Tanis and Angela are missing.

Sera has taken a team to find them while Earnest and Finaeus disappear for reasons unknown. Yet, despite the absence of the Alliance’s leaders, the war marches on. Deep in Hegemony space, Jessica and Joe have secured Kapteyn’s Star against Sirian forces and are considering their next move: a strike against Sirius itself. Elsewhere, Corsia has nearly completed her mission in the Pleiades and has the Trisilieds Kingdom beaten back to their central systems. In Orion’s Perseus Expansion Districts, Svetlana’s Hoplite forces learn of Orion’s defeat at New Sol and prepare to return home. But the Alliance’s enemies have contingencies, and some victories are traps in disguise. Jessica, Joe, and the allies cannot rest on their laurels if they are to return to the Sol System and finally end the Orion War.