Just after his graduation from the Royal Manticoran Naval Academy on Saganami Island, Midshipman and Crown Prince Michael Winton learns from his roommate that he is to be assigned to the superdreadnought HMS Saint Elmo, a ship in the home system that has not seen combat for many years. He meets with his direct superior, Commander Brenda Shrake, and requests another assignment, as he does not want the Navy to shield him off from dangers. He is eventually assigned to the light cruiser HMS Intransigent.

Meanwhile, on the planet Masada, a young, Grayson-born woman named Judith Templeton recounts the events leading to the death of her parents and her own capture by Masadan pirates. The captain of the pirate vessel, an influential man named Ephraim Templeton, took her as his junior wife, and used her as mere property, as is common on his world.