Accepting the LanceCompact Disc, 6 April 2021

A New Novel in the Nationally Best-Selling Liaden Universe(R) Series. Sequel to national best seller Neogenesis.

Exiled from Liad after bombing a city to save it from The Department of the Interior's infernal weapons and plans, Clan Korval has gone to ground on the back-water planet Surebleak, whose people are as untamed as its weather. The old Boss-controlled fiefdoms largely fell to Pat Rin yos'Phelium's influence, but the world is restive, the influx of outworld lawyers, guns, and money a brewpot for armed dissatisfaction.

Far beyond the surface of frigid Surebleak Korval's farflung trade network needs a serious reset to recover from exile. From flagship Dutiful Passage to the experimental - if centuries old - self-aware Bechimo co-captained by the Delm's blood-sister Theo Waitley, the clan's ships are prowling space lanes seeking trade. Meanwhile, Old Tech from a failed universe - the ancient but revived Tinsori Light - and the machinations of the mysterious Uncle are coalescing into dangerous opportunity or nefarious trap.

And the Department of the Interior is not done with Clan Korval yet. They seek a final fully reckoned revenge, with Surebleak and Korval's ships and people everywhere in the crosshairs.