There are two parallel storylines going here; one involving the Defiant and its crew as they explore the Gamma Quadrant, the other involving events back at the station. The first storyline was much more interesting and compelling than the second; I frequently found myself annoyed when we switched from plot A to plot B, and always was delighted when we switched back. In addtition, we got a nice conclusion to the first plot at the end of the book, while the second plot was left hanging on a cliff in a typical old movie serial style: "Tune in next week, to find out what happened." Still, even the second plot was good, just not as good as the first. Characterization was very strong in both of them, there was both enough action and enough food for thought to balance the story nicely. Definitely worth the read.