The war amid the stars is over and Captain Fremont McMannus is moving on to a staff job. His entire Microgravity Strike Team is going to be disbanded, struck from the rolls of the Terran Marine Corps. No more daring raids on Charee orbital stations or assaulting Grausian battleships. Never again to risk the combat spacer's fate worse than getting spitted on a Legionaries' vibrosword, drifting through the void while your air ran out and silent violence danced around you. Then again, a staff job and a transfer over to Fleet HQ in peacetime might also be also worse than death.

His rescue comes in the form of note from an old commanding officer, Colonel Thomas Meagher. who has started his own mercenary company, operating in the Peace Treaty Demilitarized Zone. Dozens of worlds left outside the borders of the remnant political units of the Old Empire, with gold. violence and enemies to spare. Reaching out to the men and women he led in combat a just a few short months ago and who will soon be out on the unemployment line, Free puts the 76th MIST out for hire.

College graduate Danny Prescott is looking forward to rejoining the family’s mercenary unit, Prescott Defense Services, as a full-fledged member. He’s ready to prove himself and follow in the footsteps of his parents.

When he gets home, though, things don’t seem right. His father, Jack, is less involved in the unit’s affairs, and nobody wants to talk about what’s wrong. A strike contract for the Merchant Guild seems like just the ticket to get PDS fired up, but Jack Prescott won’t bid on it. Danny decides that action is needed to save his family’s legacy, so he takes the contract and leads a ragtag team out to fulfill it.

But when an old enemy enters the fray and kidnaps Jack, can Danny and his team complete the contract and rescue his father?