In a far-distant future, the Uman Empire has spread to the stars and beyond, conquering and colonizing worlds, ruling with a benevolent—but iron—fist. The Pax Umana reigns—and all is well…

But on one planet a race of violent, shape-shifters called the Sagathies are confined, kept captive by xeno-cops, who have been bio-engineered to be able to “sense” their true identities no matter what guise they assume. Still, every now and then one of them manages to escape, and when that occurs no one is safe.

Jak Cato is a xenocop. He’s returning a fugitive Sagathi to the prison planet where it belongs when things go horribly awry. Cato—who misses being slaughtered along with the rest of his team because he’s drunk at the time—must now figure out who betrayed his friends, recapture the Sagathi, and exact revenge. Which means that he must, for the first time in a long time, act like the hero he was engineered to be. It's going to be a tough job, but Cato is duty-bound to bring the alien in, whatever the cost…