Start of a new journey - A place called home
Nomad
noun
A member of a people that travels from place to place to find fresh pasture for its animals and has no permanent home.
- Oxford Dictionary
Nomadic lifestyle suits an adventurer really well. Well, except the animals of course. But adventurers barely return home, if they have any. And that was the way of life I was going for.
If I did not have that fateful encounter.
I joined the Knights of Karma on the 29th of June 3302. I completed a brief formality, too brief actually, and was Squired by CMDR Blood Drunk. I was give a brief understanding of the rules of the group, rather the only rule of the group,
Don't be a dick
The rule was short, humorous and effectively presented what the group stood for. I started to like the idea of this group. I introduced myself to the other Grand Masters and Paladins of the group, including the CMDR Bad Koala and CMDR ImMoralMage, who had an accent I could hardly understand at times. But they all seemed friendly and welcomed me whole heartedly. I thought, well, not a bad place to be.
But my financial problems were still there. And I was still running a Sidewinder. This is when I got to know of the Rare goods trade route from CMDR Bad Koala. And he advised me to purchase a Cobra Mk III, if I had the balance. I hesitated. Because the Cobra Mk III looked just like my own Sidewinder. Still, I did not have a better idea. I went for a short exploration trip around the bubble, sold the Cartographic Data for some credits and bought myself a Cobra Mk III, remembering to have enough balance for 5 rebuys as was repeatedly crammed into our brains during Economy lectures.
And I set out for Lave. Looking back, rare trading actually helped me get accustomed to the dangers of space.
I did rare trading diligently for a few weeks. I learned how to slip into Starports undetected when carrying illegal rares (I wouldn't be selling them there, but I needed to carry them anyway) all the while making some good money. I was soon promoted to a Knight after the brief probationary period.
Then the Dangerous Games happened.
The Knights of Karma supported the Galactic Co-operative of Worlds, GalCop in short, and we did 3 long community goals for them. The third goal was the a real departure. Salvaging Precious Gems. Credits were made at that time. Lots of Credits.
The Dangerous Games brought a lot of change in me. I saw how teamwork among commanders can bring about real change. My stick-to-it-ness, as said by Blood Drunk helped me get promoted to a Paladin, a leadership position in the conclave of Knights of Karma. The Credits made allowed me to buy the ship of my dreams, the Asp Explorer. Although GalCop couldn't win, I found my place in the galaxy.
On the 4th July, we started looking for a system we could set up offices in. After a brief discussion among the members, Qa'wakana was selected as the chosen one. A beautiful system, Qa'wakana is. Quite a few outposts, a couple of starports, planetary bases and a beautiful ringed Earth Like World. On 16th August our offices were formally setup in Carpini Terminal and we started on a journey of making the system our own. I had found a home, friends and an objective. What more can a person ask for?
I had realised that a home is important. It gives you a lot without having to sacrifice anything.