Sometimes the impacts of a war linger far beyond the wildest imaginations of the combatants. Cerberus is rushed back into deep space on the first expedition through the mysterious Solara jump gate since The Fall wiped out human civilization over seven centuries earlier. Captain Dan Ronin hoped his experienced crew would find more clues to help them discover the fate of another lost colony. What they didn't expect was a hot reception in a rapidly dying star system still ruled by an ancient artificial intelligence created by their ancestor's old enemy - an AI that wasn't interested in saving very many humans from the rapidly approaching disaster that was triggered by The Fall. Earth wasn't the only planet laid to waste by The Fall...