William Butcher is still dead, but maybe that’s not so bad.

He’s found a home among the crew of the AfterLife survey ship Mictecacihuatl. Together, William and the crew prevented a massacre and (maybe) headed off a war with an alien species. Things are looking up for the undead pilot and war veteran. 

It’s time for some well-earned downtime, but William’s past is still catching up with him. Plenty of the dead want revenge against the man they hold responsible for the final deaths of 10,000 reanimates. Some of the living want him called to account as well. 

For 600 years, AfterLife has maintained a division between the living and the dead. Now the crew has been chosen to escort the new Earth ambassador to peace talks with the alien Rannit. What should be a simple job becomes anything but when assassination attempts, conspiracies, and a hidden saboteur threaten everything William and the crew have fought to bring about. 

Negotiating peace may depend on breaking down AfterLife’s strictures against co-mingling the living and the dead. How will AfterLife respond to exposure of their carefully hidden secrets? The leviathan corporation is known for its ruthless pursuit of the bottom line. With the very fate of humanity at stake, AfterLife may have to loosen its grip. 

For the reanimates of AfterLife, one thing is certain. You only die twice.