They are a handful of fugitives from an outlaw world, old enemies trapped on a renegade spaceship in a desperate bid for survival. Among the unlikely crew of Trumpet are Morn Hyland, once a UMCP cop, now a prisoner of the electrodes planted in her brain; her son, Davies, "force-grown" to adulthood by the alien Amnion; the amoral space buccaneer Nick Succorso; and the unstoppable cyborg Angus Thermopyle. Locked in a lethal battle for control of the ship, they are also the target of the police ship Punisher. But Punisher's human captain is torn between duty and sympathy. She's been ordered to kill everyone aboard Trumpet—everyone except for the one whose blood carries the key to the ultimate alien triumph: the ability to appear perfectly human.