From the New York Times bestselling author of The Praxis, the first novel in a new trilogy set in the universe of his popular and critically acclaimed Dread Empire's Fall series?a tale of blood, courage, adventure, and battle in which the fate of an empire rests in the hands of a cadre of desperate exiles

It's been seven years since the end of the Naxid War. Sidelined for their unorthodox tactics by a rigid, tradition-bound military establishment, Captain Gareth Martinez and Captain the Lady Sula are stewing in exile, frustrated and impatient to exercise the effective and lethal skills they were born to use in fighting the enemy.

Suddenly the ramshackle empire left by the Shaa conquerors is shaken by a series of hammer blows that threatens the foundations of the commonwealth. The result is a war that no one planned, no one expected, and no one knows how to end.

Now, Martinez, Sula, and their confederate Nikki Severin must escape the clutches of their enemies, rally the disorganized elements of the Fleet, and somehow restore the fragile peace?or face annihilation at the hands of a vastly superior force.