Just as Midshipman Alexis Carew thinks she's found a place in the Royal Navy, she's transferred aboard H.M.S. Hermione. Her captain is a Tartar, liberal with the cat, who thinks girls have no place aboard ship. The other midshipmen in the berth are no better. The only advice she's offered is to keep her head down and mouth shut - things Alexis is rarely able to do.

For Lieutenant Alexis Carew, it should be the perfect assignment - a command of her own and a chance to return to her home star system. What she finds is a surly crew, the dregs of every frigate and ship of the line to pass through on the way to the war's front, a first officer who thinks the command should have been his, and colonial worlds where they believe a girl's place is somewhere very different than command of a Queen's starship. Add to that the mysterious disappearances of ships vital to the war effort and an old enemy who seems intent on convincing her he's changed. Then there's the...