A point when one great power threatens to displace another, war is unavoidable . . .
Thracius 'Tracy' Belmanor has struggled to do his patriotic duty in the wake of the loss of the love of his life, Empress Mercedes de Arango. Amid a desperate war, the Solar League cannot afford his grief, nor the political instability of admitting the depth of their relationship.
It is for duty alone, both as a soldier and as a father, that he has entered into a loveless marriage that makes him part of the royal family to shepherd his son and the Solar League towards what seems to be humanity's triumph against its foe.
However, a new danger has appeared that will lead to extinction on a galactic scale, and once again both Tracy and Mercedes must place duty over their own desires.
For the Solar League, the cost of war may be too much to bear . . .
The Solar League, humanity's empire, has existed since mankind reached for the stars. While the humans considered it the pinnacle of human achievement, for the subjugated alien races it seemed only to endorse humanity's worst impulses. But the worst of humanity pales in comparison to an alien onslaught that is on the verge of bringing mankind down into death and subjugation.
Thracius 'Tracy' Belmanor helps lead the Solar League's desperate defense against this new alien threat while the Empress of the Solar League, Mercedes, tries to keep the League from tearing apart.
However, neither is prepared for the questions that need to be answered to save mankind and all of the human and non-human citizens of the League. Is humanity redeemable? Can the League reform into something better?
Tracy and Mercedes must ask these questions of themselves and then decide the future of humanity while facing betrayals, ambition, and secrets that may bring about a dark age for the galaxy.
Fourteen years have passed since he was framed for theft to cover up an imperial atrocity, and disgraced military officer Thracius 'Tracy' Belmanor has built a new life for himself. Living under an assumed name as the captain of a small trading vessel crewed primarily by aliens, he and his crew engage in both legal and illegal deals just under the radar of the Solar League authorities.
At the other end of the social hierarchy, Princess Mercedes de Arango has her own problems-the major one being the lack of an heir. Meanwhile her philandering husband Boho Cullen has ably proved the problem isn't him. With rumors of a coup swirling around the throne, Mercedes makes the desperate decision to undertake a military campaign and gain her people's allegiance through a victory. But when things go badly wrong and her future lies in the hands of the man she betrayed, Tracy has a choice to make-can he ever forgive her?
Scholarship student Thracius "Tracy" Belmanor and Princess Mercedes de Arango have graduated from the High Ground and become officers in the Orden de la Estrella. Stung by Mercedes' choice of Beauregard "Boho" Cullen as her consort, Tracy is glad that they are posted on battleships light years apart, but soon finds that without her protection he is nothing but a target. Meanwhile, Mercedes' posting has its own challenges, not least her unfaithful husband.
Both young officers find themselves part of forced "assimilations" of settlers on Hidden Worlds, which lead them to doubt the intentions of the Solar League. And when Tracy witnesses a horrific event that threatens the fragile human and alien peace, Mercedes must decide where her loyalties truly lie . . .
The Emperor's daughter Mercedes is the first woman ever admitted to The High Ground, the elite training academy of the Solar League's Star Command, and she must graduate if she is to have any hope of taking the throne. Her classmate Thracius has more modest goals-to defy his humble beginnings and rise to the rank of captain. But in a system rocked by political division, where women are governed by their husbands and fathers, the poor are kept in their place by a rigid class system, and the alien races have been conquered and subjugated, there are many who want them to fail.
A civil war is coming and the machinations of those who hunger for power threaten the cadets. In a time of political intrigue, class conflict, and alien invasion, they will be tested as they never thought possible . . .
