The war was lost. The army was not.
The Meridian Expeditionary Force has been torn in two.
Separated by the collapse at Caldris, Captain Solari's battered fleet and Major Kade's lost column must survive different roads through hostile space, each believing the other may be dead, captured, or already turned into an imperial lie.
Behind them, Admiral Renn tightens the pursuit. Around them, old client worlds, salvage houses, smugglers, and rebels see opportunity in their weakness. Every transmission risks exposure. Every rescue costs fuel. Every act of mercy threatens the fragile discipline holding them together.
But the compact still binds them.
Across fire, deception, and the void between stars, the survivors must find one another before the Empire turns hope itself into a trap.
They cannot win the Empire's war.
They can only remain one fleet long enough to come home.