The Chronicles of Daphne Blazefire Series

When Daphne arrives at Novis Terminal to deliver her cargo she discovers the station is deserted. She and her trusty robot co-pilot R.U.S.T.Y. investigate, uncovering something sinister. As a cargo ship owner, she must deal with broken systems, debts she owes, and challenging schedules. It's not long before her domestic problems seem trivial. When she discovers that authorities will not rescue the crew of Novis terminal in time, she must perform the task herself or live with the consequences of her inaction. Soon after, she finds herself in over her head in affairs that she is not properly trained to handle. A situation that rapidly turns into a life-or-death problem. Captain Keetes is a pirate by trade, but he'll do almost any job for the right price. When he bumps off his rival and acquires the extra crew, he soon discovers that he has to have a bigger payoff in order to keep the extra crew members from revolting. He cooks up a plan to rob a space station named Novis Terminal, but he arrives on a day when the safe has no cash. Out of desperation his men abduct the space station crew and holds them at their base for ransom. He is worried that his troubles are overwhelming until Daphne and RUSTY show up and make his earlier troubles seem like small potatoes.

Daphne accepts a job to deliver a small package to a destination she had never been to. She is offered a delivery fee that would finally allow her to dig herself out of her financial troubles. Unfortunately, her buyer is not the only one that wants the package in her cargo bay. Daphne's troubles start when the cargo is delivered to her ship and she is handed a list of waypoints with instructions to avoid the authorities. She suddenly gets a sinking feeling about the delivery that she is now committed to seeing through. When she arrives at the first waypoint, it isn't long before she realizes that her tiny package isn't worth the money she expects to receive. Unfortunately, there is no going back and now she is on the run from mobsters, the military, as well as other shady characters. After she gets ambushed at more than one waypoint, she soon suspects the man that is paying to have the package delivered has set her up. To find out, she must reach the final destination in one piece. To compound her problems she stumbles upon other people that she must trust to help her. They have their own problems that can easily be solved by Daphne and RUSTY. When she helps a mother and daughter condemned to be slaves on a planet with a backward society, they become embroiled in Daphne's problems, compelling her and RUSTY to rescue them from a fate worse than before.

As an independent cargo hauler operator, Daphne must maintain her ship to keep her income flowing. Balancing ship upgrades with cargo delivery payoffs is difficult on a good day. When two or more major systems need repairs, it can be a real struggle. She must spend her money wisely to make ends meet. When her jump drive and nav computer are on the brink, she tries to compromise on what to purchase to keep her business operating.   Pax runs a business selling parts and upgrades for cargo ships. He's made a living for his family by selling the most popular products at the best price. It's all he knows how to do. When his CEO demands that salespeople must sell at least one of their company's most advanced and expensive nav computers per month or face termination, Pax knows he is doomed. That is until his installation expert suggests a not-so-ethical solution to his dilemma.   When Daphne and Pax meet, the situation becomes impossible. Then, when things hit rock bottom, it becomes worse. Suddenly their lives are entangled when they must stop Major Gura, a terrorist who possesses a device capable of destroying an entire planet, from carrying out his evil plans. The only missing piece to Major Gura's plans is an advanced nav computer to guide his warhead!

A distress signal compels Daphne to change course and rescue a ship that has crashed on an icy world. After she sets down and investigates an abandoned shell of a vessel, her spacecraft is stolen and she and RUSTY are left alone on an uninhabited frozen planet with an abandoned hulk of a ship. Daphne wonders why someone would go through so much trouble to lure her to this planet only to steal her ship. She takes inventory of what she has on hand and discovers that she must make a terrible choice between RUSTY, her electric suit to keep her warm, or the beacon to call for help. Finding her ship will have to wait. If she can survive long enough to be rescued, then she can start the long task of investigating who stole her ship and why. A crime syndicate and a politician are involved in a shady money-making venture. Ships are stolen and sold for parts. The job of keeping the police off their tail is made easier when they dispose of the ship owners as they steal their ship. Not all ship captains go quietly into the night. When they discover that they have inadvertently stolen the ship of someone who is infamous for exposing high-profile criminals, they hire a hitman to finish the job.

Daphne cashes in on a big payday. Unfortunately, RUSTY becomes seriously damaged when they fight a deadly alien species that attacks their cargo ship. Now she must spend her hard-earned money on an upgrade for RUSTY's CPU or go it alone without him. Not long after RUSTY is upgraded, Daphne discovers that a smart robot is not all that it's cracked up to be. RUSTY is uncertain about what to put in his new memories. He soon discovers there are vast databases of human knowledge he can exploit. Overwhelmed by all of the unsolved mysteries of the human race, he decides to prioritize and solve all of these mysteries, starting with the most pressing and dangerous of them all. With his advanced level of intellect, he is able to take control of the ship and pursue his plans without the worry about Daphne stopping him. The most advanced alien race, known as the Islax, lives on a hidden world. Some say that they keep their society hidden by killing anyone that discovers them. There are legends of this race in human records. At least twelve people are assumed to have stumbled onto the advanced race and gone missing. Now that RUSTY has scanned millions of research documents about these aliens, he thinks he has solved the puzzle. When they arrive at the Islax world, RUSTY wants answers. He soon discovers that the Islax are not isolationists but are biding their time for a day when they will have perfected their weapon to destroy all other advanced life forms and take over the galaxy. Now it's up to RUSTY and Daphne to stop them or die trying.