From publisher blurb:
The travelers are approached by a well dressed gentleman about a mission of some importance to the Harlo Equipment Corporation. The corporation makes heavy construction equipment but also dabbles in many other lines of business including ground vehicle, air raft and weapons manufacture. He has a delicate mission that he wants to discuss in private.
It seems that one of the merchant freighters operated by company employees has gone missing. Another line of Harlo business is deep space and asteroid mining. One of their freighters is well overdue after picking up iron ore at an automated mining base on a desolate moon in the mostly unexplored sector next to the Sonora.
The crew of the Inferno numbered only six. The ship was mostly automated and had one android aboard who maintained the ship while the other crew members traveled in stasis. Long range communication from the ship was received when it left the mining facility but it has not been heard from since. It is now several weeks overdue.
Ben Becker is a low level supervisor at the Harlo Equipment Corporation. He is in charge of the mining facility and is responsible for the well being of the crew of the Inferno. He offers a significant sum for the travelers to visit the ship and bring it in safely to the company home world.