The year is 3525. On a planet orbiting the star Alpha Cephei, a mining complex owned by the powerful Polinda clan is destroyed by eruptions within the mine. Only twenty-two miners survive. One of them is a young woman named Bev Colli, who witnesses the blazing destruction of two Polinda spaceships in orbit above her.
With blame directed at a handful of suspects, the most powerful clans in the local district prepare for war. The years of peace fostered by The Merchant Alliance of Great Clans crumbles.
Accused of attacking the mine, and faced with annihilation, Arlud Erstallius flees on a journey across the inhabited worlds to clear his family name. Fueled by rumors of mysterious forces, and telepathic dreams among survivors from the mine, he tracks down Bev Colli and discovers a terrible mystery, and a threat more powerful than all the clans combined.