Last Gasp at Calama

When Thomas Barrow is medically discharged from the Imperial fleet, he has no desire to return to the backwater planet where his family lives. Running short on money and options, he is forced to ask his former employer, Lord Grantham, if he might return to service in his seasonal home in the capital planet of Odin. But things have changed since Thomas left service to go into the fleet, and he does not fit back easily into the old way of things. With a lesser position and new enemies, Thomas finds life on Odin difficult to bear. Newly awarded the title of count, Reinhard von Lohengramm finds returning to the capital after being out in space intolerable. He wants nothing more than to be on his flagship, fighting the next battle, with Kircheis by his side. In contrast to that, the court on Odin is a pit of serpents, especially for the formerly middle class Reinhard, who is disliked by the majority of the nobility. When one of his few allies in court, the Baroness Magdalena von Westpfale, demands that he play the social game for his sister's sake, Reinhard reluctantly agrees and tries to join the court life. The court season of 486 I.C., in the heart of the dying Galactic Empire, will be the last one of its kind.