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“Life is strange,” Nick Locarno muttered with a smile playing across his lips. Never in his dreams would he have imagined he would wind up on a sand dune at night on an ocean planet with no name beyond the boundary of the furthest Federation station, standing beneath a battle-weathered Bird of Prey, landed like a watchful and protective Dragon behind him.

He let out a contented sigh as he stood close to the Pyre log he’d lit for warmth. The Pleiades shone across the ocean, so much closer than they ever had appeared to him on Earth as a child – massive jewels suspended, hanging in the sky close enough to touch. Even nearer, two uninhabited moons were rising above the shimmering of the light on the ocean into the brilliance of the cold blue stars. Nick shivered, partly from the thrill of standing in the presence of such vast, untouchable beauty and partly because there was a wonderful chill in the air from the water.

“Hey, Maxi,” he called through his communicator, “You bringing that Skagaran Whiskey or not?” He instinctively looked above him to the head of the ship nesting above him protectively. As he waited for a reply, he watched how the light bathed the ship – washing over it like firelight, which was apt, given that he had christened it the Phoenix.

“Maxi, you there?” he repeated.

“Sure thing, Captain,” came her reply, “Won’t be a minute!” It wouldn’t be long before the other six members of the motley crew would be down to join him, and Nick took the solitary moments to consider the strange roads that life had led him down to the moment where he stood, sharing the wonder of the infinite cosmos with his closest friends – his family. They were finally free. Free to be their own. It hadn’t always been like that.

His trajectory to the stars had been cut short by an accident in 2368 at Starfleet Academy when he led his command of Nova Squadron in the dangerous and prohibited Koolvard Starburst maneuver and a collision claimed the life of fellow Cadet Joshua Albert.

Read the rest on my blog: nathandwarner.wixsite.com/blab…

AUTHOR/ARTIST NOTE: For over a year, I've had this vision of a Bird of Prey landed on a tropical beach with a smuggler or 24th century pirate sitting leisurely under its shadow.
I finally brought that vision to life, but I decided I wanted it at night instead. I then applied myself to come up with a story that would explain why a human was the proud owner of a Bird of Prey out on the edge of the Federation frontier. I cast myself to think of Starfleet dropouts or officers drummed out of the service who would make a good candidate for a libertarian, redemption story.
I immediately thought of the charismatic and tragic case of Nick Locarno (the inspiration for Tom Paris, played by the same actor). I realized the timeline was perfectly poised to take Nick through the Dominion War and I thought that would be perfect forge to cast him a jaded misanthrope who wanted nothing to do with anyone but his closest friends and it would serve to drive him out onto the Federation's "wild west" to get away from "the man." The story wrote itself, and I found it had strong echoes of Captain Reynold's story from Firefly, which I thought was interesting and kinda awesome.
It fit in other ways as I'd always envied the shots of Serenity landed on a planet with the engineer sitting in its shadow in a lawn chair, and I thought a Klingon Bird of Prey (from Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home) was the perfect Star Trek analogy, being about the same internal volume and capabilities (land on planets) - although much more powerful and capable with Star Trek grade shields, weaponry, and cloaking device.
And so, this art and tale was born. I hope you enjoy it.

Description

“Life is strange,” Nick Locarno muttered with a smile playing across his lips. Never in his dreams would he have imagined he would wind up on a sand dune at night on an ocean planet with no name beyond the boundary of the furthest Federation station, standing beneath a battle-weathered Bird of Prey, landed like a watchful and protective Dragon behind him.

He let out a contented sigh as he stood close to the Pyre log he’d lit for warmth. The Pleiades shone across the ocean, so much closer than they ever had appeared to him on Earth as a child – massive jewels suspended, hanging in the sky close enough to touch. Even nearer, two uninhabited moons were rising above the shimmering of the light on the ocean into the brilliance of the cold blue stars. Nick shivered, partly from the thrill of standing in the presence of such vast, untouchable beauty and partly because there was a wonderful chill in the air from the water.

“Hey, Maxi,” he called through his communicator, “You bringing that Skagaran Whiskey or not?” He instinctively looked above him to the head of the ship nesting above him protectively. As he waited for a reply, he watched how the light bathed the ship – washing over it like firelight, which was apt, given that he had christened it the Phoenix.

“Maxi, you there?” he repeated.

“Sure thing, Captain,” came her reply, “Won’t be a minute!” It wouldn’t be long before the other six members of the motley crew would be down to join him, and Nick took the solitary moments to consider the strange roads that life had led him down to the moment where he stood, sharing the wonder of the infinite cosmos with his closest friends – his family. They were finally free. Free to be their own. It hadn’t always been like that.

His trajectory to the stars had been cut short by an accident in 2368 at Starfleet Academy when he led his command of Nova Squadron in the dangerous and prohibited Koolvard Starburst maneuver and a collision claimed the life of fellow Cadet Joshua Albert.

Read the rest on my blog: nathandwarner.wixsite.com/blab…

AUTHOR/ARTIST NOTE: For over a year, I've had this vision of a Bird of Prey landed on a tropical beach with a smuggler or 24th century pirate sitting leisurely under its shadow.
I finally brought that vision to life, but I decided I wanted it at night instead. I then applied myself to come up with a story that would explain why a human was the proud owner of a Bird of Prey out on the edge of the Federation frontier. I cast myself to think of Starfleet dropouts or officers drummed out of the service who would make a good candidate for a libertarian, redemption story.
I immediately thought of the charismatic and tragic case of Nick Locarno (the inspiration for Tom Paris, played by the same actor). I realized the timeline was perfectly poised to take Nick through the Dominion War and I thought that would be perfect forge to cast him a jaded misanthrope who wanted nothing to do with anyone but his closest friends and it would serve to drive him out onto the Federation's "wild west" to get away from "the man." The story wrote itself, and I found it had strong echoes of Captain Reynold's story from Firefly, which I thought was interesting and kinda awesome.
It fit in other ways as I'd always envied the shots of Serenity landed on a planet with the engineer sitting in its shadow in a lawn chair, and I thought a Klingon Bird of Prey (from Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home) was the perfect Star Trek analogy, being about the same internal volume and capabilities (land on planets) - although much more powerful and capable with Star Trek grade shields, weaponry, and cloaking device.
And so, this art and tale was born. I hope you enjoy it.