A planet-stomping space opera that bursts off the page like a tactical nuke.John Birmingham, author of Weapons of ChoiceThe Hammer Worldsthe most brutal and oppressive interstellar government in the universehave hijacked the Federated Worlds cruise ship Mumtaz, seizing its valuable terraforming cargo and damning its passengers to mining the moons of the prison planet known as Hell. For Junior Lieutenant Michael Helfort and the crew aboard deep space scout vessel 387, the mission is clear: infiltrate enemy territory, locate the Mumtaz, and rescue the prisoners.The odds are appalling, and the damage will probably be fatal, but victory is nonnegotiableespecially for Helfort, whose mother and sister were on the Mumtaz. And Michael Helfort will be damned if hell let his family rot on the moons of Hell.From the Paperback edition.