Meet the people who will save the Galaxy… Lunzie, fresh from her adventures in The Death of Sleep, has discovered that the one good heavyworlder she ever met isn’t so good after all. Fordeliton, sent off to investigate the connection between the super-rich and the planet pirates, is now dying of a mysterious slow-acting poison. His aunt’s spiritual advisor wants to give him her special cure. Dupaynil, having made the mistake of pushing his captain too far, has been exiled to Seti space aboard a tiny escort vessel, where he’s discovered that the crew are in the pay of the planet pirates. Aygar, the idealistic young Iretan, is out to prove he has brains as well as heavyworlder brawn…but there are plenty who’d like to blow them out before he can learn to use them. Then there’s Sassinak, ordered to report to FedCentral for the trial of the mutineer Tanegli. She’d been told to disarm her ship when it enters restricted space; that her crew can’t have liberty or leave; and to follow all the rules…but, she’s never been one to follow the rules. You remember Sassinak: one-time slave of space pirates and now Fleet Admiral. Sassinak has uncovered a plot to take over the Federation. She now must risk everything she and her friends hold dear in an all-out counterattack.