The Alliance has been broken! Betrayed from within by a rogue Synthetic Intelligence, the alliance has been fractured and is on the run. The Sontags have retreated to defend their homeworld, the Kardonians have lost theirs, and a Legastian fleet advances on Earth, with little to stop it but a couple untested airwings. Meanwhile, two enemy cruisers continue to chase Lance Baker. Sent by the Legastian queen, they won’t stop until he’s been destroyed. But hope—however small—remains. Baker has an idea for where he can get the help he needs, not only to get the cruisers off his tail, but to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. He’ll just have to go somewhere he’s been told to never return to, and get something that has previously been denied to him, in order to pull it off. Time runs short, and the Legastians are massing in Kardonia for the final push. Can Jimenez give Baker the time he needs, or will Terra’s last forces be swept aside and the Earth lost? The Uplink Squadron forces have been in bad spots before, though, and have figured out a way to turn the tables on their enemies. But this time, the light at the end of the tunnel just might be the oncoming train!