In the shattered remnants of the city of Ladrea, desperate individuals struggle to eke out an existence. The Task Force rains down bombs and missiles on the devastated city, killing and maiming without mercy. Soldiers fight on both sides in this charnel house.
Graven Ires, a teenage Ladrean soldier, is part of a four soldier team that operates one of the anti-aircraft guns that is still operational. He must try to survive the chaos and destruction. He and his companions must operate the gun at night and man the trenches by day, with little time to sleep. They are true believers in the propaganda that their First Citizen will save them from defeat. But as time passes and people die, Graven becomes more and more disillusioned with the First Citizen’s orders and must learn simply to survive.
The First Citizen, the leader of the once planet spanning empire of the Ladreans, plans his armies’ last moves as the Task Force closes in on his city. He is a hunted man, and his time is running out.
Captain Karvas, head of the First Citizen’s Praetorian Guard, fights for the First Citizen, but has doubts. What will he sacrifice in the final throes of the war? Will he think for himself?
Medical Officer Jak patches up the now numerous child soldiers who are all that is left in the war on the Ladrean side. She has seen too many boys and girls maimed and murdered for a pointless cause.
Armies and air forces engage in cataclysmic fights as the noose tightens.
As an empire dies, who will live to see the aftermath?