Sometimes it's best to read the fine print. When former soldier Everett Cole signed on to help colony planets prepare for joining the Federation, his employers were disconcertingly vague about their identity and his duties. Yet, the pay was good and it got him off Earth and on the way to a fresh start. More reservations arose when - 11 light-years from Earth - he met his future partner, Edgar Millen, an enigmatic man with a penchant for violent solutions...