Prologue

Location: SS Albatross Bridge

The Risian Pilot of the Albatross sat at a new station looking into options for the ship's next adventure. Captain Noluk had promised that she would be able to select it on her own. Of course, it had to be reasonable no doubt, so she was leaving no stone unturned in finding just the right job for the struggling old freighter. One thing making her job easier was a search protocol provided by Exemplar Nova which was designed to help independents to vie for individual jobs without the need of porting first. There was so much information here, it was crazy and any ship could conceivably find something and all they had to do was pay a finders fee to the fledgling offshoot of the Setlin Commerce Guild now operating in the area.

She put cost of operations, distance, time necessary, profit, and safety into her equation. She also considered the state of the Albatross including its cargo bay size and engine capacity. In truth, there was a lot to it, if you wanted to make a good choice. Her short list had become shorter and shorter until there were only two options, and now in her mind, there was only one. "Icmod! Come here!"

Icmod went over to where Roquel was. He had been given command of Albatross while Noluk was on the Axel . "What did you find?"

"Look at this!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him over, wrapping her arm around his waist the moment that he was within easy reach.

"The console?" Icmod asked. He scoured the screen for some hint as to what she had been looking at. There was too much on the screen for him to focus on any particular thing. "Looks like a bulletin board."

"This is a request for a ship to go to a planet called New Enterprise." She said pointing to the posting. "The planet has a moderate climate. A large portion of the Northern Hemisphere is covered with lightly rolling hills and plains. Apparently, the Aktritians have been hunting and herding an animal called the Raeldra and shipping both the meat and the live animals home for domestication and consumption. They are paying a VERY GOOD PRICE for both supply runs and off-world shipping." She bent towards him tucking her head against his side. "Let's do it!" She said, half pleading. "It could be very interesting." She went so far as to bat her eyelashes at him, coyly.

"Noluk said it was your call." Icmod merely shrugged. He looked more at the posting. Everything Roquel had said seemed to hold true. He smiled. "It sounds delightful. I can talk with Noluk and see if we can depart straight out. How far is it?"

"Fifteen Hours at Warp seven - four." Roquel said knowing that pushing Albatross for much more wouldn't be advisable for that long a time.

"That doesn't sound too bad." The XO nodded. From the sound of it, the run would be easy money for the distance.

"Well I hope the captain feels the same way." She said, uncertain that he would go that far. "But we won't know until he comes back from the Axel, huh?"

"I guess you're right." Icmod agreed. He was a fan of the idea but in the end it would be Noluk's call. "Do you want to visit Axel while we wait?"

Roquel laughed. "No, I don't. I know I should let things go, but Paul Gorgon USED TO BE a good man, but I watched him let people die. He thinks more of his ship's than the people on them and you know that too or neither one of us would be on the Albatross today."

Icmod smiled. He remembered the day he decided to leave the Axel. He had hated the Elias for taking away his role as acting captain. It had meant so much for him and like that it was gone. "I don't think he calls himself Paul anymore, maybe he's been trying to turn over a new leaf."

"Well I don't care what he calls himself." Roquel said sounding somewhat bitter. "Tigers don't change their stripes, you know?"

Icmod sighed. "Maybe that's true, maybe there's nothing new under the sun for Paul Gorgon, but maybe it's time to forget about him and accept that we're a part of the Albatross now."

She looked up at the man that she now considered the other half of her. "Bygone's right?" She sighed. "I'll try, but for what it's worth. Captain Noluk never made me feel like I did over there."