Location: Jangala L-4 in the Corvus system
Date: 203.11.24

The independent prospector ISS Hamatsu has spent the last five weeks tech-mining on the decivilized world of New Maxios. The haul is good, the hold filled with stripped sheets of nanofactured smart materials, data matrices trailing I/O fibers, and several cores from what may well be forge-vat control units. The crew is ready for some R&R and the salvage team contractors eager to collect their share. Practical cynicism stoked by rumours of a Luddic Path cell operating in the local volume have led the Hamatsu's captain, seasoned combat-salvage veteran Callisto Ibrahim, to retain a mercenary ship with a particularly tenacious reputation for protection en route to buyers in the Core Worlds.

Ibrahim's worries were justified. Winding down from hyperspace at Jangala's L4 for a routine refueling stop in the Corvus system the ships are attacked by the very-real Luddic Path raiders. The Path blames technology for humanity's ills and consider it their sacred duty to prevent the Hamatsu and its high-tech cargo from reaching Hegemony space - or die trying.

After a brief conference, the captains of the Hamatsu and the mercenary ISS Black Star conclude that a direct assault offers the best chance of success - retreat is not viable as the Hamatsu is low on fuel.

The ISS Black Star is under your command. If you make it out of this alive, you might just be able to track down who it was that tipped off the Path.