As a youth Lancelot thought he had been cursed to live in the tiny village of Meriweather. He had no concept of bills, he was a plantation worker, and his work got him room and board and a bit of pocket money each week. His mother and father worked there long before he was born. The families went back over a hundred years. Howell Farm was a sprawling mix of farmland, grazing pastures for each season, and the 'Yard'. All this was around and behind the Great House, and its out buildings.
The main road ran along one border, the village of Meriweather ran along the other side. Made up of a small Store/Post/bookstore/Library/Souvenier shop in one building, 'The Kings Road' tavern/hostel, an old Mom & Pop's Diner 'Meriweathers', and the dozen or so houses that belonged to the workers of these, and some of the farm too.
A small chunk of Eden to Lancelot, untill he met Aedan in 'The King's Road' over a game of pool.
Aedan was delivering goods to the plantation, his overalls stained and worn as most of the men in the place. His calloused hand was steady as he shot game after game with the young Lancelot. Steady conversation kept both men content to just play and talk.
After a few hours of chatting, Aedan saw something in the kid he liked. A mixture of his honesty, determination, ability to enjoy himself even doing menial labor in a field. He was smart, quick, and decided to offer him a job.
"Lance, how would you like tosee some of the places I've been telling you about, yourself?" The older man asked.
"Me?! Out there?" <gestures towards the sky>
Aedan picked up the pitcher on the table and filled his glass, the offered to refill Lance's, when denied put it back. He looked at Lance clean on and raised his full glass.
"To the stars, riches, and adventure! That is what I am offering you. I'll set you up in a ship, show you the ropes, in exchange you pay me back for the ship, and load my bays when I come through." Aedan clunked glasses and drank deeply.
Lance looked stunned, his blank face trying wildly to grasp the true breadth of the offer. He drank after the clunk more from habit than from anything else. Once it had settled in, and his focus came back to Aedan, he was full of questions. He held them all, making mental notes wildly.
"Thank you! I won't let you down. I'm just so stunned. I've never met anyone that had been to space before. I just thought you were a worker, like me, when we started talking. When you said ou owned a ship, I mean, a Space ship. I didn't believe you. You look just like, well...one of us." Lance finished sheepishly.
Aedan smiled, thinking back on his own past. Not so simple itself. He'd had a Benefactor himself, hadn't he? Someone that took him under his wing and got him going in the right direction.
"So, come, mine my Ore, I'll make you a rich man." Aedan said finally.
"Sure thing man, and thanks. Really, thanks." Lance replied.
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The months turn to years, Lance and Aedan make a lot of money. Aedan starts picking up longer and longer jobs. Thus leaving Lance to his own wits to move his ore.
A little luck, and a polite call gets him in contact with a guy from the (.:J:.) Junker Congress. A solid fair offer got him half a dozen vessels coming thru picking up ore.
Lance managed to store much more ore than he could hold in his mining ship, by hollowing out a larger rock, and sliding in enough it won't just fall free. It took a little work, and many lost units of ore, but he persevered managing to store more than ten thousand units without any losses. He started regular business with transport pilots and ships he had begun to see over and over coming and going from near his squatting spot.
More often the newly found Gallic forces would interrupt his business. Nobody liked to fly and take the risk of losing so much ore and money. This slimmed his business until it was all but non-existant.
Truly Independant
Standing alone against tyranny and abuse against fellow man.
