"It was the beginning...of the end." Second Earth, the site of the worst massacre of the Great Galactic War half a decade ago, loomed large before the supercarrier Rhea. A beautiful gemstone against the backdrop of the endless, star-filled void, the planet beckoned the Sector Command carrier and her intrepid crew as a parent would to its long-departed child. But all was not as it seemed. What was expected to be a barren, war-ravaged planet was in fact a life-sustaining body, with far less damage than both the Office of Special Intelligence and the Unified Council had previously reported. Adding to the mystery was the fact that the orbiting defensive satellites-put in place to protect the riddles of the world-were mysteriously missing. Ordered to bring a contingent of Unified Marines down to the surface to investigate, Lieutenant Commander Shawn Kestrel is about to uncover the very secret that the Unified Government tried so desperately to hide. Unfortunately, it may already be too late. When a mysterious and powerful alien vessel appears in orbit around Second Earth, it heralds the one thing Shawn and Melissa Graves hoped they would never experience again... War.