Lieutenant Joshua McFinn of the Union Imperial Navy stumbles upon a conspiracy at the heart of the Fifth Fleet, a plan that will lead to war with Humanity's most implacable and vicious enemy, the Naati, and shake the very foundations of the Union government. At the same time, Captain William Osatari Bandele and the crew of the exploration vessel HSS Vitus Bering discover a mysterious and powerful alien artifact, hundreds of thousands of years old, in the Neutral Zone between the Hominin Union and the Naati Hegemony. As both Humanity and the Naati race to investigate and ultimately claim the ancient alien device, the bitter enemies are driven to the very edge of total conflict. The secrets uncovered during these events will have a profound and lasting effect on the fate of both Humanity and the Naati in the Milky Way Galaxy.