Advanced weapons manufactured for Space Command are being offered for sale on the galactic black market. Trader Vyx, an undercover operative for Space Command, the military arm of the Galactic Alliance, has been sent to the Gollasko Colony to procure several of the weapons from an Alyysian arms merchant, as part of an effort to trace the serial numbers and end the thefts.

All is going smoothly until a Tsgardi mercenary enters the room. He utters a profanity as he recognizes Vyx and immediately reaches for his sidearm. Vyx grabs for his own sidearm, but then has to dive for cover as the weapon merchant's bodyguards open up, turning the room into a killing zone of deadly crossfire.

Vyx manages to kill the mercenary and escape, but is hotly pursued by bodyguards who believe him to be responsible for the shooting incident that severely wounded their boss. The chase continues through the small town as Vyx uses all of his skills to evade the guards bent on ending his life. Each time he thinks he's lost his pursuers, they turn up again, as if he's wearing some sort of tracking device.

While Vyx is fighting for his life on Gollasko, Commander Jenetta Carver^® is facing her own problems in another part of the galaxy. The Galactic Alliance has decided to expand it's borders by a hundred parsecs, and Commander Jenetta Carver^® is venturing into the new territory aboard a prototype scout ship. An onboard accident sends the small ship flying wildly out of control and they find themselves alone, hundreds of light years beyond the old border, in a disabled ship, with life support systems beginning to fail. When a passing Raider warship happens across the apparently derelict ship, Jenetta must face the question of resistance or surrender.