When an alien race warns them that an unidentifiable force is roaming the galaxy, destroying everything in its path towards human space, Kris Longknife and her crew must take on new roles in order to combat this unknown threat.

For her own protection, Lieutenant Commander Kris Longknife is assigned to a backwater planet where her Fast Patrol Squadron 127 enforces immigration control and smuggler interdiction--and where she finds herself homeless, broke, and on trial for her life.

For too long, Miss Jane Burke's father has taken advantage of her painstaking research. Heading to the South Seas to make her own name as a scientist despite the crew's insistence that a woman aboard is bad luck, she isn't prepared to be championed by a handsome ship's officer who rouses longings inside her as wild as any storm! For Lieutenant Charles Dance, a post on His Majesty's survey ship Tenacious is just one more dutiful rung on the ladder...