Federation space officer Aria Pantel's world is filled with challenge. Haunted by actions of her past, overworked and under served, and forever being hassled by the arrogant Dr. Hansel Heinrich, a lover turned pain in the ass from the Academy, she just wants to focus on her career and stick it to all the doubters that thought she would never crawl out from her father's military shadow. Yet her universe begins to spiral down a black hole when an unidentified ship of alarming origin blasts across her bow and risks destroying the fledgling humanoid settlement on the planet below that she's grown quite fond of. Will she open herself to resources that can heal her heart, save the humanoid settlement and her sexy pet, and all the while keep Hansel from mucking it all up?