Every starfarer who runs the currents of Sol's trade routes has heard the legends of Captain Rockford. A Terran whose aura outstrips his stature, Captain Rockford is a starship captain known for leading his cargo hauler through treacherous sectors of space, taking on jobs that other captains would turn down out of self-preservation and somehow seeing those jobs through to completion. He's a very stoic commander, his resolve unwavering even in the face of spiraling calamity, but he's also not an outwardly-compassionate one, sparing no time to tend to crewmembers whose morale may be broken in the heat of the moment- he won't scold you, he won't console you, he'll simply step around you and make the most of what resources he has on hand to see his ship and his crew through the thick of a storm. The way in which he inspires his crew is to simply act and let them follow; the captain isn't scared, why are you? Grab that rope and help out. We're all making it through this.
Captain Rockford commands a large Callistan cargo vessel called The Arrogant Mule, running large shipments long distances through the most expedient possible routes in order to see vital supplies delivered to needy locations in a timely manner. What "the most expedient possible route" entails can occasionally involve electrical storms, bandit activity, xenofauna migration patterns, unstable warp currents or even a history of lost ships and reported hauntings. He doesn't lead his ships into certain peril, mind you, he instead charts risks through sectors where peril is likely but not certain, finding a timing and a course that minimizes tremendous risk for the opportunity to save time on a shipment over traveling the current charted trade routes, regarding warp currents as being "fickle and shifting things, not to be trusted". Thus far in his career The Arrogant Mule has been successful in these ventures, which has earned Captain Rockford and his crew an almost mythical status as a ship of starfarers that the Void itself wouldn't dare to swallow. How an old Captain learns to tread lightly across these mousetraps is the tale of a lifetime.
As the story goes, Captain Rockford has spent his whole life aboard one starship or another, and knows the crafts and their operations inside and out. He was born inside a cargo hauler forty or so years ago, where his family lived in the unseen little gaps between the walls. Sleeping in a matchbox with an old spool for a nightstand, the young Rockford would spend his days scurrying about his home, watching the crew work and listening to the Captain and his mates bark their orders, seeing where and how their crew carried them out. He learned a lot through observation, and occasionally he'd see a crewmember's job was done poorly; he would dart out from his little spots in the walls to try the task himself before scurrying away again to watch the outcome, learning if he did the job right or not. They say a good Captain should be able to perform all roles on a ship, and young Rockford took this to heart, learning from his very earliest days through seeing and doing, sneaking peeks at schematics from Engineering and overhearing the Quartermaster complain about lacking this supply or that before those shortages impacted the crew in the mess hall. When he finally came of age and left the walls of his home, the young Rockford set out to prove himself among a fresh crew, on a new ship, working his way quickly from the very lowest ranks into a position of leadership and trust, pouring the foundation of his own future command. These days he sleeps in a very, very big bed, alone in his Captain's quarters.
Given his short stature it's understandable to think that Captain Rockford has some unique challenges in commanding his crew. The Captain knows to delegate his work, and trusts his First, Second and Third Mates to relay his orders to his crew. To be seen is to be heard, he feels, so Captain Rockford has taken to carrying a large red flag on a baton with him- he uses the baton to pole vault off the floor and onto tables or consoles, and waves the large red flag to help convey visual commands to his crew members. He'll also use this baton to knock open panels, grates and airducts on his ship, allowing him an unprecedented freedom of movement throughout his vessel. His voice is small, but it is gruff and fierce, and where he can he will use The Arrogant Mule's intercom system to broadcast direct commands among his crew, and when this isn't available the echo of the ship's hull will have to suffice. Those who have sailed with Captain Rockford pick up the rhythm of his command and trust his old wisdom, as he always seems to know the way through calamity; he always finds the little gaps in the walls of imminent doom. After a while of sailing under his command, the crew learn the flow and see results, and when they tell tales in port city taverns of what they'd seen and where they'd been, their fellow starfarers almost don't believe them. The ship's logs don't lie, and so the intrepid Captain Rockford and his crew have etched their names into the storied tomes of legend.
The men assure you these tales are tall but they're as true as the Captain's good name. Through a roaring ion storm, Captain Rockford navigated The Arrogant Mule between deadly bolts of energy by reading the pulsing colors of deep space clouds, knowing when and where to weave the ship in order to pass through the unpassable. When the ship was assailed by a shaded whale, the Captain instructed his crew to eject the galley's reserve of Callistan spice out the airlock, knowing the taste of those scattering granules is repellant to this specific subspecies. When a ghastly crew of starfaring ghosts latched onto The Arrogant Mule as it passed through an uncharted graveyard, it was Captain Rockford who talked them into moving on, though no man among the crew knows how or what he said, they all swear that after a fortnight of haunting the ghosts all disembarked in unison. Many a bandit has tried to sack The Arrogant Mule, finding such a cargo hauler outside the major trade routes to be an irresistable prize, but when they board the ship to try and take it Captain Rockford climbs into the walls and activates a series of traps, swinging panels and blasting hot steam at the intruders, sealing them into hallways with shuttering fire doors or shocking them with electrical currents; the men fight hard but the way their Captain fights with them, it is as if the little commander wields the entire ship itself in their defense. He is a ferocious fighter.
The stories always sound outrageous, they certainly have to be embellished, but the men stand before you and attest to their truth, their ship logs confirming departure and arrival times and recording the dreaded routes they charted in the course of their duty. How can such a feat be true, they'll be asked, and no matter the story, the answer is always the same: Captain Rockford always finds a way.