After their recent victory over an incredibly powerful alien foe, Captain John Duggan and his crew are expecting some downtime while the ESS Crimson is refitted. It is not to be. In a war for survival, the Space Corps' best officer can't be permitted to languish on base with his feet up. Soon after landing on planet Atlantis, Duggan gets the call once more. This time there's to be no holding back-his superiors want him to take the fight to the enemy, rather than wait it out in Confederation Space. Given a promise that this mission will be his last, Duggan ventures into the unknown-he must fly through the Helius Blackstar and see what lies on the other side. What he finds there is worse than he could possibly have imagined and it will take every ounce of his ingenuity to return with the secrets he discovers.