* Review copies handed to the genre press, key reviewers and bloggers * Features on www.orbitbooks.net and in the Orbit ezine * www.mariannedepierres.com

Araldis is still under occupation by hostile forces, and with the Orion League of Sentient Species seemingly unable - or unwilling - to help, Mira Fedor is forced to turn to the mercenary captain, Rast Randall, if she is to save her planet.

But while Rast's contacts may be free of political constraints, what they lack in red tape they more than make up for in ruthlessness. As some of their hidden strategies are revealed, others become even more opaque. Why have the philosophers of Scolar been targetted? How far does the Extropist influence extend into Orion space?

From Lasper Farr, the Stain War veteran and ruler of the junk planet Edo, to the Sole initiates at Belle Monde to Rast herself, everyone is pursuing their own agenda. But are they really separate goals?

Or are events rushing to a single, terrifying conclusion . . . ?