William Sallerist is the man Thorne spent years believing had destroyed his life. He worked for Nexus Trading when a young Thorne partnered with him hoping to grow his family’s shipping company, Draxus Goods, into an interstellar business.
Sallerist had been running a smuggling ring. When Thorne’s mother planted evidence implicating both Thorne and Sallerist, hoping to remove them both from the company, Sallerist managed to shift the blame entirely onto Thorne, who was sentenced to ten years in prison. Sallerist then took over Draxus Goods, and Thorne’s family lost the business entirely. Nothing about why Sallerist later faked his own death has been stated on air; that part of his story remains unrevealed to the crew as of Episode 13.
About a year before Episode 13, Sallerist was declared dead in a maglev crash at Bloc 6 that killed twelve residents and five other occupants. Nexus officers moved in afterward to clean up survivors and complete the cover-up. In truth, he had faked his death and disappeared into hiding.
In Episode 13, “Nexus of Betrayal: Thorne’s Story,” Thorne uncovered proof from a data cache at The Relay Tower that Sallerist was still alive, proof that also revealed the deeper truth that it was actually Thorne’s mother, not Sallerist alone, who had framed him. As of that episode, Sallerist remains missing, his current whereabouts unknown to the crew.
Appears in: Ep 13