Chief Steward Pyotr Volkov
Volkov keeps a key on a chain around his neck. It opens a cabinet aboard Material Witness, though the cabinet contains copies rather than the only evidence. He learned long ago that a single locked box is an invitation to a desperate person.
As chief steward, he recorded deliveries, wages, repairs, and the signatures that authorized them. Those ordinary records became dangerous when a chain of missing shipments led back to officials who had insisted the losses were unavoidable. Volkov refused to amend his receipts, so the officials began looking for ways to amend his career instead.
The theft charge they brought collapsed the day he produced his copies, so the Combine settled the quarrel the only way it could afford: it gave him a ship and let him choose the people aboard. Now he trades information carefully, protecting witnesses who cannot protect themselves and retaining enough proof to make an attempted bargain credible. Volkov is stern and difficult to impress, but he honors a promise that he can put in writing.
Source: codex:captain_volkov_lord