The minions of Maximilian Liao are about the deliver a crippling blow to the forces of Prince Hanse Davion—discovering a way to use Hanse's own technology against him.

Half a galaxy away, assassins stalk Hanse's wife, Melissa Steiner, and her mother, Archon Katrina Steiner, in the passageways of their own palace. Invasion is imminent.

The only 'Mech force capable of stopping that invasion—the mercenary Kell Hounds—is trapped in a game of search and destroy with the most fearsome Kurita unit ever formed. Even if they come back in time... how many would make it?

In a world where ten-meter-tall war machines are the soul of battle, assassins are state policy, and a spy's loyalty is always for sale, the only thing certain is death. Who can you trust? And in the bitter end, how will you be betrayed?