To protect the crew against betrayal, Captain Cross sends the Stalwart on a training mission to Ecoma, a gas giant populated by evolved humans with dangerous empathic abilities. The journey was supposed to be easy: Acquire training from the evolved humans, negotiate the use of magical devices that can protect the knights from mind control, and get a bit of R&R. Of course, nothing is ever easy with the Stalwart, and Squire Nicholas Lyons soon finds himself battling for his life against sensual mind readers, hordes of bloodthirsty Grendels, enemy kingdom warriors, and a berserker knight named Olav.