Like most people have already said, the info-dump -as that appears to be what we are calling it- at the beginning of the story did not bother me. I think it introduced us to this amazing setting which I thoroughly enjoyed. For me, story setting is important and the author really delivered a fantastic universe. The level of detail for a short story was tremendous.
Many have already made comments regarding other stories, specifically the classic space operas. I would like to add to the myriad of obvious influences that this story is drawing from also includes space travel in the Dune franchise. However, the fact that it reminds me of these other stories is a huge positive. The stories we are comparing it to do not suck. They are excellent pieces within the genre.
The only place I am going to deviate from what others said is that to me, the narration was only so-so. I get that the author was reading his own work. However, I would have liked someone else to do. I think if anything the narration came off as generic white male. He was articulate, but I would have liked something deviating from the status quo... perhaps an accent. I don't know. My criticism is minor. Overall it was a fun story.