The crew of the pirate ship Sol Bianca are out to steal some of the most valuable substance in the universe--Pasha. Small problem: they're not the only space pirates after the stuff. But, no big deal--they'll just burgle the burglars. That works out fine, except that the captain of the other ship doesn't take his defeat lightly and manages to infect the Sol Bianca with some machine-eating worms before getting arrested. Now they're stuck in jumpspace, and worse yet for the five, June is as sick as the ship and they don't even know what's wrong with her. By the time the crew figures out why nothing works, the police have shown up and the only plan they manage to come up with is to have Feb and April surrender and wait for the ship to recover. There's also a mysterious fellow who is not only trying to corner the market on Pasha, but seems to know all about the Sol Bianca and her crew--and he wants the captured pair transferred into his custody immediately.