After centuries of travel, an ancient log buoy finally reaches human-controlled space. In the midst of a stalemated interstellar war, the Admiralty offers little desire for wasting resources on what would likely be considered a fruitless seek out the truth, but someone was able to convince them they could afford to send an old, obsolete frigate shortly destined for the scrapyard, upon this quest.

Taken from her patrol course, Siobhan Dunmoore is ordered to consider an envoy aboard Stingray and sail into a poorly charted and virtually unexplored region of the galaxy hidden behind interstellar dust clouds. On the way, she’ll arrive to the attention of an old enemy, now also relegated to the fringes of the battle, turning a voyage of discovery into a competition against period and against each other. Though her problems quickly multiply, Dunmoore provides faced worse chances. She’s determined to bring Stingray house with its honor unchanged, and few are fearless more than enough to bet against her, not even their aged Shrehari foes.