After founding a new world on Wheeler, as described in the third novel in the series, Partnership of Equals, Signe and Arlen begin implementing their plan to create a computer program that will match some seventy couples for compatibility. Having consigned that task to a committee that includes Jess, the Co-Commanders find that Conor's second officer seizes on an opportunity to solve her unique dilemma: finding a husband willing to wed the Corps' only female lieutenant. Equally wary of what sort of bride a computer program might deliver him, Brant pounces on an unexpected opportunity to avoid having to rely on the program. Evan does likewise, when a hint passed by Wong prompts that shy warrior to take a bold, direct route towards attaining a bride.
Goaded by apprehension, and denied the opportunities with which capricious Fate favored Brant, Danner and Evan, Amin utilizes the program. Astonished at finding himself matched with a rebellious Columbian intellectual possessed of a fascinating persona, Amin embarks on an emotionally charged courtship. Signe handles the trauma engendered when Jason seeks a match, despite his being burdened with a gruesomely scarred face.
Heroically, Conor and Eric take on the chore of keeping the peace while their peers wed. Having won the respect of Regan, an embittered Second Corpsman who resents the fact that the Interworld Corps now hunts renegades, instead of Second Corps, Conor becomes embroiled in a pitched battle, as Regan and he seek to foil a major feat of larceny attempted in the heart of Columbia by a band of renegades and thieves. Meanwhile, Eric and his temporary crew hunt an outlaw in the space surrounding O'Neill. In the course of that exceedingly dangerous operation, Midori defuses the hostility leveled at her by her watchmate: a dour Columbian misogynist who simply cannot believe that the petite, lovely woman could be the warrior she is. Trent's perceptions undergo a remarkable reversal when Midori teams with him to launch a spectacular attack on the renegade's stronghold.
As the Corps expands its membership, those joining fervently embrace its ideals and its mission, even as they face a dual challenge: adjusting to a marriage with a stranger at the same time that they struggle to learn the skills needed in their new life.
This stirring narrative, the first volume in the two-volume fourth novel of the series, plus its sequel, Birth Of A New Breed: Attainment, continue an ongoing saga of futuristic action, adventure and romance.
