Sassinak was 12 when the raiders came. Old enough to be used, young enough to be broken - or so they thought. But they reckoned without the girl's will forged into a steely resolve to revenge herself on the pirates who had killed her parents and friends.

When the chance comes to escape, Sassinak grabs it, thanks to the help of a captured Fleet crewman. Returned to the Federation of Sentient Planets, she initiates her revenge by joining Fleet as a raw recruit, surprising everyone with her rapid rise to senior rank. And then her vengeance begins in earnest.