Before you is the Universe, given over to four races - the first to pave the way into interstellar spaces. People are the children of the Earth, scattered across countless systems... Liadens are aliens, so similar to people that they are even capable of having common offspring with them ...Those whom both earthlings and Liadens call Turtles are wise, calculating and powerful non-humanoids...And finally - the IXTRANS. A race of space pirates, inaccessible to contact, recognizing only one law - “Rob and kill!” The story begins! The story of an earthly woman declared a criminal on her home planet - and now forced to work for the semi-legal “merchant fleet”. The story of a Liaden adventurer, adventurer and defender of justice...A story of struggle and danger, betrayal and nobility. A story that will not leave indifferent any TRUE FAN OF FICTION!