Spacerogue

Barr Herndon is the kind of man who can turn a slave auction into a personal reckoning. In the crowded markets of Borlaam, he outbids a wealthy noble for a suffering proteus, then shocks the onlookers by shooting the shape-shifting creature and sending it into the harbor—an act of ruthless mercy that reveals both his hard edge and the buried anger beneath it. That same boldness draws the attention of Bollar Benjin, a sly jeweler who offers him a place in a secret starstone-smuggling syndicate. Herndon accepts, but only on his own terms, knowing the crew's surgical control devices and hidden hierarchy may become a ladder to something larger. As he is fitted with a neuronic mesh and sent aboard the luxury liner Lord Nathiir, he moves through glittering courts, seduces the unhappy Lady Moaris, and uses the affair to secure his freedom and reach the harsh world of Vyapore. There, amid jungle heat and corrupt trade, he hunts the source of the starstone flow, exposing fraud, kickbacks, and a deeper conspiracy. Behind every calculated move lies his true identity: a fugitive aristocrat from Zonnigog, transformed by surgery and driven by vengeance against Seigneur Krellig. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.