From publisher blurb:
While returning back from their most recent adventures the travelers receive a distress call. The signal is very weak and intermittent. It appears to be coming from a desolate moon of a planet in a nearby star system. According to the navigation logs this particular system has no populated worlds nor any known living residents.
The distress message indicates that a ship called the Marilith suffered a collision with a rogue asteroid and had to crash land. The ship computers confirm that there was a ship registered as the Marilith which was reported lost over forty years ago in this general area of space.
It is up to the travelers to decide if they wish to respond to the distress call. Under interstellar law ship captains have a duty to investigate such calls but this law is virtually never enforced.