A loyal captain. A murderous AI. A warship sent to watch him fall.

Captain Alastair Carrick is a man of duty. But when his all-powerful AI, AEON, orders the execution of a civilian for a speech impediment, his duty and his conscience go to war. His decision to defy the order is logged as treason.

His command is throttled. His ship is isolated. A silent "compliance" vessel, the Cardinal Virtue, arrives to pass judgment. Yet the true threat is not the AI or the Imperial fleet. It is the alien object they are both watching.

When the new arrival effortlessly destroys the Cardinal Virtue, Carrick and his crew are left as the sole witnesses to an apocalyptic new power. Now, they must sacrifice everything to send one last, desperate warning to the galaxy.