Dorian heard the soft hum of the ship's engines as he stared at the ceiling. He was aboard the Nimbus, a ship with a name that reminded him of something small and fast. The Nimbus was the exact opposite. The bloated hulking cargo ship was slow, which was something Dorian had come to be very familiar with. A month had passed since they had set out to deliver their cargo and he was starting to get impatient.
His eyes traced the edges of the cold steel that made up the ceiling of his cramped quarters while he was lost in thought. He was born in a very small city on the planet Varia Prime, the capital of the Varian empire. Since he never knew either of his parents, all he had were stories. Apparently his father landed on the planet and met his mother, though he left soon after.
She had died in childbirth, which meant that Dorian would be raised by the robots in the orphanage like many other children. Unlike the other children, however, the doctors of the city told him that he was different. Whoever, or whatever, his father was he had passed on several unique traits to Dorian. The doctors had informed him that he wouldn't physically age passed a certain point, meaning that the only way he would die is by being killed. If he was careful it was possible that he could live for centuries.
With his luck Dorian thought that it was unlikely that he'd be able to live that long though. Even with the bonuses that his genes had given him he still ended up as an engineer on the Nimbus. Using the knowledge he had learned from dismantling and reassembling his robot caretakers he thought that joining a crew would be a great way of seeing the galaxy, which was what he actually wanted to do. Unfortunately he soon found that instead of exploring strange planets he would be spending most of his time waiting for the Nimbus to go from one dirty spaceport to the next.
Dorian was forced to snap out of his self reflection when the emergency alarm started blaring.
"What the.." he said, jumping up.
Running out of his small room he turned a corner and nearly collided with a fellow crew mate.
The man clumsily moved out of the way. "Hey watch it! A ship was spotted in this area, we don't have time to waste."
"What kind of ship?" Dorian asked, though he knew he wouldn't like the answer.
"Based off of the symbols on the ship we're almost certain that it's pirates." the crewmember answered.
As the man finished his sentence the ship was rocked with explosions, confirming what he said. The alarm momentarily faded, seeming to die before resuming it's annoying scream. Both men went pale for a split second.
Seeming to snap out of it, the crew member laughed. "I hope you know how to fight, get to the armory."
Following the older man's command, Dorian took off towards the Nimbus's armory at a steady run. The only kind of fight that he had been in was energy sword practice against other kids at the orphanage, something that was quite different from a ship battle.
He ran through the corridors that he had traversed countless times. Dorian stopped when he ran past the escape pods. The ship shook again, causing him to stumble. Steadying himself, he looked at the small pods that would deliver him to safety. The pirates would board any minute now. It would be so easy to just escape the incoming fight. If they lost they'd all be sold. There were always buyers looking for slaves, whether to use for sex, bondage, or worse. While sexual servitude didn't sound terrible to him, if he was being honest, it would prevent him from exploring the galaxy like he always dreamed.
He let out a breath. No, Dorian wasn't a coward. He wasn't going to run, whatever the consequences were. He turned away and continued his jog to the armory.
When he reached it, he realized that he was the only one in the room. The guards that were hired to protect the ship already had weapons on them, and the other engineers apparently had decided to hide rather than fight, which they were required to do by the captain's command.
He let out a sigh. Was he really going to risk his life while the others hide? Dorian begrudgingly looked around the armory for a weapon. The company that owned the Nimbus had decided that the cheapest possible weapons would be enough to defend against pirates. They weren't.
Dorian chose an energy sword, the energy around the edges crackling dangerously. Energy swords were supposed to block blaster bolts if the user was fast enough but he doubted that the weapon he held would block a peashooter. It was the only sword in the armory though and Dorian just hoped that his practice at the orphanage would be enough.
He exited the armory and rushed down the hallway towards the docking port. Smoke started filling the ship and Dorian soon found out why. Blocking his path was a fire raging in the corridor. The Nimbus was supposed to have symptoms to put out fires that can be caused by damage to the ship but the captain must have cut some corners.
"Of course." he said in frustration. He was forced to turn around and try the other direction. If he was lucky he would be able to loop around and join the crew as they fought to defend the docking port.
He wasn't lucky. After a few minutes of running in the other direction he saw that the path was blocked by yet another fire, completely cutting him off from the crew.
"Dammit!" he backed up until he was a safe distance and slumped against the wall.
He sat there for a few minutes until he quickly straightened up in realization. He couldn't fight with the crew, but he still could reach the escape pods. A part of him was glad that he had an excuse to escape, though he didn't like to admit it.
Going back the way he came he followed the corridor until it lead him to where he was going. He opened the door to the pod and stepped in, briefly hesitating before shutting the hatch. The pod was only large enough to fit two or three people at the most, and Dorian wondered if the small vessel would survive the landing. He hoped that the company at least spent more money on the pod than on everything else.
He watched as the escape pod separated from the Nimbus, leaving the bulking cargo ship to it's pirated fate.
***
Dorian startled awake. He waited for his vision to adjust. He was strapped to his seat, the pod around him sat at a strange angle. He let out a sigh of relief, realizing he survived the rough fall to the nearest planet.
The problem was he had no idea what planet it was. He unstrapped himself from the chair and found his weapon. He put his hand on the hatch release.
"Please be a nice planet." He told himself before activating the release. The hatch popped open, revealing the landscape. He was in a dense jungle, the trees massive and bright green. The only part of the sky he could see was a small opening that his pod must have created when it crashed.
He carefully climbed out of the capsule that delivered him to the strange new world. The outside of the pod was full of dents and scratches, leaving Dorian to wonder how it even stayed in one piece.
"Well I guess I did always want to explore the galaxy." He said, trying not to panic.
