There and back again

the long version

Bailey was heading home in his steam-powered rocket when he found a message pod. It was only by luck that he spotted it, disabled and drifting in an eccentric orbit around a large M-type asteroid. Strange to find a message pod so far from interstellar trade routes, drifting through the Asteroid Belt around Old Sol. Bailey picked up the message pod, and notified its owners that he had it. And that was the beginning of the adventure. The next thing he knew, the legendary Gitana, adventurer extraordinaire, was arriving at Bailey's asteroid home, and then he was on a starship, heading for the center of the galaxy!