My name is Mike "Magnet" Williams. I'm a lot of things: fighter pilot. Ugly bastard. Lord of all I survey. I fly the F-88 Wasp, although recently I've been doing a stint as a gunner in the Broadsword gunship Piggyback. I was back on Earth on an important mission after a long time in space. Real important. But now Fleet Command have another special mission for me. Apparently I'm a glutton for punishment. See, there's a Toralii freighter, somewhere deep in space, and it's vulnerable. Someone got the bright idea to steal it. Guess all their best people were unavailable, since they picked me and the crew of the Piggyback. Since, you know, we did so well at the last mission. We're going way out of my comfort zone for this one. I'm happiest when I'm in a cockpit, but this is something else. Something important. If we succeed, we're doing to be doing something special, living out on the edge, hitting the Toralii where it hurts. We're taking the fight to them, and we're taking something they use to fight. If we fail, nobody will ever find our bodies. 17,200-word story in the Lacuna universe, set after the events of Magnet and Magnet: Special Mission but suitable for reading as a stand-alone story. Parts of the Lacuna universe: Magnet Magnet: Special Mission Magnet: Marauder (new release!) Imperfect Faith The Lacuna series: Lacuna Lacuna: The Sands of Karathi Lacuna: The Spectre of Oblivion Lacuna: The Ashes of Humanity (coming soon!)