Trade Pioneer Crews II

I detoured from "Lodestar" to trade pioneer crews. We know that Falkayn's is not the only such crew. Chee Lan will join another when Falkayn's disbands. Before that, in "Lodestar" itself, we are told that:

"The crews maintained rendezvous stations."
-Poul Anderson, David Falkayn: Star Trader (New York, 2010), p. 642.

How many trade pioneer crews does Solar Spice & Liquors have and have other companies copied the idea? - assuming they have found out about it.

Coya Conyon writes a letter to Falkayn and gives it to a trustworthy trade pioneer bound for the same volume of space as Muddlin' Through. Either that pioneer will hear of Falkayn's team at a rendezvous station or he will leave the letter there to be collected. The rendezvous stations are described as "...turbulent..." (ibid.) Hundreds of robot probes explore thousands of planets on the hither side of the galactic frontier. A pioneer crew must be ready to hurry to any planet deemed promising by a probe - all the more so if other companies have by now adopted the same practice, although we are not told whether they have.

Events accelerate. We see Falkayn leading his team only twice before he has become:

"'...a target figure. Right-hand man and roving troubletwister for Old Nick.'" (p. 332)

Not just another Master Merchant leading a pioneer crew but right-hand man! And his role will become greater still. Eventually, he will:

found the Supermetals Company;
run SSL while van Rijn, traveling around in Muddlin' Through, does necessary damage limitation work throughout the League;
found a colony that will survive the Solar Commonwealth and defeat a fleet of the Terran Empire.

Today, Saturday, will be a day trip to Liverpool so maybe no blogging.