Three years have passed since the adventure with the loot of a thousand worlds. Silver has been successfully dodging the authorities and has been able to resist his urges to go back to his old lifestyle of pirating. He was able to fix a ratty old sloop and use that as his means of transportation.
Now his existence is roaming the nether regions of the galaxy in search of abandoned ships or planets where he can hide out for a while.
One day he comes across a small schooner. He keeps his distance for he sees someone on the prow with the Interstellar Academy uniform.
Not wanting to have this person alert other officers that are either on the ship itself or within the vicinity, Silver pulls out a high-powered pistol and shoots to injure this person. However, the impact from the shot made this man lose his balance and fall to his demise in the etherium. This was not how Silver meant for things to turn out. He cursed himself for not waiting till the man was off the prow before doing so. And what was worse, he saw a pack of scavenger Cacherodons circling and soon having a meal. Silver, sick at heart for what he had caused to happen and what he just saw, boarded the schooner and searched for any other sign of life. After searching the various rooms and spaces, he assumed it was vacant...which was rather strange if it was a Navy ship. Then he noticed that he heard a strange sliding sound. Looking around and using his cyborg eye to scan he notices in the storage room that a small section of the wall has...moved from where he remembered seeing it last. After walking closer to that room,he notices a young woman shuffling out of a small crawl space of sorts. She appears to glance over in his direction and calls out in a calm voice, "Have you secured the area, Seth?" Silver wonders what she means...and if she's delirious or something. For she seems to look at him, or in his general direction at least, and her eyes seem to be scanning the room. But when she repeats the name and is still looking in his direction, he realizes that she must be blind.
He tries to say in a non-threatening voice, "Lass, I'm afraid he is gone..." The woman is clearly startled to hear the foreign voice and asks, "And who might you be, sir? Are you one of them?" Silver, not understanding, asks, "Them?" She replies, "the IA?"
Silver weighs his options - if he answers no, she might have a secret button that will alert those brutes to this situation and he couldn't have that. If he answered yes, she may not do that and might even trust him... So he answered, "Indeed I am." While he said that, he noticed that she had cocked her head as if listening for something. Then she said after a moment's pause, "No you aren't." Silver, aghast at her perception tries to cover his tracks. "Now see here young lady, I was in that blasted place for over several years and became a..a...one of the highest ranks there is. Don't you dare tell me that I'm not." She answers, "Hmmm, well if you are then why did you hesitate in your answer initially? And don't use the excuse that you didn't know what IA stood for." As a matter of fact, Silver was going to throw that at her...but he knew she was right-everyone in the galaxy knew what it stood for. With a sigh and a small chuckle he admits," Ah, you're right on the trail, lass. I'm nothin' more than old retired spacer."
She replies," Actually, I'm glad that you are not one of them..." Silver wonders a little at that comment but then says to her,"Heh, we might as well have introductions." He steps closer to her and, out of habit, extends his right hand. "Captain John Silver, at your service, milady."
After he does this he remembers that she is blind and starts to withdraw it. But she extends her hand as well and says," Dawn Reilly. Good to meet you Mr. Silver...and uh, please don't call me 'milady'. It's a term I'm not too fond of."
"Very well, then, Dawn." As they get to taking, Silver finds out that she is a runaway and is not at all happy with the way IA runs things...as a matter of fact she hates them, for a reason that she does not wish to disclose.