Talk about opening in medias res. Jern appears fleeing for his life from the killers of his mentor -- a cult called the Green Robes, which usually avoided off-worlders, this time selected "randomly" for human sacrifice two of them, a gemologist and his apprentice Jern.
Jern's father had been deep in the Thieves' Guild, bought his way out, and then got Jern the apprenticeship that he might go farther, with a background having no links to crime. He also gave him the title stone, in a ring, before he was murdered in his office by someone who tortured him and tore apart the room, looking for something.
And in the present day, he finds refuge in a sanctuary, and tries to book flight on a Free Trader vessel.
He gets it. And there, on another planet, he finds something that the ship cat eats before giving birth to Eet. Whereupon Eet acts. A lot. Indeed, his role thereafter bears some resemblance to Watson in the wake of Sherlock Holmes. Plenty of action and adventure. Probably could have stood a bit more tight of a plot, but it can certainly bear you along.
