Orphaned at the age of three, brought up by his con man Uncle Virgil, Jack Morgan has done things that even in the future in space are unusual. But when he rescued Draycos, a dragon-like symbiont, from certain death, his life became a series of breathtaking adventures. With the help of Draycos, who can leap onto Jack's back and become what looks like a tattoo, Jack has been doing everything he can to find out who ambushed the scout-fleet of Draycos's people, the K?da and Shontine, leaving Draycos the sole survivor.. Now, just when Jack thinks he may finally be on the trail of the information he needs, he's kidnapped by aliens, who ask him to be a judge for them, as, they reveal, his parents had once been. Jack's friend Alison Kayna, and her newly acquired K?da symbiont Taneem, are also kidnapped, and she is forced by two of the conspirators to open the booby-trapped safes from the K?da/Shontine scout fleet, to try and learn the rendezvous point of the larger fleet. With the help of Jack's Uncle Virge and his ship "Essenay," Jack and Draycos escape and rescue Alison, but they are unable to gain the information they desperately need to save the refugee fleet? and precious time is running out