Captain of the Pelorus, Sal Vasse was rather better known for their connection to the Slipstream and its luxurious lifestyle. Suspected of several thefts, most notably a heist on the Memorandum, Sal nonetheless remained unarrested and sociable right up to their death shortly before the Fleet arrived at Eta Helion. How exactly they died is still something of a mystery: despite signs of struggle aboard the Pelorus, a body was never found. As this appeared to coincide with an Apparition attack of some kind on the Slipstream, causing its swimming pool to overflow, it is widely assumed that Sal was the fist victim of this attack. (Given their reputation in the fleet at the time, it is possible they caused the attack - although it has never been proven that Sal was in any way responsible for the mutant rabbit Apparitions previously encountered on board their ship, nor for the horrifying events of the Slipstream's ball. But there is a high degree of coincidence involved, certainly.)
It is also noted that Sal was suspected of orchestrating the hacking of the St Nikolaos's systems which saw it unable to make the jump through the nebula until its jump computer had been reset and the three additional Deimium cubes stowed on board had been found: given this plot was uncovered after Sal's death, though, no formal trial was ever carried out and their guilt in this matter must remain unclear.
Before their death, though, Sal made friends throughout the Fleet by carrying out many other tasks which were undoubtedly for the benefit of mankind, which may explain why they stayed unchallenged for their crimes for so long. Not to be forgotten among these are the establishment of the Scion-based trading economy which we still use to this day, investigation of the Chus' nefarious actions aboard the Slipstream, and work on the intra-fleet communication system to ensure redundancy of communication and increase the chances of successful passage through the nebula. It is not so easy to write Sal off as a pure villain when they also did such things as these, and this author must conclude that some of Sal's actions have simply become misrepresented over the years, magnified in folklore as such characters are wont to be.
- an excerpt from History of the Exodus, Volume 3: The Ships and Their Captains, 2172