For Colin Maclntyre, it began with a routine training flight over the moon. For Dahak, a selfaware Imperial battleship; it began millennia ago, standing guard against an unknown enemy which once devastated the galaxy and now has returned. So Dahak grabbed Maclntyre's ship and informed him that he was drafted to be its new captain and lead the fight against the ancient enemy. Maclntyre had doubts that he could handle the job, but before it was all over, Maclntyre would: defeat a cadre of mutineers, formerly part of Dahak's crew, kept alive for thousands of years by alien technology, who have been secretly manipulating life on Earth; mobilize the planet into a fighting force that might have a slender chance of stopping the ancient alien menace from eradicating all intelligent life in its path; and resurrect the ancient galactic empire, fallen into chaos and barbarism, with himself as Emperor-and anyone, human or alien, who got in his way was going to be very, very sorry.