In a human empire of technological wonders, an old human affliction has reared its ugly head, and the Empire's scientists can do nothing about it but quarantine the afflicted. The jungle planet Lachrymae Christi serves this purpose. Mother Superior Beatrice and her beleaguered nuns have taken on the holy mission to minister and bring succor to the poor victims of this dreaded disease. It's a brutally difficult task, but when the Hadenmen come to claim the planet as their own, Saint Bea's pleas for help can only be answered by Owen Deathstalker and his unique squad of fighters. When Owen and Hazel's team finally fight their way to the thinly fortified walls of Lachrymae Christi's only city, they are confronted with an overwhelming enemy force of genetically augmented supermen, equipped with special troops of the fiercest alien killing machines ever encountered by man. There's something else to deal with too, a mysterious life form indigenous to the planet. And by the time the dust settles, Owen may have lost forever the one he holds most dear.