Things aren’t what they seem to be when Princess Olivia of Andromeda jumps aboard a spaceship to escape a loveless marriage. Join the crew of the Hummingbird as they take on the rich, famous and sleazy of the galaxy. They're also on a long-term secret mission, so it's a good thing they're the best con artists, spacers, and roughnecks in the Milky Way, because they need all their skills to pull off this particular Royal Scam. \\\*The Royal Scam is the first installment in the short story series The Martian Alliance. Coming this winter the second short story in the series Three Card Monte.\\\*

A risky gamble turns deadly when the galaxy's most feared terrorist arrives to up the ante. When their favorite bookie pulls up stakes from Roulette and moves to Polliworld, the crew of the Hummingbird go to find out why, and hopefully get a cut of the action, but they end up caught in a high stakes game of chance that could destroy them.

When the crew of the Hummingbird discovers a Pilla Colony recently destroyed by the Diamante Families, they’re faced with the smart choice of leaving or the dangerous one of searching for survivors – and Roy and DeeDee aren’t in agreement about their course of action. But the real question is – why would anyone be going out of their way to destroy the most helpless, fragile, and noncombative race in the galaxy?