When the interstellar trade ship Solar Queen lands at Canuche in Halio, Captain Jellico and his crew are faced with a plague of rats that threatens to decimate the ranks of visiting spacefarers. And a major crisis is brewing at the heavy industrial docks, where a freighter loaded with explosive chemicals could blow up the Solar Queen along with the rest of the planet. And to top off the problems facing the Queen's crew, there is Rael Cofort, the mysterious half-sister of their most powerful rival. Along with the ride to Canuche, she's a medic, a talented, experienced spacer, and she wants to sign aboard the Queen. She seems to be the perfect shipmate, except somehow, all the trouble started when she arrived...