To her partners at Aether Exploration, Ariane Kedros is the daring pilot of their prospecting ship. She is also a reserve major in the Consortium of Autonomous Worlds--accepting mysterious assignments to fulfill her duty.

To the Terran Expansion League, she is a war criminal. Fifteen years ago, she piloted a ship on a mission that obliterated an entire solar system. Those involved in the incident were given new identities and new lives in order to protect them from retribution. No new face or name can wash away the guilt Ariane feels, or chase her demons away.

But now, her government wants something in return. Twelve of Ariane's wartime colleagues are dead--assassinated by someone who has uncovered their true identities. And her superiors in the Autonomist army have placed her directly in the assassin's line of fire on a peacekeeping mission that will decide the fate of all humanity…

The newly opened solar system G-145 promises peace for Ariane: respite from memories of her past, including her last reserve assignment for the Directorate of Intelligence. Her hopes plummet when her enemy Terran State Prince Parmet arrives, her employer Matt assigns her to manage disorganized contractors, and the Directorate of Intelligence insists upon playing its games.

Old enemies and hostile contractors will be the least of her problems, however, as a stolen temporal distortion weapon makes its way to G-145 in the hands of a man who's obsessed with restoring his misogynist cult as well as his genetic legacy. He doesn't anticipate finding an original Destroyer of Worlds, nor does he realize what Ariane will do to prevent losing another solar system...

No good deed goes unpunished, and saving the G-145 solar system from a temporal distortion weapon is no exception. As reward for her heroism, Reserve Major Ariane Kedros is yanked back to active duty and tasked with administrative duties. An Interstellar Criminal Tribunal questions her actions and the mysterious Minoans have taken to shadowing her through her workday. Worse, someone with a fetish for explosives makes attempts upon her and her friends' lives. Ariane's nightmares are revived, as is her self-destructive behavior. Her employer, Matt Journey, and her commander, Colonel Edones, helplessly watch her deteriorate. Then a lifeline comes from an unexpected source: the alien Minoans.

Reversing their hands-off policies, the Minoans are financing and downright pushing a human expedition to a Builders' solar system. They need a human N-space pilot with a rejuv-stimulated metabolism, like Ariane. The catch? The Minoans have to implant their technology in her body, and it might not be removable. If that's not strange enough, the Minoans secretly task her with an additional mission. As Ariane begins this perilous journey, she is unaware that hiding within the exploration team, there is an old enemy who is determined to see that this mission will be the major's last.