Synopsis: From the back cover of the DAW first edition: "It was a darktrader's worst nightmare... Butterfly St. Cyr had a well-deserved reputation as an honest and dependable darktrader, a smuggler able to transport not quite legitimate goods intact to the planet and recipient of your choice. But her continued existence was about to become far more risky than even she could have anticipated. For, rescuing the young hellflower Tiggy Stardust, heir to the chief diplomat of the alMayne mercenaries, from execution, would see Butterfly, her starship, Firecat, and Paladin, the highly illegal Federation artificial intelligence which was housed within her ship, brought to the attention of forces that would be only too happy to see St. Cyr dead and Paladin destroyed. And Tiggy herself was a time bomb waiting to explode. For to the alMayne race, honor was more important than life itself, and the defense of that honor would lead Tiggy and Butterfly into trouble so deep even Paladin's ability to access and alter planetwide computer system might not be enough to save them. St. Cyr wanted to get the young hellflower out of jail, off-planet, and back to his powerful father. A simple enough plan except for one small drawback - his father's enemies were sworn to see that Tiggy and Butterfly never reached his home again..."