Blake Parker

One hour since the pirate fleet blocked the whale route. On the bridge of the Guardian Carrier, the alarms have died down, and in their place a single unencrypted comm request from the pirate flagship is blinking. The sender is the pirate commander, Blake Parker. A former fleet officer who made his name on the frontier colonies, he's a man who has openly said that whale brain matter is the fuel that will hasten humanity's progress. Your executive officer says not to answer, but the comm request carries a single line of message: I'll speak only with the Captain. When you press the accept button, a man with a neatly trimmed gray beard appears on the holographic screen. Behind him, the blue glow of the whale pod passing outside the window shines through.