The Alliance worlds are faced with a difficult decision. Their military has an aging space fleet and is short on personnel. Pirates are becoming increasingly brazen in their attacks on Alliance cargo and passenger ships, stealing goods and taking young woman to be sold as slaves. The pirates operate from the Rebel worlds and the Alliance forces are unable to deter them.

The cost to build new spaceships is prohibitive but solution presents itself when Praxton offers to help the new Explorer line of military vessels. The problem with Praxton is that the former Rebel world has a culture of requiring women to wear a collar that identifies their male guardian. In addition, women are expected to wear cuffs and be submissive to men.

Under pressure to curtail the attacks from the Rebel worlds, a deal is made with Praxton. The ships are built at Praxton but women from Praxton must make up a sizable percentage of the first ship, the Star Hawk. The belief is women will be free of the Praxton laws that forces them to be submissive to men. It doesn't work out as the Alliance forces had hoped.

When it came to recruiting women from Praxton, many were reluctant to join the Star Hawk unless they could retain the social values they grew up with. The Alliance military agreed to the new uniforms styled after Praxton fashions, including the famous collar. The new captain, Julius Elmwood, had to use his authority to enforce Praxton culture among Alliance crew members.

With his first mission approaching, Elmwood finds he is spending more time resolving crew conflicts than focusing on the problem of entering Rebel world territory.