On the planet KHARMA, capital of the known galaxies, two alien twins — loan sharks and crime lords — decide they need an expendable man for a dangerous job. Their choice falls on the Captain, a pilot drowning in debt with a missing son and nothing left to lose.
Racheta, lord of the all-powerful House Vulsar, makes him an offer he cannot refuse: debts cleared, license renewed, information on his son — in exchange for retrieving something from a classified ice planet, no questions asked. The Captain accepts and departs with his unpredictable partner Jack.
On the glacial world they find the ruins of a vanished civilization and witness the capture of a Sunwalker — a rare alien being emerging from an ancient portal — by Racheta's AI hunters, Alpha and Omega. Jack steals the capsule and they flee back to KHARMA.
Their return triggers a collision of powers. Racheta's sons seize the capsule. The merchant-bankers Kanel and Tatel reveal they have purchased the Captain's debts and want to know what Racheta was really after. In the shadows, the enigmatic Meldayestro watches everything, calculating his next move.
When Racheta decides to silence the Captain and Jack permanently, Meldayestro intervenes — arranging their rescue and placing them firmly in his debt. The first thread of his web is set.
The Sunwalker, once extracted, uses his ability to sense energy flows across the universe to locate the Singularity — and reveal the hidden position of the two brothers who hold it. Racheta has what he came for.
Jack and the Captain have no idea what they have just unleashed.