After one hundred years of universal peace, Kinetica Corporation rules over most of humanity’s twenty-seven worlds. It finds itself under attack by a terrorist faction from within the company. The terrorists control a murder machine known as the Chromic Mass, a product of human vanity that was perverted into a lethal killer on a grand scale.
Ida Kaufman, leader of Human Resources at Kinetica seeks someone for the ultimate job, C.E.O. of Kinetica. Emotionally compromised by an early attack by the Chromic Mass, she finds a distress call from a lowly pirate, a man who might actually fulfill the role that the company needs. But is Shelden Renn the right man, of is Ida’s choice purely personal?
Shelden Renn, a self-styled freelance miner, still mourns the death of his fiancé from 10 years previous. While mining in a restricted area, he stumbles upon proof of intelligent life. He also witnesses the birth of Kinetica’s greatest threat: The Chromic Mass. He finds that he – and the sentient aliens that he discovered – might be humanity’s final hope in a war that will determine the fate of all.