Lance thought his life was going well. He had his own ship, the Flying Mule, an awesome crew including his best friends, Wen and Nood, a lovely and intelligent, teenage daughter, Sandy, and lucrative contracts hauling coconuts between two warring planets. When a twist of fate sends the Flying Mule to an unscheduled stop at a nearby spacebase, Lance's almost-perfect world goes spiraling out of control. His daughter disappears, a leak in the hydraulic system temporarily grounds the ship, and a SpaceForce safety auditor, who just-so happens to be sleeping with Lance's ex, is demanding a full audit of his cargo. Lance is forced to take evasive action. To find his daughter, he's got to leave the spacebase fast, but the only way he can is by kidnapping the SpaceForce officer, and allowing a strange, alien guy, with a propensity to light fires, to join his crew. Now, Lance is at the mercy of the alien guy, who not only knows where Sandy has gone, but is taking the cargo to somewhere else, to a planet in turmoil on the other side of the galaxy.