Illegal drug smuggling is a huge and persistent problem between the League and the Metazan Republic, especially in the Lost Angels sector which borders it. Matters reach a head when the niece of the sector chairperson and her fiancee die from it the night of her graduation. The Sector Senator, at the behest of the Chair of the Lost Angels Governance Board, demands a full investigation of why such a tragedy should occur with special attention to the failure of League Intellgence and the Patrol to prevent it.