Common Valor

There is nothing common about valor. That goes doubly true on the world of Drakkus Prime, where scheming noblemen and slaving pirates fight for power and wealth. My name is William Alexander Armstrong, I am the son of murdered parents, an escaped slave, and I have hidden in the last place anyone would think to look for me: among the children of the elite at the Drakkus Imperial Military Institute. I have made allies of a renegade princess, a talking civet, a host of orphans, beggars, outcasts, and a mad artificial intelligence who happens to be my sister. Right now, that puts me in a position to avenge my family against the Drakkus Pirates who want to kill me and my friends. Which is a good thing, too, because their shadow wars on the streets have erupted into full-scale gun battles. If no one stops them, they could engulf the Drakkus Empire in civil war and kill billions. I might be able to act to stop them. The only problems I face are an intelligence agent determined to find out my secrets, enemies who hate my guts, and a multi-star-system plot that has just embroiled my homeworld in war on a scale not seen in generations. For me, it is just another day.