lieutenant jodenny scott is a hero she has the medals and the scars to prove it shes cooling her heels on kookaburra recovering from injuries sustained during the fiery loss of her last ship the yangtze and shes bored so bored in fact that she takes a berth on the next ship out thats a mistake the aral sea isnt anyones idea of a getwell tour jodennys handed a division full of misfits incompetents and criminals shes a squaredaway officer she thinks she can handle it all shes wrong aral sea isnt a happy ship and its about to get a lot unhappier as aral sea enters the alcheringa the alienconstructed space warp that allows giant settlerships to travel between worlds away from all help or hope jodenny comes face to face something powerful enough to dwarf even the unknown force that destroyed her last ship and left her with missing memories and bloody nightmares lieutenant jodenny scott is about to be introduced to love author sandra mcdonald brings her personal knowledge of the military and of the subtle interplay between men and women on deployment to a stirring tale that mixes ancient australian folklore with the colonization of the stars