One more dirty job for the St. Clare's crew. This time it's all or nothing.
In search of Pippa, an exiled teenage heiress, independent space freighter captain Mike Starrunner accepts a cargo for the Hurtworlds, the most hellish planets in the Cluster. The cargo is dirty, and could land the crew in jail...but that's never stopped Mike before. This time, the prize is not just money, but the truth about the Traveller plot that's turned Mike's life upside-down.
But the job is a deadly trap for the Shifters.
On a ravaged prison planet, Mike and the crew tangle again with the predatory Sophia and her Traveller allies. Pippa is the bait in a trap to destroy Mike...and potentially wipe the Shifters off the face of the galaxy. Sophia and the Travellers stand on the brink of grasping unimaginable power, and now Mike is the only man standing in their way.
This ancient secret could shatter the uneasy peace of the Cluster.
To defeat the criminal conspiracy, Mike must evade the long arm of the law, while untangling an intrigue that stretches across light years and centuries. If he fails, Sophia's murderous plot will succeed, and Mike's name will go down in history as a detested traitor.
Join the crew of the St. Clare as they struggle to put the clues together, battle murderous criminals, and above all, hang onto their humanity. If you're a fan of Firefly or _The Expanse, you'll love this interstellar adventure set in a cluster of stars far, far away, in a future where we've colonized the stars and even altered our own DNA, but remain all too human.
Warning: Contains swearing, sex, spaceships, unapologetic badassery, shapeshifting wolves, tigers, bears, lions, and one very large snake.