The Tragic Tale of the Boon'Sheh

From the Journal of Olson Steed

It was in a seedy spacer bar on the outskirts of Volkos while looking for a berth to work my way back to Truane's Star that I encounted Captain Artimis Caine. He was advanced in age and no longer had the look of the legendary rogue who had broke the hearts of a 1000 women, made and lost 100 fortunes, discovered 10 planets and captured 1 sathar carrier. In fact I would have never recognized him if the bartender had not pointed him out.

He appeared down on his luck, like me, but I felt obliged to buy his drinks and soak up his stories. Several days I spent feasting on those stories while he drank up my remaining credits. That was how I learned of the tragic tale of the boon'sheh.

The boon'sheh are a little known race from the Fockrik system with the misfortune to have evolved on the same world as the humma. The humma, being humma, hounded and fought with the boon'sheh till they were nearly wiped out. Eventually they had retreated into the furthest recesses of the most inhospitable environments on Hum or were herded into preserves under the protection of the humma's Highest One. That was until some valuable resource was discovered in one of the major preserves. At that time, many were forcibly relocated to the barely inhabitable planet of Larg .

Captain Caine had come to befriend a disgraced outcast from boon'sheh society and took him on as crew. Boon'Gig travelled with Caine for 6 years before trying to return to Fockrik to reclaim his ancestral lands or die trying. Captain Caine was visibly choked up as he told of Boon'Gig's death. It was obvious he was quite fond of him.

Apparently, the death of his friend had for once in the Captain's life, given him a political cause. He became the champion of the marginalized race. As one of the first human captains in the Capellan Free Merchants, he had enough political clout to push for recognition of the boon'sheh by the Rim Coalition.

He valiantly stormed the heights of power demanding autonomy and membership in the Rim Coalition for his friend's people. The Highest One of the humma banned Caine from Fockrik. The incident, though little reported in the Frontier, was a major firestorm in the Rim.

The power and influence of the Highest One went further than Caine anticipated. In short order he was expelled fromt he Capellan Free Merchants and his docking privileges were rescinded in the Capella system. His petition to the coalition government fell on deaf ears and no one would hire him to carry cargo in the Rim.

The once great legend returned to the Frontier and climbed inside a bottle. I can now say that a man should never live to see his hero at his worst. The legend seldom survives when you are confronted with this reality. I found his body two days before shipping out on the Dixon's Dawn. Captain Artimis Caine was dead in his quarters of a self inflicted wound from the multi-pistol given to him by his friend, Boon'Gig.