A short story—

When Captain Alex Ryker takes his father's body back to their ancestral homeworld of Avalon Prime for burial, he enters Alliance space under a temporary permit—one he expects to use only briefly. But when the time comes to leave, the CS Lucky Star is trapped by bureaucracy, taxed into poverty, and brutalized by sadistic inspections. As Alliance soldiers torment his crew and violate his wife Tess, Ryker's requests to return to Confederation space are repeatedly denied.

Refusing to surrender his pride or his ship, Ryker recovers from a savage beating and begins planning the impossible: escape. His only hope lies in the Trexis Nebula—a volatile and sensor-scrambling region near enemy territory. There, he lures two pursuing Alliance cruisers into a deadly trap.

Using rigged cargo barrels filled with radioactive waste and demolition charges, Ryker turns the very sludge meant to humiliate them into a weapon of retribution. When the trap is sprung, the cruisers are damaged and forced to retreat, giving the Lucky Star a narrow window to escape.

Now free and back in Confederation space, Ryker sets a course for New London. He's poor. He's wounded. But he's free—and determined to rebuild.