Lt. Daivid Wolfe has been assigned to X-Ray Company, a repository for outsiders, oddballs, and undesirables that the Galactic Defense Force doesn't want to have to deal with but can't find a legitimate way to discharge. He is the eldest child and only son of one of the most powerful figures in the Thousand Worlds Confederation, who can't imagine why Daivid would ever want to join the army. Central Command - uneasily aware of his connections - sent him to the most unsavory unit in the space service, the Cockroaches. Wolfe takes the assignment as almost a sacred cause, determined to straighten out his company, whip it into a self-respecting fighting force, and make it proud of itself. As for the Cockroaches, they've chewed up and spat out gung-ho young lieutenants before-but have they underestimated Daivid Wolfe? They're sent on what ought to be a cream-puff assignment, a simple courier mission to the greatest amusement park in the galaxy, and end up defending the population from a ruthless enemy in the only way the Cockroaches know how: unconventionally.