An exploratory team for SWORD is abducted by aliens after their ship is bombarded by radiation. Experimented on, tortured, and enslaved by the Shi’ar Empire, the survivors find themselves with terrifying new powers, caught in the middle of a civil war involving a power-mad emperor, an exiled empress, and a band of space-pirates. Now they must begin a long journey home through space to warn Earth of a new alien threat, and to keep a promise made to their new friends.
