There are some jobs too subtle, too sensitive, or too dangerous for the bureaucracy. The Empress Amanda has a solution: a secret espionage network that reports to the Emperor Trajan alone. And they have just the man to set it up. Nick Ashton gets his most difficult assignment yet—Section Six! Its first mission: Wingard Sector, where someone is interfering with the Emperor's plans. There's another word for that: Treason!