Maat S'chn T'gai
Chapter Twenty-six - On the Way Again
Somewhere in Space
Early November 2264
Sybok
He checked the board again, and turned away dejected. This ship was at the far end of its trading loop. When they docked in two days time, and did their trading, they would be heading back in the other direction. He would have to find another ship, again. He liked this ship. It was clean and well maintained. The food was good. The crew was friendly. He did not want to leave. If it were not for his need to rejoin his family, he would just stay here. But it was not to be. He headed for the captain's cabin to announce his intentions.
With his belongings in his duffle, and his pay in his pocket, he headed off the ship for the last time. Several crew members waved or spoke to him as he left. He would probably never see any of them again. It was depressing.
He made his way through the noisy, crowded trading sector, and moved into the slightly calmer district where there were restaurants and transient housing. There he found a public terminal and began his searches. This port was not quite as large as the one where he had found the ship that he had just left, and there were not so many ships in port. And only two has posted openings, neither of which he could fill. There was nothing for it. He would have to find some sort of work here on the station until a ship arrived, heading in the right direction, with a open crew slot that he could fill. He entered another search, and then another. Eventually, he found a restaurant needing a dishwasher. Not his preferred work, but it would provide for a place to sleep, and food to eat, until he found what he needed.
Every day, he searched the boards. He checked each new ship that came in. Days went by, and then weeks. It was three months before there was a ship heading in the direction he wanted to go. He signed on as cook's assistant. And took it thankfully, even where he found himself mopping decks and doing laundry. But he was glad when they put into port and he found a larger freighter, going in an even better direction, needing a cargo handler. He quickly switched ships, saying a friendly goodbye to the cook, who wondered where he was going to find another helper so strong.
He found his new room, left his duffel there, and reported to the cargo bay, where he spent the next week offloading, onloading, shifting about, and stabilizing cargo. And then they were between the stars again. Heading in the general direction of the planet where his family now lived. This room even had a small comlink. He spent many of his off-duty hours searching the news channels, looking for any further news of his people, his family, but found little that was new. Until quite by chance, late one evening, he saw a face staring out at him that caused him to gasp. That was his father! He was an ambassador now - he had more search terms! He pulled the article up again, and paused the frame on his father's face. He was much greyer now, the stresses he had been under must be responsible. But he still lived! This article was only a few months old.
He lay back on his bunk. Father, brother, grandmother, cousins. He had family. They had survived, at least this many. It was a relief. His journey was not in vain.