SUMMARY:
A broken and drifting ship, its long-dead captain still strapped in the command seat; that's what free-spacers call a starpilot's grave. When one of these derelict craft appears in the Net, the artificial barrier zone separating the Republic from the Mageworlds, the discovery is no accident. It's a sign, a warning that the Mageworlds have not forgotten the Republic -- and the Mageworlds make long plans.But the Mageworlds weren't planning on Beka Rosselin-Metadi.Beka has unfinished business to take care of, and his name is Ebenra D'Caer: the man who arranged her mother's muder. D'Caer is safe, he thinks -- hidden among the Mages on the far side of the Net. Flying under a false name and false colors, Beka penetrates the Magezone and finds more than anyone expected: the Mageworlds have discovered a fatal weakness in the Republic's defenses, and are poised to wreak their vengeance on the hated enemy...unless one ship can stop them by doing the impossible.