I’m always so nervous about conflicting/cross-over posts. I don’t even want to start the fire-fight because maybe someone wants it big, another small. Maybe someone doesn’t want one, etc. I’ll add-to or riff-off but I feel nervous about taking the story in a particular direction that might conflict with someone’s post they spent an hour writing. 
These things happen. I think it was in the third story that NCB (who probably is still away from home at the moment) posted something that took the plot in a certain direction while I was composing something completely different. I happened to catch his post on preview and ended up posting mine after some heavy revisions.
Gigas are fun to write for. Their language, Gigaraal, is encountered so infrequently that it’s very unusual to be in standard-issue translators. Untranslated, it sounds like random Earth words and phrases.
Sean presumably learned at least a rudimentary understanding from Sten Gnistu, a Giga and fellow Independent.
I’m rather dense at times. I think that the Gigas thought we were ambushing. Heard from Sean that we weren’t, and fired - not at us, but at something else that may be ambushing the Gigas. Then, and this is the question, Sean offered to be on the Gigas side and join the fight against whomever was attacking the Gigas?
Oh, and did he know the Gigas voice was Sten’s? Otherwise Sean would need some reason for trusting the Gigas immediately.
Corner Case, I PM’d Lute about the ambush situation and Lute said that the Gigas were firing on someone else, probably those who had traced the Rover, thinking it was the Orion. And the Orion is willing to enter the fight against the ambusher the Gigas have already fired on.
And I believe Sean met Sten at least once, in a previous story.
He knows the language but not the Giga it belongs to. As for why he’s so trusting, they could have fired at Orion right after she emerged from the cloud but decided to make contact instead.
If they hadn’t met during the “invasion” of Dona Salo, they certainly would have encountered each other a few times around the Home Office in Dimrak Colony. Perhaps even during those skirmishes Sean and Alma were involved in; on the same side, of course.
Seems Tor is Book with a dash of River.
Just to be clear, the gunner chairs don’t have access to torpedo controls so the gunners can concentrate on shooting. Torpedo controls are in Shad’s station.
The Epsilons likely belong to whatever passes for interstellar police in the area. They tend to be short range and thus don’t have enough fuel to get involved, which is why they only filed a report.
Lute, in your post in which the Epsilons buzz by the Orion, what does “off our six” mean? Is it a way to indicate relative position, like “six o’clock” or “port” or “starboard”?
Shorthand for “six o’clock”, yes; coming at their stern or thereabouts.
Lute, what’s the name of the world they’re heading for, with their cargo? Where the Epsilons likely(although not certainly) were going?
Doesn’t have one yet. Feel free to make one up. 
Orion’s original heading was about 45° to the right of their current one; they turned toward port, putting them on a heading about 15° to the right of the Gigas. The Epsilons are on a heading that intersects both.
Thanks! BTW, leo is “law enforcement officer”
Monty isn’t from the VMC company itself but is at least based on a Victor Channing design. Perhaps it’s a result of one of those speed trials, or maybe sometimes while in exile he hired himself out as a consultant to other firms?
I envision the shooting of Jessie by Alma to be where the fairly-good-Alma has to shoot the fairly-good-Jessie under some unusual circumstance. Sean eventually forgives Alma but there might be tension. Of course, I expect this to be the Android in disguise. And then there is the ‘how did the Android get Jessie’s memories?’ since it may wake up and pretend to be her. But you can make Jessie not the Android or the Android to just have the face, if you can think up something neat!
I don’t mean to hog things. I just had a neat idea and wanted to say it.
Adding something to further the story when nobody else can’t seem to think of anything is not a problem.
“Galen” was introduced by Baker in the last story; it’s a world noted for their medical services. “SISCO” is certainly an acronym but I’ll leave what it’s an acronym of to someone else.
Perhaps Shad heard about a protoype of something being smuggled out of SISCO Labs? What if somebody connected to the Marcams heard something wasn’t quite right with this deal and sent “Jessie” as protection?