The 6 handed Redlingarner

Genre: Space Epic
Inspiration: Nothing in Particular

18 years is what it had taken Lance Flyboy to travel across the far reaches of the Galaxy. Scandalously, this was 10 more years than expected by just about every space council that had authorized the exploration. The Fandagoran hyper-drive was meant to remedy issues the solar fleet had with previous drives and when he returned, they were deeply concerned that the incredible investments they had made invading, looting and pillaging Fandagor - all with the intended result of capturing the Hyper-drive - had been for naught.
Flyboy, had a dark secret however. Shocked to discover, when he returned from his trip, that the earth year was in fact 17 years, 9 months and 4 days later than he expected, he knew he could never speak a word of his stunning discovery in fear of council reprisal. Scientifically, Flyboy could prove that 3 hours and 12 minutes on Marzgin 4 1/2 (famous in galaxy lore as the most hedonistic of the Marzgin sister planets) equaled precisely 17 years, 9 months and 4 days of earth time. This really should have come as no shock, but Flyboy was busy trying to land his ship and not thinking about the temporal impacts of Marzgin 4 1/2's near-light speed orbit. Unfortunate as it was for Flyboy's alien lust to have single-handedly derailed the space council's pan-galactic settlement initiative, he was privately adiment that those 3 hours with the 6 handed Redligarner, were well worth it. He did feel it was a real pity - because the hyper-drive was incredibly effective.