Frustration with the pace of the peace talks between Earth and the Kurgan Empire leads the Federation President to order the immediate repatriation of human colonists and soldiers still being held on rebel Kurgan planets. During one of these missions, Michael Sheridan and Alana Cole come across a derelict spaceship. Reported lost during the First Kurgan War a century ago; it soon becomes apparent that the key to a lasting peace in the future lies in the past.