Thirty years ago, military armor jock Augusta “Gus” Light led a last-ditch battle to save the people of Shepard’s Moon from a bloody guerilla uprising. She earned a medal—and the nickname “Gray Lady”—for her heroism but lost everything she held dear, including the newborn son she was forced to leave behind. 

Now an army of guerilla fighters led by a megalomaniacal warlord are staging a bloody takeover of Shepard’s Moon, and this time the guerillas are winning. When the Free Worlds Alliance refuses to send troops to defend the planet against this new menace, the take-no-prisoners Gray Lady comes out of retirement for one last battle.

Nobody but nobody threatens her son.

Meanwhile, charming smuggler Mephistopheles Drake also finds himself in a worrisome situation. With business a little on the slow side and dock fees piling up, he’s in no position to say no when a gray-haired woman with a take-charge attitude hires his ship for transport. Especially when she pays his fees in advance and clears up all his debts.

He’s not even too worried when she loads a couple of tons of armor and a bucketload of ammo in his cargo bay. He’s been in the smuggling business a long time. He can handle anything. Then she tells him where she’s headed: into the middle of a raging civil war.

Nobody but nobody puts Drake and his ship in danger.

Against a backdrop of action-packed conflicts and intergalactic politics, Gus and Drake go toe to toe in a battle of wills—and mutual attraction. But that’s only a prelude to the biggest battle of all: the fight for the heart and soul of Shepard’s Moon.

"Annie... and Bob? Writing together? Folks, this is epic!”– Dean Wesley Smith, Editor, Pulphouse Fiction Magazine