Spaceship captain Skeen, marooned on a hostile, backwater world by her second-in-command, stumbles through a Gateway between worlds and finds herself on a planet torn by strife as eight different races compete for dominion

FUGITIVE FROM THE STARS! Skeen, space pilot, trader, collector, and thief, had come to the world of Mistommerk through a bizarre Gateway in time and space - a Gateway which only one of its creators, the mysterious Ykx, could reopen from the Mistommerk side. And so, Skeen began her search for one of the elusive Ykx, a search that would take her into the domains of the eight different races which dwelt together in uneasy peace. But Skeen's quest soon disturbed the delicate balance of power on Mistommerk, and she and her newfound comrades - from the shapeshifter Timka to the Gate Opener, Lipitero - found themselves pursued by bloodthirsty assassins determine to claim their before they could unlock the Gate between worlds and escape to the greater galaxy with Mistommerk's most precious treasure. (Source: back cover)

Skeen races against time to find the remnants of the Ykx, the last survivors of a once powerful race, and reunite with their long-lost kindred before a super-nova can destroy the Gateway between worlds