Who doesn't dream of being in control of an Imperial starship? Watching strange planets sweep through the viewport while chasing space pirates, a finger hovering on the red button ready to launch a plasma bolt at the pursuing ship. And then life intervenes, and he becomes a man who's only battle is to find enough credits to pay for his next meal. The first book of a space adventure. "It began with a man that had a dream. A dream to have his own spaceship and sail to the edges of the Galaxy to see what adventures he would find there. That man learnt and worked and never let his dream go. One time a used spaceship dealer convinced our man he could afford to buy an older starship and make a living moving freight. And when that man saw that the ancient ship he was being suckered into buying was an old battlecruiser, there was no way he was not going to buy it, even if it meant a loan term longer than the ship would be expected to last for. Then that man managed to find the only freight agent that would deal with a vessel like he had. And when that man needed an aether pilot, unlike other people, he didn't take the cheapest pilot he could find, he looked hard for the absolute best, and he found a way to employ her, whatever the cost. And when they needed an engineer, on the way to find the one he was told, that man found a pair of girls that were not even graduated, and yet they were the best engineers a Captain could ever want. I looked at all this and I knew I had either found the luckiest man in the universe, or maybe I had found a man who the fates had guided. Whatever it was, I knew I needed to be part of that future." (Professor Frank explaining his decision. Chap 11)