Action, adventure, and space-based ship-to-ship combat!
Mac has laid claim to the find of a lifetime, a giant asteroid whose interior is stuffed with platinum, gold, and other valuable metals. The problem is, how to refine the metals and transport them to Mars, where some will be shipped to Terran markets. The remainder will be bought by Marsbank and used as backing for the infant nation's currency, the marsbuck, which is currently dominated in international markets by the Solar Union dollar.
Standing in his way is an implacable enemy known as 'Lanny', who attacked Mac on Mars. The fight did not go well for him; Mac, sensitive to his short stature, wasted neither time nor mercy, injuring Lanny to the point that he lost an eye. And then, Judge 'Maximum' Monique decides Mars has had enough of Lanny! She banishes him, and promises that he'll be summarily executed if he ever returns.
Now a fugitive from Terran justice, Martian justice, and from New Frontiers, Inc, who would happily turn him in to whichever police force had jurisdiction--if the company didn't simply space him first--Lanny has turned pirate, attacking freighters carrying cargo from Mars to Earth or vice versa.
The Patrol, which has the duty of protecting shipping as well as rescuing stranded prospectors, does its best, but it has too few assets to make a real difference, something Lanny knows. Even so, he needs a big score in order to retire. On Earth, money still talks, and Lanny's accomplice has located a private island where the pirates can hide in relative safety--if they can come up with the money!
When Lanny hears of Mac's golden find, its the answer to all his dreams! Wealth, AND revenge!
All he has to do is take Mac's prize before the Patrol catches him...
