A starship captain may have to kill a member of his crew, his girlfriend who is infected with a sentient virus which wants to spread the disease to earth to eradicate the human population.

SYNOPSIS:

AMOS J. COLLINS (A J), former commander of special forces and life-long bachelor. He served in earth's first and only extra-terrestrial war. Earth lost. A J and four members of his team are imprisoned on trumped up charges of derelict of duty, treason and the death of two of his officers. Because of that, he takes in their orphan daughter Dee Dee and vows to take care of her. Years later, DEE DEE, 18, works on a penal planet with A J and his former crew. A hybrid of insect rodent called spider-rats, trap them in a cavern. A J find a secret door and make his way inside. There they find alien tech. A J, dying from a disease, plans to escape and go back to earth to spend his remaining days. They steal a ship and stowaway the alien tech, thinking of selling it on the black market. They escape the planet but Dee Dee gets infected by one of the devices. It merges with her body and uses her to continue its mission with is to learn about the enemy and then destroy them. It attempts to systematically kill off the crew and restarts the war between Veyor, the alien race that defeated earth. A J has to stop the alien plan but to do so, he has to kill Dee Dee which he doesn't want to do. Even though she almost kills most of the team, he still won't kill her. He finds a way to break the merging but the device will kill her and go after its next host to continue its mission. Dee Dee sacrifices herself by shooting herself out the airlock. Earth is saved but A J pays a price for losing her. He ends up in a psych ward, strapped to a gurney.

THE MERGING