After several years of study Brian has finally earned the degree he needed to help crew a starship. To make things even better he's already been in contact with a ship captain and even found a job as an exploration officer. There is one problem however. The Captain of this ship is not only considered a high threat species but a deep space species as well. The potential danger posed by this being is so great she isn't even welcome on the surface of a developed world.

This means little to him as he goes to meet Shia who has become a good friend to him over long distance communications. He soon learns that Shia is a shapeshifter and telepath. These reveleations are only the beginning however as he learns that Shia also has an addiction that drives her and those of her species to seek out new cultures while her abilty to change her body far exceeds anything he had imagined.