The "Solar Queen" and its new sister ship, "North Star," have embarked on a mission to a planet rich in lucrative ore. Armed with their experience on the galactic rim, the independent traders descend to the surface to discover a bizarre set of dangers. A strange electromagnetic force is killing miners stranded from the former crew of the "North Star." Weather is terrible, with enormous disturbances throughout the atmosphere of the entire planet. Dane Thorson and the rest of the embattled crew use all of their traders' ingenuity to untangle the mystery of Hesprid IV's deadly lifeforms. Finally, they take a desperate gamble to communicate with the planet's creatures - their last chance to survive the planet's many perils.

**

From Library Journal

Following Derelict for Trade (LJ 12/96), Grand Master Nebula award winner Norton teams up again with Smith (coauthor of a hard sf series with Dave Trowbridge) to continue her venerated "Solar Queen" series. Their new space opera mixes psychology with adventure. Four crew members inexplicably develop a not necessarily welcome psi (telepathic) link among themselves. As they attempt to mine a planet with hostile weather and floating creatures that appear to kill on contact, they find their psi abilities necessary to save their lives. The novel is short on character development while long on perilous situations and scientific detail. Buy where series demand is high.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

A new adventure for the Trader ship Solar Queen (Derelict for Trade, 1997, etc.), continuing the update of a series begun long ago by Norton. This time, the Solar Queen's Captain Jellico controls two vessels--the North Star having been liberated from pirates in the previous adventure--and has a contract to mine a rare mineral (it has the property of augmenting electromagnetic storms, and may also be used illegally to make deadly space blasters) on the storm-racked planet Hesprid IV. Also, thanks to a previous incident, four crew members are developing psi powers among themselves. Solar Queen lands on the planet, only to find a crew of alien Tathians who are already engaged in mining but who agree to hand over their claim. Then three pirate ships show up. Unarmed and unable to tackle the pirates, North Star calls the cops before hiding in space. Other problems are caused by the planet's weird native Floaters, who've already zapped several of the Tathians, while the stormy weather approaches a destructive climax. With their newfound psi powers, Solar Queen's crew discover that the Floaters are sentient. So, in exchange for the ore, they arrange to protect the Floaters from the storms, leaving the cops to deal with the pirates. Another solid and agreeable adventure in an unpretentiously serviceable series. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.