Kay, the alien member of Cutter Force Initiative, has returned to her brutal homeworld of Vast on a mission of mercy. Before she joined the merc team, she was a great Healer. And now her skills are sorely needed. Hundreds of Vastalimi-- including her blood kin-- are dying mysteriously. But is the plague a work of nature? Or is it a bioengineered virus, purposefully unleashed? Kay and Doc Wink will have to find out the hard way. With Cutter Force Iniative light-years away, the two find the odds are against them-- and on a planet like Vast, where violence abounds and life is cheap, they may be facing a foe they can't defeat...