Spacers wanted!

Men of heart! Men of action!

Ship paid off and left you in-atmosphere? Are your fortunes still held hostage by the Navy's prize court?

Seek your new fortune amongst the worlds of the Barbary!

Captain Alexis Carew, late of Her Majesty’s Royal Navy.

Hero of Giron! Savior of Man’s Fall!

Now commanding the private ship Mongoose in action against vile pirates and nefarious slavers, the very serpents of the Barbary!

Captain Carew’s first command saw each man near four hundred pounds prize money!

Her last saw salvage of two million guineas!

Only the finest shall be accepted!

Apply berth 32, Ring 7, Quayside.

Even with no war on, there are always battles to fight.

A cease-fire in the war with Hanover leaves Lieutenant Alexis Carew on half-pay, in-atmosphere, and with her ship laid up in ordinary until called upon once more for the needs of the Service. She was, at least, lucky enough to be in her home star system when her last ship, HMS Nightingale, paid off, unlike much of her former crew.

She’s left to help manage her family lands, though still with no certainty she’ll be allowed to inherit them. It would be a tranquil, peaceful life, if not for the influx of asteroid miners seeking their fortunes, the uncertainties of her inheritance, and the nagging certainty that her current life is not what she really wants.

She’d give anything to command a ship again.