"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." -Thomas Jefferson Zeric Dustlighter has been a soldier his entire adult life. Give him a gun and tell him who to shoot, and he'll get the job done. He always knew he was never cut out to be in command. But now, cut off and trapped behind enemy lines, Zeric faces his worst nightmare: the fate of thousands of lives-and possibly the entire Union-is in his hands.