A SHOCKING DISCOVERY THROWS THE GALAXY INTO TURMOIL…
Cyrus Dune strives for greatness in a galaxy where most people are content just to get by. Having grown up as a street rat on Cayleron IV, to now buying and owning his own ship, Cyrus finally feels like he has made it—that is, until he meets Leona Arayan, heir to the Arayan Family Dynasty.
After a whirlwind courtship, Cyrus seeks Leona’s hand in marriage, only to discover that he must get approval not only from her father, but from the Dynasty's Nine Sovereigns as well. During his meeting with the Sovereigns, Cyrus is given an impossible task: to become worthy of Leona.
Months later, Cyrus encounters Kronos, an old spec ops bot from the Colony Wars. Kronos claims that he belonged to the legendary Admiral Aberon Zane, who vanished mysteriously at the end of the Colony Wars, along with the entire Arayan Defense Fleet. Cyrus realizes that if he were to find the missing fleet, the sovereigns would have no choice but to accept his proposal, and so he embarks on a dangerous mission into uncharted space, determined to win Leona’s hand in marriage or die trying.
Meanwhile, Supremark Cassian Aqualian is frantically battling the rot that is spreading through the United Planets. Economic decline and allegations of corruption have led to increasing bids for independence from the outer planets. When Cassian fails to quell the rising tide of discontent, the Galactic Assembly calls a Meritorium. Neural scans of every adult citizen in the union will determine the next ruler of the Union with the enigmatic Crucible algorithm. Yet with Cassian’s back to the wall, the result of this Crucible will determine far more than the identity of the next supremark; it will determine the fate of the galaxy itself…
