Trakhosk and Shevrek are bear-like Bulrazi, members of a spacefaring species that has had more than its share of tensions with the human-dominated League of Allied Systems. Shaped by a shared trauma, the two Bulrazi have chosen very different paths, each of which has left them something of an outsider. Now, brought together again by a common threat, the two must confront the insectoid k'rakk once more. But this time the hive-mind species is on the cusp of a power surge that could threaten not only the Bulrazi, but the entire civilized galaxy.