When the erratic but brilliant engineer Ty is nearly torn apart by excavation equipment, it is up to his friend Zoey to rescue him. On board the first explorer sun ship, the Constantia, Ty soon discovers that the failure of the enormous machine was no accident. Meanwhile, on his home planet of Pa'Kevutu, a simple act of defiance turns into a large scale revolution that threatens to change the oppressive corporate governmental structure. Hoping to distract the people from the message of the rebels, the corporate executives send the Constantia on a controversial mission to find much needed resources on a large asteroid. What Commander Wek and his crew discover is that the planet is the home of yet another human race but that fact does not dissuade them from their mission to rape the planet. With only a fleet of small defenseless orbiters and a great deal of determination, the inhabitants of the planet of Pa'Chot decide to defend themselves.