What Lanyon hopes will be a simple trip to transport a prisoner who has been giving the Malcosian government trouble ends up in a deadly game of hide-and-seek after his scout cruiser is forced to crash land by the prisoner's allies. Help comes from two very unlikely sources, but will their help be enough to get Lanyon out of some of the deepest trouble he has yet encountered? In the midst of his own problems, the life of Jophena, Lanyon's 12-year-old Selenian friend, hangs by a thread at the mercy of Tellurians. Can Lanyon hold his own problems at bay long enough to get Jophena to safe ground?