Mere weeks into Captain Blake Bennett’s tenure commanding the Arondight, his ship is swept through Underspace along with Olympia Station itself deep into Breen space. While Arondight was kept safe close to the station, the scout Buran was thrown ahead and landed deep in the planetary ocean of Gamma Aquarii III, a world covered almost entirely with water and home to a pre-warp civilization of sapient cetaceans. Arondight must rescue Buran and retrieve a cadre of extremely advanced probes without making its presence known to the Gamma Aquarians and without attracting the attention of the Breen, all before the Underspace portal that brought Olympia into enemy territory collapses.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Commanders Costa and Hawthorne navigate a new assignment alongside their budding relationship.