The truth about Earth's destruction has been buried for centuries. Dalton Thorne is about to dig it up.

Cargo hauler Dalton Thorne has survived reality-altering blood rituals, interdimensional monsters, and an unending series of crime lords and megalomaniacs who want him dead. He's merged fragments of Earth, defied the Consortium, and earned a title he never wanted: the Kagi—humanity's cosmic wildcard... and potentially its last hope.

But none of that matters to Dalton while his crew is gone.

Kota, Eddie, and Seketor are prisoners somewhere in the galaxy, and every day Dalton spends under the Chi Hunters' thumb is another day his friends edge closer to a fate he doesn't want to imagine. A rescue mission is paramount...

But the Chi Hunters have other plans. They need Dalton for a mission to the Krex homeworld—a dimension of amber skies and barbaric violence where even civilized Krex like Steve feel the pull of something ancient and primitive. Something is waiting beneath the surface of that broken world. Something the Chi Hunters desperately want to find.

When Dalton uncovers a hidden archive buried beneath the ruins of a fallen civilization, he discovers answers to questions humanity has been forbidden to ask. The truth about first contact. The truth about Earth's destruction. And the truth about what the Chi Hunters really want from him.

To save his friends, Dalton will have to outsmart immortal warriors, survive the Border Wars at the edge of the galaxy, and confront a conspiracy stretching back to humanity's first steps among the stars.