They can only hang him once.

Associate Engineer Macer Gant doesn't want much from life. A brew or two, pretty girls, three square meals and an honest job working the big iron, pushing a big load, in a big sky. There's no in-system tug bigger than Truxton's Tractor Four Squared, and no better gig than propulsion engineer. Life isn't just good. It's great.

Great, until a plague ship tears into Trinity space, a dead hull arrowing straight for the nic Cartaí shipyard and the thousands living and working there. Only Four Squared can stop it. But the captain won't, not just because he hates nic Cartaí, but because doing so would reveal what Four Squared can really do.

Macer must choose between hanging for failing to render aid or hanging for mutiny. Which has to be the easiest choice in the world. No way is he dangling before lighting up Four Squared's hidden monster, and without at least whispering the ageless war cry of his wrench-wielding tribe.

Hold my beer. I got this.

Elsewhere...

Ciarán mac Diarmuid, Wisp, and the crew of Quite Possibly Alien continue their quest, blazing a trail to Contract space and the mysterious customer anticipating their arrival. New wonders and terrors await after each heart-stopping stardive.

And when Aoife nic Cartaí plunges into Trinity space aboard the battered prize vessel Golden Parachute she'll discover her enemies have outraced her. They now threaten not only the League, and the Freeman Federation, but her own family and the family and friends of the merchant apprentice she's sworn to protect.

Ciarán and Aoife know they will need powerful allies to complete the mission and save the world.

Macer Gant disagrees. They don't need all that. All they need is a big tug. And Macer Gant.