He awoke slowly, swung his feet over the edge of the bed and shuddered at the chill air. Hangars were drafty places.He needed coffee. A short while later, he took the elevator to the hangar floor sipping his morning meal, and he thought back….

He paid his dues, he’d mustered out of Squadron 42 and the UEE Navy with some money set aside from his wages, and after a year of scavenging and trading, he had enough for the 315p he now owned.

When he first spotted it, it looked like another chunk of baked asteroid, but something made him run a scan, and it changed his mind. The scan came up ” unidentifiable “. What the hell was that? Secondary and tertiary scans gave him the same reading ” unidentifiable ” so he locked onto it with the tractor. This was worth serious coin if only for the scientific discovery of an unknown element.

He was so engrossed in his find, he did not notice the warning ping from the console of the 315p until it was too late.

Four ships, gladius light fighters, swooped in, and he started forward, unable to boost due to his position in the asteroid field. The ” rock” was still on his tractor and he moved forward, slowly at first, but accelerating and swinging out to the edge of the field. Shots struck the canopy from the first gladius, so he swung the ship around and released the load.

His discovery became an untethered wrecking ball and struck that first gladius on the left wing, and it spun out of control into the asteroid field. He tried to boost and put distance between the ramining fighters, but two of them strafed the exposed left side of his hull.

He felt the pain in his left side only momentarily. Was it shock? He watched one ship go past with its red fist, it’s pirate ” colours”, roar past him when he was hit again. Now there was his blood on the glass, and as he boosted, he hit the ejection button, the 315p headed for a collision with another gladius. “Taking you with me you bastard”…he thought as he blacked out…..

He was back on the hangar floor now,the elevator doors opening pulling him back to the present.

The Oddysee PMC had found his beaconed body floating, pulled him in and patched him up. The left side of his face was heavily scarred, the cybernetic left arm still felt as stiff as the rest of his body, and he wondered whether the doctors had planned it that way, or was his mind playing tricks again.

He was a Pathfinder in the organization now, they signed him to a contract when they found out about his UEE service record. The pirates were nowhere to be found in any database, but he knew they were out there.

The PMC needed his skills, and the LID commander Apple Joe just smiled when they talked about it, ” You just complete the mission we ask,” he drawled, ” and you’ll get your chance. I promise. I can’t  tolerate pirates in my sector of space, they need to be…removed, let’s say. Alasmon heard your story and made sure you have the right ship. Finish this job first, then we’ll track ’em down. If they’re a big enough group, we’ll set Wedge and his boys loose. You have to find them first though.”

He reached out to touch the cold, charcoal grey skin of the Hornet Ghost, his new stealth weapon. He’d find them alright, he had a lot of time now, he would find them….

From the story of S.C.Pathfinder cainsrebel,

callsign ” cains”