When Roberto Reed left Earth to join the Chevalier Sanctorum, they'd promised him revenge. He was resigned to die fighting the Syndroids in a war that spanned millennia-at least until Yrsa gave him a glimpse of hope for something more. Something better. On the day of his graduation and his welcoming into the ranks of the Chevaliers, that all changes. The Syndroids, no longer accepting an eons-long war of attrition, destroy the Phalanx stations protecting the oldest human worlds and the shining planet of Githsomae. The Chevalier Sanctorum was crumbling before. Now it is little more than rubble-rubble that must fling itself at the vast Syndroid army laying siege to humanity. It's no longer enough to fight the Syndroids for himself. Berto and the crew of the Sleipnir must put a stop to them for all of humankind. But when a person from Berto's past thwarts a desperate attempt to stall the Syndroid plot, the Sleipnir crash-lands on a deserted planet far from aid of any kind. A broken ship and chilling wind are not the only threats faced in the icy wasteland. The Chevalier Sanctorum has been around a long time and has made more enemies than just the Syndroids. Can our Chevaliers get back on track to stop the Syndroids before it's too late, or will they succumb to a fate worse than death?