I'm also toying with some ideas in my mind about the period leading to Priv 2.
I was thinking that perhaps the retros didn't keep their word of destroying the gun, and that one very smart Confed official, maybe Terrel himself, ..or, no, make that Goodin, decides that the only way to defeat the retros is by enlisting the help of the pirates. But this cannot be done openly, because it would look terrible on the Confeds, and other officials would never go for it, so he gives you the mission to become a pirate, try to rise in rank within the pirate power ladder, then steer the pirates to an 'under the table' cooperation with the Confeds and Militias, in exchange for ships, weapons and only nominal policing on the part of the militias. In part 1 of this story, the retros are defeated, but the pirates acquire enormous power, so in part 2, you're given the secret mission to lead the pirates down a path of self-defeat and internal division; and then you find out you have a young brother you never knew about, who is already a high-ranking pirate who suspects your motives, and eventually poisons you with some herb that mimics an incurable disease's symptoms, so that doctors decide it's best to freeze you while a cure for this disease is found. Then your young brother asks that your frozen body be transported to a planet where some other relatives live, and arranges for a pirate flight group to attack the ship before it lands...