As Volume I begins, Kaliah Veresta is the sole relative of the most powerful man in the galaxy, for all the good it does her. Working a desk job at a prison in the middle of nowhere, even that placement is a result of nepotism. Her past has helped keep Kaliah there, out of the way, but when the galaxy threatens to unravel, she's called upon for help. A disgraced Captain has raised an army and demanded independence for his sector. Kaliah's job? Control a select group of convicted felons as they protect the Commander-in-Chief, her uncle, on a diplomatic mission to meet with the rebels. A not-at-all straightforward task complicated further by her wards; a former celebrity, an alien serial killer, a madman, and her ex. As disparate personalities try to find common ground, the mission turns anything but diplomatic. When calamity strikes and they find themselves scattered in dire straits, it's up to Kaliah to bring them together and stop a plan involving vengeance of astronomical proportions.