The Ascendancy War has raged for six months. After two enormous fleet actions at New Port Louis and the Pillars of Cain, the seemingly unstoppable provari advance into UN space has finally been forced to a grinding halt. In the respite of stalemate, the UN gears up for its biggest counter-offensive of the war: Operation Talisman, a do-or-die effort to open up the coreward flank of the Ascendancy. Succeed, and the UN will seize the upper hand; fail, and defeat is inevitable. Andrea Constance, President of the UN and an anxious coalition of Tier Three allies, must prepare for either outcome as D-Day draws closer. But she knows that every human lost and every provar killed means two fewer soldiers to fight the Kaygryn Empire...