In the vastness of space it was quite difficult to bump into things, but bump into things Gary did. He’d managed to smack into quite a few asteroids, and floating chunks of debris along his journey.

Luckily he was mostly unscathed. Unfortunately, Gary was currently locked inside of the brig of a space-faring frigate. He crashed onto the deck of the wooden vessel, and caused significant damage. The crew of the vessel were just as surprised as Gary. They quickly surrounded him, and tied him up. Most of the crew were in the True self realm, so Gary made sure to not resist. They locked him up until they could decide what to do with him.

The ship, known as Seas Fire, was part of a flotilla of flying boats currently en route to engage a different fleet of ships in combat. The ships were enchanted. They provided protection, and breathable air to the crew. These ships were typically reserved for rich wizards who could afford the exorbitant costs of building even a single one. To see a whole flotilla was a rare sight. Gary was truly lucky to have witnessed this sight before his imprisonment. The value of these ships meant nothing to him, as his only concern was getting the hell out of the cell they’d put him in. He’d been there for a week, and they barely fed him. Luckily they hadn’t taken his spatial ring or his clothes. They had put magic restricting shackles on him, but beyond that they had seemingly forgotten about him.

Gary was sleeping when he felt the Seas Fire shaking violently. He looked out the porthole of his cell to witness a space battle. The armada of flying boats was engaged in combat with swarms of fighters that were spewing out of a massive spaceship. Surprisingly, the armada was holding its own against the fighters. A few ships went down here, and there, but the cannons were inflicting significant losses on the number of fighters. As Gary watched the magnificent battle unfold, a fighter that had been hit was headed straight for Gary’s cell. He quickly backed away from the porthole. The next moment Gary opened his eyes he was choking in the vacuum of space. His shackles had stopped functioning from the impact. He used the chasing starlight technique to fly straight towards the Spaceship. None of the frigates were close enough, and he didn’t have very long until he passed out from oxygen deprivation.

Gary was now in another cell.

He’d made it into the ship, and was mistaken for one of the space pirates. The pirates on the frigates had apparently been boarding the spaceship, so there had been heavy fighting within the ship's corridors before Gary arrived. The crew of the Hidden Hope had managed to fight them off, and capture any of the stragglers still on board. Unlike the cell in the frigate this one had a bed, and was perfectly clean. It also didn't come with any anti-magic shackles. Instead there was an antimagic field suppressing him. A little while into his stay he was strapped to a chair, and interrogated.

“How did Captain Steele know our location?” Asked the interrogator.

“Who?” replied Gary, who was then shocked. “Aaaaaaaah fuck.”

“How did Captain Steele know our location?” Repeated the interrogator.

“I don’t know who that is.” replied Gary, who was then shocked.

This went on for a while before it was determined that Gary’s will was too strong. In truth he wasn’t that strong willed. He was taken back into his cell, and left alone. Eventually the ship landed somewhere. Gary and the rest of the pirates were escorted into a prison transport. This time they had taken Gary’s valuables and cloak. He was given prison fatigues, and placed in a cell significantly smaller, and dirtier than the last one. The prison transport took them to a planet where they were tried for the crime of attacking a confederate carrier. Gary tried to plead that he had been a prisoner on one of the pirate ships and not a pirate himself, but no one believed him. And so Gary was sentenced to 10 years labor.

Gary was working in a factory making shoes. He’d gotten quite proficient at it over the last couple of years. He’d already given up on trying to escape. He found that He couldn’t cast any magic, and that the most he could do was enter his sea of consciousness during meditation. That only really helped him skip out on sleeping. He could stay up for significantly longer than most. He used the extra time to read books he borrowed from the prison library. Mostly action novels, and some history of the Supreme Star Confederacy. He’d gotten into a few scuffles during his time in prison, but after a while most people stopped bothering him on realizing that he was stronger than he looked, on account of being superhuman. Only a small minority of the prisoners were cultivators, and an even smaller minority were demihumans, Gary included. He didn’t make any friends as he was the only catboy around, and nobody wanted anything to do with him. Gary had pretty much resigned himself to spending the full ten years in prison. He couldn’t think of any way to get out without making friends or using magic.