Cirrus@Austlit

'James Mawson has spent the last three months enmeshed in increasingly dirty schemes, his own days of glory long behind him. The execution of prisoners, including Ross Tillman, is the next item on the agenda. But when one of the doomed prisoners is the woman he loves, Mawson has no choice but to take a stand on principle, even though it could cost him everything.

'Ross and Edana desperately evade Padakan search parties, trying to survive even just one more day. They carry with them a secret that could bring the Padakan empire crumbling down... if they could just manage to get off-world with it.

'Meanwhile, things have come to a head on Earth. Tensions between Padakan House and the Confederacy are escalating quickly, and it seems only a matter of time before a shot is fired in anger. Frank Tomhines devises a plan to set things right. But his plan demands blood. A lot of blood.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Six years have passed since Padakan House was defeated in the skies above Earth. Their surrender is imminent and, under Frank Tomhines, the victorious Confederacy is about to restore democracy to its oppressed citizenry. But dissenters from within the Confederacy oppose both the surrender and the leadership of Frank Tomhines... and forces from outside have their own plans to keep the battle raging. Forced to take matters into his own hands, Frank begins to exploit weaknesses in his own democratic system to maintain control of a galaxy spiraling inexorably toward conflict.

'After six years of unsuccessful campaigning to outlaw his homeworld's chief export, Ross Tillman is pulled unwittingly back into the centre of events. When Frank offers Ross a chance to achieve his goals and protect his world, Ross is forced to make a difficult decision between two equally unpalatable moral outcomes. But there's even more at stake than Ross realises. It soon becomes clear just how much this decision is going to cost him... but only when it's far too late.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

A sequel to Smith's The Lesser Evil, set six years after the events of that trilogy.

'Young Ross Tillman cannot wait to get out of school and pursue his dream of owning his own ship. Struggling against what seems to be his genetic fate, Ross is determined to avoid following his father into a career in local industry. The manufacture and sale of the narcotic tubinj is the economic cornerstone of Messar, but Ross is determined to escape from its pull.

'For Stanley Myres, Chancellor of the galactic Senate, the writing appears to be on the wall. His political position is becoming more tenuous by the day, as rival factions in the Senate seem poised to enact a coup de tat. In an attempt to retain control, he utilises his secret paramilitary forces and hatches a violent scheme that casts Messar into a state of civil war.

'Overlord of exiled superpower Padakan House, Elam Padakan wants to create a better galaxy, with himself at its head. When the opportunity to liberate Messar from the Senate presents itself, he sees it as a chance to achieve everything he has ever striven for. There's just one problem: he hasn't even told his own brother what his true intentions are.

'All three men are drawn into the civil war on Messar, and as their paths begin to intersect and tangle together, they come to realise that the galaxy has very different plans for all of their dreams.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.