No good deed goes unpunished: Captain Vivi Zant firmly believes that should be painted in giant red letters on station walls of every spaceport. Waking in a regen facility after a botched rescue effort, retired Space Marine Vivi Zant discovers that kindly Ritto-ssa doctors were forced to remove all her implanted tech to save her life. Seconds later, before she can even request a reinstallation procedure, the High Jerak, Endar head of planetary security for the Moneyworld, barges into the recovery room and demands she leave on the next ship offworld-on a ship Vivi knows doesn't exist. Escaping a transport ship to the Endar Primacy's merciless labs, Vivi is defenseless and running for her life on a planet where Humans are forbidden. She quickly learns she's not the only person under threat. Everyone-every Star Alliance on the Moneyworld-is living on a knife edge as Endar security mysteriously seems to know their every next move. Something is very wrong on the mega world that is the heart of Whooex Union of Stars, and it's making allies damned hard to find. Vivi's missing tech may make her the only person who can figure it out, but the clock is ticking. When that Endar transport arrives at its destination and she's not on it, all hell will break loose on the Moneyworld.