A new home on the edge of nowhere A new hope for a peaceful future An old enemy that won't let go Kira Demirci left her homeworld of Apollo pursued by assassins seeking revenge for her victories in the war against the Brisingr Kaiserreich. Now she has a new home and a new role: as the nova fighter wing commander aboard the mercenary carrier Conviction under Captain John Estanza. Conviction is on retainer with the royal family of Redward, who encourage Kira and her pilots to make themselves a new home on the frontier planet. But there is a reason they want to tie the mercenary carrier's crew more tightly to themselves and stormclouds are brewing on the horizon. Those clouds break when a Redward warship goes missing on a standard patrol. Conviction and her fighters are sent out to find the destroyer-but instead they find a deadly plot by old enemies that will bring down the Syntactic Cluster in fire and war. Unless Kira Demirci can do the impossible.