Checkmate

Mud. Remote. Insignificant. A battleground both humans and Gelt fight token battles over.

But the enemy JT Austin faces is not the Gelt. Someone within the Compact arrives to destroy one starship and board his own. His captain dead, a royal party under his protection, he must get off the ship and away from the killing machines slaughtering his shipmates. He will pretend to be dead, hide among the debris of a sister ship, and bargain with humanity's erstwhile enemy to survive. He will also call upon the one person he has counted on for years, the legendary Suicide.

Before it is all over, the Compact's greatest threat will be revealed to be within its borders. And a traitor may be living among them.

In chess, players know the rules. In this deadly game, no one knows the rules.

And some moves are fated.