Bad choices by overconfident maverick Dani Novak left a fellow marine dead and Dani cooling her heels in jail for five years. Now she's out, with few prospects and fewer friends. Dani's ex-commanding officer, Petra Hawkins, leader of the military contractor the Hawkins Free Company, offers Dani a job on her ship, the Persephone, after a chance meeting on the Red Palace space station. Petra still believes Dani has the potential to regain some of what she lost, still believes she let Dani down before, and now believes she has a duty to help her.
As the lowest ranking crewperson on the Persephone, with her history of a court-martial and jail, Dani faces distrust and suspicion from the company's squad of marines and the ship's officers. But after seeing the squad in action, Dani knows she wants to become a marine again, and Petra agrees to train her. What looks like an easy escort mission gives Dani and Petra lot of time to work together on Dani's fitness, and to wrestle with feelings they've repressed for a long time.
