Ethan Frome Fortune had been on Tran-Ky-ky long enough…too long in fact. He wanted out. He wanted to get back to business. He wanted to go home. So he and his sidekick Skua September headed their giant icerigger toward Brass Monkey, the busy off-world trading post where they were sure they could book passage home. But when they discovered that their Tran friends were being victimized by ruthless profiteers, they decided to stick around and organize the isolated city-states into a functioning confederation…a governing body that the Commonwealth Council would have to recognize and protect. But the Tran had enemies–deadly ones, at that–and Skua September and Ethan Fortune quickly found themselves back aboard the icerigger *Slanderscree* , leaving a crimson wake on the frozen seas and hurtling toward the most chilling encounters either had ever known.