After pirates kill her three crewmates, Sam decides it's time to sell her ship and get out of the space business altogether. She hasn't got a clue what she'll do instead, but anything's got to be better than captaining a kraken-class cargo cruiser haunted by the memories of her friends.

The problem is, just when Sam's supposed to be meeting a buyer, she finds herself enacting a rescue instead. Of a woman who might be an entirely different kind of problem.

Kate knows what it's like to lose someone. But having lived her entire life on planet, she can't understand why Sam would want to sell her escape to the stars. It feels like incredibly good luck when the slightly surly captain agrees to assemble a new crew and take her up for one final job.

But when they end up kidnapped by a space mobster and forced to track down the same pirates that killed Sam's shipmates, it's starting to look like retirement might be permanent for them both.