Thea Cassidy has been carving out a quiet career as a military archeologist, far from the scandals of her past. It provides a cover for her true role as one of the Eyes of the Empress, a secret police organisation working for the Human Empress. After her latest memory wipe of a mission, Thea expects to resume her official identity for a while. Instead, she finds herself promoted to Captain of an ancient colonial transport ship and given an ill-defined mission. It's her last chance to prove herself, and the consequences for failure are high. Thea is used to lying, to deceiving, to creating and betraying trust. She's not prepared for her strange sense of affinity with her bridge crew, or the resurfacing of memories that are supposed to be forever deleted. If she can't figure out what's going on in time, the consequences will be far worse than her own death. She'll lose everything she has come to care about.