Neko lived as a street rat for the first ten years of her life. She fought the bigger kids for the scraps of food. She ganged up on the littler ones. She survived.

Then, she was taken in by a man whose name she tries hard to forget, and he taught her about the physical side of life, from beatings to rapings, and about the subtler side, from pickpocketing to elaborate cons. And she survived.

Then, he went one beating too far, on a friend of hers, and she killed the bastard. Unfortunately, she was caught dumping his body, and the city watch had her before the courts. Hearing her testimony, the courts gave her the option of death by hanging, or joining the military on the Island Bridge. She chose to survive.

On the Island Bridge, she soon found herself in a hard but somehow better life: she was only beaten for her own mistakes, never raped, and she was fed three times a day no matter what. The insects, insectoids, threat of morag attack, huge wolves, sweltering heat, and hurricanes were minor annoyances. She survived. And excelled.

She came to the notice of her commander, Roland Argent, when she cheated him at cards and was soon recruited to the Special Forces...