Having acquired some ship weapons the crew set about getting them installed on the Ring of Fire. In order to avoid any "Alliance entanglements," what the crew really needed was a pop up turret, so the guns would be hidden.

This led them to be put in touch with everyone's "friend", Badger. After some careful negotiations, Badger agreed to swap the laser weapon and turrets the crew had for a pop up turret that could have the auto-cannon installed in it. As part of the deal, the crew also agreed to take a load of colonists and supplies to the newly opened colony world of Steel.

Steel is a "lost" colony world. It was terraformed by automation when the ships from earth arrived. Its location was lost over the intervening time and only recently rediscovered. For some unknown reason, the planet has developed wild life resembling dinosaurs.

Arriving at Steel, the Ring of Fire was set upon by raiders. The crew put up a valiant defense, but ended up with one engine destroyed and one disabled. Crash landing near the colony settlement, the crew discovered that they were the first ship to make it down to the planet in months, the raiders had destroyed or taken all the rest. The colonists were ecstatic to have what little supplies the crew had brought with them.

Since the crew were now stuck on Steel till their ship could be repaired, the colony leader offered the crew some scouting and survey jobs that needed to be done.

During one of the survey jobs, the crew discovered a group of "wildcat" colonists who had been living on Steel since before the end of the war. The colonists are peaceful Amish, but they are protected by a group of ex-mercenaries known as the Sword-Worlders. There were some tense moments between the mercs and the crew. The mercs didn't want their secret to get out but didn't want to kill the crew either.

The stand off was interrupted by a distress call from another survey team nearby that has come under attack from the raiders. The crew rushes to the scene and is pinned down by fire from the raiders. The crew is unable to rescue the colonists until the mercs ram their truck into the raiders barricade. This provides enough distraction for the crew to extract the colonists.

The mercs agree that there is no point in keeping the Amish colonists a secret any longer. The raiders are the common enemy. The crew returns to Camp Bravo with the wounded colonists and news of the wildcatters.