Trade Pioneer Crews

After Nicholas van Rijn has appeared in five installments of Poul Anderson's History of Technic Civilization and David Falkayn has appeared in two, they finally appear together - although for less than three pages - but only so that van Rijn can explain to Falkayn, and thus also to the reader, why Falkayn, who has been first an apprentice, then a journeyman factor, and is now a Master Merchant, has also become the leader the first "trade pioneer crew." These crews are van Rijn's idea and I wonder whether they remain exclusive to his Solar Spice & Liquors Company?

Which of them initiated this interview, van Rijn or Falkayn? Van Rijn has been watching Falkayn since Ivanhoe. Falkayn says that he would like to open new sources and markets. But van Rijn points out that there is a lot competition on new planets discovered by the Polesotechnic League. However:

while visiting and colonizing interesting planets, space travelers have bypassed millions of others, many not even catalogued;
of these, statistics indicate that thousands are potential sources and markets;
so - choose a sector, establish a base, dispatch hundreds of automated probes and send a pioneer crew to any promising planets;
if the crew confirms that the prospect is promising, then they pave the way for commercial agreements and notify van Rijn;
three crew members of different species, a Master Merchant, a planetologist and a xenobiologist.

I could not have planned it better myself. In fact, I could not have planned it at all!