Imperial Captain Laurent Zai is sent on a suicide mission to defeat an incursion by the Rix, a space-faring nation who worship planet-sized artificial intelligences (AIs).

[1] The planet he is protecting from the Rix is home to a newly emergent AI named Alexander, which the local population is helpless to remove.

Alexander uses the help of a surviving Rix commando and her Imperial lover to project his consciousness into space, inhabiting the silicon particles as an independent entity.

Although political guardians on Captain Zai's ship try to prevent it, he makes peaceful contact with both Alexander and with the Rix commando.

Laurent Zai's empathic lover is Senator Nara Oxham, a woman who is elevated to the Emperor's war cabinet.