On a rain-lashed Venus, Nathan Ormondy finds his dying father, Thymar, with a final warning about the deadly Firebird and the legendary Seven Jewels of Chamar—stones said to confer overwhelming power. Thymar reveals the location of two hidden Jewels and dies, leaving Nathan consumed by grief, vengeance, and the need to uncover the truth behind his father's murder. To lure out the killer, he recklessly boasts in the taverns of Aquatown that he possesses the Jewels, drawing every thief and outlaw on Venus into the hunt and setting his course for the deadly caves of Lava Mountain. There, Nathan collides with the mysterious Firebird, a radiant outlaw whose beauty and menace conceal a tangled history with Thymar. She claims they were once partners, that she did not kill him, and that the remaining Jewels are bound to a larger mystery. Forced into uneasy alliance, Nathan follows her aboard the pirate ship Corsair and into a perilous chase through space, where a black pursuit vessel closes in and Firebird is gravely wounded. Her final, delirious clue leads him to the asteroid Luline, where Nathan discovers that even her death is part of the larger enigma surrounding the Seven Jewels—and perhaps his father's fate. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.