Deputy Marshal Nate Williams is assigned to transport two convicted data thieves from the planet Fortune to a correctional facility on Nexus 7. Unbeknownst to Williams, one of the felons is carrying Cartel data in her bioware, a surgically-implanted mesh of nanoprocessors and nanomemory. The Cartel, an industrial-criminal enterprise that infects all the worlds of the Republic, will stop at nothing to ensure the data do not fall into the hands of the government. Williams soon finds himself chased by the Cartel, the Marshal Service, the Republic Fleet, and Republic Intelligence.