Captain Kat Falcone owes her life and profession to her former right-hand man, William McElney, and she did everything in her power to make sure he was front and center for a promotion. However now that he provides it, she doubts he’ll have to view his back. Captain McElney continues to be designated to HMS Uncanny—nicknamed Unlucky—much cruiser tainted by the mysterious deaths of two previous captains and rumours of mutineers. Even so, as the interstellar battle using the Theocracy rages on, the Uncanny will travel in tandem with Kat’s starship, HMS Lightning, towards the notoriously lawless Jorlem Sector to forge alliances for the Commonwealth and quash rampant piracy. As Captain McElney challenges to whip a hostile staff of miscreants into a disciplined fighting push, Kat can be saddled with an undermining fresh executive official—an untested aristocrat whose bigotry colors his feeling of duty. Both captains wage battle against ruthless pirates while conspirators aboard the Uncanny story to seize the ship. When the starships end up locked inside a loss of life match with an foe juggernaut, Kat must make a eager and damaging sacrifice.