Profits. Coffee. Extortion.
All in a day’s work.

When Ishmael takes the Chernyakova back into Toe-Hold space, he finds a lot more than profit.

A quick pass through the Telluride system reveals the answer to one question but leaves him wondering what to do next. Until the ship gets stuck without a cargo until the station owner makes him an offer he can’t refuse – to take a cargo to the pirate stronghold.

Will they even make it there? If they do, can they leave?

A dead ship returns with a live crew.

Captain Ishmael Wang finally gets the Chernyakova out of the yard and embarks on a voyage into the Toe-Holds where the Confederated Planets Joint Committee on Trade has no authority. Where the law is whatever you say it is as long as you can enforce it.

Where he learns that some will do anything to hide their secrets and everybody has a secret.

An old friend. A new course.
A deadly ship with a secret cargo.

Ishmael Wang returns to Port Newmar but ghosts from his past have followed him.

His old shipmate, Phillip Carstairs, offers him the opportunity to track down the man who killed his lover. The catch?

He must take command of the Chernyakova, a ship that still stinks of death and haunts Ishmael’s nightmares. Together, Phillip and Ismael begin a journey into unknown reaches of the Deep Dark to bring back the man who killed Greta.

But what will Ishmael do if he finds him?