Admiral Honor Harrington is placed in command of Eighth Fleet, the Manticoran Alliance's primary offensive force.

Their first two raids frighten the Havenite populace somewhat, but on the third, at Solon, a defensive ambush led by Admiral Javier Giscard is waiting for them.

This lack of proof prevents Pritchart from coming forward and accepting culpability for the current war, but she nonetheless sends Mike Henke back to Manticore with an offer for a peace conference.

The entire battle lasts roughly an hour and renders both sides of the conflict incapable of further offensive action.

In addition to Manticore, Haven, and Grayson, front stage players (even those lurking in the wings of the stage) now include the Andermani, who have entered the Manticorian Alliance; the genetic slavers of Mesa, secretly striving to keep Manticore and Haven shooting at each other as long as possible; non-self absorbed elements of the Solarian League continuing the inexorable and glacier creep of League influence; and the inhabitants of the Talbot Cluster, clamoring for membership in the Star Kingdom after discovering the new Manticore Junction terminus in their region of space.

Advance Reader Copies were made available for sale at baen.com some months previously, with a sizable portion of the book being "snippetted" on Baen's Bar for free.