A collision in space leaves Captain Darien Stolt and his crew searching for a suitable planet on which to land their fatally wounded ship. The passengers, a group of Utopian colonists set on making a new home for themselves on a distant world, lose their founder and leader, Jacob Slowdon, in the crash. A new leader, Susan Stark, steps forward and lays claim to the new world on behalf of the colonists. She tells the captain that his crew, and the handful of aliens rescued from the other ship, must adopt their way of life. But that life wasn’t supposed to include murder. Security Chief Todd Sureenon must do his best to apprehend the murderers.
It’s a perilous start for a new civilization.
And So It Begins...

This book is part of the SEAMS16 series, but it is not a SEAMS16 novel. There is no Space Equipment Authority Maintenance Station 16, no one named Charlie, and no ZeeGee matches being played in a field of poles. This story is a leap back in time to the events that started the society that the SEAMS16 residents come from.