From the introduction: Geola is a cold world with a thin atmosphere; however, there are still over 5,000 people — concentrated in one large settlement — who call it home and attempt to tame it. Unfortunately for the inhabitants, a company of interstellar buccaneers decided the Geola system was a good place to set up shop and quickly took over, lording it over the populace as hostages and slave labor. A recent attempted uprising caused not only dozens of casualties, but the pirate leader punished the people by seizing all gifts and religious totems for Winternight, the annual winter celebration.