Commander Kai Tinsdale knows something’s afoot when she receives orders to post to the military base Koto on the virtually impassable jungle planet Hanzey. Rumors of rebellion against the Coalition are spreading across the quadrants, and the threat of war makes Kai all the more suspicious about her assignment. What does Major Tinniset Vic, the ranking officer at Koto, want with Kai? How might the decade-old destruction of a Hanzien city pertain to Kai's new posting? The only person she trusts, former Academy bunkmate turned trader Torri Rendego, is running merchant routes in other quadrants and may be facing her own problems in the growing rebellion. So Kai must play the hand she's dealt in a high-stakes game of intrigue and revenge where Major Vic holds all the cards and where a gamble could unleash a war all its own on Hanzey.