Orphan SACHI TAKAHASHI, a nineteen-year-old woman of unknown origins, is starving and shivering with cold, huddled in the shadows of the Isemoto harbor, looking for a likely tall ship. A trained assassin, she killed her cruel "cousin," Grandmaster Oda's heir and favorite, in self-defense. Fleeing the vengeance of her adopted family, mobsters who control everything illegal in Isemoto, she stows away aboard KRN Intrepid, a frigate of the Kolbian Republican Navy. Commanded by CAPTAIN WILLIAM BLAINE, the tall ship is her best chance to escape to freedom and a new life. After being captured and brought before Captain Blaine, the opportunity to commit seppuku is denied her, and she agrees to work with Blaine's steward. During the discussion with Blaine, she suffers one of the "fits" that ruined her life in the Oda Family. But for the first time, she is aware during the seizure, seeing a small silver humanoid statue. This will have consequences when the secretive, technologically advanced Confederals become aware of something new hacking effortlessly into their secure data nets. SILAQUI OF MONTAGAR, an Elvish sorceress, is a captive aboard a pirate ship, forced by the captain to use her magic to help the pirates capture their victims. She hates the pirates, and they fear her magic. In a prophetic dream, Silaqui sees a black-eyed woman who must save the world. Intrepid and her squadron mate, the sloop Sorcerer, are attacked by a sea monster while crossing the unexplored Deeps of the Great Western Ocean. The sea monster destroys Sorcerer and heads for Intrepid. Falling into another "fit," Sachi again finds herself in the statue's strange gray world. The silver statue speaks to her for the first time, forcing her to choose a weapon to kill the monster. As the monster is destroyed by an orbiting satellite armed with a powerful energy weapon, the Confederals again realize that something powerful is accessing their computer and communication systems. Je'Libe attacks Intrepid on a foggy night. Another strange ability manifests as Sachi warns Blaine of the approaching pirate ship. She rescues a battered Silaqui when the resulting one-sided battle becomes a boarding action. After the battle, the surviving pirates are tried and executed. But Sachi defends Silaqui before Intrepid's court, earning her release. On one day of the uneventful voyage to Kolbia, Silaqui is possessed by an Elvish goddess, used as an avatar to deliver a warning about Sachi's destiny and fate to Blaine. Blaine commands a convoy to Stark Haven, a base on the east side of the Kolbian continent. In Stark Haven, Sachi and Silaqui spy on the Kolbian Navy's new, advanced, iron hulled ships being built. Enroute to Montagar, Intrepid passes under the huge Shadow, cast by a near derelict orbital battle station. Sachi falls into a long fit, learning that she is being enhanced by the computer program the silver statue represents. Her mission is to save the world from destruction. Sachi and Silaqui watch the coast of Montagar come into sight together, wondering what adventures await them at the island Kingdom's port city of Vlymouth.