The Joias System-and all of humanity-is in deadly peril. The only way the motley group of human survivors, led by former diplomat Alba Espina, can prevent a massacre is to destroy the aliens' portal mechanism. But for a rag-tag party more skilled in diplomacy than demolition, stranded in an unfamiliar system, with both human and alien soldiers on their trail after their desperate escape from the aliens' capital-it seems like...