Shahandra: Flight of the Starling, Book 4

“How many times have I pointed out to you Ira, that the cosmos contains unlimited possibility?” “But why, Pop, do we always have to get stuck with the wrong ones?” Why indeed? Transporting 15 kidnapped children out into the galaxy and returning them to their families should be an uneventful milk run. Right? After all, what could possibly be so important about a gaggle of overweight, red haired, freckle faced, knock kneed, cross eyed, handicapped, rug rats? Why would the Tev-Raxian government, or even well connected slave traders care enough to expend their resources to chase them down to either destroy them or bring them back? With everything coming together according to plan it should be as easy as dropping them off at school. All they have to do is sneak out of the Tev-Raxian star system unnoticed, head for the nearest friendly planet, and make a few phone calls. Simple. What could possibly wro gong?