When a ship emerges near the growing expanse ofThe Kingsport, the captain tells a chilling story–Deepers are among humans,across the galactic arm in the region Dash began his march to greatness.

The enemy is not standing still. Bishops andBattle Princes attack across a massive front, leading fleets of Deeper craftthat straddle the bridge between life and machine.

Fighting over a span of light years that bogglesthe mind, Dash and his crew are drawn farther out in the big black than anyhuman has ever gone—-or so they thought, for a small beacon of humanitydrifts, alone, frozen, and ancient, out where the light of days is older thanthe history of mankind.

Capturing the object, a secret is revealed, andthe war, and Dash, will never be the same, for his mission just got a lotharder, and the enemy has changed their face yet again.

With the Kingsport and Anchors under witheringfire, Dash will lead his fleet into the teeth of an enemy force that has beenlying in wait for a million years, and they will stop at nothing to turn humansinto biomechanical servants who drift among the stars, dreaming of a peace thatwill never come.

Unless Dash can win. And he always wins.