War might have flared in the galaxy, but Lieutenant Commander Cara Rescorla is ecstatic to be serving aboard the Commonwealth surveillance starship Legacy, far from the problems of ordinary life. The views from orbit around windswept Ekril can't be beat—and even better, her husband can't present her with an unwanted divorce contract while she's halfway across the quadrant on a classified reconnaissance mission. It's a successful one too, for Legacy quickly discovers that Haederan troops have landed on the surface.

Before they can report their critical finding, Legacy receives a distress call from a group of scientists who haven't escaped the Haederans' arrival. But the rescue attempt fails, and soon Cara is stranded on Ekril, injured, alone, a prisoner of war. Worse, Major Talan Vaughan, the Haederan soldier tasked with escorting her across the planet, isn't the infantry officer he claims to be—he's something much worse.

As Cara's hope of escape fades, Vaughan's secrets will collapse around her. Trapped, she must decide who she can trust—and who really stands in the way of her making it home.