Mission to Moulokin : book two of the Icerigger trilogy

Ethan Frome Fortune had been on Tran-ky-ky long enough... too long, in fact. He wanted out. He wanted to get back to business. He wanted to go home. So he and his sidekick Skua September headed their giant Icerigger toward Brass Monkey, the busy off-world trading post where they were sure they could book passage home. But when they discovered that their Tran friends were being victimized by ruthless profiteers, they decided to stick around and organize the isolated city-states into a functioning confederation... a governing body that the Commonwealth Council would have to recognize and protect. The Tran had enemies - deadly ones, at that - and Skua September and Ethan Fortune quickly found themselves back aboard the icerigger Slanderscree, leaving a crimson wake on the frozen seas and hurtling toward the most chilling encounters either had ever known! Intending to book passage home, Ethan Frome Fortune heads to the off-world trading post, but when he sees how the traders are taking advantage of the local Tran, he decides to stay and help organize a planetary government Ethan Fortune and his sidekick Skua organize the isolated city-states on Tran-ky-ky into a functioning confederation, but the Tran enemies quickly attack them