Captain John Duggan and his crew are stranded deep in hostile terrritory. Their spaceship, the ESS Crimson is damaged beyond repair. Enemy warships hunt them, eager to locate the vessel which has caused so much damage to their military. All seems lost. Duggan is not a man to go down without a fight. Determined to take matters into his own hands, he leads his squad across the surface of an inhospitable planet in order to make a raid upon an enemy base. What happens there sets in motion a series of events which carry Duggan and his men towards a prize of inconceivable value. Nothing worth having comes easy – a single error will result in failure and the deaths of his soldiers, as well as denying humanity the greatest of gifts. Duggan has made a promise to get his squad home and there’s only one way for him to succeed. The Valpian awaits.