When a damaged Vaadwaur vessel crash-lands on the pre-warp world of Asada IV, its surviving crew manipulates the planet’s bronze-age civilization by posing as divine envoys. The USS Fearless is tasked with apprehending the fugitives while preserving the Asadans’ natural development. But as disease spreads through the villages and war brews under the influence of false gods, Captain Langston and his crew must walk a fine line between intervention and restraint—where the difference between salvation and heresy is as thin as the veil between the stars and the sky spirits below.