A ruthless predator is stalking Star Colonel Richard Bekker of Clan Ghost Bear—time. Once he was a rising star, the hero of the Damian disaster. But all that ended on the world of Tukayyid where Bekker’s bright future—and the entire Clan invasion of the Inner Sphere—were stopped cold. Two decades later, Bekker is a warrior with an undistinguished history that hides a shameful secret. Even worse, in a culture that prizes youth, he is old, old enough to be relieved of duty. And when Clan warriors are relieved they don’t retire—they’re turned into cannon fodder. Then Bekker is challenged to a Trial of Possession by the head of a new bandit kingdom, a man who seems little better than the terrorists Bekker is tasked to hunt. A man named Devlin Stone. And maybe, just maybe, the Trial will offer him a chance to win the greatest prize imaginable—a new place in the universe.