Morn Hyland, United Mining Companies police officer, is beautiful, brilliant, dedicated and dangerous. Two ruthless men think they can possess her, but Morn is no one's victim, no one's pawn.

Charismatic ore pirate Nick Succorso, for example, sees Morn as booty wrested from his vicious colleague, Angus Thermopyle. But he soon finds himself engaged in a deadly power struggle as she strives to retain her identity, her integrity, and ultimately her life. Angus Thermopyle, too, once made the mistake of underestimating Morn, and he is about to pay the ultimate price - by falling prey to the twisted aims of the very authorities he has battle since boyhood.

And beyond them all, within the borders of Forbidden Space, wait the Amnion, an alien race embodying all that humanity knows of horror, a race capable of transforming humans into mutated, unrecognizable forms. The Amnion want something from the human race - and will go to unthinkable lengths to get it.