A Nest of Stars

For the Seven Deadly Sins Mercenary Company, the end was only the beginning. Rath Peterson and the 7DS are ready to call it quits, and, after their last successful mission, they return home for some well-earned R&R. As the friends settle their affairs and prepare to say their final goodbyes, though, they are offered a new opportunity, a simple job that will add enough to the balance sheets that none of them will ever need to stand in harm’s way again. A peaceful race, the Votha have rediscovered technology that will allow them to defend their home system, and all the 7DS needs to do is evacuate a research team and their data from an isolated outpost back to their home world. However, within hours of accepting the contract, the 7DS is attacked, and, in the aftermath, they discover that nothing is the way it seems. Word of the Votha’s find has leaked out, and others will stop at nothing to take it for themselves. To make things worse, powerful interests within the Benthi Federation seize control of the Benth orbital ring, setting off a civil war that leaves them only a few options—none of them good. But Rath Peterson and his crew have never been ones to run from a fight, and the answer to the fate of four systems is resting in the Merry Dreamer’s cargo bay…