Scott Rives

Armed with evidence of Sedaya’s treachery, Ben and his crew seek an audience with the Empress. If everything goes according to plan, the duke will be brought to justice and the bounties on their heads lifted.

When former soldier Everett Cole signed on to help colony planets prepare for joining the Federation, his employers were more than a bit vague about their identity and his duties. Ditto when - 11 light-years from Earth - he met his partner, Edgar Millen, an enigmatic man with a fetish for the mythology and language of the American Wild West. It wasn’t until they reached the colony world of Astrild that the mission became clear (somewhat). Cole and Millen were hired guns, tasked with removing impediments to order and justice - the methodology left open-ended.

Billy Todd has always been different. Most people called him odd, and those were the nice people. Though he was born with a learning disability, Billy's parents never allowed him to consider himself disabled. Raised to be self-sufficient, Billy might not be as smart as some, but he was a lot smarter than people realized.