An astroid miner encounters pirates attempting to commandeer his processing ship, Elizabeth, while he was away responding to other miner's mayday. The miner (Jeffrey Sokolov) and his Artificial Intelligence (Elizabeth - both the ship and AI were named after Jeffrey's late wife,) outsmart the pirates, capture them and bring them back to the Earth/Moon station - where they attempt to turn them over to the Naval ship, Wanigan. However Wanigan is in the process of mutiny. The executive officer of Wanigan sends a small squad of Marines under command of a petty officer.

The petty officer realizes an opportunity, convinces Sokolov to join her cause, and together with the AI (Elizabeth) re-take the Navy ship, and restore her captain to command. In order to perform these acts, Sokolov and the ship Elizabeth are drafted into Navy Reserve. The captain of the Navy ship Wanigan re-recruits Jeffrey to act in a secret capacity, he is given an almost unlimited credit, the squad of Marines that came aboard to arrest Jeffrey, and the petty officer.

Piracy and corruption are overly common, but Jeffrey, his team and his AI defeat the enemy, only to have it resurface shortly afterward. Aliens from several surrounding regions have found Earth and the solar system to be a rich source of mineral wealth. They secretly tried to manipulate humans to doing their will, and Jeffrey discovered that they were the organizers and force behind the piracy.

Jeffrey and the navy take on the new menace, but new tools, including faster-than-light travel become available. Jeffrey and Elizabeth improve on the Navy's technical innovations, incorporate alien technology into their ship, and continue to dominate the region infested with aliens with somewhat superior and somewhat inferior technology.

This is the saga of a technically sophisticated man, his smart and loyal artificial intelligence, and the people he surrounds himself with.