In this universe, it's dog-eat-dog. And only the strongest will survive.... Lieutenant Becky Keller's brain is fitted with a processing core which can outthink and outfly the most advanced battle computers in the Space Corps. Joe Nation is packed with so many augmentations, he can't remember which parts of his body are real anymore. All he knows is covert ops, and there's no one better than Nation. The pair of them are given a mission –infiltrate the Isob-2 processing facility of a semi-hostile alien species known as Estral and find out if they're breaking the terms of a peace treaty. What begins as a standard in-out mission, leads Keller and Nation into a full-scale conflict with both the Estral and a new, completely unexpected enemy. The first of the Transcended have come and they aren't looking for peace.