It has been nearly four years since the events of The Emperor's Daughter. The Dominion has a new challenger for the throne which has engulfed those planets in a bitter civil war. The Alliance of independent planets is using the break in the Dominion's power to flex its muscles and its youngest admiral is set to test their new fleet against an unknown enemy. Kale has struggled with the events that left him in a hospital for two months and took his only ship from him. He is having trouble dealing with darkness in his past and is falling into a depression of his own creation. Gheno is four years older and coming of age as is the sentient AI, Sentinel. Ayia, meanwhile, tries to keep the ragtag group together and functional as they continue to find jobs across the systems. In a new ship that Kale hates and refuses to name, they take a refuel and resupply mission to a deep space research outpost. What they find there puts them face to face with unknown forces that could be mankind's greatest foe, or ally. But which will it be?