Rear Admiral Michelle Henke was commanding one of the ships in a force led by Honor Harrington in an all-out space battle The odds were against the Star Kingdom forces & they had to run But Michelle ship was crippled & had to be destroyed to prevent superior Manticoran technology from falling into Havenite hands & she & her surviving crew were taken prisoner Much to her surprise she was repatriated to Manticore carrying a request for a summit conference between the leaders of the two sides which might end the war But a condition of her return was that she gave her parole not to fight against the forces of the Republic of Haven until she had been officially exchanged for a Havenite prisoner of war so she was given a command far away from the war battle lines What she didn realize was that she would find herself on a collision course not with a hostile government but with the interstellar syndicate of criminals known as Manpower & Manpower had its own plans for eliminating Manticore as a possible threat to its lucrative slave trade
- deadly plans which remain hidden in the shadows