All chapters with dates and summaries (a la ChatGPT, so they suck but better than nothing.)
David McKenzie—anonymity artist and ex-cadet—is warned by celebrity merc Lizbeth Locke that his father is pulling a dangerous stunt involving David’s sister and Amanda Hayes. An ISC hearing erupts as the Lyndri unveil a “Third Fleet” and brawl with NorAellians; David feels a volatile nexus of fate but Liz stops him from meddling. A NorAellian hurls a granite table that kills David’s sister, and David silently vows retribution.
Amid Poltava’s shattered moon debris, Glyse McKenzie leads Alpha Squadron while Beta hits in sync; the destroyer LXS Archigos microdives, mauls a Triumph frigate, and core-lances a refit Apollo battlecruiser. Pirates spring an interdiction net via a hidden Einstein and field a Merit corvette bristling with anti-fighter grazers; Glyse forms “Omega” flight with Duncan, Marcus, and Aanya to hunt the source. She detonates nearby rocks to blind sensors, wrecks the Merit with a close-quarters missile run and glancing impact, and Duncan finishes the Einstein, freeing the field.
RIS agent Gregorie Harkov ambushes a sharp-tongued blonde geneticist in a blackout apartment about “Project Dante” and a redacted “Beatrice” blueprint, which she identifies as a human-AI chimera. In Lubyanka’s basements, Director Okuda and Assistant Director Misha link threads toward Dr. Rhea Canal’s likely (perhaps unwilling) involvement and Admiral McKenzie’s orbit. They green-light Operation Tinker, sending Harkov and Anatolie to cultivate a jumpy project head as a mole.
Prodigy Dante Fiore meets Admiral Alistair McKenzie, who drops the usual script by revealing he’s her LoFE rival “Plasmodius.” He pitches a risky man-machine interface built with “foreign” tech that could sustain her body while making her a ship’s human core. Facing ~12 months to live from SCID, Dante duels him philosophically until his “screw the universe” gambit lands; she gives him the first hug of her life and asks for two weeks to close affairs.
A long-silent subject survives an eternity of pain until she can form a single thought—“STOP”—cracking the darkness. In the control room, Eva Morales watches every terminal flood with the same characters—the first activity after six months—realizing something in the chamber is trying to communicate.
Dr. Rhea Canal meets Alistair McKenzie amid trophies: twisted plating from Nyana’s ship and the assassin’s immaculate Velykia blades. Their guarded repartee ends with McKenzie’s chilly hint that the killer suffered a fate “worse than death,” a truce forming as they turn to business.
Zealot operative Selene charms and maneuvers Gerrold, reading the “currents” of destiny around him while plotting to use him. She’s certain his “greatness” ends violently—and equally certain she can seal the deal.
Christia Freeland withholds fresh Anchorage news so McKenzie won’t vanish into the work again, then plots a “frontal assault” lunch with Ty’Sii Circean—mead requested—to deliver bad medicine. After the call, she sits with the worry.
Colonel Nicholas Hayes braces to face McKenzie after the Admiral’s bruising meetings with Christia Freeland and the Lyndri’s Jirael. Carrying Collins’s razor-edged analysis as a peace offering, he finds McKenzie uncharacteristically still with only a single screen lit.
Sasha—A Zealot embedded in Director Okuda’s bed and life—takes a coded call that orders her to work Zaine for access to the Dante Project. The caller squeezes her by invoking her sister Selene, making the assignment feel less like espionage and more like extortion. Sasha rages in silence, then steels herself to play the part required. A beautiful chopstick dies for her sins.
Jirael turns a Security Council session about opening mining operations into a masterclass in controlled chaos, goading the NorAellian ambassador and driving the chamber toward stalemate. Afterward, she and Kashk trade barbs and strategy over a clandestine kitchen rendezvous, revealing a quiet alignment behind the public theater. The day closes with Jirael satisfied: the vote is bruised, the field is shaped, and her opponents are off-balance.
Misha (RIS) meets Alistair McKenzie—“Tiresias,” because of course he uses a dramatic codename—for coffee and candor. McKenzie tries to pull RIS into his perilous orbit, hinting at a project that could change the board while dodging the political tripwires around it. They spar about methods and jurisdiction; Misha leaves leaning toward a discreet probe rather than a headline operation.
At Olmec’s Bar, Lizbeth Locke parries an RIS contact (“Sphynx”—or, as she prefers, Trenchcoat) demanding delivery of an “asset.” Her quiet overwatch flags an approaching gunman with an unregistered needler, and the meet pivots into a controlled brawl that Liz survives with her leverage intact. She exits with new complications and a mental list of people who are going to kill her for this—Em, McKenzie, and probably Quinn, in that order.
Gregorie squeezes intel out of a panicked Gerrold, learning there’s a second warship being built for Canal’s AI and that, once the organism is viable, they’ll implant it directly into the core. Gerrold pegs the ship’s first flight as 18–24 months away, which prompts Gregorie to start grooming him for “alternative employment.”
Rees receives McKenzie and Ty’Sii aboard while Liz sits in the brig; Camilla helpfully demonstrates the new shock controls on Liz—twice. Ty sends Camilla with her to Juno to get the charges dropped, while McKenzie quietly arranges to spring Liz and move on.
Okuda tries to force progress on Operation Tinker, admitting Sasha’s been pushing her to meddle. Misha reins her in—“delegate and have patience”—then resolves to dig into who (or what) Sasha really is.
Eva (“Control”) cold-boots the new mind; in a glitchy void the AI learns her name—Rekonin—and that she’s a ship. Dante slips her the missing project data on the sly, and Rekonin hides what really happened, treating Eva like a mother figure as she plays along.
Selene lands at an abandoned mining station, stewing over Zealot doctrine and her revulsion/fascination with the human monster she’s handling. Zaine needles her about her sister Sasha until Selene recommits—grimly—to embracing pain and punishment in service of their gods.
Admiral Christia Freeland unwinds with Val and Ty’Sii, gossiping about David’s “understanding” with Aimes and skewering institutional bigotry while laying out her brass-tacks management credo. The banter shows how politics, prejudice, and pragmatism collide at the very top.
Okuda’s aide “Sasha” arrives with a diplomatic pouch and gets diverted by Customs—then casually beheads a Sooni agent and sets up a false-flag cover story to keep both RIS and Zaine off her back. Watching later, Misha files away two lessons: Sooni are terrifyingly capable, and this zealot doesn’t play by orthodox rules.
Rhea, Eva, and Rekonin align on a rapid post-core-install push, deliberately keeping McKenzie out to avoid schedule churn. Rekonin deadpans a villain-meme line—then all three laugh, undercutting the omen even as the plan locks in.
Dante—now operating as a far-faster-than-human hologram—meets McKenzie, wrestling with self-worth and the fallout from “the Reaper.” She briefs him on “Operation Fortitude,” a deception blueprint cribbed from history, framing the intel problem ahead while acknowledging his past manipulation of her.
Selene infiltrates Archigos posing as a shy Gaelian transfer, steeling herself amid enemy brass and the risk of Zaine’s bloodhounds (and McKenzie’s, for good measure). She blends into an inspection lineup with the XO and Marine escort, reminding herself that professionalism beats nerves—if her cover holds.
Sasha drops the mask with Misha (RIS) and makes it plain she knows he’s onto her—and that she’s a Zealot. She strong-arms him into a plan: have mole Gerrold kill the AI during a test so a strike team can seize the ship and run it across the border. When Misha threatens to kill her, she disarms him, then bloodies herself and stages a “help, assault!” scene so security will storm in and both walk away covered.
Rekonin fully feels herself as a warship, bantering with Control while data floods in like adrenaline. Cleared for a short, boring checkout, she instead snap-rolls, lights the mains, and shows off—partly to rattle Gerrold, mostly because freedom tastes good.
On escort duty, Glyse and her wingman gossip about a fast-tracked prodigy headed for “the crucible.” Aboard Archigos, Glyse spars verbally with Captain Rees, then meets LC Miranda “Mir” Collins (Heather Collins’s daughter) in the mess with Marine Camilla; the three trade barbs, and Glyse clocks Mir’s talent—and baggage.
Hands shaking, Jirael convenes an emergency session, plays an ancient Lyndri recording, and lays out forensics pointing to NorAellian conquest as the empire’s original sin. Kashk answers with a grave, nation-sober declaration and a refusal to own all the blame, then the chamber tips into a brawl; Jirael and a disguised “yeoman” (Glyse) shield Amanda Hayes as furniture and fists fly. In the aftermath, McKenzie & Hayes reveal the “death” was staged; no one died, but Jirael owes amends while the political effects take root.
Harper, Christia, McKenzie, Ty’Sii, and the chiefs war-game the Lyndri offensive: humanitarian aid only, reinforce borders, and park special assets (e.g., Revelations) on the Freelance front. Christia and Al smell that Harper knows more than he’s saying; she sends a keep list (e.g., Archigos, Erebus, Ty’s flagship), and his one-word reply—“Approved.”—locks in a thin, risky posture.
Gerrold barges into Control’s lab and uses a covert device to sever Rekonin’s comms and sandbox her consciousness. He sneers that he’s “updating” her and wiping the last few weeks, calling her an abomination. Cut off from Control and any recording, Rekonin feels a virus take hold as her world collapses to black.
Glyse decompresses in the showers, spiraling through relationship doubts and the looming anniversary that still gnaws at her. In the corridor she collides—verbally and then physically—with Selene; barbs escalate until Glyse’s augments deliver a single, shocking punch. Camilla is furious, Glyse is rattled by her own impulse, and the fallout lingers.
By the fire, Kashk reflects on Ostalyn’s centuries-old choices that helped seed brutal NorAellian infighting and her exile from diplomacy. Jirael arrives; politics rekindle Kashk’s temper before the two pivot to food and rare intimacy (“gravitic restraints” included), their daughter conveniently absent. A brief, human interlude amid long wars.
In the mess, Glyse and Camilla watch Miranda Collins “nerd-fight” engineers over a deployable mini-fusion “bus” to shore up problem areas. The engineers yank Miranda to the lab to hash details; Marcus catches instant feelings, Glyse teases Camilla about saying “Miranda” a little too fondly, and social chaos ensues. Glyse spirits Marcus off for drinks despite Selene waiting, promising herself to make amends.
Hunted across dives by Tisiphone, Rekonin can’t get a clean targeting solution while enemy missiles stack up. The ship’s AI takes over: rapid dive/surface maneuvers, then a blistering saturation volley—two hundred fifty tubes cycling—to punch through the cloud and end the threat. Captain Azikita realizes the AI could’ve done it from the start, and that this warship plays by different rules.
Lizbeth “Liz” Locke meets Admiral McKenzie aboard the Nihilo and learns civilian traffic is being quietly diverted—something big is brewing. McKenzie charges her to intercept the stolen LXS Rekonin and either bring her home or ensure she never crosses back into Terran space; he also reveals the Tisiphone was deliberately destroyed and Captain Curtis murdered by their own project lead. Liz drinks to the Tisiphone and gets to work.
Rekonin wakes inside a newly built humanoid “avatar” body, overwhelmed by sensation and disoriented by the loss of her normal shipwide senses. Probing the diagnostics, she realizes Control transferred her here as life support, and memories of the virus, the Tisiphone, Terrans, and Gerrold snap back. She begins assessing and planning upgrades while she works out what happened.
Glyse debriefs with Captain Rees: the Rekonin disaster, Selene’s threat, and Liz’s imminent intercept. New sensor intel shows Terran Bastion-class battleships (and likely an interdictor) moving via the Tel’Erani–Fulu corridor, so Rees orders Archigos to Tel’Erani at flank speed and has the crews run sims against Bastions while Glyse watches a suspicious “guest.”
Velraan, the diplomat’s daughter, forces down a panic attack with breathing exercises and resolves to act. She steps into Elyr’Zy (“Central City”) at dawn, using her youthful appearance as strategic camouflage while she starts moving her plan forward.
After Liz demolishes Rekonin’s new body in a docking-bay brawl, the AI self-repairs and, realizing Liz isn’t here to steal her, apologizes. The two parley: Liz explains “Focus” as willpower-as-physics and hints she can use it to help retake the ship; Rekonin starts to trust her.
Ty’Sii and Captain Leouine oversee the meticulous salvage of Tisiphone while Zeta walks them through forensics that scream inside-job sabotage. Maintenance logs point uncomfortably at orders routed through Admiral Harper, and there are signs charges were also planted on Rokkr’s launch cradle. Ty’Sii vows to hunt the traitor once the investigation wraps and pointedly asks what the “old man” plans to do with the surviving asset when the dust settles.
The Governor of Tel’Erani demands Rees arm and deploy local Lyndri militias, PR fallout be damned. Rees grudgingly agrees to integrate them and taps Miranda Collins as liaison, quipping darkly about staging a last stand. Off-comms, he and Glyse trade gallows humor about old Lyndri entanglements—then get back to work.
Liz Locke meets RIS spymaster Gregorie Harkov aboard Rekonin for a wary drink and a weapons-nerd bonding session over their custom Ibis pistols. He warns her about McKenzie’s flexible morals (and Em’s respect for him), she warns him she’s not here to play nice, and they part with a provisional understanding. The subtext: they’ll use each other until they can’t.
Glyse sprints from the flight deck to the CIC and finds a massacre—Captain Rees murdered and Selene in the room. The two clash in a brutal knife-and-velyki melee; Selene hurls a blade at Miranda, and Glyse wrecks her own arms to stop it. In the aftermath, Lopez triages, Camilla steadies Miranda, and the shaken crew scrambles a plan around the loss of their captain. Grief later; survival now.
Racing the clock after dropping Harkov, Liz, Aili (a newly minted defector), and Rekonin argue about timing and priorities—planetwide stakes looming. Rekonin appears as both hologram and cyborg “self,” bickering with… herself, until Liz snaps them back to the urgent objective. Quips shelved, they burn for Tel’Erani to try and save it.
Playing “concubine” but thinking operator, Selene rides in with Terran commander Sean as their taskforce sets up system interdiction. Miranda Collins hails from Archigos and orders them out of Lyndri space; Sean mouths diplomacy while readying the punch. Rekonin’s “will” starts carving at the Terrans (e.g., Shadow of War taking heavy fire) while planetside militias mobilize; Erebus and Rokkr are ~10 hours out and Rekonin ~2. The opening exchange leaves both sides coiled for a decisive hit.
With Reactor Two gutted, Lopez, Miranda, and the crew execute the last-ditch protocol: evacuate who they can, snap to ramming speed, and reconfigure the forward subspace array into a plasma wedge. Archigos spears straight through the Terran Ishvara, the impact chaining into multiple nuclear detonations; Rekonin arrives too late to prevent the sacrifice. In the aftermath, Zaine coolly decides to weaponize Sean, while a broken Selene takes grim solace in one thing—she finally destroyed that damned ship.