Gilthen Ahn is captain of the Darck Banks cartel, a pirate band working deep in Republic space. He has six ships under his command and, unless he finds money to pay off his substantial debts, he'll lose everything.Tera d'Olzon is a privileged member of Republic high society, tryiing to make a difference by thumbing her nose at everything her family stands for. Unfortunately, things haven't quite turned out the way she anticipated and, while running from Security Forces, she is "e;rescued"e; by Gil's cartel.The reasonable thing for the cartel to do is to ransom her. But that won't bring in enough money. So Gil hatches a plan...