Crappy Uncle Captain Atemu Mix

Not worth a whole fancy character page.

Ship owner who died by what appears to be an accident. Appears. Huh. I wonder what's going on with that. For some reason, he willed his ship to a relative so distant, the relationship would be distinguishable only by a genetic analysis.

Initially, I was going to pass this off as a lucky one-in-a-million break. Central records had to look for a relative whether they wanted to or not. Then I wondered casually how good old Captain Atemu Mix bought it. I pictured him stubbing his toe and getting infected with space-pox or getting his foot caught an asteroid disposal unit. Something foot-related anyway. He just struck me as that kind of guy. However, the more I thought about it, the more suspicious it seemed.

Still, I figured it was a questionable event that we could look into later. For Salome's purposes, it was still only a lucky break that Central Records (or whatever) tracked her down.

But Atemu's death just kept bugging me. I knew something wasn't right. He must have known he'd gotten himself into some kind of trouble, and for some reason, he needed to pass the ship to someone to keep it out of enemy hands. What enemy?

And how in the black of space did he track down a relative as distant as S, and why? And why, a few weeks before his death, did he will his ship to someone whose existence he wouldn't even know about if he hadn't gone looking for a relative? Any relative?

Did S mean anything to him, or was she just a warm body?

What was he doing that got him into trouble?

How did MM get hooked up with him? Was he the best she could do? Inexperienced pilot, something going against her that no one else wanted her? Too desperate to hold out for something better? Something in her background? Her history?

And if MM knew what Crappy Uncle Captain Atemu Mix was up to, why did she go along and why doesn't she tell Salome what she was getting in for?

Let's assume she didn't know. So Atemu must have been doing it clandestinely.

Was Captain Atemu a scoundrel, or...OMG, was he a secret agent running messages or supplies for a rebel alliance or secret resistance group? He could still be a crappy captain.

Were some of his crew in on it?

It's looking more and more suspicious.

That's a possible complication for a single book or for the long arc.