In a Fleet full of "throw-backs", gifted descendants of genetically enhanced soldiers, none are more valued than those who can pilot a ship through the shunt of hyperspace. It takes special vision to see the golden light of the shunt and skill to find the thin blue lines leading to an exit. Dan was the best pilot in the Fleet until he refused to sleep with a Colonel and they used his addiction to the drug Haze as an excuse to kick him out. Now the Fleet wants him back to pilot a covert mission investigating rumors that the shunts are collapsing. In addition to a regular supply of Haze, they offer him the only other thing he wants, to be back in the shunt riding the blue. It's a risky mission. Not only is someone causing panic by spreading rumors about the shunts, but there's a hate group trying to discredit the throw-backs and the Fleet so many of them serve. Is it one of the four alien races not part of their alliance? How is a shipping company and its investors involved? But most importantly, what is Dan's connection to the pilot who recorded the only collapse of a shunt 180 years ago?