Temporarily assigned to patrol duties based out of Framheim Station,  the crew of the USS Kirk soon realize that the rush to explore the vast unknown reaches of the Shackleton Expanse means that it’s a new “Wild West” out there, as all the involved species vie to discover and ruthlessly exploit the secrets of these strange new worlds.

Lieutenant Commander Lane Hanley is a woman already marked by the grim legacy of War and when a Romulan Republic science vessel sends an urgent mayday from a backwater planet , a long – dead secret is exhumed that may herald open warfare not only throughout the Expanse – but ominously threatens to spread throughout known space.

Thus begins the desperate struggle to survive the odds and break the Deadlock…..