Commander Elias Browning’s career was all but over. Then command of a warship was thrust into his hands at the worst possible moment.

He wasn’t supposed to be in charge. But abandoning his crew was never an option.

When a powerful enemy discovers a hidden colony world, Browning is ordered to stand down and let it fall. Millions of lives sacrificed to keep the peace.

He refuses.

Outgunned and alone, Browning breaks from the chain of command and takes his ship toward a confrontation he isn’t expected to survive. Victory will cost him. Failure will cost more than the colony.

But the colony holds more than civilians. Somewhere inside, a brilliant young scientist has built something no one fully understands. Something that could be Browning’s only edge. If the enemy gets it first, everything that follows is already decided.

Now he has to hold together a crew that didn’t choose him, work with an intelligence agent he doesn’t trust, and face an enemy that has never lost.

Somewhere ahead, the enemy’s most dangerous warship is already hunting him.

And winning will take the kind of thinking that nearly ended his career.

Dive into the first book in a new military science fiction series from bestselling author Ken Lozito (First Colony), packed with desperate fleet combat, impossible command decisions, ancient technology, and a defiant crew fighting for a colony no one else will save.