Margaret McBride is a first-year Cadet at the Universe Corps Academy. She and her cadet squad earn the right to a coveted training, one month on a communications satellite called the CRS2, but it is fondly referred to as the beer-can-in space. The usual CRS2 detail is a task for second-year cadets so it is an honor for this first-year squad to be placed there. But their excitement was cut short during the third week when a hostile alien presence invades...