On Brython, Princess Gizel and her almost fiancé, Karvon Alistair are being bored to tears by the political tedium that their impending engagement has inflicted upon them. That is until Ilsa, a school friend of Gizel’s, turns up with tales of horror from Ilsa’s home system of Rathage. A formerly strong Kimerian ally, the government has fallen to a revolution, and the new masters are wielding a harsh whip. Isla’s boyfriend is conducting a one-ship war against the oppressors of the new Commonality government, and Ilsa hopes to persuade her friend, the Imperial Princess, to come out publicly and support Kimerian intervention. Or, at the least, urge her father, the Emperor, to provide material support for the rebels.
Gizel and Karvon think this sounds like a job for the Kormorant, Karvon’s rather unusual cargo ship. They happily leave the politics on Brython behind and intend on paying a personal scouting visit to the good old Rathage system and its new Commonality masters.

Things are not going to go well for somebody…