Jace had finally realized just how low on warp fuel he was. The escape craft he commandeered wasn't really going to get him far, he knew that much. But he had hoped that he would at least be in range of something, a planet, or maybe an occupied asteroid. It would seem his luck was starting to run low as well however, as a quick glance at the immediate area around the cockpit showed no signs of nearby stations. He was in a small, car-sized escape craft with no warp fuel, barely any rations, and a few feet of free space. A quick check of the emergency supplies showed that he lacked a space suit as well, so no spacewalks.

He went to the control panel next to the flight stick, and after pressing some various buttons and sorting his way through various menus, he pressed a button labelled 'Distress Ping.'

Any ships in a few lightyears would receive the following message.

"This is Jace Rosson. I'm in a stranded escape craft, I'm low on fuel, and I could really use a hand. I've just been through hell and back, and I'd really rather not end up a skeleton out here."

He kept it brief and to the point. No reason to waste what power the ship had left. He adjusted himself in the creaking seat and waited, hoping that eventually, someone would pick up. With luck, they'd actually want him alive.

Which news should be told first, the good or the bad ones? Well, good news was that Jace would not starve on a stranded escape craft in the middle of nowhere, since he had actually wandered closer to something. Oh, and he would not starve either, given somebody actually picked up his distress signal. The bad news would be the fact the area his shuttle had wandered to was currently part of the Ragnarov Fleet exploitation zone and that the signal had drawn their attention to the vessel they had presumed to be but aimlessly drifting junk.

The local guardian department had decided not to bother the leadership on Universal Nova to make a decision on the matter, so they simply relayed the information onward and sent a frigate to check out whoever this 'Jace Rosson' was. "Keep them standing for the time being. Much easier for the leaders to decide what is to be done when nothing has been done yet", were the orders given to the fetch team. Orders that would either be fulfilled or poor auditory sense would be regretted. Of course, were the target to show signs of ambush and/or hostility, the group would have much greater freedom of choice.

Not long after the message had been sent, the escape craft's communication receiver crackled to life. "This is RGV-D14-322 hailing 'Jace Rosson'. You have entered Ragnarov Fleet governed space without proper identification, but we are willing to let this transgression slide on the account of the contents of your message. For your sake, we hope your word is true. Prepare to dock. Message repeating once", the radio shared with him before doing just as it had threatened and repeating. After the second batch, "Message ends" took the place of the repeat announcement.

And true enough RGV-D14-322 made its way before the straggler's vessel and opened one of its docking bays, guiding the pod inside with several low intensity tractor beams. The ship was considerably bigger than one might have expected to get in a corner of nowhere such as this, but his maps evidently had not updated since the Fleet and UFP had struck their territory deal. The ship was surrounded by aliens of different species, the quite robotic Scroungers forming the majority. They were all armed and no distinctively human creatures were in sight.

Jace breathed a sigh of relief as the message played and the escape ship was tugged toward safety. Sure, this Ragnarov Fleet didn't exactly sound friendly, but it wasn't as if his hopes were high to begin with. His hand quickly tapped against the folded Plasma Pickaxe currently resting in a slot of a utility belt before he prepared to exit the vessel.

As he looked around as he was ferried in, he noticed the distinct lack of other humans on board. He didn't care much; if the message sent to him meant anything, there was at least one who spoke his language on board. He looked around the parts of the ship he could see, waiting to be successfully docked before attempting to exit the escape craft, his hands held in a defensive posture, raised just above his head to show he wasn't holding a weapon.

Once Jace removed himself from the escape pod, the 'welcoming committee' pointed him in a direction without saying a word. Were he ever to approach any of them, they would step back and point their weapon at him, but given he was already surrendering they expected compliance. A few eyed the pickaxe on his belt suspiciously, but would let it be. He could hear, and if he turned around even see, a few of the assembled entering the escape pod. He was corralled into the middle of a circle for the time being, right on the opposite side of the pod.

He would be made wait for some time, setting on the move again once the group that had entered the pod now exited it. To this point, nobody had replied to anything and any insistent attempts at communication were met with a wave of one's hand. These people were either not understanding him or not willing to exchange pleasantries, nor actual information. This would change as they dumped him off the docking bay into one of the hallways heading out where a trio of these same exoskeleton toting Scroungers would receive him.

"Seems our good soldiers did not find any sign of deception. For the time being. Now follow me, Jace Rosson. We have a few details to discuss", the middle one of them sounded to him with an overly masculine voice. "Oh, and pardon my voice. I lost a bet", the alien explained to him turning around and beginning to guide him deeper into the frigate. "While we walk, feel free to begin your story. In full, thank you. Regarding how you ended up stranded in our area in space, not when you were born, naturally."

@scifidude47

Jace nodded as he was questioned. It was probably best to just give these people what they wanted for the time being. He began to speak as he walked, doing his best to keep up with the Scroungers.

"To make a long story short, I was kept as a slave on some desert planet. I was trapped there for eleven years before I was finally able to start a rebellion. We fought hard, but of the few who escaped, I don't know if anyone but me survived. I commandeered the escape pod from slavers, and I just set a course for anywhere away from that place. I guess I ran out of fuel in your territory." He explained, motioning with his hands as they spoke.

"For what it's worth, I was once a rancher on some border world for the UFP. But if I'm being frank, I don't want anything to do with them anymore."

@Hekazu

The lead figure nodded along. Slavers, check. Rebellion, check. Escape pod taken from them, check. Accidental breach here, check. And a distaste for United Federation of Planets for whatever reason, check. There were many details obfuscated by the truncation, but those could be asked about in greater detail after a moment. For what it mattered, they now had a former UFP citizen in their hands, one that would rather not head on back.

"To borrow your expression, for what it is worth you have successfully removed yourself from the area governed by UFP. Were you to want to cut what ties remain, we may be able to help with that. That all will depend on what we hear from the council though. If what you told us is true, you would be the first case of this kind. And unless you would be planning to explode, I do not see any reason you would have to lie. Yet you will have to excuse us for maintaining certain level of caution with you."

The scrounger he had been talking with turned around on his heels, stopped and extended an arm towards a door on the side of the hallway. "If you would wait there, we will contact our superiors and ask what is to be done with you. Best case scenario, you may get to hop on a cargo transport deeper in our territory even today", they shared, deliberately leaving the worst case up to imagination. The room they pointed him to was simple and it did not take much of a brain to deduce it would be a cell. But at least it had all the basic needs met in food, drink and something to lay down on.

@scifidude47

Jace nodded in thanks as he was led into the cell. It wasn't exactly five-stars, but at least it was better than laying down on a 'soft' pile of sand and shielding your eyes from the sun with a shirt. He took a tentative sip of what water was provided, but decided to wait on the food. He examined the cot for a moment, having not seen a proper bed in quite some time. He felt the sheets, and the mattress, as stiff as it was, offered him a place to truly rest as he waited for a response.

He laid down, his back popping in some places from stiffness. He rested his hands under his head, staring at the ceiling as he found himself deep in thought.

He was pretty lucky that he hadn't found himself with too close of an ally of the UPF, or they might've reported him as a 'potential terrorist,' as much as a single life-form would matter to a nation that could destroy entire systems at will. He was also lucky that he didn't end up dead or food. He hadn't met many aliens in his life, but he had always heard very.. distasteful things about the insect-like ones.

Soon enough, he decided to sleep on his next move. He shifted slightly, double checking that his pick hadn't been confiscated before shutting his eyes.

@Hekazu

Jace wouldn't really know how long it had been when the members of the Flee returned to the cell. The door was opened from the outside and he was greeted something resembling a furball with spaghetti for limbs. Probably the worst thing about it was that it was man sized. Another look over it would give more information: The middle point of it was a head sized ball of fur with a set of yellow eyes peeking out from the middle of it all. Four lanky, boneless appearing limbs extended from this centre point and ended in something that resembled a child's drawing: sort of flat, kinda rounded appendages, the hands having four ridiculously oversized straight razor-like claws. It blinked a few times before the bottom of the middle furball began shaking. It spoke.

"Follow me. You are leaving for Universal Nova. Lucky you." It's voice sounded like somebody was straight up slaughtering rats, but it did speak his language and carry the symbol he had seen around the hallways and on the suits of people. It in the hallways in an unnerving manner, seemingly proving further it did not indeed possess a bone structure. If the Fleet had done something wrong, it had been sending one of these creatures in without letting the refugee get acquainted with any of its kin first.

Were he to follow without incident, he would be led to a smaller ship back in the docking bay into which his escape pod had originally landed. It was nowhere to be found now. "You will get to go on troop transport. Everybody armed, maybe jittery. Many will be happy to get back home. Try not to cause a scene", he was instructed.

@scifidude47

Admittedly, Jace was somewhat startled when he was awoken by this... being. Nevertheless, he quietly and amiably followed its directions, making his way toward the boarding ship. He was surprised, being sent to this 'Universal Nova' place that the creature mentioned. He was not yet familiar with the Ragnarov fleet, but this place seemed important. The being mentioned that many were excited to go home to it, so it was probably a capital of some sort. What reason would they have to take him there? Did they just trust him? Were they going to try and convert him?

He quietly boarded the vessel, examining the other occupants, if there were any.

@Hekazu

The others on the vessel were few, but those in the compartment he was guided to numbered three in total. Two were once again of the Scrounger race, naturally in their armour, but there was also this massive metal creature that at first glance looked like a statue, but it shifted slightly to give the fresh arrival more room to settle in. All of the people he would be travelling with appeared armed, but that was nothing new to the Ragnarov Fleet, was it now?

The metal man tried talking to Jace, but the man would not understand the language they were speaking. As a matter of fact neither really did either of the Scroungers, but one procured a deck of cards from somewhere. The symbols on them were new to the human passenger, but these travelmates tried their best to show him how the game would work if he would just pick up on the rules non-verbally. It sure did not appear too difficult. Well, whether he learnt or not, the ship was on the move now.

@scifidude47

It took Jace some time to even understand when or if it was his turn, but soon enough he got the hang of the game, even if he couldn't join in on the conversation (or insults) the others were sharing. He understood the game well enough, but decided to do a few poor moves. If these were to be his fellow passengers for the ride, and they were all armed and stronger than him, he'd rather not leave them in a sour mood.

He played the game until the others tired of it, or until somebody started a winning streak.

@Hekazu