When John Riley gets on the wrong bus he finds himself at Hyperspace High, an elite academy on an enormous spaceship, where his classmates are aliens, and the penalty for failing is harsh.

The students are preparing a battle demonstration for the annual Space Spectacular show, but despite being chosen team leader John is depressed that his parents will not be there--but bigger problems loom when Mordant tries to sabotage his friendship with Emmie, and the school's battle droids go crazy.

John's class is being examined by the mysterious Scholars of Kerallin, but the real test comes when the planet is attacked by a former student, turned warlord.