At the Junker's Moon depot, Marshall's workers are bent on a pay rise, rebelling at increased prices and rumoured pirate attacks. In the midst of the turmoil, a vessel arrives piloted by a woman with a mysterious tale of a prospecting ship, the Rudderless Junk. She insists that the ship resides in the depot scrap heap, and demands to speak with David Brion, who has been dead for several years.