Captain Timothy Horatio Symbles doesn’t exactly inspire confidence at first glance. In fact, he rarely inspires anything except concern. But somehow — somehow — he’s managed to keep the Astra flying, the crew mostly alive, and his ship only occasionally on fire.

Symbles is a Free Trader, part of a loosely regulated, entirely dysfunctional alliance of interstellar haulers, smugglers, scavengers and optimists. His ship, the Astra, is an old freighter held together by duct tape, sarcasm, and luck.

He’s smart, resourceful, often hungover, and permanently operating about two steps ahead of disaster. His command style can best be described as “inspirational panic.” Yet there’s more to Symbles than jokes and caffeine. Somewhere under the surface lurks a man with a mysterious past, an inconvenient knack for psionics, and a surprising ability to outwit governments, corporations, and ancient alien constructs — mostly by accident.

If the universe had a reset button, Tim Symbles would find it, press it, and try to sell it before anyone noticed.

But he’s our guy. And as the Orion Spur teeters on the brink, he’s just the sort of chaos it needs.