Book Two - The Aryis Chronicles. Consumed by post-war confusion, new threats of concentrated pirate activity plague the Protectorate Authority and its citizens. The seriousness of the situation leads to the assignment of Daric Konan and his powerful Battlecruisers to end this menace. Rather than a simple search for pirates, Daric finds himself strangely allied with his former enemies after several important people in the Protectorate are assissinated. When his closest friend is also lost, Daric uncovers a plot that reaches to the highest levels of Authority leadership. Caught in a web of conspiracy and deception, the former hero and his friends are hunted by their own people while struggling to find the truth and save the Authority from itself.