Nightmares come to life for Shane when a sentry-duty assignment on an asteroid leads the 58th into a bloody confrontation with a battalion of rogue androids, among which are the AI's who murdered her parents.

When mutiny erupts aboard a civilian cargo ship carrying 200 In Vitro embryos, Cooper faces a difficult decision-should he protect his fellow soldiers, or join forces with the rebellious Tanks?

The Saratoga has a mysterious new passenger: a battle-scarred special-forces commando whose classified mission directives put the 58th at his disposal, even if it means leading them to certain disaster.

The Saratoga becomes a pressure cooker of violence and political intrigue when an assassination on Earth forces a delegation of UN officials to use the craft as the site of an important conference.

On a planet overrun with Chigs, the 58th retreat with a tank driver of the US 7th Cavalry upon a tank named "Pearly". They encounter the eccentric Major Cyril MacKendrick, sole survivor of a battalion of the British Coldstream Guards. Wang encounters a Silicate of the same model that previously tortured him.