A decade ago, the artificial minds, machine soldiers, living weapons, and avatars of the Collection attacked. Intent on conquest, they pushed the various factions and governments to the brink of destruction. At last, Colonel David Cryer of the Republic Marines worked to unite the governments, and their militaries, against the Collection, stopping the mad AIs' advances. For his reward, someone tried to kill Cryer. He was forced into hiding.
Seven years later, Cryer is pulled from his life in the shadows. An avatar has appeared on an unaffiliated world in Conflict Space, a neutral area left untouched by the galaxy's government. The Republic wants it. Aboard the experimental ship Nightingale, Cryer and his new crew have to outrace a tyrannical empire, blood-thirsty mauraders, and even the Republic itself to find this lost piece of Collection technology before the galaxy falls into all-out war once again. Can the crew of Nightingale survive? More importantly, can get paid?