Erstwhile salvage pilot Volya Frye certainly has a reason for his anger. His meager existence hadn't been much, but even that had been stripped from him. Members of the Planetary Union government, in concert with a corporate tycoon, had tried to frame him for piracy in order to get their hands on the Marco Polo, a vessel that would revolutionize both energy production and interstellar travel. Frye, however, had foiled the plot and returned the Marco Polo to its rightful owners. Along the way, he met Alainn Marwol, a woman as smart and deadly as she was beautiful, and discovered a life-changing truth: in order to be free, he has to take control of his future. Right now, that means it is time to exact justice on those responsible for attempting to ruin his life. It is time for retribution. But will justice be served, or will Frye succumb to the temptation for petty revenge? And what will happen when he learns that "In a tyrannical government, the real crime isn't a single massive conspiracy, but a thousand minor ones?"