Two years after the unhatching of Callayan President Neiland's plot to make the capital city of Tanusha the center of the Federation, Callay is under siege. So begins the third instalment of this gripping trilogy from an exciting new sci-fi author. A powerful faction of conservative Fleet captains has surrounded Callay, at Earth's behest, and is threatening a blockade - or worse. A fearful Earth does not wish to lose direct control of its precious war machine, and there are fears of civil war. All that Callay has to oppose the warships of the Fleet is the Callayan Defence Force (CDF) - a newly formed group of raw recruits led by a politically hamstrung general.However, the CDF is largely trained and organised by Major Vanessa Rice and her best friend, Callay's combat-android, Commander Cassandra Kresnov. But when Cassandra's lover, Special Agent Ari Ruben, discovers a plot to kill her using a killswitch, which her old masters in the League built into her brainstem, Sandy is forced to go underground to stay alive.