Bern Ober Bern Ober is on a discrete mission to the Evron starsystem of the breakaway Distan Colonies to gain support for a band of revolutionaries in the Terran Republic. It is a dangerous mission, but he is a dangerous man. When Terran operatives capture him, Lady Fortini hires a reluctant smuggler and her starship, the Ice Duchess, to run the Terran blockade and collect him. Veronik Ayres Captain Veronik Ayres and her intrepid crew must risk everything to run a gauntlet of warships to rescue the rebel spy. However, getting in is easier than getting out. To get back, the Ice Duchess must slip past the alerted Terran blockade ships or try their luck against the pirate corsairs of the Lotharian stellar coast.