Cole Riker is a Slip Runner. A contractor tasked with finding alien salvage in exchange for credits. For an ex-smuggler like Cole, there’s a catch: don’t break the terms of parole. That means doing things by the book. Find salvage, turn it in, get paid. But everything changes when a retrieval mission lands him in a previously unknown sector. There, he finds the material he’s been sent to recover, along with something more... A brand new form of ancient alien life. Such a thing could change the entire Alliance, the Galaxy, and everything between, but most of all, it could change Cole's life for the better. A shift in humanity’s future is at hand and Cole is the one holding the key. He just has to survive long enough to use it.