The Fellowship of Humanity has endured for almost three hundred years, managing to keep most of its dirty secrets hidden. Those that try to surface become the targets of the Directorate of Special Operations and its enforcers, a group of special Marines known as Blackjackets. The most egregious secret was the creation of gene-tampered warriors, created to tip the balance in favor of the Fellowship during the Wars of Separation. After the wars, the Fellowship had no need of such deadly fighters, and ordered all of them exterminated. Still, some got away and journeyed hundreds of light-years before finding a planet that could be terraformed and turned into a haven for those who had been so misused. Nothing could have prepared MacCollie scout Naomi Bricklin for her chance encounter with the repopulated society of outcasts, reluctant warriors who only wanted to be left alone on a planet they had made their home.