Dragon and Liberator

In the safe, Alison speculates that Taneem and Draycos's ancestors were genetically engineered on Earth, by ancient astronauts or a lost civilization, to accompany humans; this becomes important later in the book.

Having escaped the safe aboard an interstellar spacecraft, Alison and Taneem spy on their enemies and attempt minor sabotage of relations among the same.

The weapon, called simply the Death, is described as a 'vibration of space' capable of penetrating all physical barriers and of instantaneously annulling its target's entire metabolism.

Jack and Draycos, in turn, are assisted by Jonathan Langston, another soldier introduced in the previous book, Dragon and Judge.

Having unexpectedly survived, as the symbiosis of human and K'da (the name given, throughout the series, to Draycos's species) renders both immune to the Death, they transmit warnings to the friendly fleets including both the Shontine/K'da and Cornelius Braxton's own army (invited by Harper), which overcome Frost and Neverlin's forces.