From Introduction: Your characters are the crew of the Starship Herodotus, an explorer ship wandering deep space cataloging uncharted worlds on behalf of the United Space Patrol. Your leader is the decorated Captain Jenner, hero of the Zarthrakian Uprising of 4367. On this expedition, you are also accompanied by Jarvis Snively, the abrasive, bean-counting representative for NovaCo, a giant mining conglomerate which gets a piece of any good planet you find in return for financing the expedition. After a long series of dead star systems, you are eager for your newest mission: another exploration ship, the Bounty, has crashed in the uncharted Omega system. The Herodotus is the nearest ship, and has been sent to find out what happened.