Galaxy Blues

Expelled from the Union Astronautica space fleet, Jules Truffaut faces a future on the ground instead of the stars. Desperate to put his disgrace behind him, he stows away on board a Coyote Federation flagship in order to start his life over on the colony world.

But after a misunderstanding involving a stolen lifeboat and a crash landing, Jules begins his new life on Coyote in prison. Before he can be deported back to Earth for a lengthy incarceration, Jules receives an unexpected visitor. Morgan Goldstein, a billionaire entrepreneur, offers him a proposition: sign up as shuttle pilot aboard the freighter Pride of Cucamonga in exchange for amnesty.

The Pride's mission to Rho Coronae Borealis to develop a trade relationship with the alien hjadd runs smoothly – at first. Then Jules's luck betrays him once again. Now, to make amends with both the aliens and his employer, he must take part in a voyage across the galaxy to place a probe squarely in the path of a black hole as it plows through an inhabited star system...