"The Cutter Stream colonies were at peace. If everyone behaved reasonably, that peace could last a thousand years. Allen Allenson had known war; it had made him peaceful and reasonable. He was far too experienced to believe the same of all his fellow colonists, let alone the government of the distant homeworld. War was coming, a war the colonies had to win if they were ever to be more than prison camps and a dumping ground for incompetent noblemen. Allenson knew that he wasn't really a general, but he understood his fellow colonists better than any homeworld general could. He would free the Cutter Stream or die trying"--