Having narrowly avoided being wiped from the face of the planet by Munce, Inc., Badrock is now a thriving boom town, predicated on an uneasy peace between the Zhind, the settlers and the Mega-City One Justice Department. Designated a Free Town, the future's there for taking, and folks from all over the planet 43 Rega are flocking to Badrock to begin anew, all under the watchful, disapproving eye of the SJS. Many are hardworking, honest folk - but some are parasites, drawn to Badrock to find new ways of making a killing. And when a caravan of settlers is brutally slaughtered, it'll take all that Colonial Marshal Metta Lawson has to stop an outright war.