The planet Cantrel V now plays host to a budding Federation colony as well as a civilian Starfleet exploration team. Ancient ruins of an unknown civilization scattered around the planet have raised the curiosity of archaeologists, anthropologists, historians, and other interested members of the Federation scientific community. When an unidentified ship enters the orbit and attacks, Captain Atish Khatami and her crew begin to wonder if these ruins are connected to the survival of a newly discovered yet endangered alien race pose a threat not only to Cantrel V and to other inhabited worlds throughout the Taurus Reach.