"AUTHORIZED TO SACRIFICE YOUR PERSONAL HONOR..."

With these words Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao dispatched Death Commando Loren Jaffray to the planet Northwind. His mission: to singlehandedly destroy the elite Northwind Highlanders, the mercenaries who abandoned the Capellans in their hour of need thirty years before. As the grandson of famous Highlander warriors, Jaffray is the perfect instrument to exact Sun-Tzu's revenge. He can win the mercenaries' trust, then divide the Highlanders from within to ignite a war for control of their homeworld.

But Prince Victor Davion is not about to give up this key planet without a struggle. And now, while Northwind and the rest of the Sarna March erupt in war, Loren must wage his own personal battle -- one between honor and duty. A battle that can only be fought alone.