Tyr and Rommie are framed for the assassination of the Castalian president.

The Andromeda is swallowed by a space creature.

When the Andromeda responds to a request to destroy atmosphere generators on Samsarra, they encounter a battle group of Pyrians and stand off until the Commonwealth fleet arrives. in a revelation from Trance, Dylan finds out that Trances people believe the Pyrian fleet stronger and better equipped to handle the forthcoming war. With this information, she tells Dylan to pull out and let the Pyrians win so that they can take on the Magog World Ship instead of the renewed Commonwealth.

Dylan sees that the only way to stop them is to destroy the planet that he is trying so hard to save....

Dylan and the crew search for a Nietzschean slip-scout carrying a probe that enables one to map every meter of the slipstream

Rommie's emotions cause one of Harpers fail-safes to cut in, cutting her off from her core AI and shutting down all the ships systems. This creates problems, especially when a satellite ship from the Magog world ship could come out of slipstream at any moment!

The death of a man from Beka's past named Weslow, sends the crew in search of an archive that can let Beka relive some of her childhood experiences so that she may make sense of Weslow's dying words.