One man and his ship.

[Mikalus]

I'm not much to look at. I'm driven by the same instincts of every man. So how is it I find myself here?

Murderer.

The accusation echoes in around my mind during every bout of silence. As a space pilot, those bouts of silence are frequent and long.

I didn't set out to be a murderer. I was just a man on a mission. A mission to make money out on the frontier. You see, I'm an explorer by heart. But in order to explore you need some sort of insurance, some sort of gear. In a galaxy dominated by the Federation or the Imperium, well, sometimes you have to raise it by questionable means. The Alliance was still small when I started out and although of the three big powers my motivations are most inclined towards them, they are still corporate at heart. No, there is a freedom beyond even what the Alliance has to offer, but with that freedom one must construct his own boundaries,\; I just wish I had done so sooner.

This is my story. The story of one man wishing to make amends for one big mistake.

 

[Mikalus]

Mannovalo. Close to Kamorin, a place well known to the traders. Mannovalo. Close to the edge of known frontier, well known to the explorers. Mannovalo. Probably not well known its self to anybody. Anybody that is, save the religious folk that settled there and called it home. Followers of Manno they are called. There's a small half terraformed planet sitting in the system, and a couple of stations. One's notorious for its black market and no rules outlaws, the other for a small band of maybe 2000 people, each one of them firebrand preachers with a mission to spread the news of Manno to the known galaxy. Harmless really. Yet rumor had it one such man was disturbing the peace of nearby systems, filling up the local comms channel with chatterings of the faith. Convert or die. Or so they said.

The decision to visit Mingpurine to outfit my trusty Eagle before heading into the great unknown led to a short perusal of the local bulletin. A bad move. There, for just the right amount of money to fix my advanced scanner, was a wish that this man of faith be dealt with. It was just the right amount of temptation with the right amount of cash. I took it, and with it went my morals, my boundaries, and my pride.

Two days and one death later, the community of Mannovalo mourned a loss of one of its leaders, a beacon of freedom. I discovered the loss of my own self respect, and the truth that he was nothing but a kindly old man that the authorities of Mingpurine felt threatened by, worrying that followers would leave the ways of the corporate world behind in exchange for the simple and slow life of these religious extremists in a nearby system.

Yet this one act of unforgivable sin became the first step on my own road to redemption. Away from the corporate and internal affairs of the three major powers, and into the freedom of systems unfettered by the need for their harsh and punitive laws. Never again would I murder the innocent. Now I would go where I may and turn my wrath upon the oppressors when they inevitably decided to turn their filthy gold stained hands towards the only free portion of this galaxy. Greed powered them, and greed is a powerful motivator.