After the attack on Rylos Station, life has settled into an uneasy normal.
Crews are cramped together, repairs are underway, and friction among the crews is at an all time high. Mark balances these stresses with a growing relationship with Mel, finding moments of intimacy and normalcy—movie nights, shared jokes, and small plans for the future—even as an inevitable war looms. Meanwhile, key scientists are disappearing throughout Kin space. Scientists tied directly to Nova technology. Mark's team is called to investigate, sending him to a faraway colony planet. What they find speaks to the horrors of war and the truth about what lies ahead. The trail leads them deeper into the wild, across the sea of stars to a flotilla of futuristic aliens beyond any other in the Federation. The same aliens responsible for the creation of half the galaxy's technology, including the heart of the Nova ship itself. Only a slim hope now remains in this vast war of attrition, but it does so between friends who have been forged in pain and loss: a group of Slingers who refuse to let the flame go out. And a kid from Avon Park, Florida... who doesn't quite know when to quit.
