As a lifer in the
Imperial Navy, fighting in a war that has lasted for generations, York
Ballin’s only hope at an honorable discharge is the grave. Matters only
get worse when the emperor's daughter, princess Aeya, decides to do a
little slumming with her entourage on a remote planet, and York and his
fellow crewmen are forced to rescue her. But after returning her safely
into the empress' care on the planet Dumark, the entire planet is hit by a massive Directorate assault. To evacuate the empress along with the
rest of the imperial embassy, York is ordered to commandeer the imperial cruiser Cinesstar, which is crewless and undergoing repairs in the
Dumark Navy Yard. And after a narrow escape York finds himself deep
behind enemy lines, on a commandeered imperial cruiser without a trained crew, commanded by an incompetent nobleman, with the empress and 200
civilians as passengers, and the enemy, the Directorate, pulling out all stops to destroy them. But, from a strategic or military standpoint,
the assault on Dumark was an unwarranted waste of the Directorate's
resources, and it becomes clear the empress, and a member or Aeya's
entourage, are carrying a dangerous secret, so dangerous it threatens
power structures of both the Empire and the Directorate, so even their
own comrades in the empire want them eliminated. And with everyone now
hell-bent on turning Cinesstar and all those aboard her into a cloud of
radioactive vapor, it falls to York to save them all. But he must choose between saving them, or saving himself, and he finds his options are
limited to a choice of treasons.
