There are no vacations for the crew of the Reckless.The fortuitous arrival of Kumiko, a powerful tertiary who has been assigned to protect the newborn daughter of the Felyan Empress and Seth Ramirez, the human envoy to An'Re'Hara, leads Xerx away from what was intended to be a relaxing trip. Instead, he finds himself ferreting out a dark plot that may destabilize race relations between the normally peaceful Felyans and humanity, many of whom have taken Felyans as husbands and wives.This leads Xerx and his Reckless crew to join forces once again with Paige, the captain of the Shadow Star, across the colonies to Zynj, the former capital of the ancient First Imperium, now an irradiated, polluted rock, inhabited by an insular people who sell the scraps of their once great cities to survive in their underground warrens: the perfect hideout for the human supremacists of Helix. Will the courageous captain and his crew be able to stop Helix and foil the will of their charismatic leader, or will the already beleaguered Alliance have to contend with two powerful enemies?