There is only one law on the pirate world of Theev. The Blacksand Widows enforce that law with brutal efficiency and remorselessness. Sharing one consciousness, one mind, and through their cybernetic enhancements, the Widows are all but unassailable. But where there is a computer, there is a hack. An attempt to crash the Widows’ network results in one sole unit of the collective, Q2,3nrpi2, being cut off from her sisters. Alone for the first time, she must flee and go into hiding, for her former sisters will seek to burn away the malicious code and excise the infection. To survive, Q2,3nrpi2 must disguise herself as human, and redefine herself as an individual. Q2,3nrpi2 becomes Arpi Quince, and discovers one more thing that she needs.

Widowed from her collective, torn from her sisters, Arpi needs vengeance.