The story starts with Centurion Eric von Shrakenberg in a cargo airplane with his airborne unit and the embedded American correspondent William Dreiser, on their way to their drop point, where they will jump and parasail into Nazi-controlled Georgia.

During the travel to their drop zone, Eric thinks back on his past and his relationship with his father, Arch Strategos Karl Von Shrakenberg, and his most recent visit home to see his family.

This allows the Draka's essentially undamaged and superior armored and mechanized units to penetrate into the plains of Southern Russia, where they can bring to battle and destroy the overstretched and exhausted German forces.

It also leads to Eric being awarded the Domination's highest medal of valor, the aurora, "for saving 10,000 Citizen lives," and which makes him immune to Security Directorate reprisals for his "treasonous utterances" or for his earlier "indiscretion."

The book concludes with Eric gunning down Chiliarch McWhirter, an agent of Skull House and the Security Directorate, along with his retinue after a tense stand off following the final battle against the German forces.

Caroline Housmans wrote in her review:[6] "To a reader coming to this book and unexpectedly encountering the highly unpleasant Draka society dreamed up by Mr. Stirling, the title creates a double confusion.