An alien force has descended upon Earth. Fighters bombard the ruins. Monsters hunt the wastes – some humans serving the Welorin in order to indulge their petty cruelties. The last free survivors struggle against starvation and capture. It’s a world where friendship costs too dearly and heroics verge on suicide. One young man simply can’t resist either. Welorin torture machines ravage his world, filling it with literal nightmares. Cannibalistic aerobics instructors hunt him and snatcher teams dog his every step. Alaric attempts one rescue after another, hoping someone might possess keys to unlock memories stolen by the initial assault. An aborted rescue lands him in a three way fight between Welorin forces and interstellar raiders. He takes cover in the pirates’ ship, coercing its AI, Cassii, into helping him. Success comes with unexpected consequence as Cassii abandons her crew, his friends and Earth’s solar system. Cassii refuses to return to Earth, decrying her former captain’s despoiling of the ship’s weapons and armor. Alaric leverages goods stolen from Earth by Cassii’s former crew into a bid at privateering. Surrounded by tech he barely understands and exotic life forms, he’s easy prey for the Protectorate’s mercenary population. Escort Captain Manc Shepherd and the sultry pirate Tyne Ren – Manc’s onetime partner – manipulate, exploit and seduce him across the stars. Alaric’s perilous heroics complicate their tug-of-war, endangering both and Alaric’s ship – their intended prize. Alaric must decide who he is, what he holds dear and how far he’ll go to protect both. He must choose who to trust: his mentor, his temptress or his smitten ship’s AI. The right choice could save worlds. The wrong one could throw him into a desperate battle to save thousands from his betrayer at the cost of his truest friend.

Alaric’s made a new life in the Protectorate despite his missing memories. His ship’s AI, Cassii, and a successful trading venture help fill his accounts with enough credits to finish repairing his ship for a rescue mission to Earth. Or would have, had his heroics not smashed Cassiopeia once more. His interference with the Corollas crime syndicate fills his thruster wash with more than just an angry ex-mentor. Pirates thrive on the star lanes, preying on all those who stray within their sights. Cassii’s been stolen and with her Alaric’s hopes to rescue his friends. Pirates, bounty hunters, and disgruntled plants besiege him along all vectors, preventing his capture of the scum responsible. Alaric recruits a reluctant doctor, a pacifistic AI, and several escort pilots to help him chase down Cassii. Kindhearted decisions leave Alaric wallowing in misery. Deaths and desperation, financial losses and constant attack force him to make dark choices that threaten all. Alaric embraces the vast interstellar emptiness, struggling to harden himself enough to thwart the Protectorate’s criminal elite. Every sacrifice he makes to rescue Cassii seems to cost chunks of his soul. Will he free her before he loses himself or will she return to find her beloved captain a worse villain than her kidnapper?

Manc Shepherd’s alive and mad as hedrin. His plan to trap Alaric backfired, nearly costing his life. His backup ambush failed. The kid’s in the wind and Corollas want Manc for the death of Birak and Strepe—the Bishop’s enforcers. Everything he’s done to attain a position within the Corollas upper echelon has been blasted to ashes, but Manc’s not willing to give up his vendetta against the Bishop. Manc puts in motion a plan to capture Alaric and leverage the kid for a bloody meeting with the Bishop. Much as he did before with Cassii’s module, he hunts Alaric’s friends and loved ones starting with Tyne. The sultry piratess falls prey to Manc’s trap, but isn’t about to lay down and die. Tyne determines to undermine his efforts from within, sacrificing herself to protect Alaric. She isn’t alone. Corollas, Protectorate Intelligence and the mysterious Kingsman put themselves in Manc’s way. How far will Manc go for revenge? Will he successfully hijack Alaric’s friends while avoiding Corollas assassins? Will he survive to another showdown with Alaric, and if so, what will Alaric do to free his friends?

Alaric’s crusade against slavery backfires when the Corollas unknowingly capture and collar him once more. Enslaved as a pit fighter side by side with his old enemy, Manc Shepherd, Alaric must survive to break his chains. A mysterious huntress pursues Alaric, ultimately ingratiating herself with Tyne in order to get close to Alaric and complete her contract. War hero Commodore Bruce Dolan det Regis does everything he can to find Alaric—including recruit, cajole and extort Alaric’s one time friends. Missing, beaten and bathed in blood, Alaric finds new and old allies in the pit that help transform him into a killing machine. Coming sword to sword with a refugee Alaric’s schemes sold into slavery, he chooses to defy his owner, the Dominari, in a way that reveals his location. Enemies and allies race to the Dominari’s doorstep. They demand she turn Alaric over, refusing to divulge his identity. She pledges to kill Alaric and burn Scrics Three to the ground before surrendering her prize. When she learns Alaric’s identity, the Dominari organizes a public spectacle that forces him to kill his friends or die. Alaric rescues Manc as he affects an escape and returns to the stars. Pelson and the others waylay Alaric en route to rebuild the destroyed Cassiopeia, revealing Alaric’s true identity. Still reeling from these revelations, Alaric witnesses the destructive atrocities of a bold, new Corollas juggernaut. Will Alaric choose an easy life with a family he can’t remember or rid the Protectorate of slavery once and for all with the help of a KIOSC-shortcutting hack, a new crew and the new Cassiopeia?