Jared, Sahara, and their friends decide to risk everything on a desperate rescue mission. They hatch a simple plan: steal a deep space transport ship from the prison moon of K'ilenfir and use its capabilities to track down their people and bring them home. But it's not long before everything goes sideways. A new power is running the prison moon: a ruthless gang of drug lords and slave dealers known as the Triumvirate, which surged into the power vacuum created by the overthrow of the Dragon-Lords. Ghosts from Sahara's past jeopardize her relationship with Jared as she struggles to make peace with who she is. And then they learn that their people have been taken by the Triumvirate.
Their simple rescue mission spirals rapidly out of control. In their desperate need for help, they throw in their lot with unlikely allies and make a bargain that may cost them all their lives. They pursue the Triumvirate all the way to Brytnoth's homeworld of Askalon, a planet once rich in resources. The Triumvirate has ravaged Askalon in their quest for a mysterious power that offers total domination, but their reckless haste has roused a slumbering menace. Its eye is now bent on Askalon.
Jared and Sahara learn that some secrets are better left buried, and that greed and betrayal are dragons that no sword can slay. The stakes could not be higher, and they now face a terrible choice. Will they fight for freedom once again?
And if they do, what will be the cost this time?