For Captain John Duggan, it seems like war never ends. Each success brings another mission and more death. Following events at the Helius Blackstar, Duggan is given the Space Corps' newest warship-a heavy cruiser armed to the teeth with the latest weapons and technology. A prospector craft, the SC Lupus, has gone missing and his superiors want to find out what happened and the aggressors dealt with accordingly. The wrecked spaceship is soon found. However, nothing is as it seems. What Duggan finds on a distant planet turns everything on its head. With the survival of humanity potentially in the balance, Duggan-a man forever chained by duty-is required to take the biggest risk of all. The man who has faced everything is about to come up against an opponent he cannot possibly defend himself against.