Markus spends time in Atlantis and the Well to make more money for fuel and to find work.
Hes unlicensed as a cargo hauler as a smuggler and can only do unofficial hauling., drugs and other prohibited items for questionable individuals as well as personal favours.
On a regular run from Atlantis, as Markus prepares to take off, securing his cargo and checking tech he hears a commotion in the loading bay.
Soon enough a guy in a ranger unifom runs into markus ship and hides behind a crate before noticing markus. Both of them hear UC police shouting as theyre searching the loading bay. Markus just hisses, what the fuck and gesture to the stranger to get out. The stranger shrugs and makes a pleading gesture as Markus has to give up and speeds up the take off. Just as the door is closing they here a "Stop or else", and Markus shrugs at the UC officers at the last minute.
Once they reach space, the Ranger starts apologizing to Markus, introduces himself as Adam, he was on an undercover mission to capture a fugitive for the bounty. Markus ignores him and pushes him back into the cargo bay and locks it, until they reach a deserted ice planet.
Once they land, he throws the extra, barely functional spacesuit at Adam and orders him off the spaceship. Adam reluctantly goes, pleading all the while. Markus is not emphatic and after some modifications to the ship so as not to be recognized for fleeing the scene, Markus takes off, leaving adam behind. Adam stuck on the frozen planet sits down and pouts as he tries to figure out a way out of his mess.
Markus on the other hand feels extremely guilty eventually and returns to pick Adam up before too long. Adam actually stays quiet and grateful as they lift off again, asking how long until he can get dropped off at Akila.
Markus informs him they have to go to Neon for their delivery as well as checking their bounty and registration. Adam flusters a bit but accepts his fate eventually.
Markus missions take him to quite a few stars, Adam tries his best to be helpful but without any relevant skill he ends up mostly cleaning and bugging Markus for ingredients to cook proper food instead of Markus "disgustingly large stash of Canucks". He manages to cajole some ingredients from local farmer with his natural charisma and Markus tries his food from time to time. Adam is a little put out how much easier it seems for Markus to accept and interact with everyone else they meet. Markus just shrugs and says no one else drags the cops to his ship before even saying hello.
- They manage double the normal amount of mining/collection goals, despite Adam breaking one of the drills and demoted to carrying only. - Despite the cramped space they do short flight passenger missions - Adam paints one of the cargo bay walls in fun colors, ruining Markus merc vibes - Markus installs a hot shower to shut down Adams complaints, as well as a fridge for fresh food, better beds - Rhea asks Markus to fix her technical amendements - Adam accidentally lures metal eating alien bugs, destroying the outer hull of the Roanoke - Markus tells him to fix it, ends up fixing it himself - Adam asks questions like "why don't you just buy a nicer ship that's not falling apart everywhere" "what do you mean "atmosphere" is important to know?" "Why would gravity matter?" "What's a book?"















