Hunted by a rogue operative on her home world, Johanna Summer is sent away to embark on a new life as a cadet at the Alliance's Navy Space Academy. The challenging new life offers her the chance of finding a real purpose for the first time, a vision shared by her new friends and classmates.As these new friends start their careers, another group of more senior military cadets try to carve out a different way of life, shunning the Navy for a lifestyle of their own choosing. Stealing weapons, ships, and whatever else they might need, the thieves will stop at nothing to break free, whatever the cost. In the process, they will align with the one hunting Johanna, and everyone involved will discover just how far a zealot will go for his cause.Of Anchors and Aspirations is the first novel in the and "Worlds Afire and " series, set in a future where the human diaspora has carried humanity into a distant region of the galaxy where they have carved out a new destiny for themselves far from Earth.