Every beginning has an end. Build, train, drill, and prepare has become the mantra of the Terran Coalition’s newest member worlds. As warships roll out of orbital shipyards for shakedown cruises and classes of new recruits graduate, Major General David Cohen reminds all of their singular resolve: destroy the nanite scourge. Despite bringing together once bitter enemies and saving countless souls from oppressive regimes, David questions his decisions after each battlefield incursion as the stack of condolence letters rises. Letters that may never reach home. Research on the precursor race artifacts has reached a dead end. Rare earth minerals needed for upgraded systems on newly-minted destroyers are in short supply. The clock is running out to build a defense against an unstoppable enemy. When hope arrives from an unexpected source, the line between friend and foe grows blurred. Everything David thought he understood about the enemy is challenged. The answers to age-old questions about life and death are lost in the void. And the very fabric of Creation itself threatens to unravel.