Author David Mack brings us another adventure for the Federation starship da Vinci. The crew of the da Vinci are testing out a quantum slipstream corridor when they a call from a far off civilian outpost that has a visitor that needs the Corps of Engineers help. Captain Gold orders the ship to the outpost where they pick up the visitor who is a large spider like being along with an artifact that he has which is his home planet in cased in what we find out later to be a Preserver device. But there is another species after that same device that want the technology in order fight their own civil war. But Captain Gold and his crew out think their appointments while one of his crew learns how to open the device. And in a way it's thanks to one mission that the original Enterprise went on back in the 2260's. This is a great book and one that I highly recommend for all Star Trek fans.