Sometime in the future, humanity has moved from the radioactive wasteland of Earth to the Olympus star system, the center of the Union of Federated Systems. War has broken out between the Aardians, an alien race, and the Mother Construct, an artificial intelligence hivemind. Blood Gauntlet, a privateer group known for raiding Union transport convoys and generally behaving as malcontents, are taken off the sidelines and hurled headlong into the conflict when they accept a job from the Aardian government and find themselves up to their eyes in mercenaries, machines, and a long-lost spacecraft bearing malevolent gifts.