Owen Deathstalker--outlawed, with a price on his head and the blood of a mighty warrior lineage in his veins--had no choice but to embrace a dangerous destiny. With nothing to lose, only he had the courage to take up arms against Queen Lionstone XIV. Now as he gathers his unlikely allies--the legendary washed-up hero Jack Random, the beautiful pirate Hazel d'Arc, the original Deathstalker long since presumed dead, and the alien Hadenmen whose purposes no human can discern--the eyes of the downtrodden are upon him while the freedom of a galaxy hangs in the balance . . .