Dr. Daniela Star dreams of deep space. In the year 2186, mankind has conquered the solar system, but the shackles of special relativity prevent them from going any further. At her research facility on Ganymede, Daniela is on the verge of a breakthrough that will allow humanity to finally answer the question: are we alone?
The first test of Daniela's zero-point jump drive started out a success, but contact with the test pilot was immediately lost. Forty-eight standard hours later, he returned transformed, and he came with a message. "WE ARE THE TRAVELERS," the message began.
Reluctant to acknowledge Daniela's findings, the Council was forced to accept the ominous reality: a series of supermassive objects were appearing and then disappearing in nearby star systems. The objects were making a sweep and the one that would hit the Sol system within days.
Daniela has been brought on board the Kobyashi, led by Captain James Ryan, to make sure an up-close analysis of whatever threat emerges.
Mankind's trillions have become billions. The Travelers' technology eclipses the most optimistic projections of human advancement over the next five hundred years, and humanity's feeble resistance has all but crumbled.
Having barely surviving the crash of the Kobayashi, Daniela and Captain Ryan face an impending menace on the surface of Titan.
The victory of the Travelers was absolute, and so too were the terms of humanity's surrender. The living flesh of every man, woman, and child left alive was claimed as the spoils of war. For how long can Daniela escape their terrible grasp?
Daniela and Captain Ryan have been thrown into the Arena, where the hungry eyes of the Travelers watch as they are forced to fight to the death. Will she put aside her feelings for the captain to fight for her own survival?
After their improbably escape from the Arena, Daniela and Ryan are now the two most wanted humans in the solar system. Their newfound infamy has attracted the attention of a mysterious organization called the Last Watch.
Following scarce and cryptic clues, the trail to the Last Watch has led them to Saturn's tiny and misshapen seventh moon: Hyperion.
With Captain Ryan's leadership and Daniela's technological expertise, the raids of the Last Watch have become ever more daring. As a scientist, can she bear to use her gifts for destruction?
The time has come for Daniela's second faster-than-light test flight. This time the mission is not exploration, but infiltration. This time, Daniela is going too. Their payload: a twenty-teraton anticarbon bomb. Their crew: eight of the most capable, suicidal, and dangerous men and women of the Last Watch. Their mission: the annihilation of the Traveler homeworld.
So far, Daniela's phase-shift device has kept the Von Neumann and its crew invisible to the Travelers' sensor network. But as each zero-point jump brings them ever deeper into their vast interstellar empire, hopes for the return journey dwindle.
In three days they have traveled a quarter of the galactic radius, and in two more they will be at the Traveler homeworld. As long as nothing goes wrong.
After a navigational error jumps the Von Neumann into the corona of a white dwarf star, the damage is extensive and tension among the crew is high. With the cloaking device destroyed, the ship is forced to hide in a nearby stellar nursery.
After Daniela's mistake, the crew won't easily trust her again... But they don't have long to decide what to do: time, along with oxygen, is running out.
It's been fifteen days since the Travelers detected the uncloaked Von Neumann. The attack killed most of the crew, and, perhaps more importantly, it interrupted the reaction chain in the zero-point engine. At sub-light speed it would take six thousand years to reach the Travelers' homeworld; they are close, but not close enough.
Faced with the failure of their mission, Daniela and James chose to make the ultimate sacrifice for humanity: flying the ship, and the anticarbon bomb on it, straight into a neutron star.
The resulting explosion was the single most significant astronomcal event since the formation of the galaxy, destroying the Traveler fleet, their homeworld, and countless other worlds and star systems. But will the sacrifice of two of humanity's greatest heroes be enough to break the Travelers' iron grip?
The Travelers have been crippled... for now. Daniela's daring plan, and her seemingly miraculous escape back home, has made her a galvanizing figurehead to the Last Watch. Captain Ryan's "sacrifice" has made him a martyr, an illusion Daniela won't dispel. But how long can she keep what really happened a secret?
