"It's been two hundred years since the Solar League faced an alien threat. Now aliens have attacked with horrific force. And only the Empress Mercedes de Arango can inspire and lead her people, even as the alien menace rains death on the League worlds.She desperately needs competent military officers to battle the aliens, so Mercedes reaches out to her secret love Thracius "Tracy" Belmanor. She begs Tracy to return to active duty – taking the risk that Tracy will uncover the truth about her son and a long ago encounter she and Tracy agreed to forget.In the midst of a losing war against outside invaders with no mercy, civil war looms. Mercedes' son and her youngest sister face execution and worse as pawns in this game of thrones.Unable to save them, Mercedes once again calls upon Tracy and his unorthodox smuggler's skills to rescue her sister and her son. But can any of them survive the revelation of a devastating secret, one that will forever undermine the stability of the throne?"