Piracy had been picking up. Sure, the whole Region was growing, but no one expected this. Colony ships, commercial liners, individuals from all walks of life...no one was exempt from the attacks. Planetary forces patrol their local space, but the vast emptiness between systems was where the danger lay. And there was nobody out there to help. Or was there? A discarded project of human engineering, Coy Lamont has no home, no friends...and now no job. With literally nothing to lose, it enters a high stakes game that changes the course of its life. Quite unexpectedly, Coy has the means to save not only itself, but the rest of the inhabitants of the Beta Region from the growing pirate threat. But Coy discovers its creators' control did not stop when it left their lab. And to conquer the pirates, it must first conquer itself.