Into Harm's Way!

Lieutenant Daniel Leary of the Republic of Cinnabar Navy commands the corvette Princess Cecile; his friend Signals Officer Adele Mundy has the latest in spy apparatus and the skill to prowl the most tightly guarded database. All they lack are enemies, and fate is about to supply that need in abundance!

A hostage uses the Princess Cecile to regain his freedom-and his throne!

An ally intrigues with enemies of Cinnabar-knowing the plot can only be safeguarded by destroying the Princess Cecile!

A pirate chief joins in a cutthroat battle with a rival-and the Princess Cecile is a pawn!

Daniel, Adele, and their crack crew must battle bureaucrats and traitors, the winds of a barren desert and the strains of a voyage never before attempted. If they succeed at every stage, their reward will be the chance to fight another enemy: one which can blow them and a hundred ships like theirs to vapor!

DEATH IS ALWAYS AN OPTION

BUT DEFEAT CAN NEVER BE

Action, color and heroics merge with the gritty realities of war and politics in a story that never slows down. Indeed, how could it slow down, with

LT. LEARY, COMMANDING?

Hardcover

Cover art by Stephen Hickman

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

First printing, July 2000

Distributed by Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN: 0-671-57875-8

A Baen Books Original
Baen Publishing Enterprises
P.O. Box 1403
Riverdale, NY 10471
http://www.baen.com

Typeset by Windhaven Press
Auburn, NH

Electronic version by WebWrights
http://www.webwrights.com

BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:
With the Lightnings
Lt. Leary, Commanding

BAEN BOOKS by DAVID DRAKE
Hammer's Slammers
The Tank Lords
Caught in the Crossfire
The Butcher's Bill
The Sharp End

Independent Novels and Collections
Cross the Stars
The Dragon Lord
Birds of Prey
Northworld Trilogy
Redliners
Starliner
Ranks of Bronze
Lacey and His Friends
Old Nathan
Mark II: The Military Dimension
All the Way to the Gallows

The General series:
(with S.M. Stirling)
The Forge
The Hammer
The Anvil
The Steel
The Sword
The Chosen
The Reformer

The Undesired Princess and The Enchanted Bunny
(with L. Sprague de Camp)

Lest Darkness Fall and To Bring the Light
(with L.Sprague de Camp)

An Honorable Defense
(with Thomas T. Thomas

Enemy of My Enemy
(with Ben Ohlander)