This is the story of Sean McKinnie, a young farm boy from the medieval world of Brae who longs to escape the family farm. On his way to begin study at the university, Sean stumbles into a fire-fight between troops of the local tyrant and Congressional Marines trying to overthrow Brae's corrupt and brutal government. Saving the life of one ambushed Marine, McKinnie is taken aboard the Congressional starship cruiser Lewis and Clark and is befriended by the starship's crew-becomming an unofficial ship's mascot. His new friends realize that though McKinnie comes from a backwater world and is ignorant of interstellar politics, he is highly intelligent and might become a valuable asset as a covert Congressional agent