The brilliantly unorthodox Kylara Vatta, black-sheep scion
of Vatta Transport Ltd., one of the galaxy’s wealthiest
merchant houses, is a heroine like no other, blessed with
a killer instinct for business and for battle. Now, in the
aftermath of cold-blooded assassinations that have left
her parents dead and the Vatta shipping empire shattered,
Kylara faces her greatest challenge yet. There is a time for grief and a time for revenge. This is
decidedly the latter. Placing her cousin Stella in command
of the trading vessel Gary Tobai, Ky embarks aboard the
captured pirate ship Fair Kaleen on a twofold mission: to
salvage the family business and to punish those
responsible for the killings . . . before they strike
again. Since the network providing instantaneous communication
between star systems has been sabotaged, news is hard to
come by and available information impossible to trust. But
as she travels from system to system, with Stella a step
behind, Ky pieces together the clues and discovers a
conspiracy of terrifying scope, breathtaking audacity, and
utter ruthlessness. The only hope the independent systems and merchants have
against this powerful enemy is to band together.
Unfortunately, because she commands a ship known to belong
to a notorious pirate–her own relative Osman Vatta, whom
she killed for his part in her parents’ deaths–Ky is met
with suspicion, if not outright hostility. Rumors swirl
about her intent, her very identity. Soon even Stella
begins to question her cousin’s decisions and her
authority to make them. Meanwhile, the conspiracy Ky hunts is hunting her in turn,
with agents insinuated into every space station, every
planetary government, every arm of the military, and every
merchant house–including her own. Before she can take the
fight to the enemy, Kylara must survive a deadly minefield
of deception and betrayal.
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