Excerpt:

Halfway across Eru Hindar's solar system, a large spacecraft drifted slowly through space, rotating slightly as a man might reel from a blow to the head. One side of the elegant craft's bow had blown out, the hull torn from the inside, the flicker of an atmospheric forcefield dimly visible around the edges of the breach.

Inside that field, Lord Ariet stood and stared out at the blackness of space, the stars even here washed out by the ship's interior lights. Set against that blackness a bright jewel was visible, reflected sunlight from the sixth planet. A gas giant, and not even remotely interesting. Lord Ariet turned back to the six men who knelt behind him.

"You let him get away?"

"He was fast, my Lord."

"How fast can one Wild talent be? How fast compared to my personal bodyguard?"

They shifted uncomfortably.

"Unexpectedly fast, my Lord."

There was silence.

"I see," Lord Ariet said eventually. "I see I am going to have to find a more effective bodyguard. When we return to Aeldora, you will reassign yourselves to the garrison."

They bowed their heads in silence. Lord Ariet waved a hand impatiently. "Get out of my sight." They rose and left, silently dropping out of Lord Ariet's awareness as he turned to the other man waiting to speak. "Well?"

"The engineer reports that our jump engines are still functional, my Lord. There was some damage to the navigation database, but the files we need to return to Aeldora are intact."

"Deliberately?"

"I do not believe so. The virus ran through the database in a systematic manner; it simply did not run for long enough before we were able to kill it."

"Very well. We return to Aeldora in a damaged ship. Let my rivals wonder what happened to us."

"My Lord, we must have a cover story."

"That is simple, Captain. While inspecting his holdings on Eru Hindar, Lord Ariet was the victim of an attempted assassination by a Wild. His bodyguard intervened, and although Lord Ariet's personal yacht suffered some significant damage, no lasting harm was done." He looked at the Captain, as if daring him to find a hole in the story. The Captain bowed smoothly.

"Excellent, my Lord. Plenty of truth to hide the lie."

"Just as it should be, Captain. Go and prepare for our return home. I want to leave as soon as possible." He looked out at the darkness of space again.

"A shame the assassin's escape pod was destroyed," the Captain said.

"Not really. At least he won't be able to contradict our version of events."

"As you say, my Lord." The Captain bowed. "You will need to leave this room before we jump. The forcefield cannot be maintained once we begin preparations."

"I know, Captain. That will be all."