The Third Frontier War is over, and the Western Alliance is triumphant. All across human-occupied space, colony worlds celebrate the coming of peace.

But peace is an elusive dream, and more trouble is brewing. The war was expensive, and the economies of the Superpowers, always fragile, are on the verge of total collapse.

The Directorate, the shadowy intelligence organization that has become the true power behind the Alliance government, plans to strip the colonies bare to pay the costs of war. Already, they are tightening their control over the freewheeling colonial governments. And the Marine Corps faces total destruction at the hands of the worst traitor in its history.

But the colonists are a different breed than the passive mob on Earth, and they have no intention of meekly surrendering their hard won freedoms. On worlds all across the frontier plans are hatched and weapons hoarded. And in taverns and meeting halls the words of an ancient text are uttered in hushed tones. A little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing.