For young Hunter Blake, the future is bright indeed. He has been awarded the exclusive Covington Fellowship, named for the totalitarian ruler of the FISC (Federation of Independent Space Colonies), bringing with it fame, a generous stipend, and assured success in his chosen profession.
In addition, after years of separation he has been reunited with the one woman he ever loved, the beautiful and enthralling Tehani Wilawa. She has come back into his life, offering her love with one provisoβthat he accept her profession as the most beautiful paid escort in the FISCβs most famous pleasure palace, Sybanis.
But as tension mounts between the FISC and its neighbor and rival, the UDSC (United Democratic Space Colonies), bands of renegade space pirates begin to take advantage of the growing hostilities between the two contending federationsβraiding, looting, kidnapping, and building their ranks from the disaffected of both space powers.
And when Hunter and Tehani are kidnapped by a pirate band, the aptly named Utopians, they find themselves forced to choose between the enticing ideals of their captors and the ngid conformity and shallow satisfactions of life in the FISC. They suddenly find themselves questioning βtruthsβ they've accepted all their lives. Are these space pirates really the avatars of a new freedom, as they claimβor simply cnminals? To answer, Hunter and Tehani must quickly learn the razor-thin difference between freedom and anarchy, obedience and slavery, pleasure and indulgence.
But of even greater consequence, Hunter finds his reputation unexpectedly compromised when he becomes an outlaw in his old world as a result of his activities with the space pirates. Separated from Tehani by his own acts of revolution, Hunter faces a countdown with destiny itself as events spiral toward a crucial climax that will explode in the Tranquility Wars.
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