perform that you would call adequate payment for repairs?"
"Replacement parts for a jump drive are expensive, and the repair process hazardous," The officer began, "It would take quite some time of working for us to pay it off, longer than I should think a couple of wayward pilgrims are willing to spend."
Nikos looked down dejectedly, wondering how long it would take for another ship to come around that was willing to help him simply out of kindness.
"However," the officer continued, "We have some tasks which need doing, some small repairs and general busywork we could use someone to perform. It would not pay for repairs, but if you take up work on our ship, we will give you room and board until we stop for a resupply."
Nikos's expression brightened as he said, "I'll do it, but on one condition."
"And what is your condition?" asked the officer.
"I can't see any nav screens or indications of our current location," Nikos responded.
"I think that can be arranged," stated the officer.
So, Nikos spent the next several days on board the Punctuality performing cleanup work and making small repairs to various minor systems. Naomi worked with the gunners operating the ship's cannons. While they didn't get into combat, there was plenty to do using the plasma cannons to clear asteroids out of the way. They were each given a small room with a retractable cot as well as the same food as the rest of the crew. The bed was a bit hard, and the food was, like all space food, not particularly high-quality, but this arrangement was certainly better than what they had experienced as captives with the pirates. The two did not see each other for the few weeks the trip took.
When the day came that the Punctuality arrived at the nearest port station, Nikos and was ushered back to their ship in the hangar where the commanding officer was waiting alongside Naomi to see them off. Naomi looked much better than she had before, no longer gaunt and starved, she had regained a healthier weight and was smiling brightly.
"We've arrived at a trade station where you can get your ship repaired," she stated coldly, "Our transaction is complete."
"Straight to business, as usual," Nikos replied, "Well thanks for the ride. Be seeing you."
"Farewell, nomads," Said the officer.
The two travelers boarded the solar sailor and sat down in the cockpit. A couple Serax Corp branded crates of rations and water had been stacked in the hold, a parting gift from some of the crew. Nikos powered up his ship, the sub-light engines still functioning in spite of the damage and took off toward the station. Following a debate with a very exasperated flight control officer, Naomi was able to convince him to let them land without seeing any navigational data or the station's name. Nikos had checked the star charts before landing and was quite certain he had his location figured out, but still couldn't have that confirmed.
"Hey, I'm gonna stay on the ship," Naomi said, "I may have gone straight, but I was a pirate, part of a famous crew at that. If there's any bounty hunters on this station, they'll be after my head."
Nikos nodded in understanding and then stepped from the ship, eyes downcast as he walked out of the port and into the station's marketplace. Avoiding any signage that may indicate a location, Nikos searched the market for mechanics and shipwrights. Following the dingy pathways of the station he saw all sorts of unsavory folk and avoided making eye contact whenever possible. He found one small shop, hoping a smaller store might be more willing to do something just out of generosity.
As Nikos entered the store, a bell rang and a machine oil coated woman in overalls and goggles stepped out from the back. "What can I do for ya?" she asked.
"I am a Free Nomad on my pilgrimage," Nikos began, "My jump drive was broken as I fled pirates and I am stranded until I get it fixed."
"Gotcha," the mechanic replied, "What kinda drive you got?"
"A small class D drive if I'm not mistaken," Nikos explained.
"Well a replacement'll run ya about ten thousand credits," the mechanic stated.
"I'm afraid I have no credits," said Nikos glumly.
"Got anything to barter?" replied the mechanic, with thinly veiled impatience.
"I have only my ship and some meager supplies, nothing to trade," stated Nikos.
The mechanic's face showed she was not amused as she simply pointed to the door. Nikos didn't try to debate, instead just left the shop, shoulders slumped. He leaned against the wall outside the shop and began to mumble to himself.
"What am I gonna do, no one's just gonna give me repairs for free." Nikos complained, "and there's no way I could get ahold of that much money anytime soon. I'm not going to complete my pilgrimage."
As Nikos wallowed in self-pity leaned against the wall, he heard a voice.
"Hey, over here,"
Nikos looked over at the source of the voice, seeing a hooded figure standing in an alley across the walkway. The figure beckoned him over. Nikos was naturally suspicious of the stranger, but figured he didn't have much to lose so he went over.
"I couldn't help overhearing your issue," the stranger said, "I can fix your jump drive for you."
Nikos was suspicious, "And what do you want me to do for you?"
"Oh, nothing much, I just want you to get me out of here." The stranger said, shrugging.
"Who are you?" Nikos asked of the stranger.
The stranger pulled back his hood, revealing the pale skin and bulbous eyes characteristic of a Gray.
"My name is Luxtor Roylliat" stated the Gray, "So, do you want my help or not?"
Nikos weighed his options here. On one hand he did not know who this person was or why he needed to get off this station badly enough that he was willing to perform a service worth ten thousand credits in exchange for passage. On the other hand, he had little choice but to trust him. Just as well the Grays were known galaxy-wide for their skills with technology. They were inventing jump drives when most other species were still struggling with steam engines. While the rest of the galaxy has caught up for the most part, the Grays still had a reputation. Having a Gray to repair his ship could prove invaluable.
"I'll accept your help," Nikos started, but was interrupted as the Gray grabbed his arm and began pulling him back to the port.
"Great, come on!" Luxtor said nervously as he pulled Nikos along.
While they made their way back through the market towards the ship Luxtor had his hood pulled low over his face and was constantly looking around and behind himself. Nikos tried to ask him what he was looking for, but Luxtor didn't hear him, or at least acted like he didn't.
As they got to the door leading back to the port, there were two men in black uniforms scanning the crowd. Luxtor stopped suddenly upon seeing them and ducked back behind a corner, pulling Nikos with him.
"What are you doing?" demanded Nikos.
"You see those two guys?" asked Luxtor, pointing at the black-clad men at the gate.
"You mean the station security?" said Nikos, cocking an eyebrow.
"We need to get by without them seeing me," stated Luxtor.
"And why is that exactly," asked Nikos.
"I may be in a little bit of trouble," explained Luxtor, "But I'm totally innocent, trust me."
"What did you do?" questioned Nikos, not believing the stranger.
"Look, do you want your jump drive fixed or not?" snapped Luxtor.
Nikos started to object, but then acquiesced and shut his mouth.
"That's what I thought," said Luxtor, "Now how to get past those guys."
After a bit of deliberation, they set the plan in motion. Nikos approached the guards and began asking several questions about station security. He asked the guards what the penalty is for various crimes here and how he should report one should he see it. As the guards were explaining things to Nikos and becoming more and more exasperated by the second, Luxtor was sneaking behind them into the port.
This plan would have worked, if not for Luxtor's cloak he had been using to hide his face. His foot caught on the cloak and he tripped and fell, the hood no longer covering his face. The guards who had been talking to Nikos turned around to investigate the noise and saw Luxtor on the ground, his face in full view.
"Hey! Stop right there!" shouted one of the guards, running toward Luxtor. He had already taken off though, pushing his way through the crowded passageway, trying to disappear into the crowd. Nikos as well ran after him, following back to the ship. Luxtor deftly ran through the crowd, shoving over boxes and the occasional person in an attempt to slow down the guards.
He arrived at the ship shortly before Nikos. They hastily boarded the ship and shut the doors.
"Who's this guy?" asked Naomi, "And what's with the rush?"
Nikos was already getting the engines started and getting the ship running.
"This is Luxtor, he's here to fix the jump drive," explained Nikos, "And I would also like to know what's going on." Nikos gave an angry glance over at Luxtor who was already opening up the access panel for the jump drive.
"Fine, fine," Luxtor began, "Let me start by saying these guys are totally overreacting."
"What did you do?" asked Naomi as the ship was taking off.
"See this station is controlled by a gang of smugglers," Luxtor explained, "I worked some of their books, a waste of talent honestly, but anyway I ran their finances for a little while and just skimmed a little money off the top."
"You embezzled from criminals." Naomi summarized, the ship now in space. Luxtor was hooking a couple devices into the ship's internal systems.
"Again, totally overreacting, I mean it took them years to even notice the missing credits," Luxtor said jovially.
Three ships took off from the station after the solar sailor, short range pursuit craft belonging to the station's security forces. They closed in on the slower vessel and began firing. The ship's armor was holding, but it was rocked by the impacts.
"Come on guys," pleaded Luxtor, "Can we fire back or something?"
"This ship doesn't have any weapons!" replied Nikos, trying his best to maneuver away from the fighters' line of fire.
"Sure it does," said Luxtor, fiddling with a bunch of wiring, "Let me just adjust a few things, put this here, and this here, and there we go!"
"What did you do?" asked Nikos, concerned about what Luxtor had done to the ship.
"I transformed one of your maneuvering thrusters into a plasma cannon," explained Luxtor proudly, "It can now purposefully overload and generate a blast of superheated plasma. It's only got a couple shots before it breaks though."
"Don't worry," said Naomi, cracking her knuckles, "I got this."
She grabbed the jury rigged controls Luxtor had created for the makeshift cannon. He had rigged his machine interface so the screen accessed one of the exterior cameras for aiming and created a few buttons out of wires and small bits of metal. The ship was rocked by an explosion as a plasma shell detonated next to the ship.
"Come on then, these guys aren't messing around I need a bit of time to get the drive fixed." Luxtor said nervously.
"Give me a moment to aim," Naomi said with uncharacteristic calmness. She exhaled slowly and aimed the thruster cannon. She pressed the button and fired, the ship lurched from the thruster burst and the energy blast seared into one of the craft following them. Nikos struggled to bring the ship back under control and continued to dodge the blasts from their pursuers.
Naomi lined up another shot and fired. Another direct hit, another fighter taken out. Warning lights showed up on the display, showing problems in the thuster-gun, it looked like she had one more shot. Perfect, she thought, one shot, one target. She lined up the shot and prepared to fire, but just as she pushed the button, the solar sailor was struck by another shot from the fighter, causing the ship to shake and Naomi to miss.
Just as expected, the thruster cannon broke down, completely burned out. "Crap! I'm out of shots!" Naomi shouted.
"How much longer on the drive?" asked Nikos.
"Just a bit longer," said Luxtor, wiping the sweat from his brow. The ship careened and swerved to avoid the fighters; the maneuvers made even more difficult as it was missing one of its thrusters. Another maneuvering thruster was hit by plasma fire, causing sparks to fly inside the cabin. Warning lights were glowing and alarms blaring as the structural integrity of the ship was starting to give in to the constant barrage.
"We really need it now!" complained Naomi.
"I know!" said Luxtor, growing angry.
"We can't take much more!" shouted Nikos
Luxtor was frantically cutting and reconnecting wires, readjusting dials and flipping switches. He sweated profusely under the strain and the heat emitted by the ship's internals. The ship was constantly shaking under fire. Finally, he connected the power supply.
"Got it!" shouted Luxtor triumphantly. No sooner had he said this than Nikos slammed forward the switch to activate the jump drive. The drive shook, sparked, and activated. Luxtor and Naomi were thrown to the back of the cabin with the sudden incredible acceleration.
The acceleration became less severe as the ship entered hyperspace. Naomi and Luxtor stood up, somewhat bruised but otherwise no worse for wear.
"What are the odds they track us and follow?" Naomi asked.
"Pretty low, they're small-time thugs," Luxtor said, shrugging, "They wouldn't risk following into civilized space. We are going to civilized space, right?"
"We're going to the Trail's Beginning," explained Nikos, "With luck, they'll still be waiting for me."
The trip was uneventful, Luxtor repaired all the systems he could while in hyperspace. Nikos was nervous, extremely nervous. He was late to the meeting, by a few days at least. He didn't know if the fleet would still be waiting for him. Naomi tried to keep his spirits up with jokes and a positive attitude, but it was doing little to help his nerves.
Many days later, they arrived at the Trail's Beginning, a temperate world mostly covered by liquid water oceans, with the small amount of and covered by dense jungle. He didn't see the fleet, and they didn't show up on sensors. Nikos tried to give this the benefit of the doubt, cloaking devices are pretty standard for Free Nomad ships. He nervously took the ship down to the planet for a landing at the coordinates he had been given at the start of the journey. As he descended, there was still no sign of the other nomads.
The coordinates led to an ancient landing pad next to a rusted metal tower overgrown with vines and moss. The pad had a few ancient brick and stone buildings, crumbling and decaying with centuries of age. Upon landing, Nikos deployed the ship's solar panels to charge the jump drive just in case and the trio exited the ship and looked around. Luxtor immediately got to work on some of the exterior systems broken in the fight. Nikos and Naomi went to look around the ruins.
"What is this place?" asked Naomi.
"This is the Trail's Beginning," Nikos explained, "It's where the first Free Nomads went into space. It's the closest thing we have to a homeworld."
"So that's why all of you have to come back here," Naomi said, looking at the ruins in awe.
"Yeah, it's kind of a ceremonial thing," Nikos continued, "Like all our journeys start in the same place as our ancestors."
"Your ancestors?" Naomi asked, "I thought you weren't actually family."
"We're not," Nikos replied, "Not in a blood sense anyway. But we all consider each other family. To a Free Nomad, your crew is your family. And it looks like mine's left me behind."
They returned to the ship in silence, Nikos distraught about his failure. Luxtor had managed to weld together the cracks in the armor and get the dead maneuvering thruster halfway functional.
"Didn't find anyone I take it," Luxtor said solemnly. Naomi shook her head. They entered the ship and Luxtor followed behind. Nikos sat in the pilot seat and broke down in tears. All he'd dreamed of was dashed. It was one thing to invalidate the test, he could've taken it again later, it would only have been a delay. But it was another thing entirely to not show up in time, to be left behind. It would be impossible to find them again, the sensors on his ship were not powerful enough to detect the largely dissipated ion trails, so it could take years to catch up to the fleet. His only choices now would be to either return to his old crew-clan in disgrace or leave the Free Nomads forever.
Nikos did not realize he had been mumbling these things out loud and that the others could hear him.
"What kind of talk is that?" Naomi said angrily, "You escaped pirates, got stuck in the dark void of space, and survived a battle with smugglers. You didn't give up during any of that, and now you want to give up just because you're a little late? No. No you're not."
Nikos looked up, "Look Naomi, I appreciate it, I really do, but there's just nothing we can do."
"Nothing you can do maybe," interjected Luxtor, "But you forget just who else you've got on your crew."
Luxtor shoved a pry bar between a gap in the control panel and began prying off the metal cover.
"Hey! What are you doing?" asked Nikos, upset at the vandalism of his ship.
"When I was messing with your systems earlier, I saw something," Luxtor explained, "I saw you have a nav system, it's just been disabled."
"Yes, and what does that have to do with anything?" asked Naomi.
"You've got a lot of parts I could scrap in here," the Gray said, "Parts I could use to boost some of your sensors."
Nikos perked up, eyes wide, realizing what Luxtor was offering.
"Get this thing in the air!" Luxtor exclaimed, "I'll have it ready by the time we get up there!"
Nikos whirled around to the controls and fired up the engines, the ship lifting up into the air. Luxtor dismantled half the control panel while they ascended, hooking up the various parts into the ship's sensors, moving at blinding speed.
As the ship breached the planet's atmosphere and made it into space, the ship stopped and Luxtor's work was complete. In the moment of truth, Nikos flipped the switch to turn on the upgraded sensor. Sparks flew and power flickered before the machine whirred to life. The indicator screen lit up with code in a language unknown to Nikos.
"Oops, sorry. I do all my coding in Grayish," said Luxtor sheepishly. He looked at the screen and said, "It's working. The signal's faint, but we've got something. Plot a course, navigator."
Nikos did just that, maneuvering the ship to follow after the nomad fleet and hit the jump drive. The ship shot into hyperspace after the nomads. Nikos remained nervous but determined through the jump. When they exited hyperspace, they saw the fleet: a motley assortment of ships, some shiny and new, others worn and showing the scars of age. They signaled the flagship of the fleet, showing who they were. The flagship received their signals and beaconed them into its hangar.
As the trio landed in the hangar and exited the solar sailor, the blue-skinned mistress of ceremonies, captain-mother of the flagship greeted them, accompanied by a host of other crew-clan leaders and Nikos's parents, considerably older than they were when he last saw them, but nevertheless recognizable. He could see the tears welling up in their eyes.
"Welcome, Nikos," the mistress of ceremonies said, "We were beginning to think you weren't coming."
"I am sorry I was unable to arrive in time," Nikos began.
Naomi stepped in front of him and interrupted, "You wouldn't believe what he went through: pirates and smugglers and..."
"I know," stated the captain-mother.
"You know?" replied Nikos, "How?"
"The ship has a recording device," said Luxtor matter-of-factly, "They were seeing everything. I assumed you knew this."
"We did indeed," said the captain-mother, "And we were impressed by your bravery, your resolve, and your resourcefulness. You are ready to become a navigator."
Nikos beamed, glowing with pride. The Mistress of Ceremonies continued, "Now as for which crew-clan leader has chosen you as an apprentice. None of them."
Nikos's smile faded, "But I thought... but I." his voice trailed off.
The Mistress of Ceremonies continued, "None have chosen you to take over their crew-clan because it seems you have already started your own." She gestured to Naomi and Luxtor. "It seems to me they will make a fine crew-clan for a budding young navigator.
Nikos looked at the Naomi and then at Luxtor. They were nodding in agreement. Nikos looked back at the Mistress of Ceremonies.
"Then it is settled, Nikos Markell, you have passed your test and made the Great Pilgrimage. It is my honor to bestow upon you the titles of not only navigator, but as captain-father of crew-clan Markell, may the stars guide your way."
The End