The Sphere Imperium · Book Two of the Intentional Contact Trilogy

WAR ERUPTS AT CIRTUS BETA

Sinja Ortize, the beautiful, self-trained master thief struggling to escape a life of abuse and sexual slavery, undertakes her greatest heist yet. Her target: Argo, an interstellar hauler loaded with a fortune’s worth of rich minerals. If Sinja can steal it, she will never have to worry about being abused by others again.

But Argo’s crew stands in her way―Tarn, the oft-drunken captain; Ritch, the captain’s son, a runt boy whose obsessive immersions in war simulations provides unique skills few can match; and Shepard, the shipboard AI haunted by a terrible miscalculation from its past. Individually, each is a dysfunctional misfit. Together, they prove a challenging opponent for a determined thief.

Yet neither Sinja nor Argo’s crew counted on the mysterious, alien pod that streaked into the Cirtus Beta system from the depths of the galaxy. Nor were they ready for the curious Scout subForm it contained, whose arrival would embroil them in a far-flung interstellar war between powerful races that threatened the very survival of all humanity!