Captain Tucker McLeod and Su-Captain Raina Wolfe are given Raven's first mission after months of training her crew. They are to travel to the planet Amaeus and remove Thorian Crist, a wealthy and ruthless mining tycoon. Crist is an impediment to the planet's application to join the Central Federation, and he is determined to maintain Amaeus' independence from the Federation by any means necessary, including violence. Complicating matters is Kyla Crist, Thorian's estranged sister, a popular politician and a prime mover behind the Federation application. McLeod and Wolfe have to tread carefully, especially when outside forces threaten not only their mission, but the planet itself.