Edward Khan, war hero, deep space fighter pilot, murderer and armed robber was given one chance to lose his lifer status in the Moon Jupiter Maximum Security facility. Six months in solitary, trapped in an eight foot cubicle suspended in the icy waters deep beneath the surface of Europa, had nearly broken his heart and mind. He knew the assignment offered him probably meant his death, but refusing it meant spending the rest of his life in that empty black cell. He'd do whatever he had to do to avoid a return trip to Europa. Issen, daughter of Gislu, Empress of the alien Empire Cassiopeia, and a part human from Earth, had known only war her entire life. She felt it in the skies. She felt it in her soul. She knew it drew close to her beloved home, and she would do everything in her power to protect the ones she loved. Her enemies called her the Spider Queen, and even her beloved husband, dead now so many years, had named her so, but with affection not rage. A murderer at the age of nine, Gislu had loved only two others in her forty years: Rajah, the ex-slave, beast gladiator who had come to Cassiopeia to lead her armies, and their daughter Issen. War flew toward Cassiopeia once again and she knew she must live long enough to thwart the opportunists who would overrun her worlds now that they had defeated her Overlords, and with that victory left her Empire without its former protectors.