In the year 2210, humanity has spread among the stars and repeatedly encounters vampiric alien breeds like the Leatherfaces and the Vorhees. To make newly discovered worlds livable for people, V-San (Vampire Sanitation) crews sweep planets of vampires and prepare them for human settlement. The starship Heironymous is led by Churchill Joe Lando, a seasoned vampire hunter who takes great pride in his mission and the safety it promises for his crew. His right hand is the newly added first officer, Damian Underwood Dominic Zamprogna, a commander pulled from Star Fleet after a mission gone wrong left his former team dead. Damian would almost rather avoid V-San work, but Churchill has a way of securing capable leadership—even if it means earning a tough stomach test in the process. Beside them stand Rosa Wong Leanne Adachi and Roman Kuchinsky Aaron Pearl, both loyal but wary of the strange new alliance with Quintana Natassia Malthe—a telepathic vampire-human whose loyalty to humans is clear, yet never fully trusted by the rest.
Their first real test comes after cleaning up the aftermath of a Vorhee attack on Earth Base Quantum in the Takai System. A distress call leads to Basra 14, a remote mining colony where Fiona Kennedy A. J. Cook is the sole survivor of a Leatherface assault. Damian, still adapting to the captain’s chair, ventures into the mining shafts with Churchill, only for the captain to be captured and killed. In the aftermath, Damian is thrust into command while Rosa and Roman challenge his leadership, blaming him for not saving Churchill and questioning whether he can keep the crew united under pressure.
With no immediate orders on the docket, the Heironymous makes a routine stop at Transit Station DHF in the Millerton Quadrant to drop off Fiona and give the crew a chance to rest. An evening of clubbing follows, but when Damian tries to rally everyone to reboard, Rosa and Roman reveal they want out—transfers rejected by their retinal scans. Damian imposes a condition: one more assignment under his command before he signs off their transfers, and all hands must respect the bridge’s protocols. Despite the friction, they agree to press on.
Suddenly, an urgent SOS pours in from the Transit Station. By the time the Heironymous returns, the station’s occupants are all dead. Quintana insists she cannot recognize the vampire species of the attackers, but notes they inject a venom that necrotizes flesh. The crew discovers the dead are prey for leech-like worms that emerge from the victim’s body—Vermis nosferati, a wormlike vampire species that lives inside a host and only surfaces to feed. Quintana attempts to speak with the creature, but it rants about human arrogance and is silenced by Roman’s shot. The tension between Quintana, Rosa, and Roman intensifies as colleagues blame one another for the casualties.
Meanwhile, Fiona’s circle—Gilles [Michael DeLuise] and Vondi—murmur about Earth’s imperial reach and applaud their group’s plan to slow human expansion by interceding in vampire affairs. They plot with Muco, the Vorhees’ leader, hoping to disrupt human colonization and end prejudice against vampires. Fiona’s apparent body count and strategic moves suggest she might hold a key to unraveling the larger conspiracy, and Damian begins to suspect as much as he notices the same pattern in recent attacks: electronic defenses on both stations have been shut down.
Damian’s deduction deepens when he learns Fiona’s flight plan points toward Cosmosis, yet HQ suddenly orders a search and destroy mission in the Knobe System. The crew defies orders to pursue a personal line of vengeance: they follow Fiona and uncover a detour that leads to Dhiagalev 8, a depleted ore world. The Heironymous is ambushed as a small craft crashes into them, forcing the crew to improvise for survival. Stranded, they descend to a nearby colony and uncover Fiona, the vampires, and Muco waiting with a tense bargain: Damian could go with Fiona if no one else is harmed. Fiona warns Damian that Muco intends to learn from humans, not merely attack them, to unite the two species under vampire rule.
Churchill resurfaces in this confrontation, now a captive-turned-vampire, and explains how the vampires plan to study human traits like compassion to fuel a world-spanning takeover. Damian refuses to cooperate with Muco’s aims, and Muco orders their execution. Fiona, realizing Muco’s deceit, challenges him, but Muco shoots her in the gut. A ferocious struggle erupts as Churchill and Damian clash, while Gilles and Vondi, recognizing Muco’s ruthlessness, orchestrate a jailbreak for the Heironymous crew. The attackers retreat, arming the humans with weapons and turning the tide: Rosa, Roman, and Quintana join Gilles and Vondi in taking down the vampires. Damian drives a stake through Churchill’s heart with a shard of glass, then ends Muco’s danger for good. With the immediate threat resolved, the crew—shaken but resolute—returns toHQ to plot their next move and seeks a new ship to continue the fight.
