On his way to a prison planet, Tanard, a renegade Fleet officer, escapes and vows vengeance against his captors. To accelerate the Sargon/Palean merger, an extremist Palean group recruits Tanard to raid Kaleen worlds. First Scout Terrllss-rr and his Wanderer brother Dharaklin must locate Tanard's support base before the Wanderers rise up and unleash Death in retaliation at attacks on their worlds. Terr meets Teena and his life is suddenly thrown into emotional turmoil. When Teena discovers that Terr used Death to interrogate raiders, she rejects him and Terr is forced to show her what it means to stand in Death's shadow to regain her love. Tanard's base is found and destroyed and those he served are now seeking his destruction.