Doctor Ethan Urquhart is a reproductive specialist on a world entirely colonized by men. His normal days are filled with the careful husbanding of cell cultures, the tending of uterine replicators and overseeing the mechanic births of the beloved sons of the men of Athos. But the ovarian cell cultures brought by the original founding fathers are beginning to fail. Athos pooled its meager excess resources to purchase new cell cultures from Jackson's Whole but when they arrive the boxes are empty, or full of dead useless meat. Someone must leave the home world to purchase and personally escort home the future of Athos, and a committee has chosen Ethan for the job. He steadies his nerves, ready to do his job, but terrified of what the outside galaxy will hold. Enter Commander Elli Quinn, of the Dendarii Mercenaries, chasing the tail end of a plot that started light years away... which could end with Athos in flames.