A Pivotal Volume

Referring back to Baen Books' The Technic Civilization Saga, Volume II, David Falkayn: Star Trader, we are struck by how pivotal a volume it is -

"Territory": Nicholas van Rijn as in Volume I, The Van Rijn Method;

"The Trouble Twisters": van Rijn hands the action role over to the trader team, including David Falkayn and Adzel, both introduced in Volume I;

"Day of Burning": the trader team saves Merseia which will be important in Volumes IV-VII;

"The Master Key": what van Rijn meanwhile does back on Earth;

Satan's World: van Rijn and the trader team counteract an external threat to Technic civilization;

"A Little Knowledge": problems within that civilization;

"Lodestar": internal problems intensified cause a pivotal conflict between van Rijn and his team.

Volume III, of course, is even more pivotal, beginning with the Polesotechnic League and ending with the Terran Empire.

Stories contribute to the series but also are self-contained narratives, not episodes of a serial.