Death Ship Quest
by William Zellmann
Kas Preslin, a disgraced captain in the Fleet of the declining Empire, is sent to recover an Empire Battle Cruiser, a massive warship bristling with weapons that disappeared a century ago. It is drifting in an uncharted system under a plague beacon. But other governments are also searching for her. If one of them gets to her first and salvages her, it could touch off an interstellar war that could destroy the Empire and throw man-settled space into chaos. Kas must take a refitted freighter with a cargo of crewmembers for the Battle Cruiser in cold sleep on an undercover mission to recover the ship, cure the plague that killed her crew, fight his way across the galaxy, battle hostile politicians, and return her to the Empire before another system locates her and interstellar war ravages the galaxy.