Khan Nooien Singh and his genetically enhanced followers are exiled to the planet of Ceti Alpha V. Six months after their exile to Ceti Alpha V, Khan and Marla McGivers, along with many of the other colonists, are married. When Ceti Alpha VI explodes, the planet is devastated, and the colony on Ceti Alpha V barely survives the upheaval. McGivers is later killed by Harulf Ericsson, a jealous Eugenic Augment, who places a Ceti eel in her ear and directs her to kill Khan, a scheme which backfires when McGivers kills herself instead, and sets Khan upon a path of revenge against Ericcson and his faction.