From the Author
Doc Smith created the universe of the Family d'Alembert in his novelette "Imperial Stars." I have built upon the foundation he established with nine further books of my own. I hope you find them worthy of his talent. -- Stephen Goldin
From the Inside Flap
PIRATE TARGET: EARTH! No galactic traitor had ever escaped from the permafrost prison planet Gastonia. And nothing could threaten the coronation of Empress Stanley 11--the most tightly secured event in the history of the Empire of Earth. Or so it was commonly believed--until thousands of pirate warships exploded into Earth's orbit the day of the ceremony. Operation Annihilate could only be stopped by some fast blaster-work from SOTE's top weapons for counterintelligence and pirate-catching: the superagents of the Family d'Alembert.
