For centuries, there have been glimpses of something very strange and very fast in the turbulent space beyond Telathor, known to spacers as the Space Monster of Sector Seventeen. Now the Fourth is sent to investigate the Phenomenon under orders never to use the M word – nobody, after all, wants to be on record as the person who sent warships to hunt for a space monster.
Alex is about to discover, though, that friends can be more of a problem than enemies. As a touch and go courtesy visit turns into weeks, getting away from Telathor will be a challenge in itself.
And then there is the Quarian Ambassador, creating chaos everywhere she goes. Highly empathic, with no concepts of tact or privacy, with the ability to override all security systems and no regard for authority, even keeping her safe will be a challenge. (Skipper's Rule Four – Do not enter active volcanoes.)
But then, if it was going to be easy, they wouldn't have asked the Fourth to do it.