The Victory Parades are over and half the fleet is back in mothballs, but out on the rim of space, ships are vanishing. Rita Nuu Lonknife had enough of sitting home while she was pregnant. Now with an infant in arm, she wants some action. She pulls strings to get a heavy cruiser hauled out of the mothball fleet and command of it. She crews it with gals that fought with her in the Attack Transport Force . . . and four nannies for tiny Alex . . . and is ready to go find out why ships are not getting where they're supposed to. Everyone figures it's those pesky pirates. But it isn't long before Rite is starting to think differently.