Description:

Classic space opera adventure, Book #7 in the "Family D'Alembert" series. For centuries, the planet Gastonia has been a planet of exile, an escape-proof prison world for the worst sorts of traitors. But now, it seems, prisoners are indeed escaping, and all evidence points to the sinister, all-knowing conspiracy that continues to shadow the Throne. The d'Alemberts must infiltrate this world of traitors--and they must do it without a safety net, because if they fail they themselves will be trapped on this inhospitable world.

From the Author

Doc Smith created the universe of the Family d'Alembert in his novelette "Imperial Stars." I have built upon the foundation he established with nine further books of my own. I hope you find them worthy of his talent. -- Stephen Goldin

From the Inside Flap

PIRATE TARGET: EARTH! No galactic traitor had ever escaped from the permafrost prison planet Gastonia. And nothing could threaten the coronation of Empress Stanley 11--the most tightly secured event in the history of the Empire of Earth. Or so it was commonly believed--until thousands of pirate warships exploded into Earth's orbit the day of the ceremony. Operation Annihilate could only be stopped by some fast blaster-work from SOTE's top weapons for counterintelligence and pirate-catching: the superagents of the Family d'Alembert.