When a new security guard reports for duty, it sets da Vinci security chief Domenica Corsi off in ways that confuse both her staff and her sometime lover Fabian Stevens. When Stevens confronts her, it only makes matters worse — until Corsi takes Stevens into her confidence …

Ten years ago, Corsi served on the U.S.S. Roosevelt. On a trip to the Federation world of Izar, Corsi was assigned to work with a local peace officer named Christine Vale to try to solve a multiple homicide. But the trail of evidence leads down a road Corsi refuses to take — a decision that will have tragic consequences for the young officer.