Harper and Rommie encounter a cat—a species that has been extinct for hundreds of years; general malfunctions and space-time distortions plague the Andromeda.

On their way to the launching of the first new Commonwealth starship in over three hundred years, Dylan, Beka, and Tyr warn of an incoming Nietzschean battle group. Their suspicions that there is an agent on board the starship are confirmed when it is destroyed. Survivors in escape pods discover that the pods are leaking air.