The battle cruiser was lost. Kaine was the last of his crew that survived – or if any others were still alive, he was unaware of it. Somehow the thing had managed to kill every one of them within the space of only a few days. At first the deaths were taken as freak accidents, being at first sight unrelated and spaced far apart. Then, as suspicion was aroused, murder seemed the cause. Soon it became clear that it was no natural thing that was killing them. Sabotage isolated them from their home, thwarting any hope of outside help. Frantic unreliable sightings of frightening things – horrible things, led to chaos. The crew, terrified, opted to die fighting and went hunting for their attacker. His only regret was that they found it. It killed them all. At first the discovery of the derelict alien ship had been an interesting diversion. Now the crew of the starship Mordrake had to face the terror and solve the ancient riddle of the Akx. Or suffer the same fate.