Captain Cordelia Naismith from the Betan Expeditionary Push was on a routine mission to study the life forms with an uninhabited, natural planet. Little did she understand that the enemy Barrayarans had selected this place as their key bottom for an as-yet undeclared battle. Separated from her team, Cordelia is captured by Lord Aral Vorkosigan, the leader in charge of the Barrayaran mission. Aral himself is caught within a web of political intrigue which has led to a recent attempt on his life. As the two strangers struggle together over the unfriendly ground of the foreign planet toward Aral’s ship, they discover that their ideal danger could be the romance inconveniently developing between them, for the brink of a war which will divide their peoples more strongly than ever before.

Recognized as the existing exemplar of character-based science fiction, Bujold debuts her beloved Vorkosigan saga with this tale on the subject of the future parents of Mls Vorkosigan.