In this prequel to the 2014 novel "Powerless", humanity is still in the early stages of its exploration of the galaxy. The groundbreaking technology of the Fordham Drive has allowed human ships to cover the gaps between stars in weeks instead of centuries, but the initial wave of expansion revealed that there are other intelligent species already out there. The crew of the Deep Space Exploration Vessel San Jacinto is about to meet one of those species, one that does not take kindly to intrusions upon its territory.