[1] A century before the events of Ender's Game, an alien spaceship enters the solar system and soon makes known its hostile intentions by destroying harmless human ships.

The survivors are unable to transmit a warning, so Victor volunteers for a near-suicidal mission to try to reach Earth in a tiny, hastily converted unmanned cargo ship.

During the Formic invasion, he saves Bingwen, an extremely intelligent eight-year-old Chinese boy before his craft is shot down.

The Mobile Operations Police (MOP), a small but elite international force, enters China without authorization.

MOP Captain Wit O'Toole obtains a tactical nuclear weapon from anonymous Chinese officials who do not agree with their government's stance on foreign assistance.