An old friend of Kapiten Gerrard Bane's, Giselle Dortmundsdottir, now a senior executive with Chaperons Blanc, has helped pull a few strings to insure a mothball assignment for him and the crew he assembles. Unfortunately, connections can only do so much, and the ship assignment turns out to be on Anselhome (Querion 0820, C110588-8), one of the so-called “Entropic Worlds,” a group of three star systems that have traded hands back and forth between the Darrian Confederation and the Sword Worlds Confederation for the last few hundred years. Though technically still a possession of the Sword Worlds, the Sword Worlds have been in little position to maintain their claim, and the Darrian Confederation has posted skeleton administrative presence on the planets and itinerant patrol through the systems.
During the weeks all of you have aboard the cramped far trader "Beowulf" en route from Gram to Colada to Hrunting to Anselhome -- better than a month's working passage aboard a cramped ship -- you have plenty of time to review the specs of your promised ship, a 400-ton, Jump-2-ranged Tümmler-class subsidised merchant:
MP-42221S1-000000-00000 400 tons, Crew=5, TL=10
State Rooms=9, Low=0, Cargo=171, Fuel=84, Agility=1, Batteries=1
As promised, she's capable of Jump-2, Maneuver-2, steers better than a cow, and lists a compliment of two ship's boats for passenger and light cargo transfer.
Your current ship's captain is a gruff, lean hound of a man, Anders Kammereck, who acts inordinately burdened by your presence, even though each of you is assigned specific ship's duties (which you are presumably executing). His first mate, though, a former Sword World Navy officer by the name of Eva Xu, is considerably friendlier, in her purposefully direct and "mannish" fashion (as one expects of a woman from the Sword Worlds in a position of responsibility and authority). She's also a capable bridge officer as you discover, which, perhaps, makes you wonder what she's doing aboard this ship and not manning a Confederation Navy vessel. Then you remember the state of the Confederation Navy, and it all sort of makes sense.
The Beowulf exits jumpspace in the outer reaches of the Anselhome system, and Eva announces that the ship will dock at Anselhome Down within two day's time.
!i!