Cassii's AI module is missing. Alaric must launch a desperate search to reclaim Cassiopeia's heart, but the old frigate is too much without an AI to run her systems. Taking on a reluctant doctor, a pacifist AI, an Alistari war hero and his ace pilot mate, Alaric must find a way to track down Cassii's abductor in the vast Protectorate.

To make matters worse, criminals haunt the star lanes almost unopposed, enslaving refugees and ruining lives. Alaric must dance a fine line between heroics and villainy as circumstances and hard luck drive him to dark choices.

To thwart the Protectorate's criminal elite, Alaric embraces the vast interstellar emptiness in a struggle to harden himself for survival. Every move seems the wrong one, and every choice carves a slice from his soul. Can he free Cassii before he loses himself or will she return to find her beloved captain just another monster in the black?