« Steal From the Devil » R. Curtis Venture

All alone at the edge of human territory, a clandestine Imperial facility has suddenly fallen silent, and operative Elm Caden has been tasked by the Empress herself to find out why. Haunted by his past, in a series of unprecedented and increasingly unnerving episodes, Caden wants and expects a straightforward mission with a simple conclusion. What he finds is a woman whose mind is missing. As the evidence of a hostile incursion mounts, and the Imperial Combine begins to mobilise a massive retaliatory strike against a neighbouring power, Caden and his companions discover a web of intrigue which becomes steadily more disturbing. One thing is clear: the threat is very real, very dangerous, and it has its origins somewhere in the Deep Shadows. Out there, in the darkness between the bright arms of the galaxy, something subversive and malignant is preparing for a conflict capable of changing the face of the entire Milky Way.