The date is September 22, 2166.  The place is the Nusku system.  The Third Interstellar War, which began in 2145 and saw the Siege of Terra, and from which the Terran Confederation emerged victorious, is now nine years in the past.

Your ship, an old tramp freighter named the Odysseus, is now in orbit above the planet Nusku.  Once a member world of the Ziru Sirka, the Vilani "Grand Empire of the Stars," Nusku changed hands at the end of the last war, a prize taken following the Terran counteroffensive.  Now the commercial hub connecting Terran space to Vilani, Nusku is reknown for its shipbuilding and repair facilities, and is the jumping off point for many free traders seeking their fortune among the stars...