Military journalist Raymin Dahl thinks he's finally getting the story of a lifetime. Secret peace talks on a remote tropical moon are about to surrender five colonized worlds--and six hundred million civilians--to a ruthless enemy.

But when his commanding officer, Captain Ansell Sterling, is fatally wounded before the negotiations can begin, Dahl can no longer just report on the mission. He's ordered to complete it. With help from the AI embedded in Sterling's comms bracelet, Dahl must impersonate his commander--a Marine Corps hero and psychological operations expert.

However, Sterling's AI may be luring him to surrender more than he realizes. And the mission Corporal Dahl thinks he's running isn't the only operation underway.