Case Omnicron is a capsuleer who usually considers himself above scavenging destroyed ships for scraps. However when he witnesses two frigates attack and destroy a cargo vessel, he decides to see what might be left over. Case feels he is gifted with luck, as he often seems to be in the right place at the right time, yet also feels his time is being wasted because he ought to be doing something far greater and nobler than simply flying to and fro in the cosmos. What his greater and nobler cause might be has always escaped him.
As Case is leaving the site of the cargo wreck, he suddenly slumps unconscious inside his pod. Two Jove pilots, who have been watching Case from their own cloaked ships, approach his vessel. Unbeknownst to Case, one of the pilots remotely performs a procedure on Case which inputs data directly into his mind to alter Case's behavior. Afterward, the Jove pilots retreat and Case regains consciousness, seemingly unaware of what has happened to him.