The great powers are at peace - but private conflicts are eternal. Like the blood-feud between the Merchanter ships Sprite and Corinthian, inflamed by Sprite Cargo Chief Marie Hawkins's personal vendetta against Corinthian Captain Austin Bowe, a burning crusade that has warped Marie's life. When both ships dock at Mariner space station, Marie vanishes. Fearing that she is bent on vengeance, her
23-year-old son Tom tries to find and stop her, only to find himself shanghaied aboard Corinthian.
Now Tom is trapped on a starship speeding him away from all he has known, held prisoner by a crew fanatically loyal to his sworn enemy. The man who, decades before, battered and violently raped Tom's mother. Austin Bowe.
Tom Hawkins's father...