Persepolis Rising

How it opens

Drummer, president of the Transport Union, travels to the new transfer station at Lagrange-5 above Earth for the ceremony that opens it for trade. Word comes from Medina Station that a ship with no transponder ran from Freehold to Auberon without clearance, cutting so close that the freighter Savage Landing had to abort its own transit. Drummer sends James Holden and the Rocinante to tell Freehold that all traffic in and out of the system is banned for three years, with private orders not to hurry. As the ship nears Freehold, Bobbie Draper warns that its settlers, just under three hundred of them and well armed, are years from feeding themselves, so cutting them off could drive them to try to seize the ship.

Who you meet early

• Camina DrummerDrummer is president of the Transport Union. She has never been down to Earth, and the treaty she signed on the union's behalf bars her from ever going. Her civilian quarters are on Medina Station.
• VaughnVaughn is Drummer's private secretary and handles her calls and schedule at the opening of the Lagrange-5 station.
• James HoldenJames Holden captains the Rocinante and now flies under an executive mandate from Drummer to carry the ban to Freehold.
• Bobbie DraperBobbie Draper, once a Martian Marine, has lived on the Rocinante longer than anywhere else and handles the crew's tactical planning.
• Alex KamalAlex Kamal pilots the Rocinante and is Bobbie Draper's best friend. He has been divorced from Giselle for over a decade, and their son Kit is starting upper university.
• Amos BurtonAmos Burton is the Rocinante's mechanic. With Clarissa Mao ill, he spends much of his time sitting with her in the sick bay, and he agrees to let Bobbie back up Holden on Freehold while he stays aboard.
• Clarissa MaoClarissa Mao keeps the Rocinante's hatches and environmental systems in order, but the aftermarket glands she had put in leak into her blood and her health is in decline.
• Naomi NagataNaomi Nagata is aboard the Rocinante with Holden. She has studied Freehold, an eight-year-old colony with a single township, and finds the union's penalty harsh.