"Is that sufficient dots with which to weave a picture of the Big Bad, while still keeping the Big Bad out of sight?"
I think so.
Otherwise,
This is a wonderful outline, and I'm interested in seeing how it ends up.
One tip, because you mentioned an absence of the lead antagonist for most of the plot being a problem, is to make lesser antagonists that are thought to be the lead antagonist until they die/until they're real purpose is revealed. Final Fantasy Tactics and the first Harry Potter are good examples of this as well as just about any detective TV show, if you want to look at other works that have done this effectively.
Good luck, and keep us posted.
Glad you liked the outline. Most of that happened by accident, but with just a bit of editing, I was able to link the events together - still got some more to do, but should be fairly easy.
Concerning minor villains (not in order, just tossing them out there):
There's a bodyguard that works for the Big Bad for awhile, but due to a longtime previous professional arrangement with the Cool Old Guy on the protagonist side, the bodyguard decides to skip town rather than do what he gets paid to do. The body guard is the one who warns the protagonists of the involvement of Blue Sun corp's involvement.
Also, the Big Bad hired a local gang to do some of his dirty work. As the Cool Old Guy used to run a gang, he's able to pretty much talk it out with them in a mostly civil discussion, while learning about their contract and what they're guarding.
Our smuggler protagonist sees an ambush go down in broad daylight, the Big Bad is trying to take down a rival mafia-type organization (paid to do it by Blue Sun). Caught in the crossfire, the smuggler snaps off a few shots in self-defense while trying to get out of the killzone. He manages to kill the leader of the ambush team, which is what managed to get the attention of the Big Bad in the first place. Right man at the wrong place, so to speak.
Tipoff on an asteroid mining station that a rival organization is looking for them, and guards the access tunnel leading back to their ship. Cue a last-ditch effort to distract the thugs so they can sneak past, power up the ship quickly, and leave ahead of schedule.
Not related to the Big Bad at all: Chance encounter with some Reavers, if only to show that the smuggler isn't nearly as cool and collected as he appears to be - the event makes him come totally unglued. As it's unrelated, I might cut it.
I also have a bunch of character-development - the overarching Big Bad plot just sort of ended up happening, but I was aiming more for a character-driven thing. Serendipity?
Happiness is zero-gee with a sinus cold.

I went back to my Firefly fic, The Movers, and realized that my protagonists are always just one step ahead of either the named (but unseen) antagonist, or from... someone, nearly all of the time.
Now, I'd like to exploit this for dramatic tension - with no drama, all I got is a bunch of characters doing daily life.
So, a nutshell list of the antaognistic things which have transpired during the last 450 pages, roughly in chronological order:
Not yet written, but I'm planning to include:
I'm seriously considering making all those events related.
So, what does the trope hive-mind think? Is that sufficient dots with which to weave a picture of the Big Bad, while still keeping the Big Bad out of sight?
edited 21st Dec '10 2:15:06 PM by pvtnum11
Happiness is zero-gee with a sinus cold.