As the Khayyami fleet races towards Gan-De, General Cynwrig and her forces capture Asala and Niko. With no cards left to play, Asala and Soraya must make impossible choices. But Uzochi Ryouta still has tricks up her sleeve, and less care for the lives at stake…

For the second time in her life, Asala flees Hypatia on a spacefaring death trap. Armed with new information that changes everything about The Vela‘s disappearance, she and Niko find themselves trapped in a Gandesian refugee camp with no way to get the word out – and no-one to trust but each other.