Rogue trader patriarch Lucian Gerrit makes one last desperate deal to salvage his family's fortunes. But when he throws in his lot with a corrupt Imperial commander, he and his family soon find themselves embroiled in a very dirty war indeed.

Rogue trader patriarch Lucian Gerrit and his family get swept up in an Imperial Crusade to track down and exterminate the alien tau. Having crossed the desolate area of space known as the Damocles Gulf, the fleet arrives on the borders of the tau empire. Can Gerrit's resourcefulness save the day when the Imperial forces find themselves outnumbered and outgunned, thousands of light years from home?