Kyrie Carlisle can read the weather, but she really wants to live in space.
Years after a research vessel discovers Earth, the Federation of Allied Planets sends a war ship to oversee the construction of a space station at Saturn, and protect the system. Kyrie is the first Human to work on the Mutineer's Odyssey, and the first Human Intuitive Navigator. The other occupants, however, are not the polished military and diplomatic envoys that Earthlings expect. Kyrie encounters pirates, technical difficulties in her own position, crew disputes, cultural misunderstandings, and constant anxiety over fruitful blunders of her own. As the crew expands, so do her duties, and she has to decide how far she is willing to go to stay in space.