Responding to a distress call from an archaeological dig on a planet in the Beta-Carotene system, one of their number has gone missing and the planet is soon to experience a tri-millennial perfect storm. Can the young Ensign be found before this mother of all storms hits?

Meanwhile in the criminal hive of the Briar Patch the Ark Royal investigates the asteroid base from which the S.S. Nietzsche picked up its cargo of weaponised Augments. What will they find?