The scene begins on Shaprut, with special agent Gregor looking for his contact, the Engineer, on Shaprut. Phalton and Gregor were both told to meet each other in a hostel in the city of Tabriz. Phalton arrives and knocks on the door of the room he's supposed to meet Gregor in, but there is no answer. Gregor, meanwhile, is inside, but (being the paranoid psychopath that he is), does not open the door and instead uses the opportunity to get a good look at the Engineer. Phalton eventually leaves, cursing under his breath, and drives his beat-up hoverbike down the street to a bar, Gregor follows. Meanwhile Phalton decides he needs someone to talk to, and strikes up a conversation with a Scraver named Janosh. Janosh offers Phalton a place to stay for the night since Phalton's master was killed and the authorities may be looking for his apprentice. Phalton accepts but Gregor enters and motions for Phalton to follow him to the bathroom. In the bathroom Gregor reveals himself as the agent assigned to help the Engineer, calling himself "Pitt" (this is the name he is known by through most of the story). Phalton gives "Pitt" the details but Pitt decides not to work with Phalton because the engineer is too clumsy and awkward, as opposed to Pitt's subtlety and stealth. Pitt leaves the bar and on the way down the street, he thinks he sees the shadow of a Kossack (hehe), and decides that perhaps helping Phalton is in his best interests. Pitt returns and informs Phalton of his decision, and the two stake out a place to plan their trip. About this time, rumors of an invasion of Shaprut by House Keddah start to crop-up. Pitt, being the industrious paranoid psychopath that he is, decides to gather intelligence on the matter and sabotage ships at a small spaceport in Tabriz. After much stealth and sneaking (and wall-climbing), Pitt sneaks in and sees a general from House Keddah talking to an al-Malik noble! Using his psychic power of Darksense, he listens in on the conversation and discovers that the Keddah are sending old, out of date equipment to be destroyed in the northern deserts of Shaprut, maintaining the illusion that the Keddah are still warring with the al-Malik. So Pitt decides to cause a little REAL destruction, and blows-up a heavy tank which was in the process of being repaired. After scaling the wall once again, he returns to meet Phalton and the two proceed to drive off into the desert, following this map which Phalton's master left him.
About two days later, they come upon a hill formation and what looks like a square structure buried in the sands beyond the hills. Careful recon reveals that one of the walls of this structure seems to have been mostly blown away, leaving an open entrance. The two make their way down and discover that the structure is in fact, NOT of Ur design, but looks like a hidden lab run by the al-Malik. They bypass a few security lockouts, and Pitt (again using Darksense) hears what sounds like someone whispering inside. As they open the doors, he can tell that it is someone praying. They come to a sealed hallway, Phalton messes with some controls, and the hallway opens, revealing a Brother Battle monk in Adept Robes. Both parties are instantly taken by surprise, and eventually they come to discover that the Brother Battle is Sister Kantarra, who was on a solo mission to find and shut-down this illegal lab, but was trapped in the hall and left to starve. Soon afterwards, soldiers show up and the group waylays into them, Phalton scores a few critical hits with the blaster shotgun, smiling as he sends searing plasma into his enemies, Kantarra empties several clips of bullets, and the group makes short work of the garrison. After a careful search of the place, they find what looks like a breeding chamber for a Xyll Warbeast, as well as biological weapons research. They also find what they were looking for - Ur ruins. Apparently, the lab was built over the ruins for careful study. They also find some scientists huddled around an unfinished Second Republic think machine, meaning apparently the al-Malik weren't the first to be interested in this site. The group decides that al-Malik reinforcements may be on their way, and proceed to lay waste to the lab, killing two of the scientists and taking one prisoner. Upon tearing into the Second Republic think machine, Phalton (who is on the verge of tears at the sight of such technology going to waste) discovers an odd "chip" which doesn't seem to be a part of the computer at all. Being the curious and tech-loving fellow he is, he rogues it and the group then set fire to the lab. Pitt and Phalton interrogate the captive scientist and find that the al-Malik think that the Ur left behind parts to some sort of superweapon scattered across the Known Worlds, and that the al-Malik are already on their way to Bannockburn to confirm this.
Our illustrious heroes then begin making their way back to Tabriz for passage off-planet, because of all the hell they've raised here, the plan being that the stealthy Pitt will return to the starport to book passage and the group will arrive shortly before the flight's departure (so as to minimize the risk of being seen, Kantarra and Phalton stay in the desert and wait for Pitt's return). However, some Muster slavers find Kantarra and Phalton, and when they find out that they're tangling with the wrong bunch of adventurers, the slavers call in reinforcements. A small scout ship lands, just in time for Kantarra and Phalton to force their way onto the ship (hey, one has Csteel armor and the other has Adept Robes!), taking the slavers prisoner. Onboard the ship they find that the slavers have captured an unfortunate Amalthean monk, who seems to be in a state of shock. Kantarra attends to the monk, Brother Gustancio, while Phalton attends to the captured pilot and slavers. Kantarra (with a few Prophet's Blessings) flies the ship back to the starport and calls the local Avestites to judge the slavers. Phalton decides they can't keep the ship, so he makes an under-the-table deal with a big fat Scraver in a bar, and sells it for a small fortune and some fine tools. Some of the money is used to purchase Brother Gustancio passage all the way back to Holy Terra (quite expensive). They use whisper pins to meet up with Pitt and get offworld on a liner bound for Bannockburn.