Humanity, obsessed with materialism and devoid of spirituality, is in trouble. Seeking a path around territorial restrictions imposed in a shaky peace with an unseen race humans call the Necromancers, Task Force RF-19.2 has twice blundered into the path of a second alien species invasion force on its way to Earth, answering a challenge of honor by mortal combat from its own enemy. Now, beaten and seriously mauled, the remnants of Task Force RF-19 and its fleet have retreated to a pre-established emergency rendezvous, a planet known as DeGeller 5, only to meet other human forces fleeing Earth after this new enemys cleansing bombardment of their Ancient Battlefield. Regrouping at DeGeller, the situation deteriorates further when a second invasion force crosses their path on its way to Earth also. Physical appearances aside, the two enemies are almost total technological opposites, one side wholeheartedly embracing technology, the other wholeheartedly rejecting it. The situation becomes even more convoluted when the human refugees receive a request for military assistance from a third race, enslaved to one of the two enemies. Against this backdrop 2nd Lt. Zhou Wen discovers he is the only heir to humanitys imperial throne; he must face a rebellious Mother Church, the suffocating imperial bureaucracy, his doubts about the succession and his claim to the throne, all while returning to Earth to confront two mortal enemies hellbent on destroying each other. In doing so, Zhou Wen discovers the eternal secret of humanity the two combatants are fighting over.