A cold steady rain fell from a slate-gray sky onto the wood and sandstone buildings that made up the town of Greenbrier on the planet Jiangyin. Puddles had formed on the usually dusty unpaved streets that divided the buildings. The few pedestrians moved quickly along the streets going about their business. Few paid any notice to the hooded vagrant in worn clothing standing outside the local saloon panhandling for money. Those that did dismissed him with remarks such as “try gettin’ a job” or “find a shelter” as they continued on their way. As the pedestrians passed him by, somewhere inside the vagrant’s clothes, a comlink beeped.

Nick Gerrin lifted the comlink to his face. “Go ahead”, He said into the link.

Aldous Gavigan, the mechanic who kept Gerrin’s ship, the Nordic Troll, flying, responded “It’s me. Just checking in to see what’s up”.

“No news is no news, Aldous”, Gerrin answered curtly. “Did you get the smell out of my ship?”

“We left the cargo bay door open until the rain started coming in, had the blowers going, we got rid of most of it”.

“Most of it?”

Aldous’s tone became defensive. “I did what I could, but sometimes you can’t just open a window and let the air blow it out. Next stop maybe we can bring in some washdown equipment or something and hose out the inside”.

“All right”, Gerrin sighed. “I’ll call you when I got some news”.

“Okay, cap’n. Oh, wait, Loomie wants to talk to you”.

“Okay, but make it quick”.

Loomie’s irritated voice came across the link. “Cap’n, I got some things missing out of my room”.

“What things?”

“Just some personal stuff, nothing fancy, but they’re mine and they’re gone”.

“You didn’t misplace them?”

“No!” Loomie protested. “Those things never leave my room! Someone came in and took them”.

Gerrin thought for a moment. “All right, check the rest of the ship and see if anything else is missing. And close up the ship, don’t let anyone in we