Tyler Barron is about to lead his fleet into a trap. He is sure the enemy is laying in wait, but he has no choice. After four years of unexpected calm along the front line, the Senate and the Hegemonic Council are demanding action, and the Pact’s commanding admiral has no choice but to set out on a mission to liberate the enemy-held regions of the Hegemony.

While Tyler prepares for an offensive he believes can only end in disaster, Andi Lafarge is preparing to continue her quest for the mysterious weapon the doomed empire used to defeat the Highborn centuries before. That search has largely been one of combing through old data and artifacts...until now. Andi’s path leads into the region of the Hegemony now know as Occupied Space, right past the Highborn defenses, to the shadowy and mysterious coreward regions of the old and fallen empire, and the ancient imperial capital itself.

The fleet will fight, struggling for a victory that may be out of reach, but even as they risk all, a new threat is growing, one far in the rear, along the regions of Confederation space that have been stripped of their defenses to support the war effort. The danger is real, and it is deadly. Tyler Barron and his spacers could see their home space invaded and destroyed, even as they fight for to achieve victory hundreds of lightyears away.