The Queller race has lived for millennia in isolation. However, a secret kept by the Queller senior elder and a few associates drives the elder to make contact with another race. Little do the Quellers know that they send a QASAP ship, an autonomous search ship, to engage the conclave.

Not detecting an aggressive society, Julien chooses to accept the autonomous ship’s invitation, and a small fleet commanded by Commodore Tocknicka follows the QASAP’s star map to the Queller home world.

The senior elder’s secret proves to be imagery of a fleet of alien ships, which have destroyed a QASAP ship. Julien identifies the fleet. The ships belong to the Krackus. The Imperium Empire has expanded to the extent that its patrol fleets encroach on Queller space.

Meanwhile, Admiral Cordelia, Julien’s partner, faces challenges of her own. The Krackus fleet was ousted from Helgart, and Cordelia must decide whether the human worlds can best be protected by permanently occupying the Helgart system.

If Cordelia chooses to take on the risky task of gaining a foothold in Krackus space, she must wait for the arrival of support fleets from other outposts.

On Imperium, the leaders are incensed about their fleet’s expulsion from Helgart. In the history of the empire, the Krackus have never lost an encounter with another race, and the leaders plot revenge on the alien interlopers.