Forty years after the Battle of Orinoco, Orien Satra - son of Jake and Andrea - is the XO of a heavy cruiser in the Rim Defense Force. His sister Ligeia is the Prime Minister of RimFed; and Ligeia's daughter Miranda is a newly commissioned ensign on the distant scout ship Troublemaker.
In a crazy-quilt pattern of war, treachery, and the razor's edge of survival, their destinies are about to smash together. Ambushed by a sinister enemy, the Troublemaker is destroyed. More than 1,100 lights from home, badly injured, alone in a lifeboat - somehow, Miranda survives.
Little does the young ensign know her destiny holds the key to the future of the entire Rim - and the lives of billions!
Like Huckleberry Finn, Phil Huddleston grew up barefoot and outdoors, catching mudbugs by the creek, chasing rabbits through the fields, and forgetting to come home for dinner. Then he discovered books. Thereafter, he read everything he could get his hands on, including reading the Encyclopedia Britannica and Funk & Wagnalls from A-to-Z multiple times. He served in the U. S. Marines for four years, returned to college and completed his degree on the GI Bill. Since that time, he built computer systems, worked in cybersecurity, played in a band, flew a bush plane from Alaska to Texas, rode a motorcycle around a good bit of America, and watched in amazement as his wife raised two wonderful daughters in spite of him. And would sure like to do it all again. Except maybe without the screams of terror.