The Inner Stars are backward, dangerous, and rife with corruption.

Nerishka works for a secret organization known as the Hand, a group dedicated to keeping the Inner Stars from devolving into chaos.

When the Hand uncovers someone in the Ayra System researching picotech—a technology that could destroy entire worlds—the call is made to assassinate the kingpin. A perfect job for Nerishka.

But her in-system contact is missing, and the target has connections to even more dangerous research. Unknown assassins make a play for her life and coincidences become enemy action. To complete her mission, Nerishka must work with a man she left by the wayside decades ago as they search for the masterminds behind the scenes.

Nerishka's up to the challenge. She didn't earn the name Death Dealer by playing nice.