By now David Birkenhead has all but defeated the Boyen Emperor, whose strength is but a shadow of what it was before the Battle of Wilkes Prime. His fleet has been shattered and with it his dreams of conquest. Yet the Emperor and his court fight desperately on, and the price of invading Imperious Prime remains too terrible to contemplate. Is there another, less-bloody way of ending the war besides invasion? And if so… …what will it cost David personally? Should anyone, anywhere be expected to pay such a price?