Corvuso Spaceport, Corvuso, Eastern Fringe, OVA
Year 541NR; Global time 12:40 AM, Local time 6:23 PM.
A stiff breeze carried upon it the red dust that passed for soil on this world, and several people brought their forearms to their face to protect their eyes and noses. Red clay buildings jutted out of the ground in all directions, with spacecraft of all shapes and sizes visible over the rooftops as they sat upon their landing pads. One especially large and especially hideous brick of a freighter was docked at a landing pad with a strange assortment of offworlders standing in front of the cargo bay doors in the rear of the craft. A squidlike machine with a single green "eye" hovered next to a man cloaked in a mountain of brown, ragged robes, whose face was hidden. The machine spoke with a robotic and vaguely British accent.
"My previous owner wishes you the best of luck in your voyages, and thanks you for your business. The transfer of two million CR has been completed, and the ship title for the Mudskipper, ID OVA-1B18M823196, has been transferred to your party as a business asset to prevent squabbling over individual ownership, as agreed upon. I am Lord Kipling the Second, master of this vessel, and I will be your shipboard AI for the duration of your voyages."
The gathering of offworlders stepped back as the cargo bay doors opened, revealing a massive internal space packed with low grade cranes and collapsible shelving. A cheap magnetic grappling device attached to a winch on the ceiling verified the vessel's original purpose as either a search-and-rescue ship, or a pirate craft. Lord Kipling, the AI, drifted through the cargo bay doors into the vessel, where he plugged himself into a wall outlet on the barrier between the crew quarters and the cargo bay. The robed man departed, leaving what used to be his own vessel in the hands of the offworlders.