First published 2000
Renwald Legroeder breaks free after seven years as a prisoner of interstellar pirates. The Star Rigger reaches the Centrist Worlds, expecting to resume his old life navigating ships through space. Instead, he discovers a vast conspiracy targeting him across multiple star systems. The plot connects the Centrist Worlds to distant pirate territories and has survived galactic war while killing millions of humans and aliens. Legroeder faces a terrible choice: accept a suicide mission back to the pirates' stronghold or remain trapped by the conspiracy. His target is Impris, a phantom rigger ship lost in legend and known as space's Flying Dutchman. The mission will take him into the heart of enemy territory, where he must navigate a cybernetically enhanced underground network. A mysterious woman waits there who might destroy him or offer his only chance at freedom. Legroeder must confront both the conspiracy's dark center and his own past to survive.
Genres: science-fiction, adventure, space-opera, action
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Centrist Worlds, Impris
Period: Future
555 pages · Hardcover · Tor Books