Ross Noyes

[Ross Noyes]

Life went on, searching for more scrap, slowly moving from day to day, dodging the bullies. Time went on but everything stayed the same for poor Ross.

But all of that changed when Ross was 15. By now he was working as an apprentice ship mechanic for a small docking bay. One day a battered and broken down Firefly transport landed with a crash and a cloud of smoke billowed out of the engine room.

Coughing, a lankey man stepped out of the ship, spying Ross he motioned the boy over and asked if he could fix the ship. Ross nodded and the captain pressed 10 credits into Ross' hand. "Get to it boy."

Ross walked inside the ship to find everything in shambles. Panels lay open and bare wires shot electricity off randomly. Ross made his way to the engine room and quickly fixed the repulsor coil so that the ship would have an easier landing next time. He also tuned the engines so they would work at 92% efficiency instead of the 67% efficiency they were running at.. On his way out he stopped by the massive cargo hold. And his eyes opened in amazement. Boxes upon boxes of goods lined the cargo bay. More wealth was in here then his family had ever seen. The boxes were marked "Books", but certainly they couldn't all be books. He had to look inside to find out what was really there.

Quickly he snuck to the nearest box and pried the lid open. Shiney artifacts looked back at him. Artifacts! More money was in one of those then in 2 months of working at the docking bay. He had to have one. No... he couldn't.

Ross closed the lid and walked away. And then walked back and picked up an Artifact. And put it in his pocket. Just one. Ross quickly headed for the airlock.

"And where do you think you are going?"

"Uhhh...out, the engine is fixed and I have other ships to attend to."

"With my cargo in your pocket? I don't think so."

The captain reached into Ross's pocket and pulled out the pilfered artifact.

"And I suppose this just 'fell' into your pocket?"

"No sir, I have no idea how it got there."

"What is your name?"

"Rrross... Ross Noyes."

"Run along Ross, and I won't say anything if you don't."

Gratefully Ross hurried out of the ship and on to his next project.

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