Gifted with the power to navigate the Patterns of Chaos, Palaton is an elite member of the Choyan race--a tezar--and one of the select few who can pilot a starship at faster than light speeds (FTL). Those eager to break the tezars' monopoly on FTL transports plan to take advantage of the fact that Cho is on the verge of civil war. But Palaton's problem at hand is far more personal--his own tezar powers might be burning out.