Ki is a petty thief. Her best friend wills her his solo-flyer-call it a space motorcycle: temperamental, fast as hell, and expensive to maintain. Any reasonable person would sell it to get off the street, but Ki isn't reasonable. Margot is a military vet at loose ends. She blows her entire back pay on a solo-flyer, a decision she instantly regrets. Margot meets Ki and thinks she's the sympathetic friend she needs when she feels most alone. Ki thinks Margot is an easy mark for food money. They're both right, but lunch leads to a joy ride to planet Ratana, where Margot is arrested by border control. With her street-smart skills, Ki enlists the help of Ratanese local Zuleikah, a bored rich girl who finds the idea of busting someone out of jail intriguing. Together, they rescue Margot but find themselves trapped on a hostile planet on the cusp of civil war. When Zuleikah proposes a daring plan to escape the planet involving the kidnapping of Prince Thane from his dreary role in the crumbling monarchy, the plan sets off a thrilling chase across the desert and into the farthest reaches of the universe, with the fate of our heroes hanging in the balance.