Jack Commer, Supreme Commander of the United System Space Force, leads a peace mission in his flagship Typhoon II to end the war with the fascist Alpha Centauri Empire. After an engine explosion strands the ship four months from its destination, the Typhoon encounters a derelict spaceship, but its nine rescued refugees are insolent and uncooperative, and they proceed to brainwash most of the crew into worship of the Alpha Centaurian Emperor. A month and a half later, all but three of the crew have been Converted. Jack has demanded daily diary entries from the remaining crew so that he can pinpoint the exact moment of their Conversion, and he, his estranged wife Amav, the emotionally damaged twelve year-old Bobby, and recently Converted ship's engineer Phil Sperry write their final, fully honest entries before the ship is captured by Centaurian stormtroopers and Jack and Amav are sent to be tortured on a barren planet.