Lieutenant Jodenny Scott is a hero. She has the medals and the scars to prove it. Shes cooling her heels on Kookaburra, recovering from injuries sustained during the fiery loss of her last ship, the Yangtze, and shes boredso bored, in fact, that she takes a berth on the next ship out. Thats a mistake. The Aral Sea isnt anyones idea of a get-well tour. Jodennys handed a division full of misfits, incompetents, and criminals. Shes a squared-away officer. She thinks she can handle it all. Shes wrong. Aral Sea isnt a happy ship. And its about to get a lot unhappier. As Aral Sea enters the Alcheringathe alien-constructed space warp that allows giant settler-ships to travel between worlds, away from all help or hopeJodenny comes face to face with something powerful enough to dwarf even the unknown force that destroyed her last ship and left her with missing memories and bloody nightmares. Lieutenant Jodenny Scott is about to be introduced to love.