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Heris Serrano


WELCOME TO A SWEET DELIGHT

Heris Serrano was an officer from a family with a long tradition of distinguished service in the Fleet. So when a treacherous superior set her up and forced her to resign her commission, she thought life had lost all meaning. But she still needed to pay the bills—which was how she ended up as "Captain" of a rich old lady's interstellar luxury yacht, the Sweet Delight, which just added insult to injury ... or so she thought.

But Cecelia, the rich and exceedingly well-born old lady, turned out to have more brains than most admirals Heris had known, and when the pair ran into a secret society whose idea of "fun" was hunting and killing people, they quickly put a stop to that blood sport. But that was only the beginning. The heir to the throne himself was involved with the society, and Heris soon uncovered a plot against the royal family and a conspiracy within the Fleet itself. And whoever controlled the Fleet controlled the galaxy . . .

Before it was all over, Heris would be given a chance to rejoin her beloved space navy ... if she could manage to stop an invading armada with only one destroyer, two PT boats, one ore scow, and—oh, yes—an old lady's space yacht Sweet Delight. Impossible? Not for Heris Serrano.

Publisher's Note: Heris Serrano has been previously published in parts as Hunting Party, Sporting Chance and Winning Colors. This is the first publication of the trilogy in one volume.

",,. dazzling ... Moon's mastery of contemporary science fiction is evident in every line. The characters spring to life on the page ... the action never flags... riveting...,"
—Booklist

"One of the best-known and most acclaimed writers of SF adventure...."
—Publishers Weekly

"... excellent world building and appealing characters...."
—Science Fiction Age

Cover art by Gary Ruddell


ORDER Trade

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, August 2002

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

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Moon, Elizabeth.

Heris Serrano / by Elizabeth Moon.
p. cm.
"Heris Serrano has been previously published in parts as Hunting party,
Sporting chance and Winning colors."
ISBN 0-7434-3552-4 (pbk)
1. Science fiction, American.
2. Serrano, Heris (Ficticious character)—Fiction.
3. Women in astronautics—Fiction.
4. Life on other planets—Fiction.
5. Interstellar travel—Fiction.
6. Space ships—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3563.O557 H47 2002
813'.54—dc21 2002023203

 

ISBN: 0-7434-3552-4

Copyright © 2002 by Elizabeth Moon. Hunting Party copyright © 1993, Sporting Chance copyright © 1994, Winning Colors copyright © 1995, all by Elizabeth Moon.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

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

Production by Windhaven Press
Auburn, NH

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


Baen Books by Elizabeth Moon

Sheepfarmer's Daughter
Divided Allegiance
Oath of Gold
The Deed of Paksenarrion
Liar's Oath
The Legacy of Gird
Hunting Party
Sporting Chance
Winning Colors
Once a Hero
Rules of Engagement
Change of Command
Against the Odds
Remnant Population

Sassinak
(with Anne McCaffrey)

Generation Warriors
(with Anne McCaffrey)

The Planet Pirates
(with Anne McCaffrey & Jody Lynn Nye)

Phases

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