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As a plebe at the Academy, Justin Bell was on the path to making his dreams come true: traveling in space. But, even in the 22nd century, cold hard reality has a way of frustrating dreams. There was tension between Earth and the far-flung colonies in the solar system. The colonists had demanded more freedom than Earth was willing to grant -- and so Mars declared its independence. No other colonies had broken away, and war had not broken out -- yet -- but the situation was dangerous. To make things worse, contact had just been made with extraterrestrials -- very unfriendly contact.... The times were the sort that made for exciting reading when they were safely embalmed in the history books, but were less than comfortable for those living through them. But Justin had the stuff of heroes -- which was fortunate for him, and for Earth...