One hundred years ago, the recurring conflicts between the Bader and the Dorset ended mysteriously when both races colonized the distant planet Delta Sigma IV -- a world located far from the destructive wars of their people -- and quickly became the Federation's perfect example of interspecies cooperation. But there are now rumblings of trouble in paradise, as an investigation led by Kyle Riker -- Commander William Riker's estranged father -- into this harmonious society has discovered a shocking, immutable truth: over the next few generations, the reaction to a native gas will spell the extinction of Delta Sigma IV's inhabitants.