Upon reaching his majority and bored with the hum-drum of planetary life Ilkis decided to chance his luck in the nether. He signed as an elementary midshipman with a small family run hauling company and over several years worked his way up to 2nd officer on a tramp hauler. Whilst on shoreleave for a refit he fell into bad company and was introduced to the potentials of smuggling.

Over the next six years he built up a substantial pool of cash from his illicit activities and was promoted to first officer. When the family run company he had worked for ran into debt and was eventually liquidated he was able to purchase a stake in one of their small haulers and along with two other stakeholder partners made reasonable success as a contract hauler.

Three years on, Ilkis was on off-ship making final arrangements on a contract with a new client when he heard that his ship had been involved in a refuelling accident. The ship was lost along with the two other stakeholders and Ilki