Alan Black

All Veronica Smith and her husband wanted to do was start a new life on a new planet. The Smiths found a compatible group forming on the North American continent and signed a five-year Pioneer Compact short on law and long on freedoms. They planned and fantasized of a paradise while waiting for Earth's telescopic surveyors to discover a viable planet meeting current Goldilocks zone requirements. Now, Veronica stood in the middle of the muddy street on a planet with no name. The rain washed her tears away while heavy drops plummeted into jumbo-sized puddles splashing murky water onto her ankle length dress. She stared down at Cal, laying dead in the mud. The townspeople of Peaceful Junction ignored her. The Halberds were going to pay. The town was going to pay.

Ensign Stone's goals were to make his way in the empire's navy, make his family proud of him, and make love to his fianc e. No matter which way he turned, someone was conspiring against him. Disgraced and humiliated, he is court-martialed, discharged, and abandoned. Accepting what he thinks is a lowly busy-work position on a beat up old family business space freighter travelling At the Edge of human space, he hopes to earn back the trust and respect he lost. The Empire's political powers and his family have different goals. Stone faces humanity's enemies in a do-or-die operation.

Libby Winrow can't afford to lose any more cattle from her small herd. She must go look for them when a few stray off. Finding more trouble than missing cattle, she is set afoot, her leg injured, beset by wolves with a cold winter night coming on. Survival is not guaranteed.