Jami and Kevlor join a task force charged with retrieving stolen nuclear weapons before rebels can use them on the newly colonized planet of Novus. To arrive on Novus before it is too late, they must travel in a twenty-year old spacecraft, the Valiant, using a new experimental alien blue-crystal power drive to open a stable wormhole between the worlds. When the crystal on the Valiant malfunctions, Jami and Kevlor find themselves helplessly drifting in space.

On Novus, the colonial government takes away the colonists' guns, leaving the settlements defenseless against unknown marauders stealing food and supplies. Gina solves the mystery of the raiders only to find a greater danger to the indigenous people and colonists of Novus. Not only must Gina save the good people on Tortuga Island, she must use her skills and knowledge to help prevent a deadly conflict. The intrepid explorers must work together against space, time, and opposing armed factions to avoid an all-out war between the indigenous natives and the colonial government and Earth. The outcome will decide control of the discovered world.