The novel begins with Yuri Terisov, the jaded former protégé of the infamous dead pirate, Captain Vincenzo Falcone, and the Captain of the pirate ship Kublai Khan in prison on earth, where his is approached by Black Ops agent Andreas Lukacs.

Yuri fakes his own death and his is smuggled out of prison with Finch to Pax Terra, the station orbiting above the earth, where he is picked up by his ship.

Once that is done, he contacts Falcone's former Lieutenant, Caligtiera, about the Black Op's offer, who proposes that together they destroy the Earthhub Military Carrier Archangel.

He destroys his ship and kills Lukacs, who had intended to use the pirate to gain power, then flees to the Macedon whose crew includes two of Falcone's other protégés.

His family was split up and he was sent to live in the bleak refugee camp on the partially terraformed planet Grace.