Book excerpt: In the year 3120, Marcus La'Dek, leaves the brutal life of a mercenary, a life he barely survived. He returns home to keep the family's interstellar shipping business afloat, and care for an ailing niece. In desperate need of money, Marcus embarks on what was supposed to be a simple cargo run, but ends up at the center of a galactic conflict that's fueled by politics, organized crime, and a mysterious alien race-to which someone close to him has an ominous connection.