When Commander Josiah O'Donnell returns to Mars after rescuing the hostages aboard Nimbus Station, he expects to be relieved of command. Instead, he's sent back into the dark as an escort for a US Navy destroyer with borderline unethical orders. After a wormhole transit turns lethal for some of the destroyer's crew, Bayonet is once again thrust into a deadly situation no one expected . . . or did they?

Reassigned to the surface after her reconciliation with Josiah, Lieutenant Commander Hope O'Donnell is more than happy to remain on Mars and investigate—very, very unofficially—who was responsible for setting up the cutter's crew as blood sources for the scientists at Nimbus Station. But someone doesn't want her discovering the truth, and that someone is willing to kill in order to shield a conspiracy that extends well beyond the Orbital Guard.

Caught in a future that was set in motion before Bayonet first slipped into space, both will do whatever it takes to stop further violence—but between a twisted web of political intrigue and the void's own secrets, bloodshed might be inevitable.