CAPTAIN JUDIKAH
The story of Captain Judikah, Space Pirate, takes place more than 150 years after the events related in the Bronwyn Tetralogy. Abandoned by her parents to an intinerant baby-dealer who in turn sells the infant to a criminal mastermind in Blavek, the young Judikah is trained to be an expert thief. Her dream, however, is to become a cadet in the Space Patrol. She is well on her way to attaining this goal, being an outstanding student in the only school in the Transmoltus, when she is framed by the school bully for a crime she did not commit. Hounded by the police, she flees Guesclin. After a series of adventures, she manages to join the Patrol, though at a much lower level than she'd originally hoped. Returning to Blavek, she deals with her enemies in a devastating manner. Her plans are again thwarted when she is shanghaied aboard the hellship Rasputin. She discovers that one other Patrolman, an effete officer named Birdwhistle, has also been pressed into service. He warns her to keep her connection with the Patrol secret, since neither officers nor crew of the Rasputin have any love for that organization. Worse yet, from Judikah's point of view, one of the officers proves to be one of her worst enemies from her schooldays. She eventually takes a leading part in a mutiny that leads to the Rasputin being taken by the Patrol. Ultimately attaining the rank of gunner on a Patrol warship, she takes part in the blockading of Rustchuk, the home planet of the implacable enemy the Patrol has been fighting for decades. Crash landing on Rustchuk, Judikah finds herself marooned on the alien world. While exploring it she discovers an astonishing secret not only about the very nature of the war she had been fighting but about her own mysterious history as well . . .