One of the largest ships in the fleet, the St Nikolaos left Earth as a goods ship. As the fleet progressed through space, and imbalances in the availability of resources became more apparent, it quickly became a trading ship, allowing smaller ships the opportunity to restock, and scout ships the opportunity to forge ahead and come back with a variety of supplies that would then be useful for the rest of the fleet and allow those ships to turn a profit. Almost every ship's captain has had contact with this ship, though some have been a little reticent about using its services.

Given the sheer number of people frequenting the St Nikolaos, a rumour heard on one small ship about the Princess at breakfast will be found treated as fact on the other side of the fleet by lunch. And that's not to mention the wealth of stories that originate from cargo bay 2. Those that were desperate enough to flee the Earth by any means necessary ended up there, having been consolidated from the other ships.

The cargo bay is now a sprawling camp, it is the ideal place to go if you want to buy and sell dubious items. The smartest ship captains will realise that the true valuables in cargo bay 2 are the residents themselves, some of them highly-skilled and even more hard to find, and will to work for a price. Those unwilling to dirty themselves in the black market can also choose to interact with official representatives of the St Nikolaos, usually ranking members of its crew. Those with particularly valuable items that they wish to trade will be able to meet with the ship's captain, Matthew Cartwright.

Matthew Cartright
Captain of the St. Nikolaos, Matthew Cartright is a brusque man, and the running of the ship clearly takes up much of his time and energy, though rumour has it that he has a soft spot for his crew and any captains that make themselves particularly useful trading partners. He has also made a point of spending an hour a day acting as an arbiter between the crew and refugees, though the cargo bay talks of unfair judgements and punitive measures being handed down.