Mara Vance

Mara Vance arrives with the posted recovery writ and the tired patience of somebody who has already watched three clerks misunderstand the same wreck. Federal Survey Recovery Officer is not decorative here: Mara Vance knows which cuts preserve title, which seals matter, and which heroic improvisation turns valuable salvage into ownerless debris. The first impression is practical clothing, a marked tool case, and eyes that keep checking the recovery clock.

The job concerns the dead Federal survey tender Kestrel Twelve and its flight black box at Harrow Belt. Mara Vance explains the clean version without mystical fog or war-story nonsense. Oath Post verifies the recovery warrant and insists the recorder remain in witnessed custody. The destination is Solaris Federation by profile lock — HIP 57367, X000100-C, outpost, registered. The road in does not repaint it.

Under pressure, Mara Vance gets quieter rather than louder. Kestrel Twelve did not simply lose thrust. A contractor-installed survey package overdrew the attitude bus, and the black box proves a procurement shortcut. Ellis Broome holds a plausible first-contact claim on the hull plating, but not on the Federal recorder. That leaves room for argument, law, and consequence. It does not leave room for pretending this is courier freight with a fake moustache. Somebody has to enter a dead structure, make it safe, cut out the right thing, and bring it home with the claim still attached.