The Pearl Ambassador was the ship that originally re-discovered Phaelos III and provided information to Enterios to lead a colonization effort. The ship belonged to Stardust Shipping, an emerging company that sought to provide services across the galaxy.
Stardust Shipping had a program to recruit Augments, specifically navigators, to improve their augmentations and hopefully release them from servitude and/or bondage. These were noble efforts for a company that was a front for the 17 Hands, what was then one of two of the most feared crime syndicates in the galaxy.
On the ground at Phaelos III was Greenly Nova, the 11th Hand. Managing things from Stardust Control Kai Koteiv.
Koteiv was a navigator on the Agerran capital ship Hero of Truth at the second Battle of the Yards over Gyr. Shortly after the Immolation, Koteiv and two others were caught in an explosion when their ship attempted to jump out. Koteiv was severely injured and another navigator died.
Ultimately they were offered little assistance by the Agerran military, so instead turned to the 17 hands to survive. Clearly they were cut out for the work and rose to the position of 3rd hand.
While on Phaelos III, the crew of the Pearl Ambassador – and a mix of employees and contractors of Stardust Shipping, were responsible for the thefts of several Ancient artifacts which were either sold or eventually confiscated. Two of their members were able to infiltrate the hastily established police force and may have been responsible for more stabbings than they prevented.
Three of the crew were decapitated in the middle of the main street of the colony. Another was exiled from the plant. Yet another was killed by their allies for turning traitor. Those that survived did so in obscurity. Even the Pearl Ambassador didn’t make it out as it was remotely destroyed when the navigator, in what may have been their last moments, reached out across the void to send it on a crash course with the colony.
In looking back at the story of Stardust Shipping and Koteiv’s life today, we can see a message in the past treatment of Augments can lead them to do both great and terrible things. Surely if they were alive today, Koteiv would likely be an advocate for Augment Rights.