Awash with conflict and a building war, the known stars align against Van and his wing of the Guild in a fight for the ultimate control. But Van and his crew suspect there’s more to the Equal Grasp than just a band of thieves, and they begin their campaign at Bopul Station, a lonely outpost where corruption rules and Peacemakers are feared. To continue the fight, and the case, the crew and friends need more than just contacts. They need money. To that end, Van begins exploring an old mystery about his grandfather, which leads to the shocking discovery—the Earth is being stripped of her history, one object at a time, but that’s not the main purpose of the criminals. For their goals are bigger than just stealing art. Much bigger. One of their targets is nothing less than the end of the Fafnir, and Van, and everything he represents. Along the way, Icky learns about motherhood, and Funboy learns about grief, and everyone agrees that cheese is good and pants are bad— —sort of. There’s a time and place for everything. And Van will lead his crew for as long as he can. If he can stay alive. And that’s a pretty big if.