Mankind's first contact with an extraterrestrial
species didn't exactly go well. The inadvertent destruction of the Earth
saw a call go out to the vast and ancient empire for help. Despite the
quick response to this plea for aid, the remnants of humanity find
themselves refugees in an overcrowded galaxy and at the mercy of an empire
whose existence predates mankind's own existence. Unwanted and unwelcome,
humanity languishes in a dozen massive colony ships around an energy poor
star.
As a young smuggler, Jonah Mctier is one of
those fortunate few who has access to this millennial old realm, and it is
he who after fleeing a triad of imperial cruisers, discovers the answer
to mankind's dilemma.
In desperation Jonah finds refuge in a parsecs
deep dust cloud where he discovers not only a habitable and empty
planetary system but one of the most sought after resources in the Milky Way a
spatial conduit. Except this is no ordinary conduit.
Exploitation of this unique and unknown type of
spatial gateway offers an alternative to the slow but inevitable descent
into extinction for the children of Adam. Key to this bright future is
the need to keep their phenomenal find a secret from the resource
hungry empire who would take this discovery for themselves and themselves
alone.
To complicate matters, Jonah discovers that
there is more than one of these gateways, and for humanity to be
successful in their quest mankind must hold and eventually destroy all of these
rare portals.