As RJ and her crew are heading for a pivotal meeting with the Argy government, the Reliance catches up with them and they are forced to make a course change that shoves them out of known space. The Reliance immediately claims they've killed the charismatic rebel leader and her band of malcontents, but the truth won't be known for nearly 100 years. Since her unsuccessful attempt to kill RJ and her subsequent murder of sector leader Jago, Jessica Kirk has been between a rock and a hard place. Forced to live as a slave on a cesspool of an Argy-held planet called Pete with no real hope for escape'unless of course RJ really is gone?