An Imperial double agent confirms a plot against the captains of more than a dozen Core Alliance starships originating from inside Skywatch Command is underway. Meanwhile, Captain Delgado of the battleship Saint Lucia may have had proof the missiles that crippled Argent at Omicron 474 were apparently not fired by DSS Tae San.

The lingering question is as chilling as it is urgent. If Tae San did not fire on Jason Hunter's command, who did? Was concealing the answer important enough to arrange the murder of Captain Delgado? What became of the intruder reported aboard the Achilles destroyer moments before her destruction?

An even more puzzling mystery permeates the rapidly developing Second Praetorian War. What happened to the crews of Task Force 156? After Zony Tixia receives a cryptic but anonymous warning she uncovers a vital clue from her analysis of the Raleo II obelisk. Is it possible the Denominator inadvertently altered history and threw Argent into an alternate timeline? Was that the origin of the inexplicable anti-matter anomaly in the Core Seven system?

Is it possible the sabotage aimed at captains like Jason Hunter were responsible for the destruction of the Dunkerque and the subsequent defeat of Monarch Squadron? Was Skywatch Command to blame for the death of Patrick Enright?

As the crews of the Perseus Strike Fleet grapple with one confounding riddle after another, a distress signal is received from the Platmore Field system. Alliance planets are under attack! Only Argent is in range! Captain Hunter orders his ships through the Fox Racer Gate to defend the civilian population of Platmore Five.

What Hunter doesn't realize is one of the emperor's most ruthless warlords is waiting for him, and that he has set in motion events that will eradicate seventeen million human lives in a matter of hours!