After the death of the Grand Inquisitor, the pilot’s team is disbanded. Some of its members are sentenced; others are sent into exile. Having hijacked the Corvette that was stolen earlier from the Federation, the pilot begins freeing his comrades. His adventures lead him to a ruined Temple of an ancient insectoid race, where a forgotten Deity—the Enemy of the Ancient—lies kept. By taking it, the pilot provokes a clash of two forces and heads into settled worlds, where he is arrested and sentenced to lifelong hard labor on the planet of Paradise. In prison, the pilot meets new fellow sufferers, and with the help of representatives of a vanishing intelligent species living there, he manages to escape.