Sanah and her sister Nayla are fugitives, fleeing their brother Niall who wishes to exploit Nayla’s unique talents. As their fuel is running out, telepathic space pirates capture them. They’re of interest to said pirates because they are psychically talented women, and those are thin on the ground in psychic pirate society due to a gene plague decimating their female population. The pirates agree to provide protection for the women in exchange for…I guess the chance to find compatible mates who can help ensure the survival of the race. There’s no find-a-mate pressure surrounding the deal, and the women agree to work on the fleet to pull their weight.
Sanah carries a guilty secret, and it’s only a matter of time before she has to ‘fess up to the pirates. She’s a talented empath and scientist who is very sympathetic. Her hero, Dem, is head of security, and I guess he’s never met a female empath before because feeling things is new to him due to his inherited Hunter-Killer psychic profile, named a bit on the nose. Thankfully he also likes Sanah because she’s sweet, strong, and smart. There’s a bit of the “oh no I am dangerous to you therefore I must stay away” trope, but he does get over it.
The secondary characters round out the story well. Dem’s arrogant and stubborn brother Treon stuck in my brain, as did Nayla, the ship’s doctor Doc, and Captain Cannon. Choosing a leader with empathic abilities who understands how his people are feeling is a very nice touch. The psychic combat and talents are well-explained and I didn’t feel lost in the story.
The idea of pirates presented here is very romantic. Although they’re presented as needing resources, nobody seems too hard up for food or water to the point of doing anything worse than grand theft. After women are scarce, the story mentions some taking of women, but we don’t meet any unwilling captives. The mores presented are very much in line with Western society today.
Protecting Nayla from her brother is the central conflict in the plot, so this is not a long read. We get glimpses of pirate and Commonwealth society, but there’s some hinting at bigger structures. I love space pirates, I’m curious as to how the series will spin out, and eagerly await the first full length novel. ( )