The Liberator is damaged in the battle against the alien invasion fleet of Andromeda and the crew abandons ship whilst the automatic repair system on-board repairs the ship. Avon finds himself on the tribal planet Sarren, where he is rescued by Dayna and her father, Federation fugitive Hal Mellanby, only to find Servalan, the newly installed president, has too arrived on Sarran. Returning to the Liberator, Avon and Dayna find that the ship has been taken over by a Federation death squad.