Burrows is paid $350,000 and given an honorable discharge.

He asks about the 19th Fleet and is told that they returned to Perry, all 7 escort carriers, and that he had been listed as missing in action. They remind Burrows that the nature of the 19th Fleet’s mission remains classified until otherwise notified. He is to meet with his 19th Fleet Commander at his office next. Before he leaves he’s given some mail that was received for him at Base Command.

The Commander wants to know what happened: how did he show up in Kilrah of all places? The player can say:

• a) that he found Commander Jackorski and the Lexington at Hari 2 (4)
• b) that he’d rather not talk about it
• c) that he landed at an inhabited Hari planet
• d) that he landed on a Mantu carrier
• e) that he stole fuel from kat merchant ships
• e) that he bought fuel from Kilrathi pirates

All answers but the first are good answers. The Commander will not believe them, but will give up asking questions and congratulate Burrows, and wish him well in all future endeavors.

If the player answers that he found the Lexington, BAD karma: The Commander will thank you, but have a long face. You can ask whether they’ll be court-marshalled, and he’ll say that probably it will be judged too embarrasing to make such a story public, and therefore a fleet will likely be sent to destroy them at their hiding place. When you leave Earth you’ll be followed by Secret Police Excaliburs, and they will thank you for the info on the Lexington but tell you that the risk of that info leaking out anywhere is too great and therefore you must be buried with your knowledge. You can try and fight them but you don’t have a chance, really.

Ship dealers on Earth have everything you could ever dream of, but 350,000 credits don’t go very far. Either he can buy a Centurion or Hellcat with bottom quality accessories, or go for a small ship like a Rapier, with medium level subsystems.

The best deal is probably still the Centurion, closely followed by the Hellcat (Centurion is faster).

When Burrows opens his mail,

• one of the envelopes contains a 10,000 credits money order sent to him anonymously.
• A letter from Masterson saying “It’s been a long time since you’ve visited Oxford. Come have tea with us, when you get a chance.”
  • Going to Oxford leads to Part B introduction, the Steltekers.
• A letter from Sivistian ko Cax-Ki’ra in Jigada saying “Long-term research requires human of skills, intelligence and stealth.”
  • Going there leads to the Long-Term Detective-Work side-plot.

The intro to Part B, Steltekers, includes a couple of quick missions and a long-term directive.

The long-term detective side-plot is what it sounds like: A long-term detective story with no obvious leads at the beginning.

Either way, or doing both, the player ends up with nothing to do except trade, take missions, perhaps find side-plots.

Side-plots should have casual connections to other side-plots.

Faction-specific sub-plots come via emails or interceptions in space.