The fourth novel in the Saga of Seven Suns series executes a plan that has been long in the making. The final, most powerful enemy against the humans is about to be launched; how will they survive? The war between the alien hydrogues and the faeros rages, reducing suns to blackened shells--including one of the fabled seven suns of the Ildiran Empire. The Ildirans are engaged in a bloody civil war and are bitterly divided. Can they overcome their internal fighting to face a deadly new enemy?