April of 824. Today, we turn our eyes to this mister Blackwell.
Reading his logs, his journeys are clear, but not quite where they are taking him.
As the conflict in the omicrons died down to a less than climatic ending, his life returned very much to normal, in a sense. His daily life stopped being that of what he believed to be a soldier, fighting for the innocent, and returned to that of smuggling and evading the law. That feeling of fighting for a cause had faded almost as quickly as it had taken him.
Of course his trouble making would catch up to him eventually.
Liberty space is no friendly place for a smuggler, and that was a reality he'd been discovering. He was losing more than he was gaining, and before he knew it he was very, very poor. He had too little to invest, and was only able to afford supplies enough to keep himself on the edge of starvation.
When he could afford them, often with stolen credits, his deals became less and less within his better judgement. He began to forget his principles and his methods became worse and worse, often consisting of cardamine shipments.
Then one day he made a mistake. Venturing into liberty space with a full cargo of one of the most contraband substances in the galaxy, and being less than careful.
The liberty police didn't take kindly to his presence, and he was at the mercy of a less than kind ace, who had recognized our unlawful pilot from a past bounty.
A few moments gone wrong, a moment's too long hesitation, and that was the end of any kindness being shown to our smuggler. He tried to evade, but his freighter was no match for a liberty combat ship, and he was being torn apart.
And then came savior. A deus ex machina, so to speak.
As the armor of his ship was being shredded like cheese, a pilot of the Liberty Navy happened upon them, and decided to take pity on the young man.
The assailing officer was ordered to stand down, and the Naval fighter escorted John to a safe area. Assuming the worst, Blackwell followed along, seeing as he was at least being given a moment to rest before his imprisonment.
But, this was not the case. He was given a choice.
The man from Liberty persuaded him, telling him what he already knew- His path was taking him on a journey to nowhere but a cruel, inevitable end. He offered that he join them, and fight for a cause.
But he was too shaken to make a choice, and did all he'd been doing for so long. He ran, his parting promise being that he would consider what he had been told.
And so he now stands in the fringes of space again, in his home, considering his options, entirely uncertain of his next move beyond survival.
For now he chooses to lie, cheat and steal, and survive in the kindest way he can try, as always.
His choices, soon, will shape his future, and his journey may at last be taking him to an intended destination.
