Declan’s talents finally caught the eye of a passing Stewards Overwatch squad. The Pact Worlds’ interplanetary peacekeepers—neutral warriors and envoys who enforce the Absalom Pact across the system—were impressed by this street‑smart Akitonian survivalist turned skilled pilot.

He earned a provisional rank, became a pilot for the Constabulary, and flew runs across the Diaspora—watching over asteroids used as smuggler waystations and trade lanes only the desperate traverse.

One fatal night changed everything. While escorting a small freighter, his squadron was ambushed by pirates and scattered in holo‑shrapnel and Drift fallout. AlthoughDeclan was the only one captured; he was listed as “missing,” feared dead or stranded beyond Known Space along with the rest of his squadron.

Taken aboard a pirate lair known as “Broken Rock” in the Diaspora’s belt—a place dotted with secret depots and Free Captain strongholds—he languished in chains near asteroids rumored to be used for pirate stashes.

Months of interrogation shifted when he was offered a deal: fly for the pirates as a smuggler—one haul at a time—and he’d earn his freedom. Having been written off as dead by the Stewards and with no good prospects for his future, Deke accepted the deal..

During this time, Deke earned his spurs the old-fashioned way: hauling fuel through the tangled asteroid mazes of the Diaspora, slipping unmarked cargo past Steward drift‑scans, and occasionally doing honest runs to the Pact Worlds and Absalom Station. Through skill, luck, and grit, he began to accumulate credits—and more importantly, a reputation—until he finally had enough standing within the Free Captains’ loose cartel to acquire his own battered freighter named the Crimson Dune.

That’s when the betrayal hit. The Free Captains follow a pirate code that rewards profit—but also thrives on back‑stabbing when it’s useful to the powerful. One Captain he had flown for quietly invoked a back‑door clause: during a staged ambush inside a Drift rupture, the Captain declared Deke a liability, seized the Crimson Dune under the veneer of a debt write‑off, and had Deke officially declared “killed in the act.” His status flipped from trusted pilot to ghost in the system overnight—a fallout the Captain used to shield any guilt.

Deke managed to escape and survive amongst the drifting wreckage and the hidden outposts known as warp hives throughout the Diaspora. Months later, his shobhad‑neh clan from Akiton tracked him down and helped him slip back into Known Space under the radar of the pirate network, eventually helping him get to Absalom Station. The Crimson Dune—lost forever—and the Free Captain contract dissolved into legend: either legally void once Deke was declared dead, or dropped when the betrayer lost influence at Broken Rock. Finally unbound by pirate law, he was free to throw off the betrayal, disappear from the Free Captains’ ledger, and chart a new path toward redemption.

Though his record remained tarnished, another door opened: Absalom Station offered a new path. A group of Starfinder Society agents recognized his pilot’s eye and his knowledge of Diaspora wrecks and salvage tunnels.

He signed aboard the Society—a neutral, galaxy-spanning explorers’ Order dedicated to uncovering post‑Gap technologies—and found purpose again: thrill, dreams, and redemption.