After graduation on April 5, 2455, from the Imperial Space Academy, Grant had been caught in the vacuum that always happens when nations go from times of peace to times of war. Unlike many of his confederates in the imperial navy, he had been prepared. Grant was a warrior and had prepared for war his entire life. Following the precepts of Sun Tzu, the warrior/philosopher from over 2 millennia in the past, and applying the precepts to his time, he excels, becoming the youngest admiral since Alexander the Great, mostly on his own merit.
Now his mentor, Fleet Admiral Josiah Fleming, has moved up to the Secretary of Defense posting in the empire. Grant is sucked into the vacuum created when it happens. Fortunately, he has accumulated the help he needs as he rises to meet this challenge as well.