Off the coast of Kenya, within sight of the lights of Takaungo, a cofferdam the size of a football stadium surrounds a top secret archeological excavation of three distinctly alien spacecraft--six legged beetle-shaped vessels with black chrysalis hulls. Over five hundred years have passed since the three Enferian troop carriers inexplicably landed in the sea. Now, with the Earth Confederation and the Enferian Empire at war, these long-forgotten sunken relics may hold the key to victory. The man behind the project, Yang Han, son of American astronaut Wendy Nagumo and Chinese taikonaut Yang Zintao, hopes the spacecraft will yield intelligence information vital to the war effort, like the secrets of Enferian gravity-wave communications and Galactic wormhole navigation. When he receives word one of the Enferian warriors on board may still be alive, the project takes on historic proportions. If true, this would be the first live subject ever obtained. The Enferian is taken to an isolation chamber for further study, an autopsy if necessary, its features hidden beneath an opaque membrane. As the membrane dissolves, Han begins to see the truth about himself and the Enferian. He sets out on a journey that not only gives him the answers he seeks and more, but also pits him against the Enferians and treacherous elements of the Confederation itself in a do or die battle that could alter the future of the Galaxy.