Alaric's made a new life in the Protectorate despite his missing memories. His ship's AI, Cassii, and a successful trading venture help fill his accounts with enough credits to finish repairing his ship for a rescue mission to Earth. Or would have, had his heroics not smashed Cassiopeia once more. His interference with the Corollas crime syndicate fills his thruster wash with more than just an angry ex-mentor. Pirates thrive on the star lanes, preying on all those who stray within their sights. Cassii's been stolen and with her Alaric's hopes to rescue his friends. Pirates, bounty hunters, and disgruntled plants besiege him along all vectors, preventing his capture of the scum responsible. Alaric recruits a reluctant doctor, a pacifistic AI, and several escort pilots to help him chase down Cassii. Kindhearted decisions leave Alaric wallowing in misery. Deaths and desperation, financial losses and constant attack force him to make dark choices that threaten all. Alaric embraces the vast interstellar emptiness, struggling to harden himself enough to thwart the Protectorate's criminal elite. Every sacrifice he makes to rescue Cassii seems to cost chunks of his soul. Will he free her before he loses himself or will she return to find her beloved captain a worse villain than her kidnapper?