For centuries the men of the Sword Worlds have preyed on the soft helpless inner worlds, and in a pattern as old as human history have built a new civilization from the wreckage of the old. Only one Sword-Worlder, Lord Trask of Trask, has spoken out against the continuing depredations - not from pity for the old, fallen worlds of the dead Federation, but from the fear for his own. For more and more of the Space Viking are refusing to return to their home planets, preferring instead to stay and enjoy the fruits of conquest: just as once the strongest and the brightest of the Federation forsook their home planet for adventure and profit, so too the Sword-Worlds are being bled dry. This s the story of Lord Trask, who began as a voice of peace and reason - and ended as the greatest Space Viking of them all.