Macia Branson is a soldier for the Service of the Order on a peacekeeping mission. The Service of the Order has brought Christianity to a planet with human-like creatures, but these creatures, the Ouje, still maintain some of their own traditions. There has been unrest on the planet and the Service of the Order quashed a civil war in recent years. Macia and the other soldiers wear high-tech military suits that give them physical strengths, as well as translate the many languages of the Ouje for them.

Macia and another soldier, Rhys, have a conversation in which Macia seems more lenient towards Ouje practicing their own culture in addition to Christianity, whereas Rhys believes they should strictly practice Christianity. Rhys argues that they bring order and civility causing Macia to disagree, maintaining that the Ouje culture was already highly advanced. Macia herself is struggling with her own faith and disbelief. She was originally from the planet herself, but was abducted and indoctrinated as a young child. In the conversation, Biafra Oshun comes up, an independence activist who has led protests across the region.

After this disagreement with Rhys, Macia goes off to check the perimeter and runs into Daniel, a leader of the Ouje who works with the Service of the Order. Soon after, her suit experiences interference and she sees a spacecraft approaching. She asks Rhys if there were any ships scheduled to land, and he informs her that there were not. They approach the ship with some others of their troop. Fire erupts and Macia loses consciousness.

When Macia awakes, she is met by Biafra Oshun and her troops. Rhys is there, though he has lost an arm. Biafra proceeds to kill Rhys and other troops. Macia's suit is still not functioning and she bides her time by arguing with Biafra about the value of the mission and Christianity. Daniel enters from the crowd and tells Biafra that if she is going to kill Macia, she can kill him as well. He says that one story (Christianity) need not destroy another; that Ouje aren't threatened by stories but, rather, can learn from them.

Although Macia could have killed Biafra then, she chooses to let her retreat to the mountains. There is a Ouje festival going on and she and Daniel dance.