Arenna's crew are already dead—unless she can outsmart an enemy that anticipates her every move.
An unseen predator chases them from the depths of the asteroid they came to scout. Arenna’s crew narrowly make it back to The Outlier. Unsure if fleeing will make them a target of an alien weapon powerful enough to destroy a warship, the crew of the unarmed scout vessel count the seconds in drops of sweat. Every move, strategy, or desperate gambit has already been written. Conventional warfare is meaningless, and Arenna’s by-the-book rigidity crumbles when the rules no longer apply.
She had left the service, the burden of command. This time the enemy isn’t Mars. Arenna must lead a crew that is crushed into the gravity well of every life in Sol System. The loss of one of her own nearly destroys her. Using the husband she hasn’t spoken to in years to gather information for her puts him in danger. If she loses him, the black hole his absence created will consume what’s left of her.
In this war, Arenna must overcome decades of divisiveness to serve under a Martian leader. Not to mention the skintight, leather-clad Martian pirate forcing her way onto the crew! Will Arenna defy orders to save an estranged husband who may never forgive her? When she discovers the enemy aboard her ship, Arenna must make an impossible choice that could seal their fate.
Fans of The Expanse, Blindsight, and Alien will be turning pages because every decision Arenna makes is leading to the one that breaks her.
