David Ratter was a ship's engineer between jobs at Algogille, waiting for the next Capsuleer or federation ship to pick him up on his next job.
He hated being stuck at station.. but he equally picked his jobs carefully as he knew a Capsuleer going on a mission is a lower risk than a Capsuleer who doesn't advertise his destination.
All ship crew know going onto any trip with a Capsuleer is a risky business, in fact one of the most dangerous around... and a Capsuleer who doesn't advertise his business is typically going into a low-security system risking the terrible pirates. Ship's engineers therefore have a very short lifespan typically, and David did not want to risk his life on a whim. He therefore had resigned to the wait for the next job to not be a quick one and he did not want to rush into an early grave like many of his old friends had in the past.
In the bar at the Federation Navy Testing Facilities David saw a capsuleer called DeafPlasma. Seeing a Capsuleer in the flash was quite an unusual thing, even in a busy station in Algogille, so David was rather taken aback at running into a Capsuleer in this fashion. The Capsuleers made up at the most 50 of the 200,000 residents and travellers in the station. Deafplasma was a young capsuleer with strange looking hair, and at this point had not noticed David. Looking up on his PDA, David saw Deafplasma had no Capsuleer corporation and still flew for the Gallente... He decided to do the unthinkable, actually speak to a stranger, and a immortal Capsuleer at that.
"Hi, can I buy you a beer?", mumored David quietly, to which Deafplasma responded with a nod.
He actually spoke to Deaf and they made their introductions - Deafplasma then asked "Hey, are you looking for a ship?"...
David didn't know what to make of this, usually ship allocations are placed on an electronic bulliten board, and the ship's crew never are actually usually get invited to the ship personally. He was taken aback. Deaf followed up with "I know this is unusual for a Capsuleer, but I like to get to know my crew... and I don't use the bulletin board for my ship's crew. I'm stuck here until I get enough people to fly my ship as I don't want faceless names in the DSTI SB MK2". He explained the MK2 was down to the MK1 ship being destroyed in a horrible accident with half of the crew not managing to escape the wreakage, so he was devastated at the loss of half his close friends, and was therefore drowning his sorrows at the bar. David expressed his condolences... and knew instanantly this was a Capsuleer he would feel happy to fly for.
"Luckily my insurance payment covered the new ship and modules thankfully, with enough left over to pay the remaining crew a holiday here in Algogille. Oh I didn't explain what the ship does did I? We're a Salvage operation"...
David was estatic, knowing instantly a salvage ship is the safest form of employment with a Capsuleer possible - and expressed his gratitude for the offer of work - and instantly accepted. Running back to the hotel room to pick his personal items up for transport to the destroyer class ship, he was glad he made the effort to speak to a stranger in the bar today as it had the potential to turn his life around.
And he'd be paid in ISK. ISK... something he can use while he flies around the galaxy instead of only being useful in one system.
