A Jedi ambush leaves the Sith ship Omen marooned on a remote alienworld, its survivors at the mercy of their desolate surroundings and facing almost certain death. But Sith will no more bow before the whims of fate than they will yield to the weapons of their enemies. And Omen's cunning commanderYaru Korsin will let nothing keep him and his crew from returning to the stars and rejoining the Sith order's conquest of the galaxy. Murdering his own brother has proven Korsin's ruthless resolve—but now an entire race stands in his way.
The primitive, superstitious Keshiri worship unseen gods called the Skyborn, shun science, and punish unbelievers with death. Branded a heretic the widowed young geologistAdari Vaal is running for her life. Among the mysterious Sith castaways she finds powerful sanctuary—and her saviors find the means of survival. With Adari as their willing pawn, the Skyborn as their Trojan horse, and the awesome power of the dark side of the Force at their command, the lost tribe of the Omen set out to subjugate a planet and its people—and lay the foundation for a merciless new Sith nation.
Adari Vaal, a native of the planet Kesh is being blamed of being a heretic to their religion, due to her claims that their planet was not created by their gods, the Skyborn.
As a widow of a Neshtovar, an uvak-rider from Kesh, she has some protection against this accusations, but she has to confront their leader, Izri Dazh, in the Circle Eternal. While being judged, a ship, Omen, crashes in one of the mountains in the planet.
Seeing this as an opportunity, Adari Vaal decides to leave her house with Nink, her late husband former uvak, and she goes to investigate the crash place.
There, she sees a man (Yaru Korsin) fighting with another man (Devore Korsin), and throwing the latest down a hill. Yaru Korsin, a Sith in the crashed starship, is able to see her and he calls her to their landing zone, since they need help getting off the mountain due to being stranded there.
Adari Vaal is attracted by the mind calls of Yaru Korsin and she reaches the encampment, in which she starts to learn about the Sith and the starship in which they came, due to her friendship with Yaru Korsin.
In the end, the Sith allow Adari Vaal to return to her city, Tahv, and to come back with help. As soon as they move them to the city, they are presented as the Skyborn of their religion.
But Adari Vaal has already started to believe that they might not be the gods they religion talked about.