Someone is trying to kill Susan Tanner. A Federation Fleet captain, she had not commended a ship since losing Defiant ten years ago during a colony’s bloody rebellion. Although vindicated at her court-martial, she still blames herself. Since then she has been Admiral Renford’s personal security operative, a job for which she is eminently qualified because of her super-strong prosthetics and martial arts training. Now, again, Susan is given the opportunity to pilot a ship. The civilian Survey Service wants her for a job. Are her attackers stalking her because of Defiant’s loss, trying to kill her as payment for the deaths of its crew? Or are they somehow connected with her new assignment?