In a society built off of hierarchy and patriarchy the lowest of the low one could possibly be is a vagrant child. Well, he could be a girl, that would certainly be worse but for a boy in his position it was still pretty bad. Jaiturk, or Jai for short, found that his parents were one too many bad deals in with the syndicate and as such they had offered him up as a slave to work in some god-forsaken mine fixing equipment that required small hands to access in return for, well, not murdering them in any cruel and awful way. That was 3 years ago and Jai had been shipped around from place to place because as it turned out, the kid was a wiz with mechanical issues. Cobbling together solutions that seemed impossible, fixing intricate machines with sometimes literal bailing wire and the intestines of some poor slop who died too close to the equipment (That’s a good story, remind me to tell you that over dinner one time!) Jaiturk had made a name for himself in the tiny corner of the galaxy he was in. All things considered it wasn’t the worst life, but he was still a mistreated, malnourished, and miserable child slave who often was pulled where some rich syndicate boss needed a quick (and usually cheap) fix.

You would think that a kid like him would grow up to become a freedom fighter whose purpose was finding solidarity and a grave but desperate mission among the downtrodden. A noble person who would selflessly make the voices of those less fortunate heard to those who needed it the most right?

Nah

Jaiturk LOVED the syndicate and all it stood for. At age 7, when he was being given to the slavers as payment, he thought their ship and equipment was SO COOL. His new owner was rich beyond belief, he had the land, the power, the gold pressed latinum, a fleet of ships, and the famed Orion slave girls at his side. THAT was the life am-I-right? I mean sure they treated kid badly and the pain sticks he had procured from the Klingons really did their job well at motivating the slaves of which Jai was certainly one.

So how did he end up here on some random world with the Albatross close by? Jai had been doing the slog for three years and saw that there was no way out for him, at least not quickly. By age 10 an Orion boy should be working the family business with his father, not going on any important or risky missions of course, but being present to watch the adults work, to see how it’s done, and by the time of adolescence, getting involved with prisoner interrogations and working their first deals. Now Jaiturk was still a few years off of that physiological developmental milestone, and truth be told he was the runt of the family and was smaller and weaker than most Orion kids even a year or so younger, but where he lacked the physical might he had his wits, and come on, Pirates and the Syndicate are just SO COOL.

Right, how did he get here again? Well after the last group of slavers transporting him to fix yet another mining machine built in the 2200’s that he lost his shoes to (that’s a funny story too, and it absolutely doesn’t go in the direction you think it would, but alas another time again) they stopped for a drink and a shakedown. They brought the boy off the transport and wanted to reward him for getting the job done faster and cheaper than expected, so of course when they say ‘reward’ they meant ‘give him a meal’. It was here that Jai realized that the men hadn’t latched his collar properly and when the pair went to shakedown the owner, the kid was able to short circuit the latch using a knife, two rocks, and a packet of yamok sauce before he darted out of the building to hide.

From there he scrapped and survived for a couple of months, getting by through a mix of bullying and running protection racquets for the local kid’s lemonade stands, but at heart he didn’t want to be a low-level thug, he didn’t like hurting people or being that mean, he wanted to be the boss. Sending his thugs out to do the dirty work. He often daydreamed of himself in his old owner’s chair, one arm each wrapped around the slaves, puffing away at a vapor stick, feet kicked up at his desk, dressed to the nines. But for now, the scrawny kid who looked like he came out of a cave could only dream. So, he finds himself in a bar, fixing a replicator that fell out of a starbase circa 2244, for a chance at a meal and a sonic shower.

-Jai