The crew partake in some well-earned R&R on Starstation Aurora. A small convoy of Inseer vessels arrive carrying personnel, resources, and an experimental micro-drivesat relay. The Sparrow departs Walin and returns to Aegis.
They deliver some recovered n’sss tech to Concord. Deputy Ambassador Naar al-Haq briefs them on what was already known of the n’sss and their “shadowy and amorphous” ships from previous encounters at Zin Point in 2436 and Coulomb just last year (2499). Alloy fills Gus in on Insight’s efforts to patch V0RL’s breaches into the AeGrid. Conrad collects his newest toy.
After having been diverted many times, the crew finally make the long trek out to Vethril to investigate a lead they picked up from a drunken Rigunmor spacer on Highport in Lucullus. There they find a Class 5 Sleeper called the Arkadia, a Thuldan-designed colony ship incorporating t’sa cryo-sleep tech. The vessel appears to have been partially scuttled and hundreds of the cryo-pods are missing.
Shifting focus to the planet, a pirate labour camp is mistaken for a colony outpost. The crew disembark, exchange a few words, and become embroiled in a firefight while Mayhem and Yala fly the Sparrow away from the Blockade Runner, a better armed but less manoeuvrable courier ship. Little mercy is shown by either side, but the crew eventually put down the pirate leader, his second, and the madder of the two scientists.